In this podcast I speak with Lynn McGovern on the topic of orthorexia. This is a type of eating disorder, without an official diagnosis, but that cause a lot of distress and suffering to the person experiencing it. Orthorexia is an obsession with healthy eating.

Lynn is a newly graduated psychotherapist MSc in Applied Psychology and much experience working with eating disorders. She has previously published research on orthorexia and has just conducting another study on the topic. Lynn has previously volunteered with Bodywhys and has also worked in the areas of youth mental health, domestic violence, and disability. You can connect with Lynn on Instagram @lighthousetherapy_Ireland.

We also ended up talking about another type of eating disorder called Atypical Anorexia, which is more common than you might think. It is important to remember that eating disorders don’t have a look. People of all ages, genders, body size and ethnicities can experience and live with eating disorders.

Other topics we discuss is: The difficulty in accessing a diagnosis (if this is something you want, or if this will help you access care). How eating disorder care is underfunded, under diagnosed and how many healthcare practitioners lack education on this topic. Which further exacerbate the situation.

I have linked to the research studies Lynn mentions below.

One thing that I want to mention is that whether someone has a diagnosis or not, if you are struggling with your relationship with food you deserve support so things can get better. Because it can.

*CW some mentions of stigmatising language in the episode*

You can connect with Lynn further on Instagram: @lighthousetherapy_ireland

Links to research mentioned

Errin Harrop’s work https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/handle/1773/46576

Lynn’s previous research on Orthorexia https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342403473_The_experience_of_orthorexia_from_the_perspective_of_recovered_orthorexics

Looking at the intersection of Ob*sity and Eds https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6073367/ (CW Stigmatising language)

Other previous episodes from Season 2 that speaks directly on Eating Disorders:

SE2 – Ep1 with Kristi Koeter

SE2 – Ep2 with Deirdre Reddan

Find me over on Straightforward Nutrition

https://straightforwardnutrition.com/

My 1:1 work  https://straightforwardnutrition.com/eating-disorder-support/

Book in for a 30 min free initial session https://eatingfreelycallwithlinn.as.me/schedule.php

I am back with a new solo episode this week. Full disclosure here… I do find these solo episodes vulnerable to make, especially when I include personal anecdotes and opinions. Some of the content may resonate and other stuff won’t. And that’s ok.

And, it still makes me feel, I don’t know, raw?

In this episode I share with you some of my thoughts and experiences when is comes to goal setting and how my take has changed over the years from very All-or-Nothing to a much more flexible approach. Something that I think (and hope) will serve me better long term.

What is your approach to setting goals or intention?

What happens when you can’t stick to them?

Do you abandon them altogether, or do you eventually find your way back, if it really matters to you?

I also share some simple tips on habits that I picked up from a resent workshop that I attended.

Let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment.

I still have a few spots left for new clients, so if one of your intentions this year is to have a better relationship with food, eating and your body please connect by booking in for a free initial 30 min call.

Find me over on Straightforward Nutrition

https://straightforwardnutrition.com/

My 1:1 work  https://straightforwardnutrition.com/eating-disorder-support/

Book in for a 30 min free initial session https://eatingfreelycallwithlinn.as.me/schedule.php

And sign up for my newsletter and join the Joyful + Nourishment community https://linnt.substack.com/

Wishing you a great week ahead.

In this episode I speal with the lovely Nadia Felsch.

Nadia Felsch, BHSc (she/her) is a nutritionist, intuitive eating counsellor, feminist and fat activist. She is a white, thin, woman living on unceded Gadigal Country in Sydney Australia with her partner and two miniature dachshunds named Toast and Avocado. Her work is underpinned by the great unlearning of, and healing from the the typical narratives we all hold about food, health and our bodies. Nadia supports folks to re-connect with and trust their innate body wisdom, to find what works for them in how they care for and relate to their bodies - smashing norms along the way!

The conversation go wide and look at topics such as the impact social media and the content we consume there can have on our relationship we have with food.

We talk about the intersection of Diet Culture & Wellness Culture and how easy it can be to get sucked into following the wellness guru in pursuit of health (and possibly thinness and happiness).

Both Nadia and I have been on Instagram since the early days (over a decade) and both our work, how we think about ‘health’ has evolved over the years and we discuss this too.

There may be some points in this conversation that feel controversial, this is what Nadia means when she talks about the “unlearnings”. I would love to know what you are currently learning and unlearning about nutrition, health and wellness.

You can find more about Nadia’s work:

On her website

On Instagram

Or on her own podcast

If you enjoy this episode, please feel free to leave a comment, or share this episode with a friend!

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Find me over on Straightforward Nutrition

https://straightforwardnutrition.com/

My 1:1 work  https://straightforwardnutrition.com/eating-disorder-support/

Book in for a 30 min free initial session https://eatingfreelycallwithlinn.as.me/schedule.php

And sign up for my newsletter and join the Joyful + Nourishment community https://linnt.substack.com/

In this week's episode I have the pleasure of speaking with Melanie Hargraves.

Melanie (she/her) is an experienced, curious and compassionate dietitian interested in the way trauma can impact eating and body image. Qualifying over 10 years ago, she blends her lived experience with this expertise to provide pragmatic and practical support for anyone struggling.

You can find her on instagram at @whentraumasatthetable. 

This conversation focuses on exploring what trauma is and what we mean by Big T and Little T. Melanie also shares some of her own experiences around food and we dive into how the experience of trauma can show up in our relationship with food, eating and body image.

It is a really powerful conversation and I hope you will get a lot from it.

Some other useful links on Body and Trauma:

Book: The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma a book by Bessel van der Kolk. (bookshop.org)

The Mindful Dietitian 

Instagram accounts: @nalgonapositivitypride @bodyjustice.therapist @traumaandco 

Find me over on Straightforward Nutrition

Book in for a 30 min free initial session here

This week’s episode is a solo one with me. I wanted to put together something for everyone who missed the online workshop I did with Kristi last week. This time of year can be particularly challenging if you are trying to move away from dieting or are in eating disorder recovery. There are typically lots of food, social events (centred around food & alcohol) and we might spend more time with family than what we normally do.

This can amplify all of the typical challenges you have around food, eating and body image. So to give you some suggestions for how to navigate this I made this episode.

I am also answering two listener questions. If you have a question you would like me to answer anonymously just drop me an email to [email protected] with the heading QUESTION.

And I leave you with another question to ponder.

Finally thank you for being a supporter and listener to The Joyful + Nourishment Podcast. It is inching closer to 1000 downloads. Not that numbers matters but to me it means that there are people out there how are listening and hopefully it is making even a little difference in how you navigate food and body image stuff.

The last episode of 2023 will be live on the 29th of Dec and it is another guest episode, not to be missed!

Previous podcast episodes mentioned in this episode: (SE1 - Ep7  & SE2 - Ep2)

I am not taking on any new clients this year but if you want to book in for a free 30 min call to explore getting some support in the New Year you can still do that here.

In this week’s guest episode, I speak with Deirdre Reddan from Supported Families.

Deirdre Reddan is an Eating Disorder Coach and Parent Coach. She works with both parents and individuals and jointly runs online group programmes for parents affected by eating disorders (

She is also an associate instructor with Youth Mental Health First Aid Ireland.

Deirdre is passionate on the topic of disordered eating and eating disorders, and the importance of educating and raising awareness around this complex and often misunderstood area.

She is also passionate about supporting parents, who are often the untapped superpower when a person is unwell. She has delivered numerous workshops and webinars to both sporting and large commercial organisations, and to healthcare professionals.

What Supported Families bring to the families (parents, siblings and partners) of people who are struggling and on the road to recovery from an eating disorder is invaluable.

In this conversation we speak of Deirdre’s lived experience as a parent of a child with an eating disorder and also what support you as a loved one can give if you are close to someone living with an eating disorder.

This episode will be beneficial for anyone who is a parent, friend or partner of someone on their recovery journey. Because it can be a bewildering and often lonely journey, not only for the person who struggles but also for those around them. We discuss early warning signs, where to turn to if you are concerned that something isn’t right and much more.

Join their free video series for families (or anyone) supporting someone with an ED here

You can find Deirdre (and Zuzanna’s) work here

And follow on Instagram: @supported_families

LinkedIn

Other resources mentioned:  

Book - Skills-based Caring for a Loved One with an Eating Disorder: The New Maudsley Method

Bodywhys - The National Eating Disorder Association in Ireland

Article on the importance of aiming higher for weight restoration

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Find me over on Straightforward Nutrition

https://straightforwardnutrition.com/

My 1:1 work

 https://straightforwardnutrition.com/eating-disorder-support/

Book in for a 30 min free initial session

 https://eatingfreelycallwithlinn.as.me/schedule.php

And sign up for my newsletter and join the Joyful + Nourishment community https://linnt.substack.com/

Welcome the Season 2 of The Joyful + Nourishment Podcast. From now on the pace will be a little slower and you can expect a new episode every other week instead of weekly. I am honouring the space of enough right now, and this is the pace it takes when it comes to the podcast.

We are kicking off this season with my conversation with Kristi Koeter

Kristi is a marketing and communications leader with 20 years of experience as a journalist, writer, and editor. She is the mother of two children who have been diagnosed with and treated for eating disorders. She is co-author of the book Show Your Work and writes the newsletter Almost Sated, about detoxing from diet culture. When she isn’t writing, you’ll find her mountain biking, hiking, or spending time with her family in Austin, Texas.

Kristi is my Substack friend and her excellent newsletter Almost Sated, where she chronicles her own journey and experiences in moving away from a lifetime of dieting and body loathing, is well worth subscribing to. She also has an interview series over there where others share their stories of moving away from dieting too and it has been interesting to see how each person’s story is somewhat different, but also similar in many ways.

In this conversation we talk about her experience as a parent to two daughters who developed anorexia at a young age, and how when her 2nd daughter was in recovery this became a catalyst to look at some of her own long held beliefs and rules about what she “should” eat and how her body “should” look like.

She is over a year into her own process at this stage and shares candidly about the ups and downs of it all, so far.

This episode is helpful for anyone who is a parent or relative of a child or young person in recovery from and eating disorder. And I believe it will also benefit anyone how are on their own journey of recovery and food freedom.

Read Kristi’s newsletter Almost Sated here.

Find me over on Straightforward Nutrition

My 1:1 work here

Book in for a 30 min free initial session here

And sign up for my newsletter and join the Joyful + Nourishment community here

In this episode I speak with Anne Richardson who is a registered nutritionist who exclusively works with disordered eaters whether they have received a formal diagnosis or not.

She focuses her work more on restriction, so her clients tend to suffer with anorexia, orthorexia and bulimia mostly. She is also currently doing a diploma in cognitive behavioural therapy and this is reflected in her practice which blends nutrition with CBT. Anne mostly work online from her home in Devon.

Anne graciously shares her own personal story with a restrictive eating disorder, how she initially decided to *not* work in the nutrition space nor with people struggling with eating disorders, but eventually ended up doing so when she was looking for a career change.

We talk about the challenges with healing from a restrictive eating disorder, the importance of including nutrition and a nutrition professional as part of the team. Food itself is an ally in recovery and healing and not the enemy that the eating disorder is trying to make it out to be!

I think anyone who is struggling, has been struggling or is caring for someone with a restrictive eating disorder will find some gems to take away from this conversation and Anne’s wisdom and knowledge.

You can find Anne here:

Website:

https://www.theeatingdisordernutritionist.co.uk

Instagram: @theeatingdisordernutritionist

You can read more about my work here

https://straightforwardnutrition.com/

My 1:1 work here https://straightforwardnutrition.com/eating-disorder-support/

Book in for a 30 min free initial session here

And sign up for my newsletter and join the Joyful + Nourishment community here

You can listen to the Joyful Nourishment Podcast right here in your inbox, or on the Substack App.

It is also available on:

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Google Podcasts

In today’s episode I talk about body image, partly what it is and especially the influences our society and culture have on how we think and relate to our feelings about our bodies.

I will touch on different concepts that we hear about when we talk about body image, such as body love, body acceptance and body neutrality.

When did you first learn that your body was a problem? And what if it wasn’t a problem to be fixed? What if the only thing we have to “fix” is how we think about bodies, our own as well as other people’s bodies.

I’ll talk a bit about weight discrimination and how it affects us all even though it proportionately hurts people in larger bodies.

Finally I’ll also share a couple of simple tips that can help get you started on your own journey of feeling more at ease with your body.

You can read more about my work here

https://straightforwardnutrition.com/

My 1:1 work here https://straightforwardnutrition.com/eating-disorder-support/

Book in for a 30 min free initial session here

And sign up for my newsletter and join the Joyful + Nourishment community here

You can listen to the Joyful Nourishment Podcast right here in your inbox, or on the Substack App.

It is also available on:

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Google Podcasts

In this episode I speak with Shauna Farrell.

I loved speaking with Shauna and how she so generously shared her own journey from chronic dieting towards intuitive eating and body acceptance. She talks about the experience of weight stigma and body comments and how this had an impact on how she felt about her body.

As a health psychologist she also speaks about how most trainings in healthcare are in the typical weight centric model and how she has shifted her own beliefs and values around health and weight both personally and professionally in the past number of years. She now practices from a non-diet weight inclusive lens.

We also talk about how difficult weight gain can be as part of this healing journey, but that it can also be something that is both necessary and healthy.

Shauna shares with all of us some of the practices that has helped her along to find body acceptance and a new found freedom around food.

Shauna is a Psychologist, Wellbeing Specialist and Intuitive Eating Counsellor. She has an MSc in Health Psychology and experience working with Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. 

Shauna became interested in Intuitive Eating around 4 years ago when she read the book Just Eat it by Laura Thomas. The IE principles really resonated with her due to a past history of dieting and disordered eating. Shauna then began her instagram page wellbeing.with.shauna in an attempt to connect with people from the IE community and help them to ditch diet culture and improve their body image. 

Find out more about Shauna here

IG: @wellbeing.with.shauna

TikTok @wellbeing.with.shauna

Website https://wellbeingwithshauna.squarespace.com/

You can read more about my work here

https://straightforwardnutrition.com/

My 1:1 work here https://straightforwardnutrition.com/eating-disorder-support/

Book in for a 30 min free initial session here

And sign up for my newsletter and join the Joyful + Nourishment community here

You can listen to the Joyful Nourishment Podcast right here in your inbox, or on the Substack App.

It is also available on:

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Google Podcasts