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Jennifer Brady

Acadia University, School of Nutrition & Dietetics, Faculty Member

Queen's University at Kingston, Kinesiology and Health Studies, Graduate Student

Mount Saint Vincent University, Department of Applied Human Nutrition, Faculty Member

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I am the Director of the School and Nutrition and Dietetics at Acadia University in Mtaban/Wolfville, Mikmaw’ki/Nova Scotia. My research explores the history and professionalization of dietetics using a feminist lens to shed light on its contemporary reticence regarding pressing social justice issues. More broadly, my work spans critical feminist perspectives of gender, food, nutrition, fatness, health, social justice, and the body. My other research areas comprise health studies, food studies, critical nutrition studies, and feminist theory, as well as non-diet and critical approaches to health. You will see my work in the Journal of Critical Dietetics, Journal of Sport & Social Issues, Food and Foodways: Explorations in the History and Culture of Human Nourishment, Canadian Journal of Dietetic Practice and Research, Canadian Food Studies, Critical Public Health, and the International Journal of Qualitative Methods.

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Noel B. Salazar

KU Leuven

None (Private)

Universidade Federal de Goiás

Mariya Ivancheva

University of Strathclyde, Glasgow

Haitham El-Ghareeb

Mansoura University

Hamad Medical Corporation

Toronto Metropolitan University

University of Galway

Central European University

Jorge Castillo-Sepúlveda

Universidad de Santiago de Chile

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Papers by Jennifer Brady

15. “Celebrating Unruly Experiences”: Queering Health At Every Size As A Response To The Politics Of Postponement

Obesity in Canada, 2016

5. Spoon Fed: Learning About “Obesity” In Dietetics

A response to “A critical analysis of obesity prevention policies and strategies”

Canadian Journal of Public Health, 2018

This commentary provides a response to the article "A critical analysis of obesity prevention pol... more This commentary provides a response to the article "A critical analysis of obesity prevention policies and strategies" from a feminist fat studies perspective. We argue that a fundamental disjuncture exists between the authors' desire to redress fat stigma, and their understanding of "obesity as disease", which inherently draws on a neoliberal, healthist paradigm of health and body weight that is at the root of fat stigma.

Beyond Television: Children's Engagement with Online Food and Beverage Marketing

Clinical medicine. Pediatrics, 2008

Background Food and beverage marketing has been implicated in the childhood obesity “pandemic.” P... more Background Food and beverage marketing has been implicated in the childhood obesity “pandemic.” Prior studies have established the negative impact of television advertising on children's dietary intake, yet few have considered the role of online food and beverage marketing, particularly within the Canadian context. Objective This study explores children's engagement in online marketing and investigates the potential impact on their dietary intake. Methods Participants were recruited from the Ryerson University Summer Day Camp to participate in a single one-on-one semi-structured interview. Results A total of 83 children (age 7 to 13 years; mean 9.99 years; 56.3% boys, 43.8% girls) participated in the study. Fewer children thought that there is food, drink, or candy advertising on the internet (67.7%) than on television (98.8%) (p > 0.001). Awareness of online marketing increased with age: 7 to 8 year olds (23.67%; 4), 9 to 10 years (63.89%; 23), 11 to 12 years (86.96%; 20...

Covid-19 Risk and Obesity

Critical Studies: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal

Warnings about the increased risk of contracting and suffering severe COVID-19 among fat people h... more Warnings about the increased risk of contracting and suffering severe COVID-19 among fat people has been in the spotlight of public discourse and media attention since the pandemic began. Added to this has been widespread anxiety about the risks of weight gain that were predicted to follow public health restrictions that compelled Canadians to work and learn from home. Critical scholars assert that obesity and the problematization of the fat body are discursively constructed through the deployment of biopedagogies--instructive lessons about what it means to eat and live right. By framing and deploying lessons in right living, biopedagogies exert social control over individual and collective bodies, including by making the fat body problematic. In this article, the authors present a discourse analysis of the ways that Canadian news media have reported on the connection between COVID-19 and obesity and draws on biopedagogies as a theoretical framework to elucidate how fat phobia is pr...

Cooking as Inquiry: A Method to Stir Up Prevailing Ways of Knowing Food, Body, and Identity

International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 2011

The paper develops a method of research called ‘ cooking as inquiry. ‘ This method seeks to add l... more The paper develops a method of research called ‘ cooking as inquiry. ‘ This method seeks to add layers to the typically disembodied practices of social research that have long overlooked the body and the mundane rituals of foodmaking as sites of knowledge. Informed by autoethnography and collective biography, cooking as inquiry recognizes bodies and food as sites of knowledge and engages researchers as researcher-participants in reflexive, collaborative study that explores the ways in which the embodied self is performed relationally through foodmaking. In addition to a discussion of the epistemological and methodological frames of this method, this paper offers a case study that describes a project conducted by a colleague and the author.

Social Justice, Health Equity, and Advocacy: What Are Our Roles?

Food Policy

Critical Dietetics: Axiological Foundations

Food Policy

The aim of this chapter is to firstly introduce the core values, theories, and methods of Critica... more The aim of this chapter is to firstly introduce the core values, theories, and methods of Critical Dietetics and, secondly, to discuss the implications of the core values and theories for critical dietetic praxis within traditional practice areas as well as through advocacy and activism. At the end of this chapter, readers will: (i) Describe the core values, priorities, and tenets that guide critical dietetics (ii) Define and discuss key terms and concepts that are important to the foundational values, theories, methods, and commitments of Critical Dietetics

Queer Theory Dietetics Education: Interrupting Heteronormativity

Critical Dietetics

Schools and their classrooms operate within a larger social context (Lemke, 2000). In spite of th... more Schools and their classrooms operate within a larger social context (Lemke, 2000). In spite of the changes in the broader social context they remain unsettlingly rigid in their masculine, white, middle-class, heteronormative foundations. It is the latter point, heteronormativity, that this article takes up for discussion and to which Queer Theory is proposed as a mechanism through which to subvert the ‘norm’ of current pedagogical/curricular heteronormative processes. Specifically, I argue that Queer Theory calls attention to the heteronormative undercurrent of dietetic education and may evoke a political consciousness of teaching and learning among dietetic educators and students that disrupts heteronormativity. Moreover, I contend that transgressing the current constructs of pedagogy that remain informed by and complicit in maintaining heteronormativity within dietetics demands that as educators and students we “dare to know”—that we risk confronting privilege and oppression in ou...

Conversations in Food Studies

This inspiring collection of essays by mostly young and freshly-minted scholars takes me back 50 ... more This inspiring collection of essays by mostly young and freshly-minted scholars takes me back 50 years, to my own misspent youth during the 1960s and '70s, when I was part of a social history gang eager to "rewrite history from the bottom up". We wanted to ask new questions and use new methods, sources, and insights to study groups that had been unjustly ignored and marginalized, and to make what we learned available and accessible to everyday people. Although I left the university milieu to work for various social movements, and though I often wince at the grandiose and harsh accusations we made as well as the utter lack of experience and street smarts we imposed on our cause, I am proud of what that generation of labour and women's studies pioneers accomplished. I am delighted to find this book shows signs of the same rebellious, inspired, and collaborative spirit so eager to "break on through to the other side" (The Doors, 1967) of food issues. I feel uplifted to think of what a new generation of scholars, activists, practitioners, and actionists will be able to accomplish over their lifetime. As philanthro-capitalist Bill Gates says, we too often overestimate what we can do over two years, but underestimate what we can do over ten. That's even more true when compared with what can be accomplished over a 30 or 40year career. Mustafa Koc's introduction wisely advises people to buy this book as a collector's item, predicting that it will increase in value over time. Although every essay in the collection provided fresh insights for me, I will limit my comments to two of the many excellent themes in this book.

The History of Critical Dietetics: The Story of Finding Each Other

Food Policy

The primary aim of this chapter is to provide context for the historical development of Critical ... more

Exploring Social Justice Advocacy in Dietetic Education: A Content Analysis

Canadian Journal of Dietetic Practice and Research

Purpose: To explore the extent to which knowledge- and skill-based learning regarding social just... more Purpose: To explore the extent to which knowledge- and skill-based learning regarding social justice and/or social justice advocacy is included in the course descriptions of required courses of accredited, English-speaking dietitian training programs in Canada. Methods: This study is a mixed-methods content analysis of required course descriptions sampled from university academic calendars for accredited, English-speaking dietitian training programs across Canada. Results: Quantitative analysis showed that required course descriptions (n = 403) included few instances of social justice-related terminology (n = 63). Two themes emerged from the qualitative analysis: competing conceptualizations of social issues and dietitians’ roles; prioritization of science-based knowledge and ways of knowing. Conclusions: Accredited, English-speaking dietitian training programs in Canada appear to include little knowledge- or skill-based learning regarding social justice issues and advocacy. Support...

Borders, boundaries, and becoming food studies: Looking back, pushing forward

Canadian Food Studies / La Revue canadienne des études sur l'alimentation, 2015

Borders, Boundaries, and Becoming Food Studies: Looking Back, Pushing Forward

Successfully Attaining a Dietetic Internship Position in Ontario on the First Attempt: A Descriptive Survey

Canadian Journal of Dietetic Practice and Research, 2015

We explored the characteristics of Ontario-based dietetic internship program applicants who were ... more We explored the characteristics of Ontario-based dietetic internship program applicants who were successful upon their first application attempt, and we made comparisons between those who were successful and unsuccessful on their first internship application attempt. A 32-item online survey was distributed to graduates from nutrition programs in Ontario and to members of the Dietitians of Canada Student Network, Toronto Home Economics Association, and Ontario Home Economists in Business. Data from a previous study examining the characteristics of unsuccessful internship applicants were obtained from the authors to compare the two groups. Respondents (n = 76) were mostly female (97%), 20-25 years of age (67%), and had a previous degree (46%). Compared with those who were unsuccessful on their first internship application attempt, those who were successful had a significantly higher mean cGPA (3.69 ± 0.39 vs. 3.35 ± 0.41), were more likely to have a prior degree (46% vs. 29%), spent more time preparing their internship application package, and perceived their internship application packages to be stronger. Despite some differences, most applicants met the minimum cGPA requirement outlined by internship programs in Ontario. More internship opportunities can help increase the diversity and human potential in the dietetic profession.

New Dietetic Practitioners’ Perspectives: On Their Education and Training

Canadian Journal of Dietetic Practice and Research, 2012

Purpose: To elucidate the complex phenomenon of dietitian professional socialization, we examined... more Purpose: To elucidate the complex phenomenon of dietitian professional socialization, we examined factors that influence people’s decisions to pursue a career in dietetics and how education and training processes influence the professional socialization of dietitians. Methods: Participants (n=12) had less than three years of work experience and included alumni from three Canadian universities representing different models of entry to practice. Three one-on-one interviews were conducted with each participant. Results: The key influencing factor in participants’ decision to pursue dietetics was the perceived congruence between dietetics and other aspects of their lives, including early interests and experiences (sports, food and cooking, an eating disorder), career aspirations (science, health care), and social networks (the desire to be a professional). A pivotal experience during high school or while enrolled in or after graduation from another program prompted participants’ awarene...

Theorizing health at every size as a relational–cultural endeavour

Critical Public Health, 2013

ABSTRACT Mainstream dietetics buttresses a conventional weight management agenda that is associat... more ABSTRACT Mainstream dietetics buttresses a conventional weight management agenda that is associated with weight preoccupation, body dissatisfaction, size oppression, and troubled eating. Coterminous with this agenda is healthism, which taken together, impede dietitians’ engagement with a health at every size (HAES) paradigm, a paradigm driven by concern for equality. Yet, HAES has also been critiqued for having healthist tendencies. The purpose of this paper is to explore how HAES might be reimagined through the lens offered by relational cultural theory (RCT) to offer a radical and more socially just vision of dietetic practice. We posit relational–cultural theory as a complementary theoretical perspective to deepen understandings and to politicize HAES-based dietetic practice. We suggest that RCT permits a critical, relational, and political revisioning of the weight-centred canon and elaborates HAES by emphasizing mutual empathy and reciprocal growth within and between the client and practitioner concomitantly. Moreover, questions of power, ethical survival, and knowledge emerge which is what we contend makes it possible for a socially just, nonhealthist HAES practice to flourish.

Fat food justice: where fat studies meets food studies

Fat Studies

Relational consequences of dietitians' feeding bodily difference

ABSTRACT Relational-cultural theory (RCT) proposes that relationships are central to healing and ... more ABSTRACT Relational-cultural theory (RCT) proposes that relationships are central to healing and growth (Miller and Stiver, 1997). Relational cultural theorists describe the three characteristics of growth-fostering relationships as mutual engagement (defined by mutual involvement and commitment to relationship), authenticity (the process of feeling free and genuine in relationship), and empowerment or zest (the feeling of personal strength and the inspiration to take action in relationship) (Nakash, Williams, and Jordan, 2004). Mutuality, authenticity, and empowerment present in a therapeutic context role model what is possible in relationships outside of therapy. Within growth-fostering relationships, authentic interactions can lead to experiences of connection and disconnection. All relationships will experience disconnections periodically, but it is the manner in which these disconnections are negotiated that influences the relational outcome. That relationships are central to movement in therapy is not a particularly radical view. What we do contend is that the relationships dietitians have with their own bodies and the bodies of those who seek their services are constituted and constrained by a control discourse, which marginalizes bodily difference. Control discourse constitutes individuals&#39; eating patterns as a series of reasoned, discrete, and quantifiable choices (i. e. weigh, measure, limit, and avoid) in direct contrast to views that eating is determined by emotion, hunger, appetite, and sociality. Instruments of nutrition science (body weight, body mass index, and hip-to-waist circumference ratio as three common examples) are used to define the marginalized Other&#39;s body as too fat or too thin and justify its need for nutrition management in the name of individual and public health. Concomitantly, dietitians&#39; worth as professionals is signified by their cognitive and embodied mastery of these instruments. For the dietitian, to be Other

Voices of distress: The emotional peril of not attaining a dietetic internship in Ontario

Food for Thought: Notes on Food, Performance, and the Athletic Body

Journal of Sport & Social Issues, 2014

Relatively little scholarly attention has been given to the theoretical and epistemological assum... more Relatively little scholarly attention has been given to the theoretical and epistemological assumptions through which food and eating are implicated as vehicles to reproduce the athletic body. The purpose of this research note is to consider potential avenues for critical inquiry into the connections between food, sport, and athletic performance. More specifically, we will investigate the relationships of food to understandings of performance-enhancing technologies. While these studies tend to focus their attention on how certain substances and practices become classified as illicit or unnatural, we argue that much can be learned by examining the other side of this binary opposition and by considering why certain substances and practices are firmly positioned outside the realm of performance enhancers. We highlight food and eating as especially fruitful sites for this type of analysis and interrogate how food is firmly positioned as unquestionably more “natural” than illicit performance enhancers.

15. “Celebrating Unruly Experiences”: Queering Health At Every Size As A Response To The Politics Of Postponement

Obesity in Canada, 2016

5. Spoon Fed: Learning About “Obesity” In Dietetics

A response to “A critical analysis of obesity prevention policies and strategies”

Canadian Journal of Public Health, 2018

This commentary provides a response to the article "A critical analysis of obesity prevention pol... more This commentary provides a response to the article "A critical analysis of obesity prevention policies and strategies" from a feminist fat studies perspective. We argue that a fundamental disjuncture exists between the authors' desire to redress fat stigma, and their understanding of "obesity as disease", which inherently draws on a neoliberal, healthist paradigm of health and body weight that is at the root of fat stigma.

Beyond Television: Children's Engagement with Online Food and Beverage Marketing

Clinical medicine. Pediatrics, 2008

Background Food and beverage marketing has been implicated in the childhood obesity “pandemic.” P... more Background Food and beverage marketing has been implicated in the childhood obesity “pandemic.” Prior studies have established the negative impact of television advertising on children's dietary intake, yet few have considered the role of online food and beverage marketing, particularly within the Canadian context. Objective This study explores children's engagement in online marketing and investigates the potential impact on their dietary intake. Methods Participants were recruited from the Ryerson University Summer Day Camp to participate in a single one-on-one semi-structured interview. Results A total of 83 children (age 7 to 13 years; mean 9.99 years; 56.3% boys, 43.8% girls) participated in the study. Fewer children thought that there is food, drink, or candy advertising on the internet (67.7%) than on television (98.8%) (p > 0.001). Awareness of online marketing increased with age: 7 to 8 year olds (23.67%; 4), 9 to 10 years (63.89%; 23), 11 to 12 years (86.96%; 20...

Covid-19 Risk and Obesity

Critical Studies: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal

Warnings about the increased risk of contracting and suffering severe COVID-19 among fat people h... more Warnings about the increased risk of contracting and suffering severe COVID-19 among fat people has been in the spotlight of public discourse and media attention since the pandemic began. Added to this has been widespread anxiety about the risks of weight gain that were predicted to follow public health restrictions that compelled Canadians to work and learn from home. Critical scholars assert that obesity and the problematization of the fat body are discursively constructed through the deployment of biopedagogies--instructive lessons about what it means to eat and live right. By framing and deploying lessons in right living, biopedagogies exert social control over individual and collective bodies, including by making the fat body problematic. In this article, the authors present a discourse analysis of the ways that Canadian news media have reported on the connection between COVID-19 and obesity and draws on biopedagogies as a theoretical framework to elucidate how fat phobia is pr...

Cooking as Inquiry: A Method to Stir Up Prevailing Ways of Knowing Food, Body, and Identity

International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 2011

The paper develops a method of research called ‘ cooking as inquiry. ‘ This method seeks to add l... more The paper develops a method of research called ‘ cooking as inquiry. ‘ This method seeks to add layers to the typically disembodied practices of social research that have long overlooked the body and the mundane rituals of foodmaking as sites of knowledge. Informed by autoethnography and collective biography, cooking as inquiry recognizes bodies and food as sites of knowledge and engages researchers as researcher-participants in reflexive, collaborative study that explores the ways in which the embodied self is performed relationally through foodmaking. In addition to a discussion of the epistemological and methodological frames of this method, this paper offers a case study that describes a project conducted by a colleague and the author.

Social Justice, Health Equity, and Advocacy: What Are Our Roles?

Food Policy

Critical Dietetics: Axiological Foundations

Food Policy

The aim of this chapter is to firstly introduce the core values, theories, and methods of Critica... more The aim of this chapter is to firstly introduce the core values, theories, and methods of Critical Dietetics and, secondly, to discuss the implications of the core values and theories for critical dietetic praxis within traditional practice areas as well as through advocacy and activism. At the end of this chapter, readers will: (i) Describe the core values, priorities, and tenets that guide critical dietetics (ii) Define and discuss key terms and concepts that are important to the foundational values, theories, methods, and commitments of Critical Dietetics

Queer Theory Dietetics Education: Interrupting Heteronormativity

Critical Dietetics

Schools and their classrooms operate within a larger social context (Lemke, 2000). In spite of th... more Schools and their classrooms operate within a larger social context (Lemke, 2000). In spite of the changes in the broader social context they remain unsettlingly rigid in their masculine, white, middle-class, heteronormative foundations. It is the latter point, heteronormativity, that this article takes up for discussion and to which Queer Theory is proposed as a mechanism through which to subvert the ‘norm’ of current pedagogical/curricular heteronormative processes. Specifically, I argue that Queer Theory calls attention to the heteronormative undercurrent of dietetic education and may evoke a political consciousness of teaching and learning among dietetic educators and students that disrupts heteronormativity. Moreover, I contend that transgressing the current constructs of pedagogy that remain informed by and complicit in maintaining heteronormativity within dietetics demands that as educators and students we “dare to know”—that we risk confronting privilege and oppression in ou...

Conversations in Food Studies

This inspiring collection of essays by mostly young and freshly-minted scholars takes me back 50 ... more This inspiring collection of essays by mostly young and freshly-minted scholars takes me back 50 years, to my own misspent youth during the 1960s and '70s, when I was part of a social history gang eager to "rewrite history from the bottom up". We wanted to ask new questions and use new methods, sources, and insights to study groups that had been unjustly ignored and marginalized, and to make what we learned available and accessible to everyday people. Although I left the university milieu to work for various social movements, and though I often wince at the grandiose and harsh accusations we made as well as the utter lack of experience and street smarts we imposed on our cause, I am proud of what that generation of labour and women's studies pioneers accomplished. I am delighted to find this book shows signs of the same rebellious, inspired, and collaborative spirit so eager to "break on through to the other side" (The Doors, 1967) of food issues. I feel uplifted to think of what a new generation of scholars, activists, practitioners, and actionists will be able to accomplish over their lifetime. As philanthro-capitalist Bill Gates says, we too often overestimate what we can do over two years, but underestimate what we can do over ten. That's even more true when compared with what can be accomplished over a 30 or 40year career. Mustafa Koc's introduction wisely advises people to buy this book as a collector's item, predicting that it will increase in value over time. Although every essay in the collection provided fresh insights for me, I will limit my comments to two of the many excellent themes in this book.

The History of Critical Dietetics: The Story of Finding Each Other

Food Policy

The primary aim of this chapter is to provide context for the historical development of Critical ... more

Exploring Social Justice Advocacy in Dietetic Education: A Content Analysis

Canadian Journal of Dietetic Practice and Research

Purpose: To explore the extent to which knowledge- and skill-based learning regarding social just... more Purpose: To explore the extent to which knowledge- and skill-based learning regarding social justice and/or social justice advocacy is included in the course descriptions of required courses of accredited, English-speaking dietitian training programs in Canada. Methods: This study is a mixed-methods content analysis of required course descriptions sampled from university academic calendars for accredited, English-speaking dietitian training programs across Canada. Results: Quantitative analysis showed that required course descriptions (n = 403) included few instances of social justice-related terminology (n = 63). Two themes emerged from the qualitative analysis: competing conceptualizations of social issues and dietitians’ roles; prioritization of science-based knowledge and ways of knowing. Conclusions: Accredited, English-speaking dietitian training programs in Canada appear to include little knowledge- or skill-based learning regarding social justice issues and advocacy. Support...

Borders, boundaries, and becoming food studies: Looking back, pushing forward

Canadian Food Studies / La Revue canadienne des études sur l'alimentation, 2015

Borders, Boundaries, and Becoming Food Studies: Looking Back, Pushing Forward

Successfully Attaining a Dietetic Internship Position in Ontario on the First Attempt: A Descriptive Survey

Canadian Journal of Dietetic Practice and Research, 2015

We explored the characteristics of Ontario-based dietetic internship program applicants who were ... more We explored the characteristics of Ontario-based dietetic internship program applicants who were successful upon their first application attempt, and we made comparisons between those who were successful and unsuccessful on their first internship application attempt. A 32-item online survey was distributed to graduates from nutrition programs in Ontario and to members of the Dietitians of Canada Student Network, Toronto Home Economics Association, and Ontario Home Economists in Business. Data from a previous study examining the characteristics of unsuccessful internship applicants were obtained from the authors to compare the two groups. Respondents (n = 76) were mostly female (97%), 20-25 years of age (67%), and had a previous degree (46%). Compared with those who were unsuccessful on their first internship application attempt, those who were successful had a significantly higher mean cGPA (3.69 ± 0.39 vs. 3.35 ± 0.41), were more likely to have a prior degree (46% vs. 29%), spent more time preparing their internship application package, and perceived their internship application packages to be stronger. Despite some differences, most applicants met the minimum cGPA requirement outlined by internship programs in Ontario. More internship opportunities can help increase the diversity and human potential in the dietetic profession.

New Dietetic Practitioners’ Perspectives: On Their Education and Training

Canadian Journal of Dietetic Practice and Research, 2012

Purpose: To elucidate the complex phenomenon of dietitian professional socialization, we examined... more Purpose: To elucidate the complex phenomenon of dietitian professional socialization, we examined factors that influence people’s decisions to pursue a career in dietetics and how education and training processes influence the professional socialization of dietitians. Methods: Participants (n=12) had less than three years of work experience and included alumni from three Canadian universities representing different models of entry to practice. Three one-on-one interviews were conducted with each participant. Results: The key influencing factor in participants’ decision to pursue dietetics was the perceived congruence between dietetics and other aspects of their lives, including early interests and experiences (sports, food and cooking, an eating disorder), career aspirations (science, health care), and social networks (the desire to be a professional). A pivotal experience during high school or while enrolled in or after graduation from another program prompted participants’ awarene...

Theorizing health at every size as a relational–cultural endeavour

Critical Public Health, 2013

ABSTRACT Mainstream dietetics buttresses a conventional weight management agenda that is associat... more ABSTRACT Mainstream dietetics buttresses a conventional weight management agenda that is associated with weight preoccupation, body dissatisfaction, size oppression, and troubled eating. Coterminous with this agenda is healthism, which taken together, impede dietitians’ engagement with a health at every size (HAES) paradigm, a paradigm driven by concern for equality. Yet, HAES has also been critiqued for having healthist tendencies. The purpose of this paper is to explore how HAES might be reimagined through the lens offered by relational cultural theory (RCT) to offer a radical and more socially just vision of dietetic practice. We posit relational–cultural theory as a complementary theoretical perspective to deepen understandings and to politicize HAES-based dietetic practice. We suggest that RCT permits a critical, relational, and political revisioning of the weight-centred canon and elaborates HAES by emphasizing mutual empathy and reciprocal growth within and between the client and practitioner concomitantly. Moreover, questions of power, ethical survival, and knowledge emerge which is what we contend makes it possible for a socially just, nonhealthist HAES practice to flourish.

Fat food justice: where fat studies meets food studies

Fat Studies

Relational consequences of dietitians' feeding bodily difference

ABSTRACT Relational-cultural theory (RCT) proposes that relationships are central to healing and ... more ABSTRACT Relational-cultural theory (RCT) proposes that relationships are central to healing and growth (Miller and Stiver, 1997). Relational cultural theorists describe the three characteristics of growth-fostering relationships as mutual engagement (defined by mutual involvement and commitment to relationship), authenticity (the process of feeling free and genuine in relationship), and empowerment or zest (the feeling of personal strength and the inspiration to take action in relationship) (Nakash, Williams, and Jordan, 2004). Mutuality, authenticity, and empowerment present in a therapeutic context role model what is possible in relationships outside of therapy. Within growth-fostering relationships, authentic interactions can lead to experiences of connection and disconnection. All relationships will experience disconnections periodically, but it is the manner in which these disconnections are negotiated that influences the relational outcome. That relationships are central to movement in therapy is not a particularly radical view. What we do contend is that the relationships dietitians have with their own bodies and the bodies of those who seek their services are constituted and constrained by a control discourse, which marginalizes bodily difference. Control discourse constitutes individuals&#39; eating patterns as a series of reasoned, discrete, and quantifiable choices (i. e. weigh, measure, limit, and avoid) in direct contrast to views that eating is determined by emotion, hunger, appetite, and sociality. Instruments of nutrition science (body weight, body mass index, and hip-to-waist circumference ratio as three common examples) are used to define the marginalized Other&#39;s body as too fat or too thin and justify its need for nutrition management in the name of individual and public health. Concomitantly, dietitians&#39; worth as professionals is signified by their cognitive and embodied mastery of these instruments. For the dietitian, to be Other

Voices of distress: The emotional peril of not attaining a dietetic internship in Ontario

Food for Thought: Notes on Food, Performance, and the Athletic Body

Journal of Sport & Social Issues, 2014

Relatively little scholarly attention has been given to the theoretical and epistemological assum... more Relatively little scholarly attention has been given to the theoretical and epistemological assumptions through which food and eating are implicated as vehicles to reproduce the athletic body. The purpose of this research note is to consider potential avenues for critical inquiry into the connections between food, sport, and athletic performance. More specifically, we will investigate the relationships of food to understandings of performance-enhancing technologies. While these studies tend to focus their attention on how certain substances and practices become classified as illicit or unnatural, we argue that much can be learned by examining the other side of this binary opposition and by considering why certain substances and practices are firmly positioned outside the realm of performance enhancers. We highlight food and eating as especially fruitful sites for this type of analysis and interrogate how food is firmly positioned as unquestionably more “natural” than illicit performance enhancers.

Conversations in Food Studies

by Colin Anderson and Jennifer Brady

Few things are as important as the food we eat. Conversations in Food Studies demonstrates the va... more Few things are as important as the food we eat. Conversations in Food Studies demonstrates the value of interdisciplinary research through the cross-pollination of disciplinary, epistemological, and methodological perspectives. Widely diverse essays, ranging from the meaning of milk, to the bring-your-own-wine movement, to urban household waste, are the product of collaborating teams of interdisciplinary authors. Readers are invited to engage and reflect on the theories and practices underlying some of the most important issues facing the emerging field of food studies today.

Conversations in Food Studies brings to the table thirteen original contributions organized around the themes of representation, governance, disciplinary boundaries, and, finally, learning through food.

This collection offers an important and groundbreaking approach to food studies as it examines and reworks the boundaries that have traditionally structured the academy and that underlie much of food studies literature.