let's thrive

Recovering from an eating disorder takes time and continual work, a process that today’s guest Emily Meador knows all too well. After struggling with her own battle for years, Emily has now reached a point of full recovery and works to help others do the same. As an RDN and content creator through Instagram, Emily uses her platform to educate and inspire others to live a well life without diets or restriction. Her approach is through finding the joy in everyday life and making the most of your resources.

In this episode we discuss:

• How obessive beheviors play a part in disordered eating
• Pseudo recovery and having grace for ourselves
• OCD and mental health struggles
• Searching for control through disordered eating
• The danger of “healthy” habits promoted by diet culture
• What it means to fully recover

Connect with Emily @lettuce.thrive

Connect with Emily @emilyfeikls and @letsthrivepodcast

To support the show leave a rate and review on Apple Podcasts or share and tag on instagram!

Alex Matteo is a Broadway actor, woo-woo enthusiast and host of Pull It Together - a podcast for women redefining what it means to be creative. Over the past decade Alex has been living life as a Broadway Gypsy - performing in various Broadway shows + National Tours. Her podcast, Pull It Together was born out of a need to take back ownership over her creativity. As she approached her Saturn return, Alex decided to take a more holistic approach to life as a creative, and through raw, unfiltered conversations is breaking the mold and debunking myths of creativity. Alex loves fancy things, but is secretly happiest drinking a bottle of wine and watching Outlander with her mini aussie. She is an avid supporter of crop tops, and it is said she can assemble the most impressive charcuterie board this side of the Mississippi. 

Overall Alex is truly a gem of a human and we discuss everything from breaking the creativity rut to toxic positivity, how to set and follow through with boundaries, and much more! 

Connect with Alex here and find me here! 

Isn’t it funny how ~ lonely ~ we can feel even in a world as connected as ours? this move has taught me a lot already and one of the key lessons thus far has been on the acceptance of loneliness. I have great friends here, a mini community, and I love them all for being patient and loving to me as I begin this new chapter. but at the end of the day, they can’t be the one to heal my ~ loneliness ~ .... only I can do that.

I think this can apply to anyone because loneliness doesn’t mean a physical lack > it means there’s an emotional and mental gap that is aching to be filled. so whether you just moved or you live at home or you work from home or you live with the love of your life you can still feel ~ lonely ~ in moments of vulnerability or growth. and for anyone struggling with an ED, depression, or even anxiety } you may also know this mental/emotional gap that is yearning to be filled and oftentimes is with self destructive habits and actions.

Join me for a solo episode to explore the realm of feeling lonely and how to work through it. 

Gabby Male is a source of inspiration and empowerment for womxn looking to redefine their relationship to fitness, body image, and health. After battling her own struggle with disordered eating and toxic diet culture, Gabby now openly shares her experience from recovering and life after to guide others along their own journey. Through her work as a health coach and content creator, Gabby fuses intuitive fitness, self love and food freedom to show that it is possible to live life free of disordered eating. Her mission is to educate others about the many facets of health from mental to emotional, social, financial, sexual to physical, no matter the label, Gabby believes that health is all encompassing. 

In this episode we discuss: 

• Relic 96, Gabby’s sustainable clothing line
• How clothing impacts recovery
• Recovering alongside a friend
• Building intention with social media
• Romantic relationships during and after recovery 
• Viewing life with a macro versus micro lens
• How to work through exercise obsession
• The benefits of intuitive movement
• The umbrella of health 

Connect with Gabby at @gabbymale

Connect with me @emilyfeikls and @letsthrivepodcast

Join me for a quick solo episode on my full eating disorder journey. I share from the beginning of it all up to my current situation and give the low down on recovery. 

In this I discuss:

• The impact of diet culture in media
• Health obsession and orthorexia
• Recovery 
• The mind-body connection

To connect, find me @emilyfeikls and @letsthrivepodcast

Taking control of our health and advocating for ourselves isn’t always easy. Today’s guest, Bethany Holmes, knows firsthand how long and strenuous it can be to get the answers and help needed. When a sudden health crisis changed her life forever and led to emergency brain surgery, Bethany had to learn a new way of living. Her journey represents what can happen when the gap between emotional and physical turmoil closes and full healing can happen.

In this episode we discuss:

• What it means to advocate for your health
• Brain surgery and what that meant for Bethany
• The recovery process after such a traumatic event
• Healing both physically and emotionally 
• The power of nutrition and energy work
• Transitioning careers to prioritize health and happiness

Connect with Bethany @thehealthy_b and me @emilyfeiklsand @letsthrivepodcast.

What is pseudo recovery and is full recovery even possible?! If you’ve ever wondered these exact thoughts stay tuned as today’s guest, Emily of @eatwithcare, is explaining it all. Sharing unposed photos of your body and vulnerable stream of conscious captions while in recovery is not easy yet Emily does it to make a point: to dismantle diet culture and wake people up to the truth of disordered eating. She shares how her journey with disordered eating began and what it looked like over the years until she chose to recover … only to realize she was in pseudo recovery. She now shares her journey towards full recovery as she speaks on topics such as body acceptance, weight gain, the binge-restrict cycle, fear foods, and the mental/emotional/social impact of disordered eating. 

In this episode we discuss: 

• How to identify if you’re in pseudo recovery
• Exploring the intention behind your choices
• Is full recovery possible?
• Food shaming in the wellness field
• Is it possible to be health conscious and recover?
• How to break the binge-restrict cycle
• Practicing intuitive eating
• Body acceptance in recovery 
• Exposure vs cover up during weight gain phase 

Connect with Em @eatwithcare

Connect with me @emilyfeikls and @letsthrivepodcast

Gabrielle Westbrook is an Enneagram Life Coach helping women find their most authentic self, tap into inner power, and finally take charge of their life. Her work with the enneagram began after spending years on the sidelines of her own life, asleep to what her full potential was. She now works with women to help unlock and discover who they truly are so that they too can live their best life. In today’s episode Gabrielle breaks down what the enneagram actually is and how it can impact our life. This includes what each type is, an explanation of the triads of the types, and a mindset shift that each type should work towards. 

In this episode we discuss: 

• What the enneagram is and the purpose of it
• Gabrielle’s journey with the enneagram
• Why coaching is more accurate than quizzes
• The 9 types broken into triads
• The core pillars of each type
• What each triad represents
• Identifying your dominant type
• How to work with your type in harmony
• A mindset shift for each type to make

Connect:

Gabrielle

Emily 

To support the show please leave a rate and review for the podcast! And to learn more about Gabrielle’s enneagram coaching offers, go to The Hope Healers.

If you know Tay of @itstaylermarie then you’ll know that in the past year she’s gone through quite the transformation. After spending years of her life battling the effects of diet culture in her life, Tay decided to take initiative and change. She shares her journey of falling into health obsession and how she slowly transitioned out of it to find her own sort of in-between. The mindset shift that Tay had to make is what changed her journey for the better. Tay also speaks on the positive and negative impact of social media when it comes to health. 

In this episode we discuss: 

• Tay’s transition out of obsessive health and diet culture
• The hidden side effects of disordered eating
• The positive and negative impact of social media
• Overcoming people pleasing tendencies
• How Tay redefined her mindset with health
• The power of shifting focus in recovery 

Connect:

Tayler

Emily

As a content creator through instagram, YouTube, and now her podcast, Natalie Barbu is the queen of diversifying content. In today’s chat she explains her start in the world of entrepreneurship and content creation all while sharing the highs and lows of it. As the Founder and President of Barbu Agency, Natalie knows what it takes to build a brand and market to the ideal audience. With her own experience and education, Natalie now helps others build their business and shift their mindset around marketing. She dives into what it looks like to face the fear and do it anyway, with topics such as leaving corporate, starting a business, or even putting your work out into the world. Natalie also shares her best advice for branding and diversifying content on different platforms. Her work is a prime example of turning a dream and passion into reality. 

In this episode we discuss: 

• Natalie’s start with business and entrepreneurship
• Building an audience on IG, YouTube, and her podcast
• Leaving corporate to start Barbu Agency
• Facing the fears that threaten to hold us back
• How to start now and learn to adapt
• Creating content in diverse ways
• Branding tips for discovering your niche and ideal audience

Connect with Natalie @nataliebarbu, on YouTube, and with her podcast, The Real Reel

I’m @emilyfeikls and @letsthrivepodcast