In this episode, I will be speaking with London nutritionist and health coach, Marcelle Rose. The number one complaint of people with binge eating, food addiction and emotional eating is usually a digestive one.  That makes sense because the digestive track depends on receiving enough fiber and other nutrients to work well.  Also many of the binge foods or “food fixes” are foods that can cause inflammation in the gut. The gut has also been called “the gut brain” because it is so closely tied...

Research is now showing that something called “attachment styles” may also explain why people with a history of toxic stress related to childhood trauma or to other specific childhood issues (abandonment, neglect, abrupt separation from a parent, frequent changes in caregivers, or lack of caregiver responsiveness) may have food and body image issues.  Individuals who were raised in a family where their parents invalidated their views or feelings are more likely to binge and purge or have...

Stephanie Dodier of “Going Beyond the Food” has been a guest on my podcast many times and our conversations have always been honest and cover a variety of topics.  Today, we talked about the toxicity that exists in the world of eating disorders, black and white thinking, backlash from the medical profession, what it means to really do your own trauma work and how social justice is an important part of healing our relationship with food and our bodies.   In this episode you will learn: Why...

You may have dieting whiplash and just frankly have so much misinformation that you really don’t know what is good for your body and what is not. So you end up eating lots of raw carrots and celery or stick mainly to salads. While there may be kernels of truth in expert nutritional advice, nutritional confusion also contributes to unhealthy eating styles. Joyful eating is about determining what works for you and your body, and learning to eat those foods with joy and without guilt or fear. ...

Food shaming is when someone criticizes or judges what another person is eating.  Food shaming can be intentional but even with unintentional, can lead to guilt, shame and embarrassment.  Constant examination of what you are eating or what someone else is eating are all part of the diet mentality and diet culture.  Diet culture endorses the importance of staying thin which then leads to the compulsion to feel you have to watch every calorie that goes into your mouth and eat foods that fit...

Grief following the death of a loved one is well studied and understood.  Researchers have documented an initial period of numbness, followed by sadness or depression and then reorganization and recovery. Grief in this case is used to describe how we react to loss - physically, emotionally, behaviorally and cognitively.  It is not uncommon when we experience a loss that we default to old behaviors such as binge eating, obsessing about food and emotional eating.  The emotions associated with...

What is trauma? Well, in the past, most people would say, "Trauma is severe abuse or neglect." But our more modern definition of trauma is that trauma is anything that causes you to lose an essential part of yourself – a sense of security or safety, peace or love.  Over 2/3 of children under age 16 reported at least 1 traumatic event by age 16.  What is important to understand is that trauma is common in individuals with substance use disorders and eating disorders.  In fact, a history of...

In the podcast, I interview friend and colleague, Julie Duffy Dillon who is a specialist in Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS).  We discuss the importance of addressing TRUE determinants of health – what makes us healthy and how weight loss does not have to be part of that equation.  We also discuss treatment of PCOS including use of supplements and talk about weight stigma. In this podcast, you will learn: What is PCOS? How does having binge eating, food addiction or emotional eating...

We spend about a third of our adult lives in the workplace.  Work can improve mental health for some individuals – providing them with a sense of meaning and purpose and offering valuable social connections.  However, for individuals with binge eating disorder, food addiction or emotional eating, work can also be a source of stress and stigma that can make their eating disorder worse or can lead to relapse. In this podcast, you will learn: How the workplace can be a trigger for people...

My guest on the podcast today is Ali Shapiro – the creator of Truce with Food® and the Truce Coaching Framework Certification, host of the top-ranked podcast Insatiable, a holistic nutritionist, integrated health coach and rebel with a serious cause.  My interview with Ali covers a wide range of topics including how the body positivity movement has been co-opted, how her struggle with childhood cancer helped her explore her relationship with her body and more!   In this podcast you will...

Aaron Flores is a dietician and health at every size, body trust and intuitive eating advocate who works with individuals with eating disorders, including males.  While eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder often are seen as affecting mainly women and girls, studies show that men and boys are also impacted.  Binge Eating Disorder, in particular affects males almost as much as it affects females.    In this podcast, you will learn: How are men with eating...

This is the third and final part of our series on RDS.  In Episode #112 and #114, I discussed what RDS is and how it could impact your eating behaviors as well as what caused RDS and how sugar addiction that you’ve read about is related to RDS.  In this episode I will be discussing what steps you can take to heal your brain from RDS and that will positively affect your recovery from food addiction, binge eating and emotional eating.   In this episode, you will learn:   What is the...

In episode #112 I talked to you about Reward Deficiency Syndrome – what is and how it may contribute to food addiction, emotional eating or binge eating.  In this episode, I will discuss the causes of dopamine depletion or reward deficiency syndrome.  I will also talk about how having RDS can affect your preferences for certain foods, cause cravings and lead to unwanted eating behaviors.    In this episode, you will learn: What causes reward deficiency syndrome? How are our eating...

Trauma has been show to increase the risk for eating disorders and addictions.  There has been much research showing that early childhood trauma can really change a person’s life trajectory – causing problems with learning, attention, memory and the ability to regulate emotions.  Despite these traumatic experiences, individuals with trauma are able to live healthy, successful and fulfilling lives.  Healing the trauma is key to healing addictions, eating disorders and other mental health...

You may never have heard about RDS but it may be critical to understanding why your food and body image issues are so difficult to heal from.  If you have binge eating, food addiction or emotional eating, you may have a genetic risk for RDS or early childhood trauma may have increased your risk for RDS.    In this podcast, you will learn: What is reward deficiency syndrome? How can I tell if I have RDS? How does RDS cause food cravings, food obsessions and unwanted binging behaviors?

In this episode, I will share with you some of my personal struggles with the tyranny of the scale.  I will also talk about body shaming and weight stigma especially when it comes from physicians and will give you my responses to and anger about the medical profession which continues to make everything about size.  If you’re struggling with binge eating, emotional eating and food addiction, you may also be experiencing internalized weight stigma.  This can make it more difficult for you to...

Being out of touch with or disconnected from your spirit can lead to spiritual depletion.  Spiritual depletion can exacerbate binge eating, food addiction and emotional eating.  Spiritual emptiness is a sick- ness that has signs and symptoms just like any physical illness. It’s important that you recognize the signs so you can address the causes of spiritual depletion with as much compassion and care as you would any other illness.   In this episode you will learn: What are the signs and...

If you are struggle with food addiction, emotional eating or binge eating, stress can trigger emotions that you may have been regulating with food.  Managing stress without food requires that you learn a new set of skills to use when you’re feeling overwhelmed, worn out, or stressed to the max. Managing stress also requires learning to tap into your body’s wisdom to identify the early warning signs and symptoms of stress, a key first step toward handling stress differently. Stress management...

In this podcast, I will interview Betsy Thurston, a dietician who also specializes in the use of Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy as a unique tool in treating her eating disorder clients.  The founder of IFS, Dr. Richard Schwartz describes IFS as “a powerfully transformative, evidence-based model of psychotherapy.”  We will discuss how she has seen IFS work for her clients who struggle with eating disorders.   In this podcast you will learn: What is Internal Family Systems Therapy?...

If you are dissatisfied with your body, you are not alone.  While having self-doubts is a normal part of being human, if your self-evaluation is primarily dependent on your superficial appearance, your size or shape, that can lead to shame, negative self-talk, suffering and the use of extreme and harmful behaviors to reach the ever-elusive thin ideal.  As well, it’s important to realize that trying to “hate yourself thin” can put stress on your body and increase belly fat and risk for...

Physical activity has been co-opted by the diet industry just as food has – in other words, only good to get you to lose weight.  No wonder thinking about body movement may send you into a fit of resistance or rebellion or make you feel guilty – feeling you’re not doing enough or not doing the right kind of activity that the experts say you should.  If you struggle with binge eating, food addiction or emotional eating, you may struggle in finding a way to move your body that doesn’t feel like...

The first goal of therapy if you have binge eating, compulsive overeating, food addiction or emotional eating should be interrupting any current unwanted behaviors, such as bingeing, overeating, obsessing about food or your body.  But these behaviors are so automatic and so linked to emotions that often are not acknowledged or even recognized, that it’s hard to stop or interrupt them.  There are skills that can help you if you want to move on and just don’t know how. In this podcast you will...