The Eating Disorder Therapist

Today I’m talking to Debra Benfield - a Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist (RDN), as well as a Certified Eating Disorder Registered Dietitian and Supervisor with over 30 years of experience in the field.  Debra is the founder and owner of Body in Mind Nutrition, based in North Carolina, USA. She is passionate about the prevention and treatment of disordered eating and eating disorders and supportin...

Today I’m speaking to Amber Romaniuk who is a returning guest to the Eating Disorder Therapist Podcast. Amber is an Emotional Eating, Digestive and Hormone Expert who helps professional women achieve optimal health through mindful eating, self-care and overcoming self-sabotage with food. Her podcast “The No Sugarcoating Podcast” has a million downloads, over 300 episodes and is listened to, in ove...

Today, I’m talking to Brittany Frino, founder of Actively You, and all the way from Brisbane, Australia. Britt is a personal trainer; business owner and body image expert. She is passionate about supporting women to enjoy exercise, have a healthy relationship with food and to embrace their bodies. She is a dog lover and has two corgis. She used to hate exercise with a passion. Britt formed Activel...

Hello. Thank you for listening and supporting this podcast. This is not a podcast episode today. I am letting you know that my Instagram account @the_eating_disorder _therapist has been hacked. If you receive a DM from this account, please do not open it. My new account is @theeatingdisordertherapist_   Please do follow me and pass this on to others who may benefit. Thank you for all your support....

Today, it's one of my favourite topics! I’m going to share my seven tips to help you massively improve your body image.  We know from research that poor body image is linked frequently to depression, anxiety, eating disorders, low self-esteem and poorer levels of mental health. Poor body image is massively problematic for wellbeing. And summer can be a challenging time, as the sun shines and limbs...

Have you considered how much your environment may be impacting your relationship with food and your body? Family members, work colleagues, social media, TV, health professionals, teachers, the fitness industry, to name a few. But how much are all of these impacting your body image? We often don’t stop to consider the impact of our social environment. And hopefully, some of these external influence...

Today I’m talking to Cassie Barnard from Embody Health, London. Cassie is a Registered Dietitian and Certified Intuitive Eating Counsellor passionate about health, nutrition and living a full life! She embraces a positive, non-judgemental attitude in her work with clients and is curious to understand your life journey. Cassie combines her unique education and training in nutrition, mindfulness and...

An eating disorder can rob you of your identity, with work, friendships, travel, hobbies all blurring into insignificance, as food takes centre stage. It can feel scary to let go of what is known. You might feel safe in your identity around the eating disorder. You may have no clue about who you are without it. This episode explores baby steps to rebuild your identity with some practical exercises...

If you have an eating disorder, you likely have a strong inner critic. 'You're not good enough'. 'You've failed again'. 'Why can't you get anything right?' As much as this critic judges and berates, making life distinctly challenging, it probably feels safe and known to you. You might even fear being without it, as you worry that you might lose purpose and motivation. Offering yourself compassion...

Today, I’m talking to Jake Biggs, a nutritional medicine practitioner, nutrition coach and corporate nutrition speaker from Sydney, Australia. Jake developed severe anorexia nervosa at 14 years old, and then over 13 years, he experienced 20 hospitalisations and borderline fatal death. Throughout this time in his life, he encountered first-hand, the devastating impact of anorexia nervosa on his men...

Under eating, dieting, restrictive eating - they have a huge impact on mood, thoughts, behaviours and the physical body. Although, these symptoms might be more pronounced in someone who is underweight, they will be experienced by people of all shapes, sizes and weights. If you're in the habit of under eating, you may have become accustomed to the symptoms and almost see them as 'normal'. However,...

Today, I have another returning guest and I’m talking to Anne Richardson, a Registered Nutritional Therapy Practitioner. Anne is returning for her third conversation to The Eating Disorder Therapist Podcast. She supports people in recovery from eating disorders and helps them to learn to eat again. Anne grew up in France, in a culture, where thinness was a normality. In a previous episode on this...

Today I’m talking to Jacqueline Davis, the Binge Breakers Podcast Host, Bulimia Recovery Coach, artist, and loving dog mum. After recovering from bulimia by focusing on habit and mindset change, she now helps others to do the same through her ground-breaking support programmes. Prior to having bulimia, Jacqueline struggled with disordered eating for several years and food and exercise consumed her...

Ambivalence about change in eating disorder recovery! It's a normal part of the process and in fact quite unusual, if someone doesn't have this inner conflict going on.  It can be incredibly frustrating to experience this, if you are struggling with an eating disorder and also for those around you. So, a part of you might be absolutely fed up with the eating problem. Maybe it's preoccupying your t...

Today I’m speaking to Amber Romaniuk, an Emotional Eating, Digestive and Hormone Expert who helps professional women achieve optimal health through mindful eating, self-care and overcoming self-sabotage with food. Her podcast “The No Sugarcoating Podcast” has a million downloads, over 300 episodes and is listened to, in over 88 countries. She was featured on TV Personality Whitney Port’s podcast a...

The impetus for creating this episode came from one of my lovely listeners. She talked about only ever feeling comfortable, worthy of romantic attention or able to be intimate, whilst having an eating disorder and actively losing weight. A large motivator for the eating disorder was to feel pretty or worthy of male attention. Although my listener has made huge recovery strides in many areas, this...

Your early relationships in life will impact the way you care for yourself, the way you interact with others and also your relationship with food and your body. Patterns of over-control, conditional acceptance, emotional neglect or even abuse can all have a significant impact. In this episode, I talk about Reciprocal Roles, a tool used in Cognitive Analytic Therapy, to give you greater insight int...

When you have an eating disorder, underneath the symptoms, your self-esteem is often shaky. You might not feel good enough at all. You may feel that you are flawed in some way and you may not treat yourself with the respect that you deserve. You might experience ‘I’m not good enough’ thoughts such as: - ‘I’m boring, I’m not intelligent, I’m unattractive. I’m too this or that; I’m not as good as X...

In this episode, I explore the destructive cycle of experiencing out of control binge eating episodes followed by compulsive over-exercise, as compensation. When this happens the exercise is not a joyful, happy movement anymore, rather it is a relentless, punishing and punitive thing that has to be endured, even if you are weary and exhausted. It can go on for hours of the day. Some of my clients...

In this episode, I share five of my top tips for maintaining good mental well-being and being fully recovered from an eating disorder, after struggling for almost a decade with bulimia nervosa. Recovery is possible. Stay hopeful and continue to seek out your own truth and healing journey. I hope that you enjoy the episode.

Today, I’m talking to Carly Newberg from Eastern Oregon, USA.  Carly is an Author and Freelance Writer and Editor. As an adolescent, she struggled with eating disorders – anorexia, bulimia and exercise addiction which has contributed to her passion for mental health and overall wellbeing. Carly has been recovered for four years and is now on the journey to training as a Mental Health Counsellor. S...

People that develop eating disorders tend to be sensitive souls, who feel their feelings very deeply. Ultimately this is a super-power and means that individuals are hugely empathetic, kind and compassionate beings. But it also means that the world can feel overwhelming and tricky to navigate at times. It can exacerbate issues with low self-esteem, people pleasing, perfectionism and in managing em...

Today I’m talking to Eric Pothen, a middle school choir teacher and passionate eating disorder advocate based in Albertville, Minnesota, USA. Eric struggled with an eating disorder for several years, but I’m pleased to say is now well along the recovery road and healing from this. Today, Eric uses his eating disorder struggles as his strength, to raise awareness and become an advocate for those wh...

A BONUS EPISODE for you! Recently, I spoke with Calum Stronach on the #NotAllMen??? Podcast. We delve into the topic of men and eating disorders - getting help, typical symptoms and barriers for getting the support you need. We explore dieting, forbidden foods, over-exercise, fitness and identifying disordered eating symptoms. We also talk about managing emotions helpfully, when you naturally lean...

Today I’m talking to Ilene Smith, a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP) whose work is rooted in the principles of attachment theory and eastern philosophies. Ilene integrates several modalities into her practice, including talking, touch-work, and movement, to help clients develop deeper and safer relationships within, and increased capacities for resilience and joy.  Ilene is the author of ‘M...