Eating Disorder and Body Dysmorphia Recovery with Elle Mace

Today, I’m talking to Elle Mace – Coach and Mentor, Intuitive Eating Coach and Nutrition and Weight Management Coach. Elle is also training with the National Centre for Eating Disorders gaining therapeutic skills to support people struggling with eating disorders and disordered eating. Previously, Elle has worked as a personal trainer and aerobics instructor, having a passion for health and fitness.

In the past, Elle struggled with an unhealthy relationship with food and her body, this starting at the tender age of ten years old, when she received unwanted comments about her body.  Clearly, this had a huge impact on Elle’s body image and self-esteem, and she began to starve herself, and then understandably fell into binge eating. Then, over several years, she fell into destructive eating disorder cycles impacting her physical and mental wellbeing.

Fast forward a few years, and Elle decided that ‘enough was enough’. She had to free herself from the food demons and fall back in love with her body and with herself. It wasn’t an easy journey. It took much strength, determination and self-care – and bravely moving away from the seductions of dieting.

I’m pleased to say that today, Elle is in a very different place. She now uses her experience, qualifications and knowledge to help others heal their relationship with food, their bodies and ultimately themselves. She brings much passion and enthusiasm in her work in supporting others, after walking this path herself and knowing that real recovery is possible.

In this episode, Elle talks about her healing journey in eating disorder recovery – through anorexia, binge eating, orthorexia, bulimia and body dysmorphia, spanning 17 years. She considers early possible influences and reflects on first steps in opening up and getting support. Elle then goes onto share the crucial steps that were needed for her healing. This is an episode to inspire hope and motivation for recovery. I hope that you enjoy the conversation.

To find out more about Elle:

https://www.ellemace.com/

Instagram: @iamellemace

The Recover Clinic (today’s advert) www.therecoverclinic.co.uk/edprogram

Bulimia Recovery - Yes, it’s Possible, Even After 23 years! With Eva (Reverse Bulimia with Eva)

Today I’m talking to Eva – an artist, intersectional feminist and a Parisian working mother of three teenagers. Eva is 41 years old and has been struggling with bulimia for 23 years, for most of her adult life. She has tried every possible method to seek recovery, from science-based approaches to the more obscure, but remained stuck for a very long time, in destructive cycles of bulimia. Around 18 months ago, Eva discovered some coaching tools mainly inspired by Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, plus adding in her own somatic tools in the recovery process. This subsequently led her to a breakthrough in her healing journey towards freedom from the eating disorder. 
Today, Eva is passionate about supporting others in bulimia recovery. She believes in a transdiagnostic approach and she treats each person as unique in their experience and story, in her coaching work, drawing on evidence based research in neuroscience and psychology. Eva supports her clients alongside therapists and doctors. And she truly believes that coaching is complementary to this process and offers such a powerful tool to help people become empowered in their recovery and take back their lives.

In this episode, Eva talks about her recovery journey describing in detail, the tools that have helped and hindered. This is an inspiring conversation to offer hope for anyone who is struggling with an eating disorder and to know that recovery is possible. I hope that you enjoy the conversation.



To find out more about Eva: -

Instagram: @reverse_bulimia_with_eva  

Navigating health as the Elder Woman, and Ditching the Weighing Scales for Good, with Debra Benfield

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

How Emotional Eating Impacts our Hormones, with Emotional Eating, Digestive and Hormone Expert, Amber Romaniuk

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

Eating Disorder Recovery, No More Good and Bad Foods and Finding Body Acceptance with Brittany Frino (Actively You)

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.        

Not a Podcast Episode - About my Instagram

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.

7 Tips to Improve your Body Image, as the Sun Shines

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    

How to Manage your Environment in Diet Culture, to Improve Body Image

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

Embracing Intuitive Eating Principles in Eating Disorder Recovery, with Cassie Barnard (Embody Health London)

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.

Finding your Identity in Eating Disorder Recovery

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.