Just Eat Normally: Eating Disorder Recovery – Details, episodes & analysis

I'm joined by, Jo Moscalu is the Binge Eating Dietitian. Jo is a dietitian with a Postgrad in Eating Disorders, now working towards her Doctorate on binge eating - helping folk all over the world recover from binge eating and heal their relationship with food.

We discuss:

- Jo's relationship with food growing up and how graduating as a dietician impacted her

- What do dietician's learn at uni?

- Common myths about working with a specialist dietician for eating disorder recovery

- the restrict-binge-shame cycle

- how to reduce shame around eating

Hannah Hickinbotham is the host of the Full of Beans podcast. She uses her personal, clinical, and educational experience to raise awareness and reduce the stigma associated with eating disorders. In this episode she shares her current experience of a relapse. 

In this episode we discuss

• Growing up in a family that diets and being modelled an unhealthy relationship with food
• Feeling like a failure in recovery
• Feeling stuck in relapse
• How eating disorders behaviours can escalate
• Acceptance as key in recovery
• Hierarchy of eating disorders with regards to praise and a fatphobic society
• Dealing with comments about weight changes
• Finding the motivation to recover
• Why the key to recovery is wanting to recover for yourself

Connect with Rachel.

Dr. Rachel Evans is a psychologist, hypnotherapist and eating disorder survivor. She brings together academic knowledge and theories, therapeutic skills and personal experience for a unique perspective on eating disorder recovery. Rachel helps ambitious women to stop restricting, bingeing and purging. and to feel comfortable in their body.

https://eatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/

https://www.instagram.com/rachel.evans.phd/

https://www.facebook.com/rachel.evans.phd

Connect with Hannah.

Hannah Hickinbotham is the host of the Full of Beans podcast. She uses her personal, clinical, and educational experience to raise awareness and reduce the stigma associated with eating disorders. In this episode she shares her current experience of a relapse.

www.fullofbeansed.co.uk

https://www.instagram.com/thefobpodcast/

Carly is an Author, Substitute Teacher, and Freelancer specializing in writing, editing, and marketing. As an adolescent, Carly struggled with an eating disorder (Anorexia, Bulimia, and Exercise Addiction) which has contributed to her passion for mental health and overall wellbeing. Carly has been recovered five years and recently worked in a residential treatment facility with those aiming to recover. She gives talks and leads events and workshops throughout Oregon. 

In this episode we discuss:

• Impact of growing up with food scarcity and being forced to finish your plate as a child
• How school sports can spiral into an eating disorder
• Purging with exercise and laxatives
• Dealing with people's comments about body changes
• What a self-recovery journey looks like
• Cultivating confidence to share your story and experience of an eating disorder
• How sharing your story can create a new narrative
• Using social media to find a likeminded community in recovery
• Carly's new book, Good Enough

Connect with Rachel.

Dr. Rachel Evans is a psychologist, hypnotherapist and eating disorder survivor. She brings together academic knowledge and theories, therapeutic skills and personal experience for a unique perspective on eating disorder recovery. Rachel helps ambitious women to stop restricting, bingeing and purging. and to feel comfortable in their body.

https://eatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/

https://www.instagram.com/rachel.evans.phd/

https://www.facebook.com/rachel.evans.phd

Connect with Carly.

Carly is an Author, Substitute Teacher, and Freelancer specializing in writing, editing, and marketing. As an adolescent, Carly struggled with an eating disorder (Anorexia, Bulimia, and Exercise Addiction). She has been recovered five years and recently worked in a residential treatment facility with those aiming to recover. She gives talks and leads events and workshops throughout Oregon. To hear her full story, read or listen to Carly's memoir, Good Enough: Believing beautiful through Trauma, through Life, through Disorder.

https://www.sincerelycarly.com/

https://www.instagram.com/_sincerelycarly/

https://www.facebook.com/sincerelycarly/

Renae Saager is certified health & life coach and emotional eating expert who teaches women around the world how to start living a powerful, authentic life free from food and weight obsession. Tapping into her own unique journey with disordered eating and alcoholism, Renae supports her clients through the process of rewiring their brain with her no-BS approach. Through this serious work, Renae is able to help clients challenge their mindset and begin healing, using her own sense of humour and unparalleled perspective. Undoing the crazy you feel around food is Renae's specialty, the confidence and clarity gained is the guilt free icing on the cake.

In this episode we discuss:

• Renae's exprerience of an eating disorder and using alcohol.
• The link between alcohol consumption and eating disorders.
• Alcoholism and drunkorexia
• Do you need to work on the alcohol or food first to recovery?
• What Renae would do differently if she was starting her recovery journey again

Connect with Rachel.

Dr. Rachel Evans is a psychologist, hypnotherapist and eating disorder survivor. She brings together academic knowledge and theories, therapeutic skills and personal experience for a unique perspective on eating disorder recovery. Rachel helps ambitious women to stop restricting, bingeing and purging. and to feel comfortable in their body.

https://eatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/

https://www.instagram.com/rachel.evans.phd/

https://www.facebook.com/rachel.evans.phd

Connect with Renae.

Renae Saager is certified health & life coach and emotional eating expert who teaches women around the world how to start living a powerful, authentic life free from food and weight obsession. Renae connects with her clients on a deeper level, supporting them through the process of rewiring their brain with her no-BS approach.

https://www.renaesaager.com

https://www.instagram.com/renaesaager/

Podcast - ditch the binge (rebranding soon)

Helen Brooks is an award-winning Clinical Hypnotherapist and IBS Transformation Coach with a Degree in Applied Psychology. She specialises in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome through an evidence-based approach combining gut-directed hypnotherapy, psychology and wellness coaching. She hosts the podcast ‘Let's Talk IBS with the Tummy Whisperer’ and lives in Brighton with her family and dog Woody. Her mission is to raise awareness of gut directed hypnotherapy and transform the world one tummy at a time.

We discuss:

•  What are the signs and symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome?
• What is going on in someone's body when they are experiencing IBS?
• How IBS can play a role in the development of an eating disorder 
• The pros and cons of conventional treatment for IBS
• Gut directed hypnotherapy 
• Misconceptions around hypnotherapy 

Connect with Rachel.

Dr. Rachel Evans is a psychologist, hypnotherapist and eating disorder survivor. She brings together academic knowledge and theories, therapeutic skills and personal experience for a unique perspective on eating disorder recovery. Rachel helps ambitious women to stop restricting, bingeing and purging. and to feel comfortable in their body.

https://eatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/

https://www.instagram.com/rachel.evans.phd/

https://www.facebook.com/rachel.evans.phd

Connect with Helen.

Helen Brooks is an award-winning Clinical Hypnotherapist and IBS Transformation Coach with a Degree in Applied Psychology. She specialises in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome through an evidence-based approach combining gut-directed hypnotherapy, psychology and wellness coaching. 

www.thetummywhisperer.co.uk

https://www.instagram.com/thetummywhisperer/

Ash Seruya is a psychotherapist, artist, and storyteller. They are passionate about fat positivity, Health at Every Size, trauma-informed eating disorder treatment, weight stigma, social justice, ADHD treatment, harm reduction, and the messy, complex reality that is being in a human in this world. 

In this episode we discuss:

• What are the signs or symptoms of ADHD?
•  How is ADHD typically treated/managed and the impact this has on disordered eating
• What a weight inclusive approach to ED recovery would look like for someone with ADHD
• Helpful questions to ask when looking for a therapist
• The use of cannabis to manage ADHD

Connect with Rachel.

Dr. Rachel Evans is a psychologist, hypnotherapist and eating disorder survivor. She brings together academic knowledge and theories, therapeutic skills and personal experience for a unique perspective on eating disorder recovery. Rachel helps ambitious women to stop restricting, bingeing and purging. and to feel comfortable in their body.

https://eatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/

https://www.instagram.com/rachel.evans.phd/

https://www.facebook.com/rachel.evans.phd

Connect with Ash.

Ash Seruya is a psychotherapist, artist, and storyteller living and working in the Westchester and New York metropolitan area. They are passionate about fat positivity, Health at Every Size, trauma-informed eating disorder treatment, weight stigma, social justice, ADHD treatment, harm reduction, and the messy, complex reality that is being in a human in this world. They share more of their creative projects on Instagram.

https://ashleymseruya.com/ 

https://www.instagram.com/badashtherapy/

Sophie Killip is a Therapist and Coach who specialises in eating disorder recovery and body image healing. She completed her master's degree in the US and lived there for several years during her early 20s before returning home to England. She currently works in private practice, a university counselling service, and an inpatient treatment centre for young people who are recovering from anorexia.

In this episode we discuss:

• Sophie’s relationship with her body and food throughout her life.
• Factors that impact body image for teenagers and young adults.
• The normalisation of diet culture in our society.
• How we define body image.
• What positive body image actually is.
• Body acceptance vs body neutrality.
• Ways to improve body image.
• Taking the power back from trying to get the ‘perfect picture’.
• Meal support sessions and ERP snacks.

Affirmations

• My body is an instrument, not an ornament.
• I am so much more than my body.
• I’m worthy and loveable without needing to change my body.

Connect with Rachel.

Dr. Rachel Evans is a psychologist, hypnotherapist and eating disorder survivor. She brings together academic knowledge and theories, therapeutic skills and personal experience for a unique perspective on eating disorder recovery. Rachel helps ambitious women to stop restricting, bingeing and purging. and to feel comfortable in their body.

https://eatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/

https://www.instagram.com/rachel.evans.phd/

https://www.facebook.com/rachel.evans.phd

Connect with Sophie.

https://www.instagram.com/_eatingdisordertherapist/

https://mailchi.mp/6f32bc2acd3a/guidedjournal

Hannah Cartwright is a Registered Associate Nutritionist (ANutr) certified with the Association for Nutrition, UK. She has a Masters degree in Human Nutrition, Bachelor degree in Psychology, and has completed accredited nutritional counselling courses in Disordered Eating and Body Image. She works with clients on a 1:1 basis to improve their relationship with food, overcome disordered eating thoughts and behaviours and find food freedom. She also gives talks in schools on body image, social media and diet culture.

In this episode we discuss:

• Hannah's experience of anorexia and the contributing factors including anxiety about moving schools, getting braces, food rules, weight loss and body image difficulties.
• Finding inspiration and taking the reigns in recovery.
• Lockdown and eating disorders; the possible impact of feeling out of control, social media and fitness challenges.
• How we got to where we are in our careers working with clients in recovery from an eating disorder.
• Algorithms promoting questionable content on social media.
• Hannah's work making an impact in schools speaking about diet culture, body image, and social media. Plus the one thing that she would want young people to know about social media.
• How we often compare our life to photos on social media and how we could think differently about the photos that we see.

Connect with Rachel.

Dr. Rachel Evans is a psychologist, hypnotherapist and eating disorder survivor. She brings together academic knowledge and theories, therapeutic skills and personal experience for a unique perspective on eating disorder recovery. Rachel helps ambitious women to stop restricting, bingeing and purging. and to feel comfortable in their body.

https://eatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/

https://www.instagram.com/rachel.evans.phd/

https://www.facebook.com/rachel.evans.phd

Connect with Hannah.

https://www.instagram.com/_hannahcartwrightnutrition/

https://www.hannahcartwrightnutrition.com/

In this episode I am joined by Rannveig Sigurðardóttir a lawyer, author and mother from Iceland who has recovered from an eating disorder and wants to share her story to reduce the shame.

We discuss:

- Using food for comfort

- The fear of gaining weight

- How eating disorders can make you feel like an addict

- Finding healthy coping mechanisms

- The journey of recovery

- Weight changes with pregnancy

- The power of hearing similar stories of recovery

For context, this episode was recorded in November 2021 and I have since had my little boy.

Connect with Rachel.

Dr. Rachel Evans is a psychologist, hypnotherapist and eating disorder survivor. She brings together academic knowledge and theories, therapeutic skills and personal experience for a unique perspective on eating disorder recovery. Rachel helps ambitious women to stop restricting, bingeing and purging. and to feel comfortable in their body.

https://eatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/

https://www.instagram.com/rachel.evans.phd/

https://www.facebook.com/rachel.evans.phd

Connect with Rannveig.

https://www.instagram.com/rannveigborg/

Not a clickbait title, I actually do! So you'll be hearing me mention him in future episodes of the podcast.