In this raw and revealing episode, the Shrinks dive deep into the complexities of family dynamics, emotional regression, and how recovery shows up when you're trapped on a cruise ship with people who know your buttons—and how to press them. From boundary-setting in the Yukon to confronting childhood roles that no longer fit, this conversation touches on grief, growth, and the power of self-care in triggering environments. It’s honest, funny, deeply human, and a reminder that healing isn’t linear—but connection helps.

✨ What We Talk About:

• Navigating old family roles while trying to live your recovery
• The challenge of being around alcohol and food triggers on vacation
• Self-care rituals as acts of rebellion and protection
• Emotional regression and why it still catches us off guard
• Clarissa’s cruise survival toolkit (walks, steam rooms, and solitude)
• Molly’s reflections on feeling “othered” in her blended family
• The tension between belonging and authenticity
• Practicing “mindful lying” and graceful boundary setting
• Grief, compassion, and the desire to build your own chosen family
• How we hold ourselves through the hard days without over-pathologizing

📝 Takeaways:

• Just because you’ve done “all the work” doesn’t mean you won’t feel pain
• Self-compassion is essential when navigating old family systems
• Sometimes the most healing thing we can do is acknowledge: “Today was hard.”
• You’re not alone if you feel like the black sheep—there’s power in embracing it

📬 Have a question, comment, or topic request? Email us at: [email protected]

❤️ If you love the podcast, help us out by subscribing, rating, reviewing, and sharing with your people. We’re obsessed with you, and your support helps us keep going.

The content of our show is educational only. It does not supplement or supersede your healthcare provider's professional relationship and direction. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified mental health providers with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition, substance use disorder, or mental health concern.

In this honest, heart-centered conversation, Molly P and Molly C tackle one of the most sensitive and frequently tiptoed-around topics in recovery spaces: weight loss. After receiving an email from a listener asking why they don’t speak more directly about it, the Mollys dive in—with nuance, humility, and a whole lot of truth.

Together, they explore:

• The difference between structure and restriction
• How to discern whether a desire to lose weight is rooted in recovery or disordered thinking
• The role of spiritual alignment, shadow work, and trusted counsel
• Why urgency is a red flag
• How diet culture’s hamster wheel keeps us chasing “not enoughness”

They share personal experiences, reflect on the trap of perfectionism in recovery, and offer thoughtful questions for listeners to journal about:

• Why is who I am right now not enough?
• What am I hoping weight loss will fix?
• Would I recommend this method to someone I love?

The Mollys don’t shy away from the complexities of this issue—especially for those who are earlier in their recovery or navigating significant body changes. Instead, they invite listeners to reflect honestly, act lovingly, and build a sustainable relationship with food and self that feels like home.

💌 Call to Action:

This is a conversation meant to continue, not conclude. If you have thoughts, questions, or respectful pushback—we want to hear it.

📩 Email us at [email protected] 👍 Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share—your support helps us keep these conversations going.

The content of our show is educational only. It does not supplement or supersede your healthcare provider's professional relationship and direction. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified mental health providers with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition, substance use disorder, or mental health concern.

In this soulful and vulnerable episode of Food Shrinks, Molly C and Molly P sit down for a heartfelt conversation about spirituality, what it means, how it manifests in recovery, and why it has become the cornerstone of their healing. With Clarissa off on vacation (an Alaska cruise, anyone?), the Mollys dive deep into how spirituality is not about finding answers, but about the willingness to see life differently.

They share personal stories, therapeutic insights, and unexpected turning points, from early resistance to mindset shifts, to dreamcatchers in correctional facilities, to how trauma, addiction, and spiritual transformation are intricately linked. Whether you’re just starting your journey or questioning the next step, this episode invites you to gently open the door to something greater than pain. and maybe even greater than you.

In this episode, we discuss: 🩷Why spirituality in recovery isn’t about religion (and how it often starts with pain) 🩷The “evil filter,” cognitive distortions, and how therapy and neurofeedback helped Molly P shift her lens 🩷What it means to wear different “glasses” and let life in fully—ugly, beautiful, and everything in between 🩷The connection between trauma, control, addiction, and our resistance to trust 🩷Spirituality as both armor and surrender 🩷Why belief is just a thought you keep thinking—and how we can learn to tell a new story

Listener takeaways: 🩷You don’t need to have it all figured out to begin a spiritual path 🩷Resistance doesn’t mean you’re broken—it might just mean you need a new way in 🩷You are allowed to believe something new about yourself and your life 🩷There are infinite ways to reconnect with something bigger than your wound

Quotes we love: 🩷“Pain is usually the only way we get to a spiritual life—because it’s the moment we realize this isn’t working anymore.” 🩷“Spirituality has become a kind of armor between me and life on life’s terms—it helps me reframe the story.” 🩷“The voice of trauma and addiction comes in the same ringtone—it takes time to know which part of you is speaking.”

💌 Questions? Comments? Want more episodes like this? Write us at [email protected]

🎧 Listen, Subscribe, and Share: If this episode resonated with you, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, and sharing it with someone who might need a spiritual reframe today. Every comment, like, and share helps us reach others in recovery.

The content of our show is educational only. It does not supplement or supersede your healthcare provider's professional relationship and direction. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified mental health providers with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition, substance use disorder, or mental health concern.

The Food Shrinks open up about their personal journeys with self-compassion—from eye rolls and resistance to finding voices that finally felt true. They explore how trauma, neurodivergence, addiction, and childhood conditioning make self-compassion feel foreign, even threatening. With humor, honesty, and lived experience, they share how they’ve begun to chip away at old patterns of self-hate and embrace compassion as a lifelong practice, not a magical fix. This episode is real talk for real people who are tired of shaming themselves into change and are ready to try something gentler.

🧠 Key Topics Covered:

• Why self-compassion feels so uncomfortable (and sometimes impossible) at first
• How neurodivergence and ADHD impact the ability to receive compassion
• The difference between self-pity, self-permission, and true compassion
• The myth of "spiritual bypassing" and the danger of pretending to be okay
• How to develop your own compassionate inner voice that actually sounds like you
• Using somatic tools and nervous system regulation as a bridge to self-kindness
• Faith, spirituality, and the higher self as sources of compassionate guidance
• How modeling compassion for others often helps us practice it for ourselves
• When receiving love feels like too much—and why that’s okay
• Tiny ways to start practicing, even when it feels awkward or fake

💡 Favorite Quotes:

“No one has ever shamed themselves into wellness—but that didn’t stop me from trying.”

“You can’t just throw affirmations at yourself like spaghetti and hope they stick.”

“Whatever voice you're listening to—if it's not loving, it's not your higher self.”

“Self-compassion isn't the finish line. It's the practice that lets you stay in the race.”

💬 Call to Action:

Love this episode? Want more on self-compassion, trauma healing, or navigating recovery as a neurodivergent person?

📧 Write to us at [email protected] with your thoughts and questions!

And hey, besties, if this show gave you something, will you do us a little favor?

💖 Subscribe, rate, review, and share. We read every comment, and your support means the world.

The content of our show is educational only. It does not supplement or supersede your healthcare provider's professional relationship and direction. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified mental health providers with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition, substance use disorder, or mental health concern.

In this heartfelt and hilarious episode, the Shrinks dive into one of the most relatable recovery challenges: the gap between knowing what to do and actually doing it. Whether it’s flossing your teeth, sticking to a food plan, or showing up for yourself with compassion, the struggle is real—and it’s not about laziness or failure. It’s about nervous system responses, shame scripts, feelings phobia, and learning to be with our shadows. Join Molly C, Clarissa, and Molly P as they explore ambivalence, ego death, and what it means to change from the inside out, without shame.

What We Talk About:

• Why “knowing better” doesn’t always lead to “doing better”
• The myth of compliance and what the data actually says
• Personal stories of avoidance, resistance, and showing up anyway
• Ambivalence as a source of wisdom and transformation
• Nervous system dysregulation and safety as the missing link
• How shadow work, compassion, and ego humility fuel real change
• Type 2 fun, Iceland waterfall revelations, and hiking metaphors that hit deep
• Learning to celebrate what is working, not just what isn’t

Mentioned in the Episode:

• Compliance data on glaucoma and pediatric prescriptions
• Sweet Sobriety community insights
• Our mantra of the day: “I am loved and accepted exactly as I am.”

Listener Homework: If this episode stirred something in you, try this:

• Name one thing you know you “should” do—but don’t.
• Now list three compassionate reasons why that might be hard.
• Bonus: What are you already doing that supports your well-being?

Call to Action: ✨ Liked this episode? Help us spread the word! 🎧 Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform 🌟 Rate & review if you’re feelin’ generous 📤 Share it with a friend who needs to know they’re not alone

💌 Got a question or topic idea? Email us at: [email protected]

The content of our show is educational only. It does not supplement or supersede your healthcare provider's professional relationship and direction. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified mental health providers with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition, substance use disorder, or mental health concern.

In this raw and reflective episode, Molly C, Clarissa, and Molly P dive into the messy, beautiful work of staying with the hard stuff, especially when it would feel easier to bolt. Inspired by Molly C’s bougie pup Danny and his enforced recovery rest, the team explores the emotional equivalent of “week four”: the moment when things feel better, but the healing isn’t finished, and the temptation to return to old habits is loudest.

💡 Topics We Explore:

• Why the hardest part of healing often comes right before the miracle
• Recovery drop-offs and the fear of facing distress
• Faith, impulsivity, and why divine timing is maddening (and necessary)
• Learning to tolerate emotional pain without numbing
• The spiritual act of doing it anyway—even when it’s not pretty
• Practicing patience and staying present, one breath or brick at a time
• Why community and connection are non-negotiable in recovery

💬 Favorite Hot Takes:

• “You don’t have to do it pretty. You just have to do it.”
• “The goal of distress tolerance isn’t to feel better. It’s to not feel worse.”
• “Maybe you’re not seeing the whole quilt—and maybe that’s okay.”
• “Feeling sad and not numbing it? That’s a miracle.”

🛠️ Practical Wisdom:

• Daily grounding for emotional overwhelm
• Using decision balance sheets in recovery
• Letting go of judgment to increase distress tolerance
• How to be someone’s Day 42 companion

💌 Mentioned in This Episode:

• The Love Letter, Molly C’s weekly newsletter
• Sweet Sobriety and the Foundations Program
• Recovery slogans that still hit (hello, “Don’t quit before the miracle”)

💖 Closing Reminder: You are part of the quilt, even when it doesn’t make sense. Keep showing up. The miracle might be one breath away.

📬 Questions or feedback? Email us anytime at [email protected]

🫶 Love the pod? Subscribe, rate us 5 stars, share with your people, and stay for the magic.

The content of our show is educational only. It does not supplement or supersede your healthcare provider's professional relationship and direction. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified mental health providers with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition, substance use disorder, or mental health concern.

Hey Food Shrinkies — it's Molly C, Clarissa, and Molly P, diving even deeper into the conversation we thought we wrapped up last week. Spoiler: We weren’t done. Not even close.

Last week, we cracked open the Pandora’s box of body image in recovery — and this week, we’re standing in the storm. Clarissa shares what surfaced for her after playing it “safe” last episode and comes back with fire, truth, and an angry love letter to the body image bullying that’s haunted her for decades. Molly joins with her own mix of sorrow and advocacy, and together, we ask: How do we live with our bodies when the world taught us to live against them?

In this unfiltered, fiercely honest follow-up, we talk about:

• The “body noise” that’s louder than the food noise
• Why anger — not sadness — is sometimes the real breakthrough
• Saunas, baths, and the quiet terror of being alone in your skin
• Body grief, eating disorder residue, and the illusion of “thin = loved”
• Releasing the fantasy of full freedom and embracing the messy middle
• Body serenity: is it real? is it possible? is it even the point?
• The shame of being a professional who still struggles
• How diet culture gaslights our worth and confuses our healing
• And the Buddhist practice of Tonglen — breathing in the collective pain, breathing out compassion

This isn’t a “how-to” episode. It’s a “me too” episode.

Because we don’t have to be done with this to be worthy. We don’t have to win the war to reclaim our skin. We just have to keep talking. Keep telling the truth. Keep holding each other in the struggle.

💌 Got a question or want to share your own body story? Email us at [email protected] — we read every word.

✨ And if this episode moved you, please:

• Subscribe wherever you listen
• Rate & Review (it only takes 3 minutes!)
• Share it with someone who needs to know they’re not alone

Together, we breathe through the noise. Together, we reclaim the body as home.

We love you. We’re with you. Always.

#FoodShrinksPodcast #BodyImageRecovery #SweetSobriety #RecoveryIsMessy #BodyGrief #TraumaInformedHealing #EatingDisorderRecovery #SoberCurious #EmbodimentMatters

The content of our show is educational only. It does not supplement or supersede your healthcare provider's professional relationship and direction. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified mental health providers with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition, substance use disorder, or mental health concern.

In this unfiltered, vulnerable episode of Food Shrinks, Molly, Clarissa, and MC hit record on what was meant to be a private post-game debrief—and ended up diving into one of the most tender, tangled topics in recovery: body image. Following last week's episode on the industry’s obsession with weight, this conversation becomes personal. Like, really personal.

From sharing fears about thinness and relapses into compulsive behaviors, to naming the grief, anger, and cultural betrayal that can come with inhabiting a body that doesn’t match the world’s expectations, the trio explores what it means to care about your body without being consumed by it.

Molly drops a mic-worthy soliloquy that will stay with you long after the episode ends. This one is full of discomfort, truth-telling, and a whole lot of love.

💡 Themes We Explore:

• Can we ethically care about our weight in recovery?
• The myth of “body image” when real changes happen in the body
• Navigating shame, identity, and belonging in various-sized bodies
• Why the relentless pursuit of thinness is a trap—and what freedom looks like instead
• What’s adaptive vs. maladaptive care when it comes to our appearance?

📣 Call to Action: This episode is a gift from our hearts—if it resonated with you, please share it with someone who needs to hear they’re not alone. Hit subscribe, rate, and review wherever you listen to your podcasts. Your support means the world.

💌 Email us! [email protected]

🔗https://www.sweetsobriety.ca/

🔗https://mollycarmel.com/

❤️ You're not crazy. You're not alone. You're on Food Shrinks—and we love you.

The content of our show is educational only. It does not supplement or supersede your healthcare provider's professional relationship and direction. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified mental health providers with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition, substance use disorder, or mental health concern.

In this unapologetically honest and deeply validating conversation, the Food Shrinks crew dives into one of the hottest topics in food addiction recovery: weight as a false measure of success. Why do some professionals in the recovery field still equate smaller bodies with deeper healing? And what happens when people in larger bodies feel excluded—even when they're abstinent and thriving?

Molly, Clarissa, and MP break down the damaging impact of internalized weight stigma, explore why body size is not a clinical marker of recovery, and call out harmful assumptions that show up even in professional spaces. They share real stories from their Sweet Sobriety groups, challenge toxic cultural messaging, and reclaim the right to define recovery on your own terms.

Whether you're in a larger body, a smaller one, or still figuring things out—this episode is a must-listen.

💬 Topics We Cover:

• Why weight is not and has never been a reliable recovery metric
• The harmful myth of the “right-sized” recovery body
• How professionals perpetuate weight stigma (even unintentionally)
• What it means to define your own recovery
• The danger of unprompted weight commentary from practitioners
• Recovery at every size: nuance, metabolism, and lived experience
• Why shame, not weight, is often the real barrier to healing
• The difference between health at every size and health at a lot of sizes
• How to protect your recovery from body-based judgment

🧠 Mic Drop Moments:

“Judging recovery by weight loss is like judging a house fire victim by how quickly they redecorated.”

“You do not owe the world an aesthetically pleasing body.”

“One person doesn’t get to decide what recovery looks like for someone else.”

📬 Have a Question or Topic You Want Us to Cover?

Email us at [email protected] We’d love to hear from you!

💖 Help Us Spread the Word:

If this episode spoke to you, please take 30 seconds to:

• Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube
• Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating or review
• Share it with a friend or recovery group

Every share supports our mission to bring truth without shame to the food addiction recovery world. Thank you!

The content of our show is educational only. It does not supplement or supersede your healthcare provider's professional relationship and direction. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified mental health providers with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition, substance use disorder, or mental health concern.

In this spontaneous and heart-forward episode, Molly C., Clarissa, and Molly P. crack open the resistance so many of us feel toward group work, and why that resistance might be precisely the sign we need more connection, not less.

Together, the trio explores why group healing matters, how co-regulation works, and what it means to feel seen, safe, and mirrored in community. From AA meetings to clinical groups to retreats full of “I-don’t-do-group” folks turned soul sisters, they share raw stories about belonging, shame, and the life-changing magic of not doing recovery alone.

If you’ve ever thought, “I don’t do groups,” this one’s for you.

What We Talk About in This Episode: 🌀 Why so many people resist group work—and what’s underneath that 🧠 The neuroscience of co-regulation and how groups help our nervous systems 💔 The loneliness epidemic and why isolation fuels addiction ✨ The healing power of being seen, heard, and mirrored 🙅‍♀️ How “my problems aren’t that bad” is a symptom of chronic invalidation 🐀 Rat Park, connection, and the real root of addiction 💬 Group doesn’t have to be perfect to be powerful

Resources & Links: 🔗 Learn more about Sweet Sobriety and upcoming groups: https://www.sweetsobriety.ca/ 📬 Get updates and free resources: https://www.sweetsobriety.ca/ and https://mollycarmel.com/ 📲 Rate, review, and share this episode—it helps more than you know!

Join the Conversation: 💌 Have a topic you want us to cover? Send us a note at [email protected]

The content of our show is educational only. It does not supplement or supersede your healthcare provider's professional relationship and direction. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified mental health providers with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition, substance use disorder, or mental health concern.