Esther Cohen is an intuitive wisdom keeper, eating psychologist and guide for embodied wellbeing. Her work delves into the root cause of illness..."I think we can trace our disordered eating back to our ancestry and the past few 100 years where women in particular were put in the role that the thinner you were the more godlike or angelic you were. Numerous religious organisations had young women as altar angels and they were starved to death.’... and explores ancestral and familial trauma and importantly the voice behind the symptom.“So much of our alternative thinking goes back to our origins. It’s our intuitive wisdom and knowing this that we have as our inheritance which has been sublimated by scientific research which is now looking at all the natural processes and realising they do make us healthier and happier.’Tune in to hear Esther’s enlightening perspective on trauma, eating disorder behaviours and how to reclaim our innate wisdom for self healing to nourish ourselves with loving kindness.We had a fascinating chat. I loved it!I concur that loving kindness is the way and way out from ED and addictive behaviours.DATE CHANGES FROM THIS EPISODE:Esther will now be at the Silver Bells Conference at The Falcon, Northampton (UK) on 22nd-23rd July, 2023 presenting on the panel and running a workshop.She returns to The Falcon to host her Wild Contemplation Retreat from October 6th - 12th, 2023.See The Falcon here for details! EPISODE TIMESTAMPS:[08:30] - Ancestral Trauma[20:15] - Voice behind the symptom[35:00] - Trauma in the system[40:00] - Exercise: in pausing CONNECT WITH ESTHER:Esther’s WebsiteEsther’s InstagramTHANK YOU FOR LISTENING!If you enjoyed this episode, please let us know your thoughts on Instagram @lovethisfoodthing and consider leaving an honest review and rating for the show - we’d be extremely grateful. We also just opened the doors to our Creative Recovery Accelerator™ course. If you’re interested in hearing more about how you can combat your ED and addictive behaviours and stay on track with your recovery journey, start or accelerate further…. Head here to check out all of the details: lovethisfoodthing.com/accelerator

“The therapists are identifying themselves as male, choosing  this career as a second career, and they want to create spaces for other males to say, let’s talk about what’s going on with your relationship with food, your body, how you embody yourself in this world. Let’s talk about vulnerability and how fragile you feel when you see this “perfect” male body.”Practitioner and educator Maria returns to discuss her doctoral thesis and pilot study on the embodied lived experience of male therapists working with male clients with eating disorder behaviours.The societal, cultural and historical lenses with which we use to view and objectify men and women differ hugely along with our expectations.Most of our knowledge and understanding around ED behaviours comes via female therapists and their female clients. 34 % of people who experience ED disorders/behaviours are male.Tune in and find out how Maria’s “hermeneutic and phenomenological exploration” is shedding light on previously under researched and considered ways of being in the therapy room and what exactly is going on for male therapists and male clients struggling with ED behaviours.This is needed and important research that offers invaluable insight in support of men. You can also catch Maria in Season 2 Episode 13, The Homebody.  EPISODE TIMESTAMPS:[04:46] - Maria explains origins of her research[11:00] - Research project through a philosophical lens[28:00] - Research initial findings[34:15] - Embodiment of male therapists with their male clients CONNECT WITH MARIA: Maria’s InstagramTHANK YOU FOR LISTENING!If you enjoyed this episode, please let us know your thoughts on Instagram @lovethisfoodthing and consider leaving an honest review and rating for the show - we’d be extremely grateful. We also just opened the doors to our Creative Recovery Accelerator™ course. If you’re interested in hearing more about how you can combat your ED and addictive behaviours and stay on track with your recovery journey, start or accelerate further…. Head here to check out all of the details: lovethisfoodthing.com/accelerator

“The things that we do (and the behaviours that we take on) to cover our wound and our shadow can be complete masks. Sometimes when you ask someone how are you they will say, I’m fine. I have to go by their colour, sound, odour, emotion and pulses to understand what’s going on.”Sarah takes great pleasure in food, although in the past IBS caused her enough stress to render daily living unbearable. But when she encountered acupuncture for the first time, her life changed for the better.Sarah describes her initial experience as “magic” which propelled her onto a new career path as a Five Element Acupuncturist and later Herbalist.  Today, Sarah runs her acupuncture practice in London, UK. Her work is informed by her studies in contemplative psychology and she believes in treating the individual rather than chasing symptoms.Sarah also acts as a regional group coordinator for the British Acupuncture Council.During this episode Sarah explains Five Element Acupuncture and offers us her unique view regarding the self and our relationship with the mind, body and spirit in modern life. She is one of life’s natural healers.If you’re able to see Sarah in person then do. Or tune into this episode with your favourite brew.EPISODE TIMESTAMPS:[10:55] - Microbiome and the Brain[18:40] - Five Element Acupuncture[23:45] - The body keeps the score[32:44] - Semantics around mental health and addiction CONNECT WITH SARAH:Sarah’s WebsiteTHANK YOU FOR LISTENING!If you enjoyed this episode, please let us know your thoughts on Instagram @lovethisfoodthing and consider leaving an honest review and rating for the show - we’d be extremely grateful. We also just opened the doors to our Creative Recovery Accelerator™ course. If you’re interested in hearing more about how you can combat your ED and addictive behaviours and stay on track with your recovery journey, start or accelerate further…. Head here to check out all of the details: lovethisfoodthing.com/accelerator

Sarah Roberts and Phoebe Dale are trainee clinical psychologists completing their Doctorate of Clinical Psychology at Lancaster University.Sarah and Phoebe's area of research is around the “eating disorder voice” - that critical inner voice particular to eating disorders and often missed by eating disorder support services in favour of traditional ‘weight restoring’ methods. It has only recently, in the last decade, even been considered as valid.Sarah and Phoebe want this to change and for the eating disorder voice to be heard, listened to and expressed creatively, be it a story, a song or a picture and to play a key part in the recovery of anyone suffering with eating disorders/behaviours.We think this episode is particularly helpful if you are a young person suffering with an ED or for a parent or carer of someone with an ED. Get involved with their research because it’s important and valid.Hats off to you Sarah and Phoebe!EPISODE TIMESTAMPS:[04:12] - Narratives around eating and the body [22:25] - The eating disorder voice (EDV)[14:50] - Comparisons[33:45] - Phoebe and Sarah’s researchSARAH & PHOEBE’S RESEARCH: Sarah and Phoebe are completing research that explores voice hearing with young women who have or had an eating disorder and they’d love to hear YOUR story!They’re hosting a webinar on Zoom on 4th July, 2023 - 7pm-8:30pm (GMT). Emma Paxton, a live illustrator will be joining the webinar to capture the discussions of the group in a visual creative piece which will be shared with attendees after the webinar. You can take part if:You identify as a womanYou are aged 16-25 years oldYou have experienced hearing voices during an eating disorder Email [email protected] to book a place onto the webinar.They are also gathering individual stories – so if you prefer to share your story through creative means, e.g. artwork, poetry, written or spoken piece, without attending the webinar. You can submit your piece via this link. CONNECT WITH SARAH AND PHOEBE: EDV Study Instagram PageTHANK YOU FOR LISTENING!If you enjoyed this episode, please let us know your thoughts on Instagram @lovethisfoodthing and consider leaving an honest review and rating for the show - we’d be extremely grateful. We also just opened the doors to our Creative Recovery Accelerator™ course. If you’re interested in hearing more about how you can combat your ED and addictive behaviours and stay on track with your recovery journey, start or accelerate further…. Head here to check out all of the details: lovethisfoodthing.com/accelerator

“Thinking of a comparison between psychological profiles of athletes and those with eating disorders... perfectionism, black and white thinking, high levels of self control, self expectations, competitiveness, compulsiveness, repetitive exercise routines...”There are so many parallels.“I don’t think you can be excellent at something without an element of obsessiveness.”Ex-athlete Allie Outram makes a welcome return and we deep dive into exercise when dealing with eating disorders, recovery and Relative Energy Deficiency Syndrome (RED-S).Allie explains RED-S in detail:Who’s at risk?What causes it?And whether weight loss/ED behaviours are a factor?Allie ran competitively at world class level while suffering with an eating disorder.During this time she was captain of the Junior Great British Team, which consisted of six athletes, “shockingly four of us had an eating disorder.”Find out much more about exercise with Allie, why we need to move and how setting the right intention alongside eating disorder behaviours, is key to a healthy life and recovery.Allie really knows her stuff! EPISODE TIMESTAMPS:[02:00] - What exercise means to Allie  [11:58] - Supporting bone density[19:20] - Supporting osteoporosis[21:40] - Relative Energy Deficiency Syndrome (RED-S)CONNECT WITH ALLIE:Allie’s WebsiteTHANK YOU FOR LISTENING!If you enjoyed this episode, please let us know your thoughts on Instagram @lovethisfoodthing and consider leaving an honest review and rating for the show - we’d be extremely grateful. We also just opened the doors to our Creative Recovery Accelerator™ course. If you’re interested in hearing more about how you can combat your ED and addictive behaviours and stay on track with your recovery journey, start or accelerate further…. Head here to check out all of the details: lovethisfoodthing.com/accelerator

“I was a little girl really struggling. I would ring home in tears, I would end every phone call with my mother saying, Mum I love you. And I couldn’t end the phone call until she’d said it back.”Prue was sent to boarding school at age 10 and she was lonely, sad and desperate to return home. Age 12 she became anorexic and was diagnosed as a Type 1 diabetic.“In my mind I thought this is it. This will be the end of this misery but that was not the case. I came home only to be sent back again. I hit rock bottom. I'd lost all control. I think eating disorders are heavily linked with control. I felt like I was in chaos.Prue has spent many years dealing with her eating disorder behaviours and diabetes, manipulating one to hide the other but her discomfort has eased with age  and motherhood.Prue has never spoken about her eating disorders before and she is keen to share how eating disorder behaviours can impact one’s life while juggling a long term health condition. Prue wishes to remain anonymous.I described Prue as brave, and courageous but she preferred,  truthful. She is more than the sum of all these. This is a must listen. EPISODE TIMESTAMPS:[05:00] - Anorexia age 12[14:00] - Diabetes presentation[28:30] - ED’S lessen[36:40] - Over ExercisingTHANK YOU FOR LISTENING!If you enjoyed this episode, please let us know your thoughts on Instagram @lovethisfoodthing and consider leaving an honest review and rating for the show - we’d be extremely grateful. We also just opened the doors to our Creative Recovery Accelerator™ course. If you’re interested in hearing more about how you can combat your ED and addictive behaviours and stay on track with your recovery journey, start or accelerate further…. Head here to check out all of the details: lovethisfoodthing.com/accelerator

Athena grew up in Hong Kong with her Mum cooking fresh food until age thirteen when she went to boarding school in the UK where attitudes were very different. ED behaviours amongst her peers were rife and normalised but Athena stayed, relatively, unaffected. It was the competitive cultures at Oxford and Harvard followed by the establishment of her financial career in the City that really took its toll. She barely ate, over-exercised and suffered from constant exhaustion. Today, Athena teaches Meditation in the psychiatric wards of the Nightingale Hospital, London. She is one of London’s leading Gong and Meditation teachers and listed on Tatler’s Best in Wellness, 2020 and 2023. Athena is known as The Gong Girl. Tune in, and listen because we had an absolute blast!

Jeannette Maw is a Master Certified Coach, founder of Good Vibe Coaching and the Good Vibe University and is a self described “manifesting geek.” Jeannette was raised in a conservative/Christian family who were relaxed around food; it was societal messages concerning diet and “the female body” that riled her. When Jeannette discovered and started using conscious manifestation techniques with great success she left her corporate career and retrained as a coach and made peace with food and her body. If you’re familiar with conscious manifestation, choosing your thoughts and living a conscious life then this episode will delight you. If this topic is new to you then tune in because Jeannette is the real deal and an expert at sharing practical real world methods for practicing conscious manifestation.

Dr Richard Louis Miller – Clinical Psychologist, broadcaster and host of the Mind Body Health and Politics radio programme talks about his relationship with food, impulse control disorders and laudatory work concerning psychedelic/plant medicine and healing. This is our first episode around psychedelic/plant medicine. I believe it is an important and exciting area of research in relation to trauma: ED behaviours and mental health dis-ease. There will be more. Richard makes an excellent starting point! Tune in.

Allie is a former world-class athlete. Motivated by talent, and the desire to make her Dad proud, Allie's athletic career blossomed, alongside a life threatening eating disorder. Allie describes getting well as a long miracle – great friends, therapy and finding her faith all played their part. Tune in and hear about Allie’s inspirational recovery, her work as a psychotherapist and how she stays on track. Allie returns later in Season 6 for a deep dive into sport and exercise during recovery and much more.