The Appetite

Take a deep breath and bend your ears towards Cozette and Marrow as they bravely explore the psychological forces at play in their eating disorder recoveries. Dr. Lexi Giblin, PhD and Kara Bazzi, LMFT, Opal Co-Founders, join Cozette and Marrow in their quest to use self-inquiry to learn from unwanted emotion. Shame is a starting point for both self-inquirers but the learning takes them to different places. Cozette grapples with urges to restrict food despite her motivation to recover, while Marrow reflects on how her desire to have a child played a role in her recent relapse.

Connect with Opal:

www.opalfoodandbody.com

@opalfoodandbody

@Opal.Movement

Thank you to our team...

Editing by David Bazzi

Music by Aaron Davidson: https://soundcloud.com/diet75/

Sound engineering by Ayesha Ubayatilaka at Jack Straw Studios

Feeding and eating is a realm of family life that changes as kids get older, which is easy for some parents and more difficult for others. What does empowerment and leadership look like as teens eat more socially and have more time away from the home? How can parents be a healthy part of a teen's relationship with food? In this episode two of Opal's Co-Founders, Julie Church, RDN, CD and Kara Bazzi, LMFT, CEDS offer invitations for parents to trust, talk and support their teens, using some of Ellyn Satter's materials to guide what is most important in the parent and teen feeding relationship.

Further resources: Ellyn Satter Institute Body Talk

Connect with Opal:

www.opalfoodandbody.com

@opalfoodandbody

@Opal.Movement

Thank you to our team...

Editing by David Bazzi

Music by Aaron Davidson: https://soundcloud.com/diet75/

Sound engineering by Ayesha Ubayatilaka at Jack Straw Studios

And the Self Inquiry Series is off and running! In this first self-inquiry episode, Dr. Lexi Giblin, PhD opens by giving us the 411 on RO DBT's self-inquiry process and then we turn to Sally and Andrea's live self-inquiry. Kara Bazzi, Opal Co-Founder, and the group pose questions to try to open up new learning for Sally and Andrea. Sally struggles with parenting guilt and wanting to do it "right". Andrea wants to be a "good daughter". Listen in on how their distress gets opened up and challenged in new and interesting ways!

Connect with Opal:

www.opalfoodandbody.com

@opalfoodandbody

@Opal.Movement

Thank you to our team...

Editing by David Bazzi

Music by Aaron Davidson: https://soundcloud.com/diet75/

Sound engineering by Ayesha Ubayatilaka at Jack Straw Studios

Has your life become all about setting and achieving goals? When you encounter problems in life, is your solution to do more, work harder, and put another goal in place only to turn around and repeat this cycle when the next problem presents itself? Listen to this episode of The Appetite where Opal Co-Founders, Lexi Giblin, PhD and Kara Bazzi, LMFT discuss how this compulsive striving approach to life can work for you AND against you. With a particular eye on disordered eating and movement, they ask questions to help you discern if your values or the achievement hustle is driving your life. With society's value on high productivity, this conversation offers a welcome reprieve from hustle culture and suggests that practicing the art of non-productivity is exactly what is most needed.

Connect with Opal:

www.opalfoodandbody.com

@opalfoodandbody

@Opal.Movement

Thank you to our team...

Editing by David Bazzi

Music by Aaron Davidson: https://soundcloud.com/diet75/

Sound engineering by Ayesha Ubayatilaka at Jack Straw Studios

Listen in as Opal's Director of the Exercise + Sport program, Kara Bazzi, and Opal's Movement Coach, Caitlin Jacobsen have a conversation about "Good for a Girl", a newly released book written by former professional runner, coach and author, Lauren Fleshman. "Good for A Girl" is a memoir (and part manifesto) which follows Lauren's distance running career to the upper echelons of elite levels of sport performance. Although the elite distance running world is exclusionary, and centers the white, thin, able bodied, cis-male experience, Lauren's story highlights something that is relatable to a wider audience: how society's toxic cultural messaging about who "belongs" is a driving factor for developing disordered eating and eating disorders. Kara and Caitlin draw from their identities as distance runners as well as clinicians working in the eating disorder treatment field, as they highlight important themes from the book. They also use this as an opportunity to encourage and inform listeners about eating disorder treatment, which was a topic not discussed in the book. This episode offers hope that specialized treatment does exist for the athlete!

**Check out our other Shifting Toxic Sport Culture episode here.

Links:

Lauren Fleshman + Link to her book "Good for a Girl"

Wildwood Running

Mind Body Endurance

Athlete Edge EDCare

Book: Girls Running

Connect with Opal:

www.opalfoodandbody.com

@The.Appetite.Podcast

@Opal.Movement

Thank you to our team...

Editing by David Bazzi

Music by Aaron Davidson: https://soundcloud.com/diet75/

Sound engineering by Ayesha Ubayatilaka at Jack Straw Studios

We are launching a new Self-Inquiry Series, within The Appetite podcast, where we will take the style of Opal's Self-Inquiry Group to the podcast airways. We are looking for folks interested in doing private journal self-inquiry work followed by receiving questions from the podcast group - just like in Opal's Self-Inquiry Group (but recorded). Participants can call in to the show or join us at the studio in Seattle. The Appetite will take measures to protect your identity, including using an alias, altering the sound of your voice, and editing out any identifying information disclosed post production. To be eligible, participants must actively be in individual therapy in order to have a place to process what may arise from the self-inquiry. To apply, email us at [email protected] or click here to go straight to the application form.

If you want to hear former episodes where self-inquiry was done, check out:

Episode #81: Rethinking Resolutions: Self-Inquiry as Self-Improvement

Episode #94: Getting Emotional: Using Self-Inquiry During the Coronavirus Pandemic

Connect with Opal:

www.opalfoodandbody.com

@The.Appetite.Podcast

@Opal.Movement

Thank you to our team...

Editing by David Bazzi

Sound engineering by Ayesha Ubayatilaka at Jack Straw Cultural Center

Music by Aaron Davidson: https://soundcloud.com/diet75/

"My story is a running journey, but at its heart, it's a story for anyone who has experienced the harm and powerlessness that comes from not fitting into society's expectations, anyone who has ever existed in the margins. It is a story of finding and creating your place and space." Listen into this episode of The Appetite where Alison Mariella Désir- runner, activist, disruptor- reflects and expands on parts of her powerful, newly released book, Running While Black. Kara Bazzi, LMFT, Director of Opal's Exercise+Sport Program, talks with Alison about belonging, creating and developing a culture of inclusion in sport, and the historical context that is often missing from the origin stories of the American distance running boom. If this is the first time you are introduced to Alison or you are already connected with her work, this episode will not disappoint!

Connect with Alison:

Alison's website

Buy Alison's book: Running While Black

Watch Alison's TV show: Out and Back

Alison's previous interview on The Appetite

Connect with Opal:

www.opalfoodandbody.com

@The.Appetite.Podcast

@Opal.Movement

Thank you to our team...

Editing by David Bazzi

Music by Aaron Davidson: https://soundcloud.com/diet75/

Sound engineering by Ayesha Ubayatilaka at Jack Straw Studios

Connie Sobczak of The Body Positive gives us this wise nugget: "Aging is something we get to do, if we are lucky." Julie Church, Opal's Co-Founder and Nutrition Director, discusses with Connie the many considerations that arise as we age, covering the topics of appearance, body image, health, and self-care. Listen here for invitations to gratitude, non-judgement, and consciousness that can start at any stage of life and help ease one into the gift of aging. Connie shares openly about how she personally navigates aging with her eating disorder recovery and personal commitment to embodiment. Links from show: Maya Angelou interviews About the 70s and About the 80s

The 5 Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Fully Living

Connect with Connie: www.thebodypositive.org ConnieSobczak.com

Connie's book: Embody: Learning to Love Your Unique Body (and quiet that critical voice!)

Connie's artistic booklet, Bodies of Nature/Nature of Bodies

Medium.com essay, Experience Over Appearance.

TEDx talk link: Embracing Your Critical Voice: The Gateway to Self-Love

Connect with Opal:

www.opalfoodandbody.com

Thank you to our team...

Editing by David Bazzi

Music by Aaron Davidson: https://soundcloud.com/diet75/

Are you a "perfectionist" who is exhausted and tired of hustling for your worth? Or perhaps you have entered perfectionism recovery but remain in a long term battle with compulsive perfectionistic striving? Either way, this podcast is just the ticket for you! Take a listen to Lexi Giblin, PhD, Maggie Ritnour, LMHC, LCAT, ATR-BC, RYT, CEDS and Noni Vaughn-Pollard, NDTR, MHC-LP chat about the difference between perfectionism and excellence, the importance of celebrating achievements, and shame as the birthplace of perfectionism. Lexi, Maggie and Noni look through a radically open dialectical behavior therapy (RO DBT) lens to shed light on the topic. Along the way, you will get the inside scoop on the origin story of the Opal mascot: The Owl.

To find Noni and Maggie, go to: Roots Art Therapy at

https://www.rootsarttherapy.nyc/

@afroandappetite

@rootsarttherapy

Connect with Opal:

www.opalfoodandbody.com

Thank you to our team...

Editing by David Bazzi

Music by Aaron Davidson: https://soundcloud.com/diet75/

Part 3 of a 3 part series: "Creating Social Change in the Sport World" Episode 3: Power of Sharing Your Recovery Journey-- Most people who struggle with disordered eating or an eating disorder grapple with how much and to whom they share their struggle with. Amelia Boone, a world class obstacle racer and ultrarunner, is no exception. Amelia talks about her "why" of sharing vulnerably and openly about her recovery journey with an eating disorder to her social media community. Listen as Kara Bazzi, co-founder and Clinical Director of Opal, and Amelia talk about the risks and rewards of sharing your story, both in the public and private domains. They explore how to discern when to speak up and when to set personal boundaries in service of your recovery. To get to know Amelia more:

http://www.ameliabooneracing.com/

@arboone11

Connect with Opal:

www.opalfoodandbody.com

Thank you to our team...

Editing by David Bazzi

Music by Aaron Davidson: https://soundcloud.com/diet75/