Eating Disorders in Discussion, Wednesday's Child

No matter whether it’s first of the month, the year, a minute beyond Midnight or the start of the working week. You can turn over a new leaf in recovery anytime of any year, and this episode is all about encouraging you to ignore the ‘New Year New You’ diet and exercise regime rhetoric, and instead truly go firm and fastidious on being your best friend and persistent recovery coach. Why let anothe...

Presents unwrapped, tree looking pretty sorry for itself, and guests departed back to their own homes? It’s that peculiar ‘in between bit’ of the festive season and no time is more important for ensuring you stay on track with recovery momentum. Eating one Christmas dinner and three Quality Streets does not recovery make. Sarah and Debbie discuss the importance of repeating healthy recovery behavi...

Time to dig in to some pre Christmas discussion. How do you prepare for the festive season without letting the eating disorder get its masterful grip on everyone? How do you ensure that house guests, family members and well meaning friends don’t spontaneously send you into a tailspin with their comments about your food or appearance? How do loved ones play their part in dropping diet dialogue from...

Hope Virgo joins Abi and Debbie on the podcast episode this time, returning to our show to bring an update about her research work and the #UKCostofEatingDisorders Report. For several months, Hope has been collaborating with MPs like Kate Parminster, Gillian Keegan, Wera Hobhouse and John McDonnell in an effort to see a greater spotlight placed on the stark reality of eating disorder ‘need’ as it...

This week on the podcast, we ask why it is that so much of society is still convinced that an eating disorder is best personified by the skinny body of a younger female. To help us navigate that, Debbie is joined by Adam Fare and Abi Reynolds, both of whom are able to give very different perspectives about what it feels like to put your head above the parapet and ask for help – when perhaps the wo...

Healthy or harmful? When you read a biography which you know to reference someone who has recovered from an eating disorder, why are you doing it? Is it helpful and insightful in such a way as to aid your recovery mission? Or is it merely keeping you over-consuming eating disorder content, stories, material, brain-matter. There’s a fine line, and it’s up to you to take the sensible precautions and...

Achieving true freedom from your eating disorder, doesn’t come in half measures. It doesn’t come with maintaining a few comfortable little fibs to yourself, or trading a recovery effort for a sabotaging act. In this episode, Sarah and Debbie talk about the cycle of deceit which keeps so many people from achieving a thorough deserved escape from the grasp of the illness. They discuss habit breaking...

To mark Youth Mental Health Day, on Tuesday September 7th, Debbie, Sarah and Abi take to the mic to discuss the many and varied issues around how young people can be better supported and treated in the face of mental health issues. Calling on teacher and parent perspectives, as well as bringing specific lived experience of eating disorders into the conversation, the trio give some great suggestion...

How do you maintain recovery when your Mum is a slimming club fanatic, your pal is a an Ironman athlete and your work colleagues are always celebrating their virtuous behaviour in avoiding ‘bad’ foods? Sarah and Debbie look at how important self responsibility is in eating disorder recovery, and set out some helpful strategies and toolbox tactics for staying on track. They also discuss the journey...

What the heck is ‘overshoot’ anyway? Is it a label you’re comfortable with, one you’ve been drawn into using because of your clinician’s approach to ‘target weights’ or are you in happy oblivion about the mere concept that anyone can ‘overshoot’? Sarah and Debbie finally tackle a topic which gets mentioned so much in the eating disorder community, and often has an unhelpful effect on those attempt...

A timely episode on the pod, to urge you to avoid the potential pitfalls in recovery during the summer. Sarah and Debbie discuss strategies and toolbox tips for staying on track as you plan for holidays, meals out and more socialising with friends and family. Meanwhile – a little reminder to please please PLEASE only consume news about sugar tax and government food strategies with caution. Know th...

And so the countdown toward July 19th is well and truly under way – a date by which we’re told that in England at least, things will be considerably more ‘normal’. But how does this leave you feeling, and more importantly, what does it do to the angry eating disorder which wants to keep you trapped and tortured? With many people looking to return to workplaces, and to seeing more of friends and fa...

This episode is the perfect reminder to anyone whose misguided perception is that eating disorders are the preserve of a vain teenage girl. In a candid chat with Sarah and Debbie, Charles opens up about his story of anorexia. He explains how he went from having a ‘perfectly normal’ life as a happy healthy father in his 30s, to finding himself on a ward and in treatment for a devastating psychiatri...

Ever wondered whether a tweak of the script might aid your ability to help yourself or someone else through an eating disorder recovery journey? Could you be focusing too hard on what’s unwell and undone, rather than seeing the innate elements of health and hope? In this episode, we chat to therapist Mary Franklin-Smith about her refreshing approach to treatment tactics. Given her extensive experi...

What does a practising clinical psychologist in the eating disorder arena make of the current landscape? What’s she witnessing in terms of waiting lists, the demand and supply mismatch, and the desire to work in the profession? Our latest episode features Sarah McDonald, a clinical psychologist who herself battled for many years with an eating disorder. You’ll hear her and Debbie discussing whethe...

If you’re short on motivation or need to hear some empowering talk about recovery, this episode is for you. Debbie and Sarah discuss lockdown easing and talk about what tactics and tools will help ensure you treat this next step in the national roadmap as a trigger for change. Eating disorders thrive on isolation, so now is the time to insist that as the government imposed lockdown releases, you w...

In a recent podcast, we caught up with Adam Fare, and talked about the issues which affect fellas, when it comes to eating disorders. This episode sees us joined by the researcher, author, campaigner and ‘lived experience’ ambassador, Dr Russell Delderfield. His work has been heavily based in looking at whether, why and how men experience eating disorders differently. Together with Debbie and Sara...

Timed to coincide with Maternal Mental Health Week this May, we share some deeply personal accounts of going through conception and pregnancy. You’ll hear some shocking experiences of how health care professionals dealt with the issue of eating disorders, and also some highly encouraging insights and constructive strategies. Listen as Christina Taylor candidly shares how she approached her doctor,...

This episode’s podcast guest is well known eating disorders campaigner, Hope Virgo. Since launching her ‘Dump the Scales’ initiative, Hope has regularly been seen in the media, voicing her thoughts and fears about how the illness is being tackled, and what more needs to happen. Here, she chats about her own journey, and about the important work she’s involved in when it comes to shifting the narra...

How we experience an eating disorder, undoubtedly, differs depending on our age, our circumstance, but significantly – gender too. Our latest podcast episode features an insightful chat with eating disorder campaigner, Adam Fare. He talks candidly about what triggered his illness as a young schoolboy, what caused further relapses, his frustration at the lack of recognition for guys in need of supp...

Why stick to one topic when we can capture multiple issues in a singular awesome podcast episode? This time, Sarah and Debbie take a timely look at what the Women and Equalities Committee have called for regarding the use of BMI. Plus, we look at issues around choosing to follow specific food regimes – from veganism to ‘clean eating’ – in a manner which allows an eating disorder to maintain its co...

In this short sombre episode, we reflect on the passing of Nikki Grahame, formed Celebrity Big Brother contestant, whose life ended too soon this weekend as she continued to fight her eating disorder battle. Sarah and Debbie talk about how her passing is a clear reminder of the brutality of the illness, and reflect on the need for treatment access to be dramatically improved. You’ll also be remind...

In this special episode of the Wednesday’s Child podcast, Debbie and Sarah are joined by social anthropology research student Hannah Whybrow. She’s been exploring the issues around eating disorder ‘suffering’ and recovery, for a dissertation as part of her study at the University of Edinburgh. Having had past experience of bulimia herself, Hannah set out to chat to many of those who’ve battled the...

So you think you’re weight restored, recovered or ‘back in control’ when it comes to your eating disorder? Really? What about those regimes, rules and routines which shape your daily life? Could it be that you’re still in energy debt and are being forced into a slavish world that’s still so full of needless routine? Are you petrified of shaking up your schedule? Do you get tetchy or angry at the t...

What’s your relationship like with clothes and fashion? Has your eating disorder story made it difficult to dress yourself in recovery? Are you still existing in baggy black clothes because you’re yet to find your own fashion identity, or because you’re scared to buy items which carry a larger size label? If any of these issues apply, then this is the episode for you. Sarah and Debbie look at how...