PART 1: Diet Culture + Myths, Eating Disorders + Disordered Eating, Healing Journey, Food Philosophy & Learning to Trust Yourself with Aly Horning Artwork

The Vata Sisters

We are Cait + Cass 🤍 aka The Vata Sisters! (real sisters + soul sisters). There's a constant text thread or voice memo to each other where we never stop talking about all the things we are curious and passionate about. It ranges from “where are you at in your cycle?”, our health, basic check in’s, surviving and thriving in motherhood, mindset shifts, sisterhood, spirituality, the creative spirit, and so on. It never gets old - same topics, but different filters. THIS part of being human, THIS seeking out new info that challenges us, changes us and inspires us. . . just lights. us. up. Come along as we drop a mic between us and see where this adventure ends up because we are just along for the ride ourselves. 🚙✨We hope we can inspire, give a laugh, open your heart, or hey, even take what we talk about to your inner circles or into your internet deep dives. So… come sit with us!💋

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The Vata Sisters

PART 1: Diet Culture + Myths, Eating Disorders + Disordered Eating, Healing Journey, Food Philosophy & Learning to Trust Yourself with Aly Horning

December 20, 2022 • Cait & Cass • Episode 5

Today's episode is pretty special since it's with our very FIRST guest! We are excited to introduce you to Aly Horning who is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, Licensed Dietitian Nutritionist, MS in Clinical Nutrition, Spin Instructor and most importantly, a ray of sunshine :)

A quick trigger warning, some of Aly's current work is focused on eating disorders and disordered eating patterns, and these are discussed in this episode today. Please feel free to skip over if it is not a good time to listen, we understand <3

In addition to discussing Aly's career path as a Registered Dietician Nutrition, here are a few highlights we go into in a candid conversation of hearing Aly's rich knowledge while bringing in our own questions and insight:

-Defining eating disorders + disordered eating (they are different!)
-Shedding light on these very complex disorders (More on root causes as it's less about the outward physical appearance.)
-Aly's story of how she became interested in this particular work
-Diet culture thoughts and how we are affected by it
-Busting diet myths
-Food philosophy
-Social media influence in "anti-aging" and beauty standards
-The healing journey of trusting yourself

Resources provided by Aly during our conversation:

Seeds of Hope:
Aly's location in which she works full time. They have an in-person PHP and IOP for adolescents and adults. If someone wants an assessment, they can call us and see what level of care they would need. Sometimes we even refer them out, not necessarily coming to our program.

Choosing Change Counseling:
This is outpatient group that Aly works with and is counseling practice with mostly therapists where she is the only Registered Dietician.

NEDA
NEDA is an amazing resource for all thing eating disorders.

CCI Health
A comprehensive resource with worksheets and information for all mental health disorders.

Eating Disorder Hope
Another resource for all things eating disorders.

Book Recommendations:

1. 8 Keys to Recovery from an Eating Disorder by Carolyn Costin
2. Body Kindness by Rebecca Scritchfield
3. The Inside Scoop on Eating Disorder Recovery by Jennifer Rolin
4. Eating in the Light of the Moon by Anita Johnston
5. The Self-Love Workbook by Shainna Ali
6. The Body is Not an Apology
7. Intuitive Eating Workbook
8. Loving Someone with an Eating Disorder: Understanding, Supporting, and Connecting with Your Partner by Dana Harron

We hope you enjoy Part 1 of today's episode and all the wisdom Aly has to share. This conversation is going to be into 2 parts - we could have kept talking and learned so much!

Thanks for being here. <3

come along to our instagram @thevatasisters to see where this adventure ends up because we are just along for the ride ourselves 🚙✨