The Eating Disorder Therapist

Today I’m talking to Caroline Drummond-Smith; business owner and coach at Zest Health Coaching and also a mother of three. Caroline helps people to have a healthy relationship with food and their body; to enjoy life; work on habits and change; take responsibility and become their fullest selves. Caroline spent many years suffering from an eating disorder, maintaining an unhealthy weight and strict...

Today I’m talking to Joanna Kandel, CEO and Founder of The Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness. Based in the USA, The Alliance is a national non-profit organisation dedicated to the outreach, education, early intervention, support, and advocacy for all eating disorders. After recovering from a ten-year-long battle with various eating disorders, Johanna founded the alliance in 2000. In addition...

Today I’m talking to Marisa Peer - internationally award-winning hypnotherapist and Creator of the Multi-award winning Rapid Transformational Therapy ® (RTT®)’. Marisa is the founder of iamenough.com; international best-selling author; motivational speaker; personal development expert and leading celebrity therapist. She is a major contributor to the press and has appeared on numerous TV shows and...

Today, I’m talking to Angela Rawlinson – mother of six children, married and lives in Gloucester. Angela is here today to speak about her incredible story in her eating disorder recovery, alongside other mental health struggles. Angela is truly an inspiration, as only in lockdown last year, she was in the depths of an eating disorder, being underweight, struggling with numerous eating disorder beh...

This week, I’m talking about food and feelings. I explore how our early relationship with food develops, the emotional environment at home and how this all intertwines to influence the food and feelings connection. I explain how you can begin to tune into your emotions and find healthier ways of coping, rather than restricting or overeating. I hope that you enjoy this episode.   If you'd like to s...

Today, I’m talking to Rachelle Heinemann, a licensed mental health counsellor based in NYC and Brooklyn. She specialises in the treatment of eating disorders and emotional eating as well as exercise addiction and body image struggles. She also works extensively with those challenged by depression, anxiety, relationship difficulties and career stress. Rachelle is trained as a psychoanalytic psychot...

Today I’m speaking with Ariana Rodriguez – Dietitian, Certified Intuitive Eating Counsellor, Yoga Teacher and NLP Practitioner.  Ariana trained as a dietitian in Montreal, Canada and later moved to London, where with Cassie Barnard, she founded Embody Health London. Here, they have a team of experts working in eating disorders and body image. Their mission is to help women heal their relationship...

Today, I’m talking to Molly Fennig, author and researcher. Molly self-published her first novel, InSomnus, at age 17 and has published numerous short stories in many literary presses. Her second novel, Starvation, was published by Immortal Works in November 2020 when she was 22. The book explores themes such as male eating disorders and mental health, and won a 2021 Independent Press Award. ​Born...

‘I’m boring’, ‘I’m not intelligent’, I’m unattractive. I’m too this or that……’; these are words heard frequently in the therapy room. And lying underneath these derogatory statements, is a fundamental belief of ‘I’m not good enough’. This inner feeling of unworthiness then permeates every area of life, through choice of relationships, work progress and social engagements. It’s like having a millst...

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, when reflecting on the recovery journey! In this episode, I talk about my own recovery blocks in overcoming bulimia. What I wish I'd known back then and the things I might do differently. Your journey will be unique but I hope this will inspire you to reflect on your own path. Enjoy! If you'd like to support this podcast, please do enroll in my Patron.

Today, I’m talking to Lisa Blane - who is a London based wellness coach with a holistic approach to health & wellbeing. She’s passionate about helping men, women and their families eat better and think positively about themselves. As a certified fitness instructor & nutritionist, Lisa aims to investigate the root cause of her clients’ dietary problems so they can not only improve their health, add...

Today, I’m talking to Christie Dondero Bettwy. Christie serves as the Executive Director for Rock Recovery, a non-profit organisation that helps people overcome disordered eating by combining clinical and community care, and is based in Washington DC. Having gone through recovery herself, Christie understands the depth of emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual support needed to recover. She is...

Chewing and spitting (C and S) is a shameful secret sadly suffered by many people with eating disorders. As the name suggests, you chew your food, then spit it out – the aim being to enjoy the taste without the calorie cost, as food is not swallowed. Forbidden foods are the preferential choice, as the behaviour is rooted in restrictive eating behaviour. C and S does not discriminate and can be see...

Today, I’m talking to Queeny June Borgman, registered dietitian, personal trainer, writer and founder of IAMSTUFFED. Queeny was raised in Amsterdam in the Netherlands and thrives on bringing a diverse and eclectic approach to food and looking at the world, having and Indian mother, Dutch father and being Jewish. Queeny is not your regular dietitian and provides bespoke packages to people to improv...

Today I’m talking to Emma Reed Turrell – psychotherapist, author and speaker. Emma grew up near Portsmouth and went on to read English at Queens’ College, Cambridge. Following ten years working in business, she returned to her earlier passion for psychology and retrained as a psychotherapist. Emma runs a thriving therapy practice alongside training and consulting. Her new book Please Yourself has...

People with eating disorders often have the trait of being highly sensitive. What this means is that you feel things deeply, it’s like you have a thin skin to the world and at times, this can feel overwhelming. Growing up, it may have left you feeling different or as though you don’t fit in. You may have felt that others just don’t get you; you're ‘too much’, ‘overly emotional’ or 'too sensitive'....

Today, I’m speaking with Laur Plawker who is a Primary Special Education Teacher, based in Baltimore, Maryland USA. Laur struggled with body image issues and a disordered relationship with food from very young, along with other mental health conditions. As a teenager, Laur’s eating came more under focus. She went to summer camps, specifically focused on weight loss, which sadly opened a path into...

Today, I’m talking to Maria Guiñazu, a qualified psychologist from Argentina. Maria is an educator in the intersecting fields of arts, somatics and education and has been working in this field in the UK for the past 8 years. Maria trained at Tamalpa Institute in California – the internationally recognised training centre for movement based expressive arts therapy. This is home of the Tamalpa Life/...

Today I’m talking to Kumiko Lau – Legal Marketing Professional, dancer, part-time model and Beauty Pageant Contestant, representing the city of Hong Kong. Kumiko shares about her journey into fitness and healthy eating,  this taking a negative turn, when triggered by a difficult break-up and the emotional outlay from this. Kumiko fell into disordered eating cycles and her self-esteem hit rock bott...

Today, I’m talking to Hannah Hickinbotham, (Han) – host of the Full of Beans Podcast – a new podcast which aims to increase awareness and decrease stigma around eating disorders. Han has had personal experience of an eating disorder - this being atypical anorexia and also has had body dysmorphia. In addition to her personal experience, Han has an MSc in Eating Disorders and Clinical Nutrition, and...

Today I’m speaking to writer and dancer, Suvi Honkanen. Suvi is originally from Helsinki, Finland and danced with the Finnish National Ballet for 9 years.  In this episode, she talks about the ballet world and the impact this had on her eating and body image. Suvi developed eating disorders whilst dancing and openly shares her recovery journey here. Suvi now lives in Atlanta and although she still...

Today I’m talking about common fears about coming out of lockdown and struggling with disordered eating. For many people, this last year has taken a tremendous toll on mental health and wellbeing. Body image concerns are rife and disordered eating habits have increased. So how to manage all of this, as we emerge from the days behind closed doors? How to manage re-engaging with eating out, socialis...

Today I’m talking to Hope Virgo. Hope is a multi-award winner mental health campaigner, speaker, author and an ambassador for MQ. She suffered with anorexia for over 4 years, before being admitted to a Mental Health Hospital in 2007. Hope lived in the hospital for a year, fighting one of the hardest battles of her life with anorexia. Since being discharged, she has fought to stay well, and she now...

Today I'm talking to Jemma Richards, voice-over artist and writer. Jemma is also the host of This Food Thing Podcast and lives in London. Jemma talks openly about her torturous relationship with food and her body, starting from a young age, and how this developed into eating disorders. She shares the painful reality of living with an eating disorder; exploring the secrecy, shame and life engulfmen...

I’m talking to Richie Cartwright, founder of FELLA – an organisation that supports men in overcoming binge eating, through a community-driven digital health platform and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). There remains a lot of stigma around men accessing support for binge eating and Richie’s aim is to break down these barriers through this support. Richie previously suffered from binge eating d...