The Eating Disorder Therapist

In this video, I do a deep dive into my 9 biggest lessons in eating disorder recovery. I explore: -

1. The importance of holding onto hope and pursuing different recovery routes, leaning into self-trust.

2. Symptoms work might need to happen first, to get out of restriction and all the mental and physical consequences of this.

3. The value of regular eating and balanced meals.

4. Reintroducing forbidden foods with safety and structure.

5. Dealing with the roots of the problem and processing emotional issues and trauma.

6. Softening the inner critic and working to build self-compassion.

7. Building robust body image.

8. The importance of healthy relationships.

9. Sculpting a life that is fulfiling and purposeful, beyond the eating disorder.

🌐 If you're looking for more support in your recovery journey, you can explore my work here: https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/

 💬 Have you used psychological formulation? What do you think about it as a tool?

Share your thoughts in the comments below.

📱 Food Freedom App: https://studio.com/apps/harriet/freedomfood

🎙 Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-eating-disorder-therapist/id1499476074

 

🔔 Subscribe to YouTube for weekly eating disorder recovery support, therapy insights, and real conversations about food and healing: https://www.youtube.com/@theeatingdisordertherapist?sub_confirmation=1

Online Courses:

Fitness Lovers Guide to Food Freedom https://food-freedom-coach.teachable.com/p/radical-self-care-and-building-your-thriving-eating-disorder-therapy-practice

Breaking Free From Bulimia: https://food-freedom-coach.teachable.com/p/intuitive-eating-beginners-course4

 Professional Training:

 Eating Disorders Training: https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/eating-disorders-training-with-harriet-frew.html

Body Image Training: https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/body-image-training-with-harriet-frew.html

📲 Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theeatingdisordertherapist/ -

 

Welcome to the official Podcast channel of Harriet Frew, The Eating Disorder Therapist.* This channel is dedicated to supporting you in finding peace with food, improving your relationship with eating, and overcoming disordered eating. My aim is to create a space that feels safe, informative, and encouraging, where recovery is not only possible, but realistic for anyone willing to take those steps.

➡️ I’m a BACP qualified therapist with over 20 years of experience working in eating disorders, and I’m also an expert by experience, having fully recovered from bulimia nervosa. This allows me to bring both professional knowledge and personal understanding into the work that I share here. On this channel, you’ll find a combination of solo episodes and conversations with guests. I speak with individuals about their recovery journeys, interview professionals working in eating disorders and mental health, and share practical tools, insights, and reflections from the therapy room that you can begin applying in your own life.

 

#HarrietFrew #TheEatingDisorderTherapist #EatingDisorderRecovery #Undereating #FoodFreedomJourney #BingeEatingRecovery #MentalHealthSupport #BodyImageHealing #RecoveryIsPossible #FoodObsessions #EmotionalEating #IntuitiveEating #HealingJourney #TherapyInsights #RecoveryJourney #RecoveryisPossible

This episode does a deep dive into understanding the psychology of your eating disorder, looking at predisposing factors, core beliefs, triggers and perpetuating factors. It is loosely based on a Cognitive Behaviour Therapy model.

 

Find out more about my work: -

My YouTube channel

Food Freedom App - https://studio.com/apps/harriet/freedomfood

Fitness Lovers Guide to Food Freedom - https://food-freedom-coach.teachable.com/p/radical-self-care-and-building-your-thriving-eating-disorder-therapy-practice

Breaking Free From Bulimia Online Course - https://food-freedom coach.teachable.com/p/intuitive-eating-beginners-course4

Eating Disorders Training for Professionals - https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/eating-disorders-training-with-harriet-frew.html

Body Image Training for Professionals - https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/body-image-training-with-harriet-frew.html

My website - https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk

 

 

#formulation #psychology #foodfreedom #eatingdisorderrecovery #relationshipwithfood #eatingdisorderrecovery #therapist #therapisttools #cbt

Today, I'm talking to Professor Charlotte Markey, 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 scholarly articles and chapters about health issues.

Charlotte is also an experienced book author, having published The Body Image Book series (The Body Image Book for Girls in 2020; The Body Image Book for Boys in 2022, and Adultish: The Body Image Book for Life in 2024). She also co-edited the 3-volume Encyclopedia of Mental Health (2023). She writes regularly for news outlets such as Psychology Today and is often interviewed for TV, news articles, and podcasts including the NY Times, Washington Post, and NBC.

Today, Charlotte is back to talk about her NEW and IMPROVED Body Image Book for Girls: Love Yourself and Grow Up Fearless This episode will give you a deep dive into body image with tips and inspiration to feel better in your own body and to support your young people too.

To get a copy of Charlotte's book: -

https://www.thebodyimagebook.com/ 

https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/body-image-book-for-girls/dr-charlotte-markey/9E761C14D5765803C588A14B322DE3B5

 

Find out more about my work: -

My YouTube channel

Food Freedom App - https://studio.com/apps/harriet/freedomfood

Fitness Lovers Guide to Food Freedom - https://food-freedom-coach.teachable.com/p/radical-self-care-and-building-your-thriving-eating-disorder-therapy-practice

Breaking Free From Bulimia Online Course - https://food-freedom coach.teachable.com/p/intuitive-eating-beginners-course4

Eating Disorders Training for Professionals - https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/eating-disorders-training-with-harriet-frew.html

Body Image Training for Professionals - https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/body-image-training-with-harriet-frew.html

My website - https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk

 

#bodyimage #bodyimagebooks #charlottemarkey #foodfreedom #eatingdisorderrecovery #relationshipwithfood #eatingdisorderrecovery

 

In this episode, I explore shifting identity in eating disorder recovery, focusing on James Clear's model from his life changing book, Atomic Habits.

James talks about three levels of change including: 1) Surface level outcomes 2) Processes and 3) Identity.

For sustained changed to occur, someone's identity needs to shift.  I hope that you find it helpful.

 

Find out more about my work: -

My YouTube channel

Food Freedom App - https://studio.com/apps/harriet/freedomfood

Fitness Lovers Guide to Food Freedom - https://food-freedom-coach.teachable.com/p/radical-self-care-and-building-your-thriving-eating-disorder-therapy-practice

Breaking Free From Bulimia Online Course - https://food-freedom coach.teachable.com/p/intuitive-eating-beginners-course4

Eating Disorders Training for Professionals - https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/eating-disorders-training-with-harriet-frew.html

Body Image Training for Professionals - https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/body-image-training-with-harriet-frew.html

My website - https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk

 

 

#jamesclear #atomichabits #foodfreedom #eatingdisorderrecovery #relationshipwithfood #eatingdisorderrecovery

Today, I have a very special guest. I’m talking to Geneen Roth. Many of you will have heard of Geneen and likely love her writing and teaching.

Geneen has written eleven books, including multiple New York Times bestsellers. She has led workshops and retreats attended by thousands of students. She has appeared on Oprah, Good Morning America, and many others and most importantly has helped shape how multiple generations understand emotional eating, so people who once felt trapped, now feel free.

Geneen’s work has long examined the relational and emotional roots of disordered eating. Her new book, LOVE FINALLY, is out on April 21st, 2026 and it explores the lifelong mother daughter bond and how early attachment patterns can shape experiences of hunger, control, self-worth, and care, often resurfacing during midlife or in other developmental transitions.

In today’s conversation, I’m going to explore with Geneen how inherited relational dynamics intersect with eating disorder patterns. Geneen will talk more about her own journey of healing, particularly in her relationship with her mother, and how today, she has truly shifted old distorted conclusions and stories held onto from the past, which were unconsciously shaping her life and worth. To now finding a place of profound healing and peace today.

If you're struggling with your own healing, with difficult emotions surfacing from the past, tangled up in old stories and beliefs. If you're longing to escape from the old patterns and to truly move towards a place of forgiveness, without shortcutting the vital healing. Then this episode is one for you. I hope that you enjoy it.

 

To find out more about Geneen and to order her book: -

Website: https://geneenroth.com/

Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Love-Finally-Untangling-Between-Daughters/dp/0593733738

Substack: https://cookiesandconsciousness.substack.com/

 

Find out more about my work: -

My YouTube channel

Food Freedom App - https://studio.com/apps/harriet/freedomfood

Fitness Lovers Guide to Food Freedom - https://food-freedom-coach.teachable.com/p/radical-self-care-and-building-your-thriving-eating-disorder-therapy-practice

Breaking Free From Bulimia Online Course - https://food-freedom coach.teachable.com/p/intuitive-eating-beginners-course4

Eating Disorders Training for Professionals - https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/eating-disorders-training-with-harriet-frew.html

Body Image Training for Professionals - https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/body-image-training-with-harriet-frew.html

My website - https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk

This video does a deep dive into the impact of undereating, looking at physical, emotional and social costs.  I hope that you find it helpful.

 

Find out more about my work: -

My YouTube channel

Food Freedom App - https://studio.com/apps/harriet/freedomfood

Fitness Lovers Guide to Food Freedom - https://food-freedom-coach.teachable.com/p/radical-self-care-and-building-your-thriving-eating-disorder-therapy-practice

Breaking Free From Bulimia Online Course - https://food-freedom coach.teachable.com/p/intuitive-eating-beginners-course4

Eating Disorders Training for Professionals - https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/eating-disorders-training-with-harriet-frew.html

Body Image Training for Professionals - https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/body-image-training-with-harriet-frew.html

My website - https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk

 

 

 

 

 

 

#mentalhealthawareness #foodfreedom #eatingdisorderrecovery #relationshipwithfood #hungry #undereating #dietaryrestraint #countingcalories

Learn to trust your body again by tuning into hunger and fullness signals. The podcast explains how to do it. I hope that you find it helpful.

Find out more about my work: -

My YouTube channel

Food Freedom App - https://studio.com/apps/harriet/freedomfood

Fitness Lovers Guide to Food Freedom - https://food-freedom-coach.teachable.com/p/radical-self-care-and-building-your-thriving-eating-disorder-therapy-practice

Breaking Free From Bulimia Online Course - https://food-freedom coach.teachable.com/p/intuitive-eating-beginners-course4

Eating Disorders Training for Professionals - https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/eating-disorders-training-with-harriet-frew.html

Body Image Training for Professionals - https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/body-image-training-with-harriet-frew.html

My website - https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk

 

 

#mentalhealthawareness #foodfreedom #eatingdisorderrecovery #relationshipwithfood #hungry #hungersignals

The MANTRA flower from the Maudsley Treatment for Anorexia Nervosa is a valuable tool in eating disorder recovery. I talk about it here.

If you would like a visual representation of the flower, please click on my Substack or YouTube links below.

 

Find out more about my work: -

My YouTube channel

Food Freedom App - https://studio.com/apps/harriet/freedomfood

Fitness Lovers Guide to Food Freedom - https://food-freedom-coach.teachable.com/p/radical-self-care-and-building-your-thriving-eating-disorder-therapy-practice

Breaking Free From Bulimia Online Course - https://food-freedom coach.teachable.com/p/intuitive-eating-beginners-course4

Eating Disorders Training for Professionals - https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/eating-disorders-training-with-harriet-frew.html

Body Image Training for Professionals - https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/body-image-training-with-harriet-frew.html

My website - https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk

 

#maudsleymantra #mantraflower #mantra #mentalhealthawareness #foodfreedom #eatingdisorderrecovery #relationshipwithfood

 

 

Food Freedom App - https://studio.com/apps/harriet/freedomfood

The pursuit of thinness and body perfection is raging as strongly as ever. With popular podcasts, YouTube, and TikTok influencers delivering extreme food regimes daily; countless people using the skinny jab; AI making online beauty standards even more unachievable; it’s no wonder that the average human spends many minutes of each day obsessing over food choices and body proportions.

You may not have a full-blown eating disorder fitting neatly into a diagnostic box. But, if you are experiencing high levels of body distress and intense preoccupation around food, then this needs to be taken seriously, as it will be impacting your mood, body image and life.

Here are 20 disordered eating behaviours that have become normalised in 2026 daily living.

1. Preoccupation with food and body

2. Anxiety about eating the right foods

3. Always being on and off a regime

4. Intense emotion around food

5. Obsessing about weight, leanness, muscularity,

6. Over-exercising

7. Temptation towards more destructive behaviours

8. Filling up on low calorie foods, Pepsi-max, coffee

9. Googling private skinny jab stores at midnight

10. Obsessing over someone else’s food intake

11. Having a whole language around food which is detrimental

12. Thinking that a completely flat stomach is normal

13. Zooming in on other’s people eating and weight loss

14. Watching What I Eat in Day as normal entertainment

15. 1200 kcal meal plans

16. Feeling obsessed with sugar due to restriction

17. Not knowing hunger signals anymore

18. Being starving or overly full

19. Feeling cold, tired, weary, sub-optimal

20. Fantasising about weight loss and the dream life it will create What would you add to the list?

Find out more about my work: -

My YouTube channel

Food Freedom App - https://studio.com/apps/harriet/freedomfood

Fitness Lovers Guide to Food Freedom - https://food-freedom-coach.teachable.com/p/radical-self-care-and-building-your-thriving-eating-disorder-therapy-practice

Breaking Free From Bulimia Online Course - https://food-freedom coach.teachable.com/p/intuitive-eating-beginners-course4

Eating Disorders Training for Professionals - https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/eating-disorders-training-with-harriet-frew.html

Body Image Training for Professionals - https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/body-image-training-with-harriet-frew.html

My website - https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk

#disorderedeating #disorderedeatingrecovery #bingeeatingrecovery #bingeeatinghelp #eatingdisorderrecovery #foodfreedom #eatingdisorderrecovery #relationshipwithfood

This podcast explores orthorexia nervosa and how it can evolve from clean eating. It explains what it is and how to begin to heal from it.  I hope that you find it helpful.

 

To find out more about my work: -

YouTube

Substack

Do check out Food Freedom - my app if you’d like some support. 

Take me to the app!

Buy me a coffee!

New mini course - if you love fitness and struggle with food relationship. Only £22 for 90 minutes of inspiration and tips, plus a workbook.

The Fitness Lover’s Guide to Food Freedom (creating your happiest and healthiest relationship with food). I initially created this for my local gym and decided that more of you might like to access the resources. Do sign up!

To find out more about my work:-

Go to my Website

My new APP! Freedom with Food

Online 10 Steps to Intuitive Eating - a course to help you heal your relationship with food.

Online Breaking Free from Bulimia - a course to help you break free from bulimia nervosa.

Eating Disorders Training for Professionals - training for therapists in working with clients with eating disorders.

Body Image Training for Professionals - training for therapists in working with clients with body image issues.

My YouTube channel

#foodfreedom #eatingdisorderrecovery #orthorexia #orthorexianervosa #cleaneating