Eating Disorders: Navigating Recovery

Hi Navigators! Catherine and Francis take some time to discuss perfectionism, and how it impacted their lives, its intersection with eating disorders, and what the research says about it.

Have a topic you'd like to hear in a digest this season? Feel free to contact us at www.navigatingrecoverypodcast.com.

Hi Navigators! We’re back, and we’re excited to kick off Season Three of Eating Disorders: Navigating Recovery Podcast with Amanda Campbell, lead designer at Sassy Jones, a fashion and lifestyle brand that offers audacious style solutions for statement-making women. Amanda joins the podcast to talk about her lived experience with anorexia nervosa and how finding motivation for healing and body acceptance through sewing and designing – a skill she learned at a young age – helped give her a sense a purpose. In recalling a moment when she made her first pair of pants, Amanda delivers a powerful message to all who seek healing from their own lived experience. Now, working in an industry she loves, Amanda wants to share that love by empowering others with clothing that makes them feel confident, strong, and beautiful in their own skin. It was really wonderful to have her on the show – we certainly felt empowered afterwards! Enjoy!

Hi Navigators! We're thrilled to be back behind the mics, connecting and sharing with our incredible listeners, with our amazing guests, and with each other. While we're introducing a slightly different release schedule, we think this season's slate of guests bring the same insight, passion, vulnerability, and humanism to each conversation. In a new twist, if you have a specific topic you'd like the hosts to discuss during an episode, reach out - we want to hear from you and address topics important to our listeners directly!

Thank you for being with us along this journey - we're so happy to be back with you!

Hi Navigators! Catherine and Francis are excited to welcome Dr. Breese Annable, a Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Certified Eating Disorder Specialist, and owner of Living Balance Psychotherapy, a private practice based in Asheville, North Carolina (yes, this is yet another connection through the amazing Carolina Resource Center for Eating Disorders!). Breese specializes in working with clients who also have co-occurring Borderline Personality Disorder, anxiety disorders, and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. She is passionate about raising awareness on the damaging effects of diet culture and providing education on weight neutral approaches to health. In this episode, Breese talks about shame, why it's not necessarily a "bad" emotion to feel, and potential antidotes to help manage a typically distressing emotion. When it comes to diet culture, Breese takes an approach that we cannot unlearn what we've been sold our entire lives, so we must learn about diet culture for what it is, and not what we've been told. As she poignantly inquires, "what if there's nothing wrong with you...what if the solution you've been sold is the problem." We were so grateful for her time and energy!

CW: eating disorders, diet culture, healing stories, disordered eating

Hi Navigators! Today, Catherine and Francis welcome Ari Pence to the podcast. Ari is a Family Medicine Physician, practicing full-spectrum family medicine, including obstetrical and delivery care. She is passionate about destigmatizing and providing excellent for patients struggling with eating disorders, prenatal and postpartum mood disorders, or addiction. She also has completed advanced training in Integrative Medicine through the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine. In this episode, Ari dissects how language, active listening, and provider education are critical means to closing the gap and stigma many patients with eating disorders, disordered eating, and body image concerns experience when visiting a medical provider. She outlines how physicians can more effectively talk about body image and disordered eating with patients, starting with creating an accountable space to address these topics, particularly with adolescents, and includes asking for consent to even begin the conversation. On the topic of weight, Dr. Pence argues that it is on the healthcare provider – not the patient – to address weight stigma and offer a space where weighing someone doesn’t necessarily have to happen (there are certain circumstances where it may be needed). Ari brings a fresh, patient-centered perspective to medical practice, and speaks with passion, intellect, and care. We are so grateful for her time and energy – it was such a pleasure!

Hi Navigators! Catherine and Francis are excited to welcome Domenica Feraud, a first-generation Ecuadorian writer and actor from New York City, on the podcast to share her journey with disordered eating, body image dissatisfaction, and recovery. Pieces of that journey made its way into a play she wrote -- titled RINSE, REPEAT -- focusing on a family's experience after the daughter returns home from inpatient treatment. RINSE, REPEAT, which Domenica also starred in, premiered at the Signature Theatre in 2019 and was a New York Times Critic's Pick. Through her writing and her own lived experience, Domenica shares the experience of an immigrant trying to assimilate to unrealistic body standards of the United States, how misogyny teaches people to perceive women as "too much", and how her own mother continues to grow and change as Domenica's recovery continues. Currently, she is working on a collection of essays unpacking the role that popular culture plays in our conditioning. It was truly wonderful having this brilliant, vulnerable person on the podcast, and we hope you find connection as we did!

CW: eating disorders, eating disorder behaviors, conversations about race and gender, body image perception and dissatisfaction, food, weight, misogyny, diet culture, predation

June 1st is the podcast's two year anniversary! Catherine and Francis take a moment to reflect on what it's been like hosting this podcast, thanking guests and listeners, and sharing their thoughts on what's next. This podcast is a place to listen, learn, engage, connect, and relate, and none of it is possible without the vulnerability and courage of our guests and, of course, without the amazing Navigators who tune in regularly to be a part of this journey and bring forth their own vulnerable selves. Thank you a million times - we're incredibly grateful! Tune in for the rest of season two (continuing this Saturday with an incredible interview) and for what's next in season three!

Hi Navigators! We have a remarkable guest to introduce to you all today. Jillian Rigert, DMD, MD, joins Catherine and Francis to explore an array of topics, including Jillian’s experience with an eating disorder and her recovery. She shares her relationship with anorexia nervosa as it relates to her identity, and how psychological and cognitive distortions and conditions like arrival fallacy, imposter syndrome, confirmation bias, and burnout all impacted her journey – both in difficult and uplifting ways. Jillian is a current trainee in Martha Beck’s Wayfinder Life Coach Program, and has formal training in dentistry, medicine, and oral medicine. She is an Air Force Veteran, research fellow in Radiation Oncology, blogger and buddying activist on topics including anti-diet culture and eating disorder recovery. She brings these experiences to this platform in profound and insightful ways. And as a bonus, she introduces us all to her dog Reece! We hope there are pieces in this conversation which feel relatable and comforting, and of course, we thank Jillian for her time, energy, and intellect. Enjoy!

CW: eating disorders, eating disorder recovery, eating disorder behaviors, suicidal ideation, discussion about weight-stigma and BMI, weight bias, military culture, medical bias and culture

Hi Navigators! Welcome to episode 91, a conversation with Kimberly Spencer, an award-winning author, high performance coach, Amazon best-selling author, international motivational speaker, and owner of Crown Yourself. She is also in recovery from an eating disorder. Kimberly joins Catherine and Francis to discuss how a challenging household growing up and a history of trauma led to the development of an eating disorder, and how, through physical movement and challenging the normative negative talk about body image, she shaped her recovery path. Towards the end of the discussion -- with immense vulnerability -- Kim reminds listeners that what has happened to someone does not have to be their entire life story, and people can create their narratives; and that reaching out can save lives. We were so grateful for her time and energy, and hope you give this conversation a listen.

CW: eating disorders, eating disorders behaviors, alcohol and substance use, body image dissatisfaction, dieting, childhood trauma, sexual abuse, suicidal ideation

Listener’s note: in the digest, Francis recalls a story about author Mark Sullivan, who wrote “Beneath the Scarlett Sky”. Francis admittedly got some of the details incorrect, and you can learn more about Mark’s story here: https://jessicasreadingroom.com/a-conversation-with-mark-sullivan/

Hi Navigators! The co-hosts are excited for you to hear from Christy Maloney, RD, LDN, CEDS-S, CPT, a dietitian who focuses her work on nutritional support and therapy for those experiencing eating disorders and disordered eating. This conversation covered topics ranging from the work a dietitian does as part of an eating disorder treatment team; to discovering what body and food neutrality is and how they can be applied in recovery; to understanding and utilizing joyful movement. Christy's approach in our conversation was gentle, neutral, humorous, and nonjudgemental, and made us feel comfortable from the beginning. We were privileged to gain her insights and receive her energy. Have a listen and let us know what you think!

CW: eating disorder behaviors, eating disorder treatment and recovery, weight and weight stigma