Episode 26: Reconnecting to Family Foods with Allergies with Kalyn Fantasia

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I first met this week’s guest, Kalyn Fantasia, at a dinner party hosted by a mutual friend (shoutout to Sarah Van Den Berg!). The theme of the party was “Identities,” so we spent much of the evening moving from a group of relative strangers to friends that shared thoughts about their identities from the depths of their hearts.

When Kalyn shared her stories and experiences (all while kneading dough to make fresh gnocchi), I was immediately impressed by her strong connection to her history and cultures, and the ways she negotiated these while having many intolerances and allergies - and thankfully, she was happy to share these stories with you this week! Born and raised in Toronto, she is a multi-hyphenated artist/manager (depending on what day you ask her!) and she is an artist manager for local Canadian bands, as well as a photographer, amateur painter, and homemade foodie.

As a long time allergy kid with a growing list of food intolerances, Kalyn had always had a strong connection to the food she ate and a stronger understanding of the effects of food on her body. She spends at least 3 hours a day in the kitchen and finds pleasure in putting in the work to create comforting meals she can eat without worry. She’s been recently exploring the ways in which family history, food, and identity are related, and how these interconnect with modern food and modern food intolerances. This conversation reflects her passions and interest in exploring all of these interconnections, and it felt like such a privilege to interview Kalyn about this.

Listen in the player above, or download on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, or iHeartRadio!

 

Episode 25: Eating Disorder Recovery & Health at Any Size with Dr. Andrea LaMarre

With the holidays comes many social gatherings that are often centred around food. For some this may be filled with joy, but for others, this may cause a lot of stress and anxiety around eating or body image. That’s why this week, I’m speaking with Dr. Andrea LaMarre on eating disorder recovery and health ay any size. Based out of Guelph, Ontario, Andrea is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Propel Centre for Population Health Impact at the University of Waterloo. She recently earned her PhD at the University of Guelph, where she studied eating disorder recovery from the perspectives of people in recovery and their supporters.

In this episode we speak about experiences of eating disorders and recovery, and Andrea breaks down some of the common assumptions surrounding these experiences – about what an eating disorder looks like conventionally, what bodies and experiences are legitimized and which are often left out, and ways in which researchers like her are challenging the social, cultural, and psychological barriers to accessing recovery. She’s doing incredibly important work with thoughtful and engaging approaches for communities, and I think it’s important to speak more to the diverse ways disordered eating can manifest in our lives and bodies - particularly during times of the year where we have less control or agency over what we eat.

Listen to the episode in the player above, or download on any major platform!

Get Social with Andrea:

Twitter: @andrealala

Instagram: @andrealamarre

Website: www.andrealamarre.com 

Some of the many folks whose work has inspired Andrea: 

People who do work on dismantling body oppression:

Deb Burgard: http://www.bodypositive.com/

Desirée Adaway: http://desireeadaway.com/

Sonya Renée Taylor: https://www.sonyareneetaylor.com/

Virgie Tovar: https://www.virgietovar.com/

Be Nourished: https://benourished.org/

Nalgona Positivity Pride: https://www.nalgonapositivitypride.com/

Marcella Raimondo: http://www.marcellaedtraining.com/

Carmen Cool: http://www.carmencool.com/

Karin Hitselberger: https://themighty.com/u/karin-hitselberger/

Corbett O’Toole: https://www.corbettotoole.com/

Kaley Roosen: https://twitter.com/kaleyroosen?lang=en

Carla Rice: http://www.carlarice.ca/

Cocimientos: http://nedic.ca/provider/9895-cocimientos

 

Some eating disorder scholars who inspire me:

Rebecca Lester: https://artsci.wustl.edu/faculty-staff/rebecca-lester

Helen Malson: https://people.uwe.ac.uk/Person/HelenMalson

Karin Eli: https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/people/540

Paula Saukko: http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/socialsciences/staff/paula-saukko/