Food Psych Podcast with Christy Harrison Anxiety Dieting, Disordered Eating, and the Crunchy-Granola-to-Wellness Pipeline with Leah Kern
Jan 22, 2026
Leah Kern, an anti-diet registered dietitian and intuitive eating counselor, explains how anxiety pulled her into a crunchy, wellness-first lifestyle that morphed into disordered eating. She talks about eco-conscious aesthetics, spirituality’s role in restrictive rules, sustainability guilt, stepping back from social media, and why she ultimately combined therapy with medication to heal.
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College Mentor Triggered Recovery
- In college Leah found intuitive eating through a professor and realized she had disordered eating for the first time.
- Implementing intuitive eating reduced her anxiety and shifted her identity away from performing wellness.
Anxiety Makes Wellness Promises Irresistible
- Leah links anxiety to vulnerability toward wellness culture because wellness promises control over the unknown.
- That promise made dietary 'solutions' appealing as a way to manage fear and uncertainty.
Sustainability Can Mask Restriction
- Leah notes environmental ethics and 'voting with your fork' often mask socially acceptable reasons to restrict eating.
- She cautions systemic change matters more than individual dietary moralizing.
