BITE BY BITE | Honest Conversations About Eating Disorder Recovery

Welcome back to the Recovery Companion Series. 🎉 

In this episode, Kait and Eric tackle one of the most frustrating and damaging misconceptions in eating disorder treatment → the idea that weight restoration equals recovery.

Kait shares the moment she was discharged from partial hospitalization in 2016 because insurance stopped paying, and what the years that followed actually looked like. Together they unpack why basing discharge and treatment access on weight alone leaves so many people without the support they actually need  and why that gap is a system failure, not a personal one.

They also challenge the language around recovery, what it actually means to be recovered versus recovering, and why you can struggle with any eating disorder at any size. This is the conversation the treatment world needs to have.

Episode takeaways:

• Weight restoration is the tip of the iceberg, not the finish line

• Only around 6% of people with eating disorders are considered underweight

• You can struggle with any eating disorder at any size

• Being discharged from treatment is not the same as being recovered

• Discharge criteria based on weight alone is a system failure

• Recovery is a lifestyle not a destination with a finish line

• An eating disorder thought in recovery does not have to become a behavior

• Language around recovery matters, recovered and in recovery are not the same thing

  
  

Connect with Kait

📸 @bitebybiterecovery

🔗 bitebybiterecovery.org 

📞 Interested in 1:1 recovery coaching? Book your FREE discovery call 

🍒 Kait’s Recovery Resources

Connect with Eric 

📸 @ericpothen 

🔗 Eric’s website 

🎙️ Embracing You

👕 Embrace Wear

In this milestone solo episode, Kait marks 50 episodes of Bite by Bite with a real talk about where the podcast is headed, what her coaching looks like now, and the thing she actually came here to say,  the most common objections she hears from people on the edge of choosing recovery, and what is really behind them.

Kait has heard them all. She has said them all. And in this episode she breaks down what each one actually means when you strip away the eating disorder voice, and why none of them mean what you think they mean.

This episode marks the end of Season One. Bite by Bite will return September 1st, 2026 with Season 2.

Episode takeaways:

• Wondering if you are sick enough is reason enough to get support

• The eating disorder costs more than recovery ever will

• Not recovering before means you need something different,  not that recovery is impossible

• The wrong provider is not a reflection of you

• The eating disorder is what is stealing your time, not recovery

• Fear and forward movement can exist at the same time

• Scared and consistent is what recovery actually looks like

• Being stuck is information,  not a final answer

• The next step just has to be one step toward recovery

Connect with Kait

📸 @bitebybiterecovery

🔗 bitebybiterecovery.org 

📞 Interested in 1:1 recovery coaching? Book your FREE discovery call 

🍒 Kait’s Recovery Resources

Affiliate Links

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Join Kait and Taylor Angelise, registered nutritionist and eating disorder recovery advocate, as they have a conversation that is long overdue. The profound and scientifically backed overlap between eating disorders and addiction.

From compulsive behavior and dopamine-driven cycles to isolation, secrecy, and relapse rates, Taylor and Kait break down why these two struggles share so much more than anyone in traditional treatment is acknowledging. 

In the episode, they also get personal, sharing their own experiences with the way one coping mechanism can quietly replace another when the root cause goes unaddressed. This episode also tackles the hard truth about finding the right provider, why the wrong one can make things worse, and why advocating for yourself, even when you feel like you don't deserve to, might be the most important thing you do in recovery.

This is one of the conversations the treatment world isn't really having yet. Until now.

Episode takeaways:

• Eating disorder brains and addiction brains show nearly identical patterns

• Both are driven by the same dopamine and reward chemistry

• Compulsive behavior is the core overlap between the two

• You can't outthink a chemical reaction it was never about willpower

• When one coping mechanism fades another can quietly take its place

• The wrong provider can set recovery back and  that is not your fault

• Advocating for yourself in the darkest moments is hard but necessary

• The future of eating disorder treatment may look a lot more like addiction treatment

Episode guest: Taylor Angelise is a certified holistic nutritionist and therapeutic practical herbalist based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. She holds an honours diploma from the Institute of Holistic Nutrition with an additional certification in nutrition and mental health, plus formal training in herbal medicine and holistic lab interpretation allowing her to view medical diagnostics through a body, mind, and nervous system lens.

But her work isn't just academic,  it's deeply personal. At 17, Taylor was hospitalized for anorexia nervosa. What followed were years of struggle and frustration as conventional approaches failed to address the root of what was happening in her body and mind. Eventually she moved to Mexico, where she unintentionally found what had been missing all along: safety, connection, nourishment, and a new relationship with food and herself. Healing came not from force, but from understanding the deep connection between the nervous system, nutrition, mental health, and environment.

Taylored Path Nutrition & Herbal Medicine was created for those who feel like they've tried everything and still don't feel at home within themselves. Taylor works with clients across Canada, the United States, and the UK.

📞 Interested in 1:1 recovery coaching? Book your FREE discovery call

Connect with Kait

📸 @bitebybiterecovery

🔗 bitebybiterecovery.org 

🍒 Kait’s Recovery Resources

Connect with Taylor

📸@Tayloredpathnutrition

🔗www.tayloredpathnutrition.ca

📩[email protected] 

UK 📩[email protected] 

Affiliate Links

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Welcome back to the Recovery Companion Series. 🎉 

In this episode Kait and her co-host, Eric, sit down for an honest, unfiltered conversation about what trusting the process in eating disorder recovery actually means and why the phrase alone often does more harm than good.

They break down why resistance to the process is valid, how to find the parts of recovery you can actually buy into, and why showing up even when you're only 2% in still counts as progress. They also explore the all-or-nothing thinking that makes trusting the process feel impossible, and offer a reframe that makes it feel a little more human and a lot less overwhelming.

No toxic positivity. No empty reassurance. Just two recovery coaches with lived experience telling you the truth about what this process actually looks like from the inside.

Episode takeaways:

• You don't have to trust all of it,  find the parts you can

• Resistance to the process is valid and worth naming out loud

• All-or-nothing thinking makes trusting the process harder than it has to be

• Showing up is proof that some part of you is already buying in

• Your 100% looks different every day, and that's okay

• Discomfort means you're moving toward recovery not away from it

• Break it down, what does recovery look like right now, not eventually

• Be where your feet are, not ten miles ahead

Connect with Kait

📸 @bitebybiterecovery

🔗 bitebybiterecovery.org 

📞 Interested in 1:1 recovery coaching? Book your FREE discovery call 

🍒 Kait’s Recovery Resources

Connect with Eric 

📸 @ericpothen 

🔗 Eric’s website 

🎙️ Embracing You

👕 Embrace Wear

📞 Interested in 1:1 recovery coaching? ⁠CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ⁠

You left treatment. You did the hard work. And then you opened your closet,  and nothing fit the same.

This is the conversation nobody in treatment prepares you for. In this episode, Kait sits down with Nicole Garfunkel, personal stylist for people in eating disorder recovery and owner of Styling Confidential, to talk about the part of recovery that gets completely overlooked: getting dressed.

Nicole breaks down why getting dressed is one of the most emotionally loaded daily acts for someone in recovery,  and what to actually do about it. From clearing out a closet full of clothes tied to your eating disorder, to understanding why sizing is completely meaningless, to building a personal style that reflects who you're becoming,  this episode is packed with practical tools wrapped in real body image coaching.

If you've ever stood in front of a full closet and felt like you had nothing to wear, avoided shopping because the dressing room felt like a minefield, or held onto a pair of jeans you haven't fit into in years,  this one's for you.

Episode takeaways:

• Getting dressed is a daily act that deserves intention

• Clothing sizes say nothing about you

• Clearing your closet is part of clearing the disorder

• Your style is allowed to evolve as you recover

• Dress for yourself, not for anyone else

• The small details are what actually make you feel good

  
  

Connect with Kait

📸 @bitebybiterecovery

🔗 bitebybiterecovery.org 

📞 Interested in 1:1 recovery coaching? CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

🍒 Kait’s Recovery Resources

Connect with Nicole

📸 @styling_confidential

🔗 stylingconfidential.com

🎥 @styling_confidential

Affiliate Links

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You've heard Kait talk about recovery. Now meet the person doing the talking.

In this listener-requested episode, Kait pulls back the curtain and answers your questions, the ones about who she actually is outside of Bite by Bite. From growing up on the Cape Cod beaches on the weekends, playing on nationally ranked softball teams, and almost failing freshman college math, to accidentally stumbling into behavior analysis and impulsively launching the Bite by Bite Instagram from a Starbucks parking lot, this is the full picture.

Kait also gets honest about something she spent years beating herself up over: being a board-certified behavior analyst who couldn't "just change her own behavior." If you've ever used your success as evidence that you should be able to fix yourself by now, this episode is for you.

Plus, the origin story of the 🍒 cherry, the coaching experience that finally bridged the gap between knowing and doing, and why recovery doesn't mean you lose the life you want. It means you finally get to have it.

Connect with Kait

📸 @bitebybiterecovery

🔗 bitebybiterecovery.org 

📞 Interested in 1:1 recovery coaching? Book your FREE discovery call 

🍒 Kait’s Recovery Resources

Affiliate Links

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Kait and Alli, both recovered eating disorder coaches with lived experience,  pull back the curtain on what recovery actually looks like day to day. No sugarcoating, no highlight reel. They tackle the questions their clients and followers ask most: Do you still have negative thoughts about food? Does body image ever get better? How do you know recovery is even possible for you?

What unfolds is a candid, two-coach conversation that validates the messiness of recovery while making a compelling case that a full, free life on the other side is real,  and achievable. They cover the unpredictability of body image, navigating summer and social media pressure, how high-achieving personalities can redirect their strengths toward recovery, and the mindset shift that finally made recovery click. The episode closes with a message that lands: if we can, you can.

Episode takeaways:

• Recovery doesn't mean perfect. Bad body image days still happen and that's part of being human.

• Negative food thoughts do fade over time though the timeline looks different for everyone.

• The belief that everything would be better if I were smaller is one you can build real proof against.

• High achievers can redirect their natural strengths. Goal setting, list making, and structure can support recovery instead of the eating disorder.

• The "I'll be happy when" pattern shows up in recovery too. Learning to find joy now is part of the work.

• You don't need certainty that recovery will work to start. You just have to be willing to try something different.

• Rest and presence are skills, not personality traits, and they can be learned.

  
  

Episode guest: Alli grew up being known as “the dancer”, which inspired her undergraduate journey pursuing her BFA in dance. After college, she moved to new york city where she booked her dream job as a Radio City Rockette, a full circle moment after recovering from an eating disorder. Her story inspired her to become a certified eating disorder recovery coach, and she is now in Boston pursing her masters in nutrition to become a Registered Dietitian.

Connect with Kait

📸 @bitebybiterecovery

🔗 bitebybiterecovery.org 

📞 Interested in 1:1 recovery coaching? Book your FREE discovery call 

🍒 Kait’s Recovery Resources

Connect with Alli

📸@your_spoonful

Affiliate Links

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Welcome back to the Recovery Companion Series. 🎉 

In this episode, Kait and Eric explore the role of your environment in eating disorder recovery and why it goes far beyond where you live. Your environment includes your relationships, daily interactions, social media, and even your internal thoughts. They unpack how some environments support recovery while others reinforce the eating disorder, and why you may not always be able to change your environment right away. Instead, recovery often means learning how to navigate it, set boundaries, and continue choosing recovery anyway.

Episode takeaways:

• Your environment includes more than your physical space. It also includes people, conversations, routines, and your internal mindset

• The eating disorder tends to thrive in environments where it is not challenged

• You may not recognize harmful environments because they feel familiar or normal

• You cannot always change your environment immediately, but you can change how you respond within it

• Setting boundaries supports both your recovery and your relationships

• You are not responsible for how other people react when you advocate for yourself

• Social media is an environment that can either support or harm your recovery

• Recovery requires active choices, especially in moments that feel triggering

• Self compassion is essential when your environment is not ideal

• Recovery ultimately comes down to the choices you make, even when support is present

Connect with Kait

📸 @bitebybiterecovery

🔗 bitebybiterecovery.org 

📞 Interested in 1:1 recovery coaching? Book your FREE discovery call 

🍒 Kait’s Recovery Resources

Connect with Eric 

📸 @ericpothen 

🔗 Eric’s website 

🎙️ Embracing You

👕 Embrace Wear

In this episode of Bite by Bite, Kait sits down with Katie Kiliszewski to explore her 16-year journey with anorexia and what finally helped her move toward lasting recovery. The conversation goes beyond surface-level strategies and dives into the often-overlooked role of mindset, self-talk, and personal responsibility in healing. Katie shares how early experiences, perfectionism, and external validation fueled her eating disorder, and how years of treatment alone weren’t enough to create real change. It wasn’t until she shifted her mindset, embraced small, consistent actions, and made her own decision that things began to shift. Together, they unpack why recovery is not linear, not perfect, and not one-size-fits-all—and how learning to tolerate discomfort, rebuild trust with yourself, and focus on progress over perfection can create real, sustainable freedom.

Episode takeaways:

• Recovery is not one-size-fits-all; what works for one person may not work for another

• Mindset is a critical but often overlooked component of recovery

• Small, consistent actions create momentum and long-term change

• You do not lose all progress after a slip; recovery is built through resilience

• Perfectionism in recovery can keep you stuck just as much as the eating disorder

• Learning to sit with discomfort is necessary for healing

• Support systems matter, but self-accountability is equally important

• Recovery requires a personal decision—you cannot be forced into it long-term

• Your environment and the people around you significantly impact recovery

• There is power in choosing who you want to become and acting accordingly

Episode guest: Katie Kiliszewski is a wife, mom of three, runner, and mentor to women in eating disorder recovery from Baltimore, Maryland. She believes that if you have faith, you have hope—and if you have hope, you have everything. Her story is one of resilience and grit, overcoming anorexia and addiction. Today, she is passionate about sharing her comeback story to inspire and encourage others to find healing and strength.

Check out more from Katie - Courage to Endure

Connect with Kait

📸 @bitebybiterecovery

🔗 bitebybiterecovery.org 

📞 Interested in 1:1 recovery coaching? Book your FREE discovery call 

🍒 Kait’s Recovery Resources

Affiliate Links

COMFRT 

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In this episode, Kait breaks down the often misunderstood difference between food freedom and food chaos in eating disorder recovery. She challenges the common belief that food freedom means eating without structure or discomfort, explaining instead that true freedom comes from removing the eating disorder’s control, not eliminating all difficulty. She dives into the “messy middle” of recovery, where hunger cues are unreliable, food decisions feel chaotic, and progress can feel unclear. This episode normalizes that phase as a necessary part of healing and introduces the concept of structured flexibility as a practical bridge between rigidity and true freedom with food.

Episode takeaways:

• Food freedom is not eating without structure—it’s eating without the eating disorder in control

• Food chaos often happens when you jump from restriction to “freedom” without rebuilding trust with your body

• Feeling out of control with food is a biological response to restriction, not a personal failure

• Hunger cues and portion perception are often unreliable early in recovery

• The “messy middle” is a normal and necessary phase—not something to rush through

• You cannot go straight from an eating disorder to intuitive eating without support and structure

• Mechanical eating and meal plans are often essential early steps in recovery

• Meal plans can become rigid if flexibility isn’t gradually introduced

• Structured flexibility helps bridge the gap between control and true freedom

• Recovery requires unlearning, relearning, and consistency over time—not perfection

• Comparing your recovery timeline to others will only keep you stuck

• Food freedom is built slowly through repeated, imperfect actions

  
  

Connect with Kait

📸 @bitebybiterecovery

🔗 bitebybiterecovery.org 

📞 Interested in 1:1 recovery coaching? Book your FREE discovery call 

🍒 Kait’s Recovery Resources

Affiliate Links

COMFRT 

FIND THE GOOD