272: Eating Disorder Recovery, Mental Health In Athletics and The Hidden Opponent with Eva Merrell

I'm chatting with Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist Justin Sunseri on the podcast this week. This is a deep dive into all things polyvagal: looking at what it is and all the component ideas, how to build safety anchors, getting unstuck from being in a defensive state and dealing with trauma.

Motivation is something that isn't very dependable in recovery (and life in general). One day it's there, the next it's gone. In this episode I look at how to deal with low motivation at different points in recovery, as well as some ideas of things to rely on instead of motivation.

This week Aaron Flores returns to the podcast. We discuss anxiety, Aaron’s appearance on the Ten Percent Happier podcast, binge eating disorder and some of the misconceptions with it, feeling comfortable in your body, self-compassion, grief, anxiety and much more.

Have you heard about the concept of weight overshoot in recovery? In this episode I talk about what it is, where the idea can from and problems that can arise from expecting the overshoot weight to drop off.

This week on the podcast I'm chatting with Vinny Welsby about research they've done on healthcare and how being fat impacts this experience. We look at the outcome of this research including fat bias, the impact of this bias, people's stories of their experiences and how healthcare could be improved and become weight inclusive.

Eating disorders can follow some rather similar patterns, and one of these is the restrict, binge, purge cycle. As part of this episode I look at each of the elements of the cycle and the most important place to put your focus if you want to break out of this cycle.

Today I'm speaking with Jenna Doak, the Co-Founder and Head Trainer at Body Positive Fitness. We talk about Jenna's journey as a personal trainer and her own relationship with exercise. We also cover common topics of discussion with clients: abstaining from exercise when it’s needed, finding joy in movement after a compulsive and compensatory relationship with it, finding joy in movement for the first time in your adult life, psychological flexibility with exercise and lots more.

Today on the show I'm chatting with Johanna Kandel. She is the founder and CEO of the National Alliance for Eating Disorders and the author of Life Beyond Your Eating Disorder. We talk about Johanna’s eating disorder, her recovery, and how she founded The Alliance and how it has grown and changed over the last 21 years. Then we cover many topics from her book and some of the wonderful exercises and analogies she shares in it.

This week on the show I'm chatting with Dr. Charlotte Markey, a world-leading expert in body image research. We talk about what body image means, common struggles with body image, the differences between boys/means and girls/women with body image, the impact of social media, and much more.

As part of recovery, you go through different phases. And depending on which phase you're in, will determine the kind of symptoms you're having and what's most important for you to be focusing on. As part of this episode I share the five phases of recovery.