The Eating Disorder Therapist

Here I share some thoughts about five things you need in eating disorder recovery.  Of course, you could expand well beyond this list, but I believe that these are particularly important in accelerating you forward on the healing journey. I hope that you find it helpful.   Harriet's Substack:  https://substack.com/@theeatingdisordertherapist   Harriet Frew's current offers: - Online 10 Steps to In...

Before I launch into this week’s episode, I just want to mention a trigger warning as my guest this week talks about sexual abuse. In the episode, we don’t go into the details of the specific abuse, however, this episode may still be triggering for you, if you, or someone you know has experienced abuse. Make sure you take care of yourself. If this is not the right time, you may wish to give this e...

Today, I’m talking to Jane Reagan. Jane is a Boulder, Colorado based Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) who believes that understanding food choices, food quality and one’s relationship with food can lead to greater awareness, improved health and a more abundant life. Jane is passionate about helping her clients find greater health, vitality and improved wellness through balanced nutrition. S...

Today, I’m talking to Dr. Melissa McCreery, Psychologist and Emotional Eating Coach. Melissa helps women break cycles with emotional eating, overeating, and stress – not by hard work and willpower, but by simple changes that make life more enjoyable and create peace with food. Melissa is a psychologist, a coach, and a writer. She is the host of ‘Too Much On Her Plate’ Podcast. She’s the author of ...

Today I’m talking to Jade Grantham. Jade is the author of ‘Accept That You Are Imperfect’ a book about her personal journey and recovery with an eating disorder, specifically bulimia nervosa that started when she was 12 years old and lasted for over 10 years. Jade’s book is not a self-help book but rather a raw account of her journey. I would highly recommend it. The link is in the show notes. In...

Binge eating is not simply scoffing an extra biscuit, with your morning coffee break. Instead, it involves eating fast, an extremely large amount of food (more than you would eat for lunch or dinner). It’s usually in secret and can feel like a dissociative or ‘out of body’ experience. You are fully present and grounded on earth, but it can feel as though a demon has swept over you and taken all ra...

Today I’m talking to Sabrina Magnan, a Food Freedom & Intuitive Eating Coach, based in Montreal, Canada. She helps chronic dieters heal their relationship with food & their bodies, and develop realistic and lasting health-promoting habits. Sabrina has been on her own food healing journey through her battle with orthorexia, disordered eating, body dysmorphia and yo-yo dieting. Having experi...

Today I’m talking to Katie Shepherd and Lara Paciorek from Food Explorers based out of Connecticut and Massachusetts, USA.  Katie founded Food Explorers in January 2018, after leaving a job as a Retail Dietitian with no back up plan. While that job wasn't the right fit, Katie discovered the joys of children’s cooking classes and how it combined her love of food and working with children. Food Expl...

Today, I’m talking to Dr. Marianne Miller (all the way from San Diego) who has been in the mental health field for 27 years and has specialised in eating disorders for the last 12 years. Marianne was a full-time academic for 12 years and had a part-time eating disorder practice for much of that time (until she left the university) and went into private practice full-time in 2018. Marianne has gues...

Today I’m talking to Ella Matthews founder of Breath Body Mind. Ella is a West London Hypnotherapist specialising in Chronic Pain, Trauma and Anxiety Ella is also a Pain Neuroscience Educator, Buteyko Breathing Instructor, TRE (Trauma and Tension Release Exercise) Provider, NLP Master Practitioner, Yoga Teacher and Health Coach. She has over 20 years’ experience in helping people overcome chronic...

I think that it's a cliche to say that eating disorders are all about control. I guess it is a cliche for a good reason - an eating disorder can be a coping strategy and life-raft to cling to, when life throws its unpredictable turbulence at your door. In this podcast, I talk about an eating disorder as a coping strategy, exploring feeling in control and out-of-control and suggest different and mo...

Today I’m talking to Heidi Schauster, MS, RD, LDN, CEDS-S, SEP who is a nutrition therapist and Somatic Experiencing (SE)™ Practitioner who has specialised in eating and body image concerns for nearly 30 years. She provides individual and group counselling and clinical supervision/consultation and is particularly interested in the intersection between food and body concerns with trauma. Heidi cons...

In this episode, I explore getting started on the recovery road. This is an old episode re-shared - one that has had many downloads! It can be daunting and overwhelming to even think about acknowledging the existence of an eating problem to yourself, let alone taking steps to manage it. I talk you through some initial steps to support you and offer the opportunity to understand your food issues fr...

Today I’m talking to Charlotte Markey, Ph. D., who  is a world-leading expert in body image research, having studied body image and eating behaviors for nearly three decades.  She is passionate about understanding how to help people have a healthy relationship with their body and food.  Charlotte is a psychology professor at Rutgers University and a research scientist who has published over 100 sc...

Today I have a returning guest to the podcast I’m talking to Katie Bramlett from the company WeShape – a movement-based fitness product, inspired with the intention of advocating for people to stop focusing on the number on the scale and instead putting their energy and efforts towards something more meaningful. Katie worked previously in the more traditional fitness space and had built a very suc...

This episode was first published in the summer of 2021 and has proved to be one of my most popular episodes! Apologies for a re-share - I hope that you enjoy it, either for a first listen or a great reminder of how to put self-love into practice. A new episode will be back next week. The episode is inspired by an article by Laura Jane Williams who contributed 'The Art of Loving Yourself', to the S...

Today I’m talking to Dr. Kamila Irvine who is senior lecturer in Psychology at Lincoln University. Kamila specialises in body image and eating disorders and is particularly interested in perceptual body image and size/shape estimation. Kamila completed her PhD at Northumbria University, focusing on body image and then worked as a Teaching Fellow at Durham University before joining the School of Ps...

Today I have a returning guest to the podcast and I’m talking with Cara Byrne – an integrative humanistic psychotherapist based in Ireland. She is the founder of Hike Psych – offering walking and talking therapy in nature for her clients, combining her love of nature and psychotherapy. Cara has always been fascinated by other human beings and the experiences that shape them. As a child, she was th...

Managing your eating throughout the day can feel easier, due to distraction and busyness. You may feel less prone to out-of-control eating or mindless snacking. But, evenings can be a whole different story! After an exhausting day you might be feeling at the end of your tether. What to do with this final hour or two so before you go to bed? You may be in the pattern of: sofa, television, "time for...

Today I’m talking to Rebecca Amis - a woman on a transformative journey of eating disorder recovery and empowerment. Rebecca’s life's path has been shaped by profound blessings and challenges, including battling an eating disorder. Rebecca was raised in a large family heavily influenced by a diet culture society where image, food, and perfectionism were deeply engrained values (and judgments), She...

Today I’m talking to Flurina Thali who is an osteopath, coach, lecturer, researcher, dancer, artist and host of the podcast, ‘The Breathing Body’. She is also someone who suffered from an eating disorder for many years - and found healing through movement, body awareness and rediscovering the fascination and miracle our bodies express every day. She calls this the sweet song of feelings and emotio...

Today I’m talking to Brooke Carlson, an eating disorder therapist and Licensed Professional Clinical Counsellor, working primarily with adolescents and young adults and based in Minnesota, USA. Brooke has worked for a nationwide eating disorder treatment centre for three years called The Emily Program. She was an outpatient therapist and partial hospitalisation program coordinator during that time...

Today, I’m re-releasing an old episode from 2021 when I spoke with Emma Reed Turrell – psychotherapist, author, speaker and podcaster. 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 t...

Today I’m talking to Dr. Anita Johnston Ph. D., Depth Psychologist, Certified Eating Disorder Specialist, and author of Eating in the Light of the Moon: How Women Can Transform Their Relationships with Food Through Myth, Metaphor and Storytelling, which has been published in seven languages. Dr. Anita was a pioneer in eating disorders therapy and has been treating eating difficulties and body imag...

Today, I’m talking to Anna Schmidt who is a Food Freedom and Body Image Psychologist. Anna has been on her own eating disorder recovery journey. She started dieting as a teenager, initially just wanting to lose a few kilos and going on a very restrictive and low calorie diet. Little did she know at the time that this would be the beginning of a 15 year struggle with weight, food and confidence. An...