The Body Grievers® Club

In this episode of The Body GrieversⓇ Club, Bri interviews body image coach and "Body Neutral" author Jessi Kneeland about why body positivity and self-love often feel inaccessible and ignore social context, and how body neutrality focuses on moral neutrality by stripping false, inflated meaning from appearance. Using examples like having a zit, they discuss how body shame spirals come from learned beliefs about worth and failure, and how "health" is frequently used as a socially acceptable cover for body hatred, disordered eating, and orthorexic behaviors. They explore the head-to-heart disconnect, the survival brain's role, the impact of oppression and weight stigma, and how "diet hope" offers false security while body neutrality supports living life despite discomfort.
 
 
02:13 Zit Example and Identity
04:38 Orthorexia and Fitness Culture
08:31 Thought Experiments on Health
12:34 Food Shame and Healing
15:57 Moral vs Emotional Neutrality
24:08 Politics Systems and Dissonance
27:47 Head to Heart Disconnect
30:32 False Safety of Thinness
31:34 Patriarchy and Slenderness Trap
33:23 Signs of Body Neutrality
44:41 Beauty Standards and Power
45:41 Complicity and Conscious Choices
 
 
WANT MORE OF JESSI?
*Buy her book! Body Neutral
*Website: https://www.jessikneeland.com/ 
*Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jessikneeland/ 
*Check out our episode on her podcast! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-is-not-about-your-body-the-power-of-body-grief/id1581433799?i=1000602037792 



WANT MORE OF BRI?
*Instagram: @bodyimagewithbri

*Website: https://bodyimagewithbri.com/
*Bri's Free Resource: 7-Step Guide to Shift Body Grief to Radical Body Acceptance
https://www.bodyimagewithbri.com/seven-steps

In this episode of The Body Grievers® Club, Bri challenges the idea that confidence comes simply from "doing the thing," arguing that without thought awareness and body connection, change won't stick. She reframes confidence as self-assurance: not the absence of discomfort. Brie shares her history with dieting, bariatric surgery at 19, and the ongoing body image pain that persisted even at a smaller size, leading to a 2015 breaking point to start living her life. She discusses dating fears, fetishization, and values alignment. 


03:59 Health And Weight Loss Trap
05:18 Bariatric Surgery Reality
09:07 Breaking Point In 2015
12:11 Dating Fear And Fat Bias
14:40 Self Assurance Framework
15:04 Step One Self Talk Audit
15:41 Step Two Values Reality Test
17:16 Step Three Cement Chair Confidence
21:24 Step Four Trauma Informed Exposure
25:41 Living With Ongoing Body Grief
 
EPISODE RESOURCES
Episode 21: Bri's Body Image Breaking Point 


WANT MORE OF BRI?
*Instagram: @bodyimagewithbri

*Website: https://bodyimagewithbri.com/
*Bri's Free Resource: 7-Step Guide to Shift Body Grief to Radical Body Acceptance
https://www.bodyimagewithbri.com/seven-steps

In this episode of The Body GrieversⓇ Club, Bri interviews Ashantis Jones, a counselor and ASM-certified personal trainer, about healing body image and movement through an intersectional, weight-inclusive lens. Ashantis shares how her eating disorder recovery, later neurodivergence diagnoses (ADHD/autism traits and ARFID), and experience with fibromyalgia shaped her approach to care, emphasizing that diagnoses can be useful but aren't always required to provide support. They discuss body positivity as a social justice movement, how privilege and systemic oppression—including racism, fatphobia, ableism, and capitalism—shape access to care and eating disorder treatment, and why decolonizing mental health matters. Ashantis explains that weight-inclusive fitness can look the same as weight-centric training, but focuses on functional goals, accommodations, rest, and building body trust rather than weight loss.
06:38 Recovery Origin Story
11:47 Eating Disorder Realizations 
13:19 ARFID ADHD Nuance 
15:58 Diagnoses And Shame 
19:34 Intersectionality Basics 24:10 Decolonizing Mental Health 
31:02 Defensiveness And Learning 
32:26 Learning Beyond Your Bubble 
33:12 Pandemic Backlash and Diet Culture 
40:12 Movement as Body Trust 
42:45 Chronic Illness and Ableism Realities 
56:13 Read Books Not Hot Takes
 
WANT MORE OF ASHANTIS?
https://www.ashantisjones.com/ 
https://www.patreon.com/bodykindnutrition/about 


WANT MORE OF BRI?
*Instagram: @bodyimagewithbri

*Website: https://bodyimagewithbri.com/
*Bri's Free Resource: 7-Step Guide to Shift Body Grief to Radical Body Acceptance

In this episode of The Body Grievers® Club, Bri joins therapist/social worker Monica Freudenreich to discuss eating disorders versus disordered eating, emphasizing that most people with eating disorders often go unrecognized or dismissed by providers who lack specialized training and may be influenced by diet culture trends. They describe how diagnostic labels can shift, how insurance and treatment systems affect care, and why focusing on functioning and quality of life matters more than whether someone meets a specific DSM threshold. They critique applying abstinence-based addiction models to food, highlight how "health" is often reduced to weight, and explore the roles of rest, connection, joy, and reducing shame in healing. They also preview an upcoming master class for providers and individuals on assessment, blind spots, body image, and practical strategies.


04:18 Recognizing Disordered Eating
06:58 Monica's ED Work Journey
09:55 Bri's ED Center Reality
12:41 Provider Dissonance Dieting
18:57 Labels Don't Matter
25:42 Healing Inside Diet Culture
35:36 Rest as Radical Health
37:25 Rethinking Addiction and Connection
38:54 Comfort Coping Without Shame
47:55 Rejecting Diet Culture
50:18 About the Masterclass
 
EPISODE RESOURCES:
Join our upcoming masterclass: Eating Disorder vs. Disordered Eating
Johann Hari: Everything you think you know about addiction is wrong https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY9DcIMGxMs 
Episode 37: Rest Feels Unsafe
Get on the waitlist for Body Image Bootcamp for providers at https://bodyimagewithbri.mykajabi.com/bootcamp-waitlist-2025 
 
WANT MORE OF MONICA FREUDENREICH?
https://www.monicafreudenreich.com/ 
 
WANT MORE OF BRI?
*Instagram: @bodyimagewithbri

*Website: https://bodyimagewithbri.com/
*Bri's Free Resource: 7-Step Guide to Shift Body Grief to Radical Body Acceptance
https://www.bodyimagewithbri.com/seven-steps

In this episode of The Body GrieversⓇ Club, Bri interviews licensed clinical social worker and parent Keri Baker about body image, food, and raising kids—especially when both parent and child live in larger bodies. Keri shares her history of early dieting, years of chronic dieting, likely undiagnosed eating disorder symptoms, and finding intuitive eating and anti-diet care through supportive providers. They discuss parenting a child with ARFID (avoidant restrictive food intake disorder), how it's often mistaken for picky eating, and the added difficulty of seeking medical care when professionals dismiss concerns or focus on weight. 
 
04:02 From Diet Culture to Intuitive Eating
09:43 Parenting With ARFID
13:04 Weight Stigma in Healthcare
22:30 Talking Body Image With Teens
28:33 Intuitive Eating Starts With You
29:51 Division of Responsibility Basics
31:04 When Kids Eat Differently
37:45 Good Enough Nourishment
39:30 Habituated Foods and Interoception
44:25 Advocating at Doctor Visits
 
WANT MORE OF KERI BAKER?
https://www.keribaker.com/ 
https://www.dietrecoveryclub.com/ 
 
WANT MORE OF BRI?
*Instagram: @bodyimagewithbri

*Website: https://bodyimagewithbri.com/
*Bri's Free Resource: 7-Step Guide to Shift Body Grief to Radical Body Acceptance
https://www.bodyimagewithbri.com/seven-steps