#78 - Beyond Shrinking & Drinking with Lael Atkinson

Satisfaction Factor

This week, we’re talking to Lael Atkinson (they/them), a certified professional recovery coach who works at the intersection of drinking and dieting. During their experience of parting ways with alcohol and then tackling a lifetime of dieting, disordered eating, and body shame, they found resources that addressed quitting drinking OR that addressed food and body image issues, yet could not find any sources that spoke to the intersection of the two. And in both their personal experience and the experience they saw with many of their clients, they found that the two do indeed frequently overlap. This led Lael to work with both folks who want to examine their relationship with alcohol and folks who want to divest from diet culture. They also created the Beyond Shrinking & Drinking course to address this intersection.
Lael hopes that whether it comes to questioning their drinking, or their participation in diet culture, that people know they can do it without labeling themselves, without judging themselves, and without it reaching a point of being “bad enough.” It’s more than enough to start from a place of asking if your life would be better without it.

We had an amazing conversation with Lael about...

• their own journey with drinking & dieting, and how it led to the work they do today
• the parallels between drinking & dieting (and why comparing booze to food is not helpful)
• the parallels between drinking culture & diet culture
• why some folks may experience food or body image issues when they quit drinking (and vice versa)
• how they're working to fight against the shame & stigma of both drinking and dieting
• and why this work is especially important within the Queer community.

You can connect with Lael on Instagram @beyondshrinkinganddrinking, learn how to work with them at LaelAtkinson.com, or join their online course at BeyondShrinkingAndDrinking.com!

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