BITE BY BITE | Honest Conversations About Eating Disorder Recovery

This episode dives into one of the an often overlooked but emotionally intense parts of eating disorder recovery: grocery shopping, meal planning, and feeding yourself independently. Kait breaks down why these everyday tasks can feel overwhelming, from decision fatigue to triggering environments filled with diet culture messaging. She shares practical, real-life strategies that helped her and her clients navigate grocery stores, simplify meals, and rebuild a more neutral, flexible relationship with food. This episode focuses on reducing overwhelm, challenging food rules, and making recovery feel more doable in everyday life.

Episode takeaways:

• Grocery shopping in recovery is not just a task, it can feel like a high-stakes environment filled with triggers and decision overload

• Decision fatigue increases when the eating disorder is no longer making food choices for you

• Planning ahead (like making a list) reduces opportunities for the eating disorder to take over

• Shopping while hungry can intensify eating disorder thoughts and make decisions harder

• Avoiding nutrition labels can reduce unnecessary triggers and mental spirals

• Support systems matter, you do not have to do recovery tasks alone

• Grocery pickup or delivery is a valid and helpful option, not a “cop out”

• Exposure should be gradual, start with one challenging item at a time

• Meal prep should support recovery, not become another form of control

• Simple meals are enough, you don’t need perfection to nourish yourself

• Leaving room for spontaneity is essential to rebuilding flexibility with food

• Recovery is built through small, messy, consistent actions, not perfection

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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In this episode, Kait breaks down one of the most confusing and uncomfortable parts of eating disorder recovery: relearning hunger, honoring hunger, and learning how to tolerate fullness without panic.nShe explains why restrictive eating disorders often disrupt natural hunger cues and how that can make recovery feel incredibly counterintuitive. When physical hunger cues disappear, mental hunger often takes over, showing up as constant thoughts about food, meals, snacks, and what to eat next. Kait emphasizes that mental hunger is real hunger and deserves to be honored.

The episode also explores why mechanical eating can be an important recovery tool, how fullness can feel intense and triggering early on, and why that discomfort does not mean you are doing recovery wrong. Kait shares her own lived experience of losing hunger cues, rebuilding trust with her body, and learning that slip-ups are not the same thing as relapse. Overall, this episode is a reminder that recovery is not all or nothing, healing takes time, and your body is not broken, it is trying to heal.

Episode takeaways:

• Losing hunger cues is a common symptom of restrictive eating disorders and does not mean your body is broken

• Mental hunger is real hunger and should be honored just like physical hunger

• Thinking about food all the time is often a sign of deprivation, not obsession or lack of control

• Mechanical eating can help restore consistency and rebuild trust with your body when hunger cues are unreliable

• Fullness can feel physically and emotionally overwhelming early in recovery, especially after long periods of restriction

• Feeling full does not mean you ate too much, gained weight, or did something wrong

• Recovery requires learning how to sit with discomfort without compensating or trying to “fix” it with eating disorder behaviors

• Slip-ups are not relapse. They are part of the learning process and an opportunity to adjust and move forward

• There is no universal timeline for when hunger cues return or when eating feels natural again

• You are still sick enough and worthy of recovery, whether your hunger cues are gone, inconsistent, or still present

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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In this episode, Kait dives into one of the most overlooked but challenging phases of eating disorder recovery: the “recovered enough” space. This is the point where behaviors may have improved and life looks more stable from the outside, but internally, the struggle is still very real. This episode explores the difference between surviving and truly living, the fear of losing the eating disorder identity, and why consistency in small, daily choices is what ultimately leads to full recovery. Most importantly, it reinforces that feeling stuck does not mean you are failing, it means you are in the process.

Episode takeaways:

• Recovery is not about dramatic breakthroughs. Small, consistent choices are what actually create long-term change

• Feeling stuck or plateaued does not mean you are doing recovery wrong. It often means you are in the middle of real progress

• Physical recovery does not equal mental recovery. The internal work is often the longest and hardest part

• The “recovered enough” space can feel isolating because others may think you are fine, even when you are still struggling

• Fear of losing the eating disorder identity is real and valid, but letting go is necessary to move forward

• Consistency in recovery can feel repetitive and exhausting, but it is exactly what rewires your brain over time

• There is a difference between surviving recovery and fully living life, and full recovery creates space for more than just managing symptoms

• You can feel exhausted, frustrated, and unsure, and still continue choosing 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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Welcome back to the Recovery Companion Series. 🎉 

In this episode, Kait and Eric break down one of the most powerful tools in eating disorder recovery coaching: real-time text support. They explore how recovery doesn’t happen in a session, it happens in the real-life moments when urges hit and support is needed most. They dive into how text support helps clients navigate those moments without feeling alone, while also building self-trust and independence. This conversation highlights the balance between support and autonomy, and why learning to reach out can be a game changer in recovery.

Episode takeaways:

• Recovery happens in real time, not just during scheduled sessions

• Text support removes the delay between struggle and support

• You can’t plan for every trigger, support needs to be flexible and accessible

• Reaching out is a skill, not something that comes naturally to everyone

• Coaches should guide, not give answers, to build self-trust

• There’s a fine line between support and dependency, and both matter

• Naming the eating disorder in the moment helps create separation from it

• Mistakes in recovery are not failures, they are necessary learning points

• Text threads can become a toolbox clients can revisit and reuse

• The ultimate goal is autonomy: support now → self-trust later

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

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‼️DISCLAIMER: This episode contains a brief discussion of suicidal ideation. Listener discretion is strongly advised. If this topic is difficult for you, please consider whether now is the right time to listen to this episode.

In this episode, Kait sits down with Kelly Delaney  to talk about the reality of eating disorder recovery from lived experience. Kelly shares what it actually felt like to live with anorexia for 17 years, how long it took to recognize it as a problem, and what finally led her to choose recovery. Together they unpack the parts of recovery that are rarely talked about, including suicidal ideation, the fear of letting go of the eating disorder, and why recovery often gets worse before it gets better. Kelly also shares how residential treatment became a turning point and why the real work of recovery had little to do with food and everything to do with the deeper emotional work.

This conversation highlights that recovery is not about perfection or quick fixes. It is about learning to sit with discomfort, understanding why the eating disorder existed, and slowly rebuilding a life that feels worth living.

Episode takeaways:

• Many people do not recognize their eating disorder as a problem until years into it

• Eating disorders consume your entire mental space and function as a way to avoid deeper issues

• The fear around food can feel as intense as a life threatening situation

• Suicidal ideation is a real and serious part of many eating disorder experiences

• Recovery often starts before you fully want it and motivation builds over time

• Half committed recovery keeps you stuck. Full surrender is often required for real change

• Residential treatment can be life changing, even if it feels terrifying at first

• Recovery gets worse before it gets better because you are no longer numbing emotions

• The hardest part of recovery is not the food. It is facing emotions and doing the deeper inner work

• Your eating disorder served a purpose, and understanding that creates self compassion

• Letting go of the eating disorder means grieving an identity you once relied on

• Recovery is choosing to live without something that once felt necessary to survive

Episode guest: Kelly Delaney is an educator and eating disorder recovery advocate who shares openly about her lived experience with an eating disorder and her first year of recovery. Through honesty and vulnerability, she hopes to shed light on the complexities of eating disorders, the courage it takes to seek help, and the messy yet deeply meaningful journey of recovery. Kelly is passionate about reminding others that healing is possible and that no one has to walk the road to recovery alone. Check out her ANAD publication here!

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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In this raw and honest episode, Kait Moresi dives into one of the most overlooked yet challenging parts of recovering from an eating disorder, the silence that follows the fading of the disorder’s voice. It’s a heartfelt exploration of the emotional chaos that comes with letting go of what’s familiar, even if it’s harmful, and learning to trust oneself again.

Recovery isn’t linear, and the silence that follows your efforts to heal can feel alienating and terrifying. But as Kait reminds us, this space also holds the potential for reinvention, self-trust, and a life built on genuine passion and values. Embrace the discomfort — your future self is waiting on the other side.

Episode takeaways:

• The truth about what happens after the eating disorder begins to quiet down

• Why silence can feel louder than the disorder itself

• The structure and predictability the eating disorder provides—and how losing it feels

• How to navigate the discomfort of uncertainty

• The grief, emptiness, and mental space that come with recovery

• Practical tips for making decisions without rule-based guidance

• The importance of building a new identity outside of disordered patterns

• The hope and possibility that lie beyond the discomfort

Connect with Kait

👉🏼 @bitebybiterecovery 

👉🏼 bitebybiterecovery.org

👉🏼 Book your FREE Discovery Call for 1:1 recovery coaching

🍒 Recovery resources

Affiliate Links

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Ever wonder what eating disorders are really about if not the food?

In this episode, your host, Kait, takes us on a raw, honest journey into the subconscious mind behind those behaviors, revealing that food is just the tip of the iceberg. This episode uncovers the deeper emotional and psychological layers that fuel disordered eating, and offers compassionate insight into recovery that goes far beyond just changing what you eat. This episode is a reminder that recovery isn’t about just what’s on the plate, but what’s underneath, the emotional, psychological, and spiritual stuff that shapes our relationship with food. Embrace the mess, lean into compassion, and remember: you’re more than your disorder.

Episode takeaways:

• Why food behaviors (restriction, binging) are visible, but not the core issue
• How emotions like fear, shame, and trauma drive disordered eating patterns
• The role of control, perfectionism, and self-worth in feeding the beast
• Why recovery is about learning to sit with difficult emotions, not just fixing behaviors
• The importance of reframing questions around “why” and “what do I need?”Understanding that eating disorder identities can feel like part of who we are
• How recovery is a messy, nonlinear process rooted in compassion and curiosity
  

Connect with Kait

👉🏼 @bitebybiterecovery 

👉🏼 bitebybiterecovery.org

👉🏼 Book your FREE Discovery Call for 1:1 recovery coaching

🍒 Recovery resources

Affiliate Links

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In this episode, your host, Kait, discusses the profound effects of malnourishment on both the brain and body, drawing insights from the Minnesota starvation experiment. She emphasizes the psychological changes that occur due to starvation, the importance of nutritional rehabilitation, and how refeeding can restore mental clarity and emotional well-being. Kait highlights that symptoms of eating disorders are often a result of starvation rather than personal flaws, and she encourages listeners to seek recovery and nourishment as a path to reclaiming their lives.

Episode takeaways:

• Malnourishment affects brain function and emotional regulation.

• The Minnesota starvation experiment illustrates the consequences of starvation.

• Psychological changes from starvation can mimic mental health disorders.

• Nutritional rehabilitation is crucial for recovery from eating disorders.

• Refeeding can reverse many negative effects of starvation.

• Eating is essential for brain function and emotional health.

• Symptoms of eating disorders often stem from malnourishment.

• Meal plans are important for restoring nutritional balance.

• Recovery is about more than just food; it's about life quality.

• You can achieve recovery and reclaim your identity. 

Episode References

ARTICLE

Connect with Kait

👉🏼 @bitebybiterecovery 

👉🏼 bitebybiterecovery.org

👉🏼 Book your FREE Discovery Call for 1:1 recovery coaching

🍒 Recovery resources

Affiliate Links

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Welcome back to the Recovery Companion Series. 🎉 

In this episode of the Recovery Companion Series, your co-hosts Kait and Eric, discuss the significance of Eating Disorder Awareness Week, reflecting on their personal journeys with eating disorders and the importance of sharing stories. They emphasize the need for ongoing awareness and advocacy beyond just one week, highlighting the complexities of eating disorders and the power of self-compassion in recovery. The discussion also touches on the importance of community support and the role of personal narratives in fostering understanding and connection among those affected by eating disorders.

Episode takeaways:

• Eating Disorder Awareness Week is a crucial time for advocacy.

• Sharing personal stories can inspire others and foster community.

• Self-compassion is essential in the recovery process.

• Eating disorders can manifest differently for everyone.

• Awareness should extend beyond just one week.

• Recovery is a journey filled with ups and downs.

• It's important to highlight the hidden aspects of eating disorders.

• Community support plays a vital role in recovery.

• Understanding the complexities of eating disorders is key.

• Everyone's recovery journey is unique and valid.

  
  

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, your host Kait is joined by Ashleigh Erickson to talk about the role downhill mountain biking played in their eating disorder recovery. Throughout the episode they discuss how mountain biking has played a crucial role in their recovery, emphasizing the importance of community, support, and the joy of riding. The conversation explores the parallels between mountain biking and recovery, highlighting the significance of calculated risks, nourishment, and celebrating progress, not perfection. Through their stories, they aim to inspire others to embrace their journeys and find freedom in both biking and recovery.

Episode takeaways:

• Mountain biking can be a powerful tool for recovery.

• Community support is essential in overcoming challenges.

• Recovery is a messy process, much like learning to ride.

• Calculated risks in recovery can lead to significant breakthroughs.

• Finding joy in movement is crucial for mental health.

• Nourishing the body is vital for both biking and recovery.

• Fear can be a motivator for growth and progress.

• Celebrating small victories is important in recovery.

• The biking community is often more accepting than other fitness communities.

• Sharing experiences can help others feel less alone in their struggles.

Episode guest: Ashleigh is a lifelong lover of bikes who battled an eating disorder from her teens to early 30s. While certain genres of biking have played a role in her eating disorder, she found downhill and enduro style mountain biking have given her a passion to heal her relationship with exercise. She found the purpose she has been pursuing when she and her now husband opened a small bike shop that largely specializes in downhill and enduro mountain bikes

Connect with Kait

👉🏼 @bitebybiterecovery 

👉🏼 bitebybiterecovery.org

👉🏼 Book your FREE Discovery Call for 1:1 recovery coaching

🍒 Recovery resources

Affiliate Links

COMFRT 

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