Dismantling Fatphobia with Ragen Chastain

 
Ragen Chastain Recovery Bites.jpg

Episode 33 - DISMANTLING FATPHOBIA WITH Ragen Chastain

by Karin Lewis, MA, LMFT, CEDS

IN THIS EPISODE:

In this episode, I am joined by Ragen Chastain. Ragen is a speaker, writer, and thought leader in the fields of Body Image, Health at Every Size, Weight Stigma, and Corporate Wellness. Ragen's depth and breadth of knowledge come from a combination of her personal story of overcoming an eating disorder, her experience as a national dance champion and marathoner, and her training as an ACE Certified Health Coach, Functional Training Specialist, and researcher. Author of the blog danceswithfat.org, the book Fat: The Owner's Manual, and editor of the anthology The Politics of Size, Ragen is frequently featured as an expert in print, radio, television, and documentary film. Her ability to combine humor with hard facts in ways that educate, motivate, and entertain have makes her a sought-after speaker on the collegiate, conference, and corporate circuits.

SOME OF THE TOPICS DISCUSSED:

  • Ragen’s background including some of the weight stigma she has experienced in her life.

  • Navigating in a society designed to exclude, shame, and oppress people on the basis of shared characteristics or identities.

  • Medical weight stigma in regards to diagnosis, care, and treatment options.

  • Nurturing the parts of self that question authority and challenge the narrative.

  • The ways in which diet culture, dieting, and fatphobia perpetuate eating disorders and can make full recovery feel impossible.

  • The value and need for trust between client and provider.

  • How Ragen’s activism aims to dismantle diet culture and fatphobia in the community so that people of every size have equal opportunity to fully recover.

  • Strategies one can use to stand up for themself and advocate for equal healthcare and how Ragen has educated health practitioners.

  • The dangers of weight-loss interventions and weight loss surgery.

  • Challenging the beliefs that add to the oppression of fat people and moving into thoughts and actions that support body liberation for those of all sizes.

ABOUT RAGEN CHASTAIN:

Ragen Chastain is a Certified Health Coach, trained researcher, three-time National Champion dancer, and two-time marathoner who holds the Guinness World Record for Heaviest Woman to Complete a Marathon. She writes and speaks full-time about Body Image, Health at Every Size, Fitness, Corporate Wellness, and Weight Stigma - including with healthcare and eating disorders community. Ragen is the author of the blogs danceswithfat.org and IronFat, and the book Fat: The Owner's Manual. She has been featured as an expert in media including the Associated Press, the New York Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, FITNESS, Women's Running, and the Chicago Tribune. She is the editor of the two-volume anthology The Politics of Size - Perspectives from the Fat Acceptance Movement, and a former Editorial Board Member of the Fat Studies Journal.

A leading activist and thought leader in the Health at Every Size and Size Acceptance movements, Ragen is an internationally sought after speaker, having brought her captivating combination of humor and hard facts to stages including CalTech, Dartmouth, Amherst, Google Headquarters, the Multi-Service Eating Disorders (MEDA) National Conference, and a European Speaking Tour. She co-founded (with fellow activist Jeanette DePatie) the Fat Activism Conference, and the Fit Fatties Forum - an online community for people of all sizes who want to discuss fitness from a weight-neutral perspective, that currently has over 4,500 members. She led the campaign that raised over $20,000 in 8 days and put up 6 billboards and 10 bus shelter ads in Atlanta to counter a billboard campaign that fat-shamed children, and the Skinny Minnie petition which garnered over 140,000 signatures and resulted in substantial changes to a promotion by Barney's and Disney.

Ragen currently lives in Los Angeles with her partner and their two adorable dogs and is training for her first (and only!) Iron-distance triathlon.


CONNECT WITH RAGEN CHASTAIN:

ABOUT KARIN LEWIS:

Karin Lewis, MA, LMFT, CEDS has been recovered from Anorexia Nervosa for over 20 years and has been specializing in the prevention and treatment of eating disorders since 2005. Karin is the founder of the Karin Lewis Eating Disorder Center located in Boston, MA. You can visit Karin Lewis Eating Disorder Center online to learn more about Karin and her center’s services. You can also connect with Karin on social media by following @karinlewisedc on Facebook and Instagram.