In today’s episode, we’re talking about diet culture, body image, extreme thinness, and the ever-changing standards women are expected to meet with dietitian and social media educator Abby Langer. We dig into the return of extreme thinness as an aspirational ideal, the influence of GLP-1s and social media, and why we should be questioning the messages telling us that smaller, younger-looking bodies are inherently healthier or more desirable. We also talk about what malnutrition can actually look like, why you can’t determine someone’s health from their appearance alone, and how easily we can internalize these standards without even realizing it.
We also get into the practical side of navigating diet culture, including how to identify nutrition misinformation, why credentials and follower counts don’t automatically make someone trustworthy, how social media can exploit our insecurities, and how parents can help their kids develop a healthier relationship with food, bodies, and the internet. Most importantly, this conversation is about learning to recognize when we’re being sold something designed to make us smaller—and deciding that we don’t have to buy into it.
“If we don’t talk about it, we’re allowing it.”
- Abby Langer
“After decades and decades of internalizing this messaging, we have to start to wake up and recognize that we've been sold a lie. It's been a lie."
- Abby Langer
This week on Capable & Worthy: Fitness, Nutrition and Mindset for People Who Don’t Want Life to Suck:
- Why extreme thinness keeps coming back as an ideal
- How GLP-1s have changed the conversation around weight loss
- Why you can’t determine someone’s health from their appearance
- How women internalize body standards from an early age
- Why menopause and aging have become targets for the wellness industry
- How to spot nutrition misinformation and fear-based marketing
- How social media can reinforce body dissatisfaction and diet culture
- Raising kids without passing down body shame and food rules
Connect with Abby Langer or Langer Nutrition:
Thanks for tuning in to this week’s episode of Capable & Worthy: Fitness, Nutrition, and Mindset for People Who Don’t Want Life to Suck, where we challenge the common understanding of what it means and what it takes to be fit and healthy! If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.
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