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 supporting people in feeling at peace with food, eating, and their bodies. Debra is also a Registered Yoga Teacher, Certified in Curvy Yoga, Accessible Yoga, and Trauma-Sensitive Yoga and has some Prescence-Based Coaching experience, which she integrates into her work. Debra has discovered the transformative power of somatic practices and yoga along with embodied and intuitive eating principles. With a focus on trauma-informed care and nourishing your inner child, she offers individual and family nutritional therapy, as well as group programs, workshops and retreats. When entering her 60s, 3 years ago, Debra started researching best practices for ageing with vitality and ease. Sadly, there was precious little out there which didn’t focus on striving for maintenance of a youthful appearance, and of course controlling weight. This inspired Debra to create something different and she is now developing a new program for Pro-Aging without this detrimental focus.   In this episode today, we explore the fantastic work Debra is doing in helping people heal and to develop a healthy relationship with food, their bodies and themselves, with a particular focus on the ‘elder woman’ (over 55), and stepping into this place with empowerment and wisdom. I hope that you enjoy the conversation.   To find out more about Debra: - Website: www.debrabenfield.com Instagram @dlbenfieldrdn This episode is brought to you by the National Centre for Eating Disorders (NCFED) - 0845 838 2040; www.eating-disorders.org.uk  

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 over 88 countries. She was featured on TV Personality Whitney Port’s podcast and has also appeared on local TV 50 times in the last three years alone. Amber overcame her own emotional eating, after gaining and losing more than 1000 lbs and spending over $50,000 on binge foods and spending 5 years balancing her hormones and digestion. Now she helps others achieve Body Freedom™ so they have the confidence and health to create amazing lives. If you want to hear Amber’s recovery story, do listen to her previous episode on this podcast. The link is in the show notes below. In this episode, Amber explores how emotional eating impacts our hormones. She shares a wealth of information around hormones and stress, the impact on the thyroid, and the reproductive and digestive systems. Amber also talks about mindset changes, setting boundaries, forming healthy habits and self-love, as all fundamental tools in this process. This is a fascinating episode which will empower and educate you to think about emotional eating in a whole new way. I hope that you enjoy the conversation.   To find out more about Amber: - Website: https://amberapproved.ca/ The No Sugarcoating Podcast: https://amberapproved.ca/podcast/g Instagram: @amberromaniuk Amber’s earlier episode on the podcast: -https://harrietfrew.podbean.com/e/overcoming-emotional-eating-healing-the-gut-the-seduction-of-weight-loss-and-self-care-with-amber-romaniuk/ The Recover Clinic (today’s advert) www.therecoverclinic.co.uk/edprogram        

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 Actively You in 2017 after her own life was transformed through changing her relationship with food and exercise.  Britt used to lean towards restrictive dieting and an ‘all or nothing’ relationship with eating and movement. This had severe consequences for her physical and mental health. In the podcast today.   Britt shares the ups and downs of her story, along with her transformative tips and strategies to finding peace with food and much greater body acceptance. She delivers some inspiring tips that you can put into practice today, to bring about change. If you struggle with perfectionism or negative body thoughts, this is an episode for you. I hope that you enjoy the conversation. To find out more about Britt:  https://www.activelyyou.com.au/ Instagram: @activelyyou_   INTUITIVE EATING ONLINE COURSE - JUBILEE OFFER - EXTENDED 50% off with the code QUEEN - my 10 Steps to Intuitive Eating Course https://tinyurl.com/rr2jec7z In this, I walk you through my steps to embracing intuitive eating – sharing much of the work that I do with my therapy clients. It’s 29 lectures, 25 videos and email support throughout.  Do take advantage of this offer!   My new Instagram I have started a new Instagram account: @theeatingdisordertherapist_ as my old one has been hacked. Please do follow and share.        

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 are exposed and bodies are on show. It can sadly create much angst and social isolation. This episode will give you practical tools to feel inspired and work on your thinking and behaviours to improve your body image significantly. I hope that you enjoy it and feel inspired by these tips! COURSE OFFER! 10 Steps to Intuitive Eating Course: https://tinyurl.com/rr2jec7z - use the code QUEEN to gain 50% off.   Check out: - Love This Food Thing Podcast https://www.lovethisfoodthing.com/ Instagram: @lovethisfoodthing

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 influences are positive. But it is likely that many are having a negative impact too. And particularly on your body image. It’s very helpful to become more mindful of your surroundings so that you can consciously consider the people, social media and other messages that could be powerfully influencing you. You can then set boundaries and decide how you can protect your body image and mental health better. This episode talks you through doing this. I hope that you find it helpful!   Resources: Book: 'Perfectly Imperfect – compassionate strategies to cultivate a positive body image', by Amy Harman   This episode is brought to you by the National Centre for Eating Disorders (NCFED) - 0845 838 2040; www.eating-disorders.org.uk  

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 behaviour change to help clients effectively implement powerful and practical tools to cultivate self-kindness and body acceptance.  Growing up in sunny Perth, Western Australia, she has a down to earth attitude, and a kind and caring nature, making anyone feel at ease. Registered with the Health and Care Professions Council, Cassie obtained a Master of Nutrition and Dietetics from Edith Cowan University. She also holds a Diploma in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), is a Certified Intuitive Eating Counsellor, Certified Pilates Instructor and is a Monash University Certified FODMAP clinician.   Before establishing Embody Health London, Cassie worked as the Lead Dietitian at a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS), supporting patients with Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, Binge Eating Disorder and Other Specified Feeding and Eating Disorders (OSFED).  In this episode, Cassie talks about all things Intuitive eating, including when to start this in eating disorder recovery, which Intuitive Eating Principles you can begin with and practical strategies to put these into practice.  She talks about the common pitfalls which people face when experimenting with Intuitive Eating and also explains some of the key research in this area. Cassie has genuine warmth and empathy, with an infectious passion for supporting people with eating difficulties, which radiates through this conversation. I hope that you enjoy the episode. To find out more about Cassie and Embody Health London: - https://embodyhealthlondon.com/ Instagram: @cassiebarnard_dietian; @embodyhealthlondon_ Mindy Gorman-Plutzer’s Freedom Promise https://the-freedom-promise.mykajabi.com/say-goodbye-landing-page - simply register with the code PODCAST.

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. It gives hope and inspiration for a more enriching life in line with your values. It gives you permission to engage with your dreams. I hope that you enjoy the episode.

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 may feel fluffy and counter-productive. You may expect yourself to 'just get on with it', and to not attend to your inner feelings and vulnerabilities. But the research shows that these fears are unfounded. By becoming more self-compassionate, this can set the stage for better health, relationships, and general well-being. And self-compassion yields a number of benefits including lowering levels of anxiety and depression, raising self-esteem and building better body image. What's not to like? So if you're feeling skeptical about self-compassion but interested to dip your toe into the water, this episode is one for you. It references work by Kristen Neff, Paul Gilbert and Ken Goss. I hope that you find it helpful.

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 mental and physical health and what happens, when the human body is deprived of quality nutrition. Jake describes his previous relationship with food as ‘abysmal’. Jake had a turning point in his recovery, being exhausted with the never-ending cycle of hospitalisations, he decided to focus on moving away from the illness, and towards different goals and dreams. Exposure therapy – which he will be talking about more in this episode, was an integral part of this. If this didn’t all seem enough to contend with, Jake then developed a Grade 3 Frontal Lobe Astrocytoma brain tumour. This required an urgent brain operation and subsequent radiotherapy treatment, where he lost all his hair and had extremely poor energy, mental clarity and tiredness. After this, Jake’s career goal was to educate himself on using nutrition as medicine for the human body. Despite suffering from multiple seizures, he soldiered on and completed a Bachelor of Health Science (Nutrition & Dietetic Medicine degree) in September 2021 graduating with DUX Honours. It is now Jake’s life mission to assist individuals to restore, rebalance and reinvigorate their health by using evidence-based medicine principles for long term longevity.   This is a truly inspiring conversation and demonstrates the hope and possibility for recovery for anyone who has experienced an eating disorder or other health condition. I hope that you enjoy the conversation. To find out more about Jake: - Website: https://nutritionlongevity.wixsite.com/yourhealth Facebook and Instagram: @nutritionlongevity