Well Undone with Lydia Allaby

This week, we are joined by Beth George. Looking at the world through a slightly different mental health lens this week, Beth shares with us her experience of growing up - and still living with - challenging compulsive tendencies, which in adulthood, have led to a complex myriad of rules when it comes to food, exercise and her body. We delve into the ups and downs of her mental health journey, when she first became conscious of the pressures of diet culture, and the point in her life when she started to focus her more controlling tendencies on changing her body.
 
Beth talks honestly and openly about the perceived fear of what a life without those rules could look like, her mixed experience of therapy, and reflects on the mental obstacles of reaching out for help when so much of life is otherwise filled with privilege.

If you are personally struggling with any of the issues discussed in this episode, there are resources out there to help. A great first port of call, if you are in the UK, is the charity BEAT: https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/support-services/helplines

The UK charity Mind also provides great mental health resources, both in relation to eating disorders and beyond: https://www.mind.org.uk/

If you are keen to explore further the ideas around intuitive eating and the Health At Every Size movement, I would recommend taking a look at the work by Laura Thomas PhD (@laurathomasphd), author and founder of the London Centre for Intuitive Eating.

Well Undone is hosted and produced by Lydia Allaby.

In this week's episode of Well Undone, we are joined by Bam, who shares with us her journey from an intensely insecure youngster desperate to achieve the thin ideal, to becoming a woman who embraces herself with confidence, respect, and a recognition of her own boundaries. 

Touching on the challenges created by intermittent fasting, the seeming obsession with achievement in Lockdown 1.0, the harmful effects of the British preoccupation with self-deprecation and so much more, we talk about the way in which the path to self-acceptance is never linear, and unpack Bam's learnings from her own journey. 

Ever a powerful voice in the race advocacy space, Bam also talks about the whitewashing of wellness, the barriers – both symbolic and very practical – that this culture creates, and her ever present experience of living as a black woman in a white dominated space.

If you are personally struggling with any of the issues discussed in this episode, there are resources out there to help. A great first port of call, if you are in the UK, is the charity BEAT: https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/support-services/helplines
 
If you are keen to explore further the ideas around intuitive eating and the Health At Every Size movement, I would recommend taking a look at the work by Laura Thomas PhD (@laurathomasphd), author and founder of the London Centre for Intuitive Eating.

Well Undone is hosted and produced by Lydia Allaby.

This week's guest is Cami Down, who gives us a raw and honest unpacking of her experience of getting a scholarship to attend a majority-male boarding school at the age of 13, and the lifelong impact that went on to have on her relationship with her body. 

We talk about the oftentimes unspoken yet competitive nature of restrictive eating as teens, the sheer emptiness that comes with starvation-driven weight loss, and the challenge of trying to break away from the narratives of diet culture, regardless of a logical understanding of their irrationality. And if that wasn't enough, we also talk about the anxiety that is lockdown weight gain, the impact of social media and the influencer community, and so much more.

If you are personally struggling with any of the issues discussed in this episode, there are resources out there to help. A great first port of call, if you are in the UK, is the charity BEAT: https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/support-services/helplines
 
If you are keen to explore further the ideas around intuitive eating and the Health At Every Size movement, I would recommend taking a look at the work by Laura Thomas PhD (@laurathomasphd), author and founder of the London Centre for Intuitive Eating.

Well Undone is hosted and produced by Lydia Allaby.

My guest this week is Alice Shaw, a mid-twenties City lawyer who talks honestly and powerfully about her experience of juggling life alongside the world of eating disorders. She shares how she first fell down the slippery slope of restrictive eating, her experience with therapy, the impact that her eating disorder has had on her relationships, and so much more.

If you are personally struggling with any of the issues discussed in this episode, there are resources out there to help. A great first port of call, if you are in the UK, is the charity BEAT: https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/support-services/helplines
 
If you are keen to explore further the ideas around intuitive eating and the Health At Every Size movement, I would recommend taking a look at the work by Laura Thomas PhD (@laurathomasphd), author and founder of the London Centre for Intuitive Eating. 

Well Undone is hosted and produced by Lydia Allaby.