61: From Your Plate to Your Pleasure: Food, Body Image, and Intimacy with Emily Arthur, RD

Episode Overview

What's the connection between how you eat and how you experience intimacy? In this episode, Kristen sits down with Emily Arthur, a registered dietitian specializing in women's health, to explore the surprising intersections between nutrition, body image, sexual health, and endometriosis.

What You'll Learn

• How disordered eating patterns affect intimacy and sexual expression—not just with partners, but with yourself
• Why people with endometriosis are five times more likely to struggle with disordered eating, and how pain becomes tangled with attempts at control
• What interdisciplinary endometriosis care actually looks like, and why it's so effective (yet so rare in Canada)
• The spectrum of eating behaviors—from intuitive eating to eating disorders, and all the messy stuff in between
• How cultural expectations around gender literally shape what we put on our plates and how we relate to our bodies
• Practical approaches to addressing nutrition in pelvic health without falling into restrictive diet culture

About Emily Arthur, RD

Emily Arthur is a registered dietitian who specializes in nutrition for women's health "from first period to last period and everything in between." She completed a graduate certificate in sexual health education and has specialized training in endometriosis and pelvic health. Emily is part of the Endometriosis 360 interdisciplinary team, which provides comprehensive group programming combining nutrition, physiotherapy, and psychology for people with endometriosis. She also provides one-on-one nutrition counseling through Brandt Nutrition and is actively involved in endometriosis research.

Key Topics Covered

Disordered eating and its impact on intimacy | Endometriosis and nutrition | Body image and sexual health | Gender expectations and food | Intuitive eating | Interdisciplinary pelvic health care | The Endometriosis 360 program

Connect with Emily

Instagram: @emilytheperiodrd
Website: emilytheperiodrd.ca

Resources

Visit blueberrytherapy.ca to learn more about pelvic health physiotherapy and comprehensive care.

Subscribe to The Hole Shebang Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.

Connect with The Hole Shebang on Instagram @blueberrytherapypelvichealth