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My Problem with Abbey Sharpe and Colleen Christensen (Thin Youtube Dieticians)

Whitney_Holcombe

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In this video, I’m sharing my candid thoughts on "anti-diet" dietitians Abbey Sharp and Colleen Christensen. While they’ve gained popularity for promoting intuitive eating and rejecting traditional dieting, I believe their advice can sometimes be misleading, hypocritical, and biased—especially for those of us who don't buy into the Health at Every Size (HAES) philosophy or the fat acceptance movement.

💬 What are your thoughts on Abbey Sharp and Colleen Christensen? Let me know in the comments, and don't forget to subscribe for more real talk weight loss advice!

#AbbeySharp #ColleenChristensen #AntiDiet #HealthAtEverySize #IntuitiveEating #FatAcceptance #WeightLossJourney #BalancedHealth #DietCulture #ToughLoveHealth #nomorefoodrules #abbeyskitchen #antidietdietitian #weightlossandwellness

Don't forget to subscribe to my blog at www.wholcombe.com for more no-nonsense weight loss tips and motivation. Plus, check out my book, "1 Year 100 Pounds," available here:https://amzn.to/4cgGRSH , to read about my own journey and get practical advice for achieving your weight loss goals.

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Disclaimer: This video is for informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare provider before making any changes to your diet or fitness routine.

20 Comments

@ScentsibleJournal 1 year ago

I am completely agree with Michelle McDaniels when she said: if you are recovering ED, you cannot do intuitive eating.

@Yasm.1880 1 year ago (edited)

For real, nobody talks about just binging because of pure food addiction. When I was overweight I was not restricting food at all, yet I’d still be coming home and binge eating because I was addicted to these high sugar, high calorie foods

@MarniCollier 2 years ago

Tell me why anti-diet dieticians feel so predatory

@CHK12319 1 year ago

We all recognize that if we let little kids eat whatever they want, they will choose chips and candy. Adults aren’t that different

@lia701 1 year ago

Colleen having an ED while tricking her fans who struggle with binge eating into thinking she’s naturally skinny and has no food rules is so ridiculous.

@kendallmarie6655 2 years ago

I completely agree with all you said. I definitely think women who have ex eating disorders tend to project their insecurity about that onto others and call everything a disorder... meanwhile their "intuitive eating" is very healthy and due to their years of calorie counting they are careful to not overeat. Their advice is not good for those who really suffer from obesity.

@derp8185 1 year ago

This drives me crazy too. Ppl who have never struggled with ~actually~ needing to lose weight will preach from the perspective of someone who used to have a restrictive ed like it’s somehow universal. Like, no??? The average American, WHO IS OVERWEIGHT, probably doesn’t have the same psychology toward food as you, someone who had to retrain themselves how to eat high calorie foods. Duh?

@airbornekcupholder 1 year ago

Abbey Sharp lost me when she defended that Tiktok-famous mom who feeds her one year old super-processed food (ex. powdered donuts) daily, saying "Fed is Best Mama!", but when a skinny influencer makes any mention of keeping calories low when cooking, its full on sass and attitude and eating disorder allegations. I also noticed that she always criticizes influencers who "body-check" in the beginning of wieiad videos, but in Abbey's videos reviewing them, she uses their body in the thumbnail! so you can use their body as a thumbnail, but they can't? very hypocritical

@Updog89 2 years ago

Thank you for speaking out. Colleen in particular is GROSSLY unethical. I really wish her fangirls would wake up and smell they rebranded ED/proana content for what it is. Her take on “intuitive eating” and obsession with “honoring fullness cues” and fear of binging is so ridiculously convoluted. And the journaling app she is selling is encouraging dangerous rumination about food. The psychologists who called her out for selling this app and practicing outside her scope of practice as an RD got blocked and deleted.

She was also one of the influencer dietitians that the Washington Post /The Examiner found to be getting paid by Big Food to co-opt intuitive eating rhetoric to sell ultraprocessed foods to people with an unhealthy relationship with food… the FTC is investigating.

@darqsouls9 2 years ago

Spot on about the processed foods that are literally engineered to leave you wanting more, basic rule of business - you want repeat customers. These food companies care about profit margins, not your health.

Telling an overweight/obese person to ‘eat intuitively’ is so wild to me. If your intuition got you to that size, why would you put any stock in it to get you back down to a healthy weight.

@reneecrotty6910 1 year ago

Abbey Sharpe really annoys the heck outta me! She has no clue.

@danielcarvalho1453 2 years ago

So glad someone else on YouTube is calling out Colleen. In her shorts it feels like she's making fun of people who are trying to be healthy and lose weight. She was probably skinny her whole life too.

@debra.a.g 1 year ago

Thank you. Abbey Sharp is a nasty, mean girl. She supports women that are overweight, and tears down women that are not, even if they are doing the same thing. She is very condescending. I did find Liv Schmidt through her, so that's a positive. LOL I think Colleen means well, but her videos made me want to binge, and she's just kind of annoying. I totally agree with you about the binging. I would probably stop eating a certain food after a while, but that would be after a binge. There are just some foods that I cannot stop eating, and I can't keep them in my house.

@anac4950 1 year ago

Also as a short woman with a sedentary lifestyle i need to restrict to 1000 to lose
They don't get it

@veggiezz 2 years ago

As someone who has literally eaten bowls of sugar with chocolate chips mixed in…. Idk, seems irresponsible for a ‘’’professional’’’ ‘’’’’dietician’’’’’’’ to give universal advice that we shouldn’t restrict 😂
No girl, some of us SHOULD restrict. NOT restricting was the disordered eating for me, and for a lot of people.

(Also you’re so spot on calling Abbey a mean girl who projects her eating disorder onto EVERYONE. Her insecurity really jumps out whenever she sees anyone being healthy, it’s honestly kind of sad)

@redheadchick1585 1 year ago

I think you're both right. I like the info from Abbey Sharp. I personally can't do intuitive eating. I deal with stomach issues so sometimes I can't tell when I'm hungry. I have to keep track of portion sizes and calories. I think people eat more than they think they do.

@sibby6186 2 years ago

She has a problem with anyone who takes care of their body intentionally

@Thunker147 1 year ago

It seriously BAFFLES me when these skinny "anti-diet" people say that you should have snacks in the house and listen to your cravings. If I would listen to my cravings I would eat a whole bag of chips, coke and a whole chocolate cake every day :D I have had to learn to not over eat and when I let myself have a little treat it has to be like small bag or like something I won't stuff up largly in one go so I won't get sick. They don't realise that for some people, the whole problem with binging is the fact that many don't feel full easily and they can't have snacks around the house because of it. Like you said they don't know the difference between anorexia, ortorexia etc and binge eating disorder. I would know because I'm in a calorie deficit and finally lost healthy amount of weight that fits my goals. -3kg that is. I just wish they didn't demonize calorie counting so much since it has literally made my metabolism work and finally reach my own goals. Also the whole idea of "there are no bad foods" is entirely false lmao. Processed food had been proven to be unhealthy in many ways (not enough protein, unhealthy sugars etc). It's okay to eat it some days but eating one LARGE crumble cookie per day is not what a person already struggling with obisety should do :D

@Loveiskindloveiskind 1 year ago

OMG i have thought the same! I CANNOT watch Abbey’s videos, they come of so envious and negative. A lot of these “anti-diet” influencers give off “if I can’t be Victoria model skinny, no one can”-energy

@Primalita202 1 year ago

Trying to 'recover' from BED for me ruined my life. Everything got worse, my mental health declined significantly trying not to restrict and eat whatever the hell i wanted. It was AWUFUL. I'm absolutely done with this recovery crap because i need to live on a diet, and that is TOTALLY FINE FOR ME (and for most of us who struggle with overeating)