In the field of Eating Disorders, we are seeing an increasing occurrence of Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) in our clients. In this episode, we talk to Dr. Jennifer Gaudiani to learn more about this overlap, signs and symptoms of MCAS , how it impacts healing from an eating disorder and treatment.

Resources mentioned in the show:

• Four part blog series on MCAS and EDs by Dr. G
• Gaudiani Clinic MCAS Questionnaires (RASH-PF and Q)

About Dr. Jennifer Gaudiani

Jennifer L. Gaudiani, MD, CEDS-S, FAED, is the Founder and Medical Director of  the Gaudiani Clinic. Board Certified in Internal Medicine, she completed her  undergraduate degree at Harvard, medical school at Boston University School of  Medicine, and her internal medicine residency and chief residency at Yale. Dr.  Gaudiani served as the Medical Director at the ACUTE Center for Eating Disorders  prior to founding the Gaudiani Clinic, which is a Denver-based outpatient medical  clinic dedicated to people with eating disorders and disordered eating. The Gaudiani  Clinic is a HAES (Health At Every Size)®-informed provider and embraces treating  people of all shapes, sizes, ages, and genders. The Gaudiani Clinic is licensed to  practice in over 35 US states via telemedicine and offers international professional  consultation and education.

Dr. Gaudiani has lectured nationally and internationally, is widely published in the  scientific literature as well as on blogs, is a Fellow of the Academy for Eating  Disorders, and is a recent former member of the editorial board of the International  Journal of Eating Disorders and the Academy for Eating Disorders Medical Care  Standards Committee. Dr. Gaudiani’s first book, Sick Enough: A Guide to the Medical Complications of Eating Disorders (Routledge, 2018) is available on  Amazon.

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This podcast is intended for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute a provider-patient relationship.

Please seek the support of a local therapist if you are currently struggling and in need of treatment. To find out more about what therapeutic services I offer visit my website at: www.eatingdisorderocdtherapy.com

As always, you can find me on IG @bodyjustice.therapist

In this episode of Body Justice, Allyson discusses sexual trauma and eating disorders with trauma therapist Seema Sharma, SEP, CST, MBA, PHD. Content warning: discussions of sexual abuse are explicitly discussed. Please listen with care and make sure you are resourced enough to proceed. It's normal for these conversations to bring up a lot of complicated feelings. Our hope is that you also feel less alone, and gain some insights into what the healing process can look like.

We'll explore what makes sexual trauma healing different than other traumas, the soul wounding that comes with sexual abuse, types of sexual trauma, helpful therapy approaches, the connection to eating disorders and more.

As always, you can find me on my website: www.eatingdisorderocdtherapy.com and my Instagram: @bodyjustice.therapist.

About our guest:

Seema Sharma, SEP, CST, LMFT is the founder of Holistic Trauma Therapy. Introduced to holistic healing as a young adult, she has devoted her life to exploring global healing traditions often overlooked in the West, traveling through Asia, Latin America, Africa, and Europe. With over 25 years of senior leadership experience at prestigious global companies, Seema brings a rare insight into the intersection of corporate culture, workplace trauma, and resilience. Her practice is redefining the way therapy is approached — integrating evidence-based methods with a whole-person focus on mind, body, and spirit. She specializes in sexual abuse trauma, childhood trauma, cultural trauma, religious trauma, and workplace trauma. Seema holds a Master’s in Integral Counseling Psychology and is a PhD candidate in Integral and Transpersonal Psychology, with an emphasis on the Contemplative Neuroscience of Consciousness Studies. As an integrative, depth-oriented, and experiential psychotherapist, Seema has extensive training in trauma and dissociation and guides clients on the path toward wholeness. Whether you are seeking somatic therapy, sex therapy, EMDR, or depth work, you can learn more at https://wwwholistictraumatherapy.com.

Episode 73 of Body Justice is all about how life changing disability justice and emergent strategy are as frameworks for how we show up in the world and how we are in relationship with one another. Our guest, Angela Montijo, is a licensed clinical social worker who also has lived experience as a pysch survivor. Angela shares insights from social justice movements and how they incorporates them into her practice as a social worker. Angela also sheds light on how to hold both truths: the mental health industrial complex is the site of a LOT of harms- and there are pockets of true healing that we can be apart of, which creates a ripple effect of change.

As always, you can find me on IG @bodyjustice.therapist or my website: www.eatingdisorderocdtherapy.com

More about Angela:

Angela Montijo, LCSW (she/they) is a healing-centered relational facilitator, writer, and creator rooted in youth justice, community care, and liberation work. As a first-gen Latine woman raised in Inglewood, Angela’s personal journey fuels her passion for building spaces that challenge oppressive systems. With 10+ years of experience in juvenile justice, mental health, and education, she leads with emergent strategy and restorative practices, centering those most impacted. Angela designs and facilitates workshops that provoke thought, deepen connection, and spark collective imagination—always prioritizing people over rigid protocols.

 Find Angela on her IG @angelaalchemy

In episode 72, Allyson chats with psychiatric nurse practitioner and lived experience advocate, Grace Kim PMHNP-BC, about the contradictions of psychiatry, as well as what psychiatry in eating disorder care can look like. There is so much (understandable) skepticism when it comes to psychiatric medications, how can we hold both the ways that it can be useful and life saving, as well as the ways it can create more harm and distress? You'll hear us cover:

• Care vs. Control in Psychiatry
• Science vs. Subjectivity in Psychiatry
• Liberation vs. Oppression in Psychiatry
• Medication Supports for Eating Disorders
• How to hold client skepticism through an anti-oppression lens
• Grace's personal experience with EDs, Korean beauty standards and psychiatric support.

About our guest:

Grace Kim, PMHNP-BC (she/her) is a board-certified Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner offering virtual and in-person care for adults across New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Her practice is grounded in a collaborative, trauma-informed approach that recognizes healing is often non-linear and actively rejects coercive models of care. She specializes in mood and anxiety disorders, trauma, identity exploration, and disordered eating, providing comprehensive psychiatric evaluations, medication management, and supportive therapy. Grace earned her Bachelor’s degree from UCLA and her Master of Science in Nursing from Yale University.

Website

Instagram: @psychnpgrace

As a reminder, this podcast is for educational purposes only. It is not meant for individual medical or therapeutic advice. Please consult with your providers for specific treatment options. If you're interested in becoming a client at my practice, ED and OCD Therapy, please reach out! We see therapy clients in CA, WA, UT & FL, as well as recovery coaching clients worldwide. We would be honored to support you.

Allyson's Website

Allyson's Instagram

Lastly, it would mean the world to me if you left Body Justice a review, either on Apple or Spotify. This helps the show reach more people, and I need your help. I appreciate your support <3

Episode 70 of Body Justice is truly a gift of wisdom from my dear friend and colleague, Alishia McCullough. In this episode we talk about some of the core concepts from her book, Reclaiming the Black Body.

In this episode we explore:

• How EDs show up for Black girls/women
• Shifting terminology from Eating Disorders to Eating Imbalances
• Adultification Bias and the Hypersexualization of Black women and femmes
• The ties between colonization, the trans Atlantic slave trade and eating imbalances
• The trafficking of Saartjie Baartman and the conflation of fatness and blackness
• Intergenerational body trauma
• Maternal disdain and rejection of daughters as a survival tactic from enslavement
• What healing looks like through this lens, what it means to truly Reclaim the Black Body

About Alishia:

Alishia McCullough (LCMHC) is a millennial Licensed Clinical Mental Health Therapist and owner of Black and Embodied Consulting PLLC. 

She specializes in somatic therapy, trauma healing, and eating disorder treatment with a focus on cultivating embodiment and fostering anti-oppression. In 2020, Alishia co-founded the Amplify Melanated Voices Movement, a global movement to elevate the voices of Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color online and in-person. Alishia currently runs the self-paced online course Reimagining Eating Disorders 101. She  was awarded the 2023 Alumni Award from the Department of Psychology for the noteworthy contributions she has made to the field. An accomplished writer, Alishia is the author of a collection of poems called Blossoming, and  Reclaiming the Black Body now available in bookstores nationwide. 

In her work, Alishia centers the intersectional narratives of Black, Brown, Indigenous, Asian, dual-heritage, and individuals indigenous to the Global South, andor those who have been racialized as 'ethnic minorities' experiencing mental and emotional distress. She also specializes in working with those living with eating disorders, upholding the values of body justice and fat liberation. She was one of the Mental Health Influencers in Meta's 2022 Well-Being Collective. Alishia's work has been featured in Bustle, WordInBlack, STAT News, BlackGirlNerds, Essence, Reckon, Wondermind, Pen America and Forbes.

*As always this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute individual medical or therapeutic advice.

Please reach out if you are interested in becoming a therapy or coaching client: www.eatingdisorderocdtherapy.com or visit my instagram for more info: @bodyjustice.therapist

Episode 69 is a solo episode from me. I want to offer you all some insights around building hope- how it's messy and dark, not easy and joyful. We'll explore how hope is a relational concept, how it grows through action, and we'll draw on wisdom from BIPOC activists and how they remained hopeful during times of political unrest and oppression. We'll also explore the concept of relative safety, and practice cultivating it in our own bodies. The purpose of this episode is to offer education and tools to help us navigate hard collective and personal times. You are not alone.

Find me on my website to work with me or a member of my team- we offer therapy in CA, WA, UT & FL, as well as recovery coaching for eating disorders and OCD worldwide.

www.eatingdisorderocdtherapy.com

I am also on IG @bodyjustice.therapist

Thank you for supporting Body Justice!

*This podcast is not individual medical or therapeutic advice, it is for educational purposes only!

Episode 68 is a very special and tender episode. Listen in to hear my colleague and friend share her vulnerable and important story of navigating infertility in a fat body. Sarah shares not only her experience but also her wisdom, ways of coping and resources for anyone else navigating this difficult journey. Infertility is hard enough, but navigating the weight stigma in the medical field when you just want your child, is brutal. As always, you can find me on my website: www.eatingdisorderocdtherapy.com or on IG @bodyjustice.therapist.

About Sarah:

Sarah Jane Thomas (she/her) is a licensed therapist who works virtually with folks navigating body image, trauma, and recovery from diet culture. Her California-based practice centers fat liberation, body autonomy, and the kind of therapy that actually honors your whole messy, beautiful self.
Sarah identifies as fat, queer, neurodivergent—and also happens to be in the middle of a solo fertility journey. So when it comes to talking about weight stigma in the infertility world, she brings both personal and professional truth. She’s passionate about calling out the harm in “weight loss before care” policies and advocating for inclusive reproductive support that doesn’t shame people for their bodies.
She’s also working on something new: Body Rebel Club, a coaching space and community for folks reclaiming body trust on their own terms—open to people anywhere in the world. It’s launching soon, so head to bodyrebelclub.com and follow @bodyrebelclub on Instagram to be the first to know.
If you're in California and looking for therapy that honors lived experience and liberation, visit sarahjanethomas.org or follow@embodiedself_therapy on Instagram to connect.

**This epsiode is for educational purposes only. It is not individual medical or therapeutic advice.

Tune in to episode 67 of Body Justice where Ericka Leonard and I discuss the connection between Interpersonal Violence (domestic violence) and Eating Disorders. As always, you can find out more about my work as an Eating Disorder and OCD therapist via my website: https://www.eatingdisorderocdtherapy.com

In this episode we cover:

• What IPV is and how it can trigger eating disorders/body image distress
• How perpetrators weaponize mental health struggles against survivors
• Relationship red flags & love bombing
• What healing looks like
• Resources for IPV
• Personal experiences related to IPV

Resources mentioned:

• https://www.thehotline.org
• Strong Hearts Native Hotline
• RAINN
• Power and Control Wheel

About Ericka Leonard LCSW:

Ericka Leonard, LCSW-C, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker practicing in Maryland, Virginia, and DC. She owns a private practice and specializes in complex trauma treatment (primarily using a relational approach and EMDR) as well as eating disorders. and has years of clinical experience working with children, adolescents and adults in a variety of settings. Prior to opening her own private practice in 2021, Ericka’s experience as a Social Worker included serving as the Program Director of a residential eating disorder program for adolescents, as well as working as the lead clinical therapist/Assistant Director at a domestic violence shelter. Additionally, Ericka worked as a Forensic Interviewer for a local Child Advocacy Center. Prior to entering the field of Social Work, Ericka was a middle school French and Spanish teacher. In her free time, Ericka enjoys traveling, running, playing with her dog, and Crossfit. Find her via her website: www.joiedevivretherapy.com

*Please note that this podcast is meant for educational and informational purposes only. It is not individual medical or therapeutic advice.

Tune in to episode 66 of Body Justice Podcast to hear a recovery story from ED Survivor & Therapist Winter Groeschl. I love connecting with other people who have wisdom to share from their own lived experience. Everyone's journey is so unique, and there is a lot the community can learn from listening to a variety of perspectives. In this episode we discuss what HLOC was like for Winter, deconstructing from purity culture, strengths and barriers to recovery in her experience and so much more. As always, you can find me on my website: www.eatintdisorderocdtherapy.com or IG: @bodyjustice.therapist

About Winter:

Winter Groeschl (she/her/they/them) is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Arizona, passionate about providing competent, compassionate care and support for those navigating their healing journey with substance use disorders, eating disorders, disordered eating, body image, depression, anxiety, trauma, and more. They have experience working at all levels of care within Arizona’s mental health system. She utilizes an integration of trauma conscious modalities and inclusive approaches with her clients, pulling from ACT, mindfulness-based approaches, DBT/CBT, polyvagal theory, Compassion Focused therapy, and Client Centered modalities. Winter offers care from a social justice, weight neutral, inclusive lens. Winter is a member and advocate of the LGBTQIA+ community and is devoted to providing an affirming and safe space for all individuals from all walks of life.

Her vision is to assist each client in exploring their true self while connecting to their immense capacity for growth, a restored sense of self, and a consistent feeling of empowerment in all that they do.

Please note: this podcast is for educational purposes only and does not constitute a provider-patient relationship. This is not meant for individual medical or therapeutic advice.

Tune in to episode 65 of Body Justice to hear our thoughts on decolonization and eating disorders. This was a fun and insightful reverse interview with a friend and colleague, Shikha Advani. Shikha is deeply committed to social justice in eating disorder treatment and it was an honor to be apart of her research project.

From Shikha: Hi! I’m Shikha Advani, a doctoral student at the University of Denver’s Graduate School of Social Work. I hold master’s degrees in nutrition and social work, and my research focuses on eating disorders, weight stigma, and decolonization. Clinically, I work as an eating disorder therapist supporting individuals with complex trauma and marginalized identities. I aim to bridge clinical and research worlds to promote anti-oppression and decolonial practices in the ED field. Outside of work, I love spending time with my cat Jellybean, reading, and trying new food.

As always, you can find me on IG @bodyjustice.therapist and my website www.eatingdisorderocdtherapy.com

Please know that this podcast is for educational purposes only and is not meant for individual health or therapeutic advice. Listening to this podcast does not constitute a provider-patient relationship.