365: Why Self-Compassion Is A Behaviour, Not A Feeling

Virgie Tovar joins the podcast to examine how GLP-1 weight-loss drugs are reshaping diet culture, from the medicalisation of restriction to the marketing of weight stigma as compassion. We discuss the impact on eating disorder recovery, the psychological cost of weight cycling, and what it takes to choose body acceptance in a culture still determined to sell thinness.

One of the most common mistakes I see people making is to go slow in recovery. As part of this episode I look at the common reason why people take this approach and why it doesn't help.

Nutritional rehabilitation receives a huge amount of attention, and rightly so. But considerably less attention is given to what comes next: learning how to build a life in which you no longer need the eating disorder.

Do you know how to cope without using eating disorder behaviours? For many (or most) the eating disorder becomes their only means of coping. This means that part of recovery is about learning other ways of coping, and that's what this episode is about.

This episode explores everything you need to know about extreme hunger in eating disorder recovery, including why it happens, why it can feel so frightening, and how to respond when hunger feels relentless. It also covers mental hunger, hypermetabolism, weight restoration, common mistakes, and the myths that can keep people stuck.

This week I the show I speak with Talia Cecchele. We talk about overcoming compulsive movement, digestive issues in recovery, the RAVES framework and how it can be used when making choices about food changes in recovery as well as some nutrition myth busting.

Summer can make eating disorder recovery feel harder, but it doesn't have to derail your progress. In this episode, I unpack many common summer challenges and share practical ways to navigate them without letting the eating disorder regain ground.

The eating disorder will always try to convince you that now is not the right time to recover. You will never feel completely ready, so rather than waiting any longer, start before you feel ready.

Most people think self-compassion is about being kinder to yourself. In this episode, I challenge that idea and explain why true self-compassion in eating disorder recovery is often a behaviour, not a feeling. We explore what self-compassion looks like in practice with food, movement, body image, and recovery commitments, even when your mind is arguing against you

This week on the podcast I am looking at Adam Grant's book Hidden Potential and the ideas from it that can be applied to recovery.