Body image and hormonal health with Crystal Savoy MS, RD, LDN

This week, we’re chatting with Crystal Savoy, who specializes in helping women recover from disordered eating habits, PCOS, HA, body image, and IBS using an Intuitive Eating and “HAES” (Health At Every Size) approach.  She works within the private practice world and sees clients virtually with Real Life Women's Health.

As a non-diet dietitian, Crystal helps women feel their best and manage their hormonal health from a food-freedom lens. While we know (and respect!) that some women prefer structured nutrition, it’s safe to say that a lot of us are experiencing varying levels of food fad burnout. If you’re looking to transform your relationship with eating and un-learn the pressures of diet culture, Pollie highly recommends that you check out an intuitive eating and/or HAES-minded practitioner like Crystal.

Don’t forget to check out Crystal’s body image course if her perspective resonates with you.

With that, let’s get to chatting!  

What is HAES, and what led you to practicing this as an RD?

HAES is an evidence based paradigm that respects bodies of all sizes and recognizes that weight is not an indicator of health.  Rather than focusing on weight loss or body size we consider the whole person which includes emotions, behaviors, and mental health.  It is NOT anti-health - you can read more about that here!

I learned about HAES after listening to the FoodPsych podcast and seeing Marci Evans (an amazing eating disorder & body image dietitian in the Boston area) speak at a conference and from there did my internship in eating disorders under the supervision of Marci and Lisa Pearl who are both HAES practitioners.

What's the relation between a HAES mindset and managing a hormonal imbalance, particularly in relation to stress and hormonal havoc?

Honestly, I think that the medical industry and dieting industry over-complicate hormonal health - often times we're told the solution is to go on a diet or cut out X food, or, in the case of PCOS - to lose weight. BUT, we know that long-term weight loss without disordered eating is difficult to achieve, and there are so many ways to improve health that have little to do with weight loss or restriction. I would much rather say what can we add? What's missing? Oftentimes, the answer is to eat more, do less, and lower stress! Women are sensitive to changes and often our problem is that we are not getting enough - whether that be sleep, food, or support (and that's a good thing!). Because we are very intuitive in nature, all too often that connection gets thrown off by external messages about what we “should” do or how we “should” look. So, that means that one of the most important parts of my job is to support clients in learning how to tune into their own needs.

What are your thoughts on body image in today’s society? Where does modern culture  fail us when it comes to this, and where are women most struggling?

This is one of my favorite topics and really I think the missing piece in a lot of women being able to fully live their lives.  Even though the "body positive" or Intuitive Eating space is growing - in large part thanks to social media - I also think it can be a breeding ground for comparison and distress in women that are already highly-stressed, type A, perfectionist personalities who are prone to anxiety, etc. and it can actually feed negative body image. Again, I think the biggest problem is relying on other people to tell us what to do with our bodies. I truly believe dieting is a disease of disconnection - it interrupts the ability to really listen to what we feel like eating, doing, and being.

What tools do you use to help your clients re-framing their body image? What are the positive effects this can have on our hormonal health?

So many ideas come to mind. I think the best place to start is having an awareness around what thoughts you are having and what else is going on for you in those moments. Body image lives in the brain and it's not actually an issue with the body itself, but that's how our brains are communicating to us that something else needs attention.  This hyper-focus on our bodies is where the brain goes to because that's what we've been taught - "Have a problem? Feeling crappy? Fix your body, and everything will be great!" - but in the end that mentality actually makes us feel worse. It's a quite complex dynamic, and many facets can improve and cultivate a healthy body image. In general, hormones don't like stress and a negative body image increases stress and anxiety, so shifting the language we use about our bodies is very important if you’re struggling with some sort of imbalance.

Can you give us an overview of your body image course? What are you helping women achieve with the curriculum?

I created this course out of a few things - my own experience with moving away from disordered eating to intuitive eating and body changes that came along with that, the training I have received since prior to my internship and up until now in my career as a dietitian, and then 1:1 conversations with clients. I was thinking, “how can I take all of this information and hopefully make it more accessible to women who feel like they could use some additional support in healing their relationship with their bodies - and minds?” This is many, many sessions of the material & conversations and tools I would cover with a client. The best place for more information and a course outline can be found here.

When would you recommend a client consider a course or support group in lieu of 1-1 sessions?

If you're in recovery from an eating disorder I think this would be a great addition to having a team - something you could go through on your own and then bring what comes up for you to session with your provider.  If you're working on intuitive eating or feel like you have that down but there's a missing piece this could be it - then you could do the course as a stand alone for exploring body image more.  I certainly don't see it as a replacement for treatment or support and everyone's needs are so different in terms of what works best for them.