364: Do Ultra Processed Foods (UPFs) Really Hijack Your Brain?

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.

Today's guest is Livia Sara. In this episode, we chat about the overlap between autism and eating disorders, existential loneliness, metabolism, body image, eating variety and its place in recovery, the fear of weight gain, hunger signals, interoceptive awareness, and how intuitive eating does or doesn’t work with autism.

Are ultra-processed foods really “addictive” or is the fear around them creating more anxiety and obsession around eating? In this episode, I break down a new 2025 study exploring dopamine, ultra-processed foods, and overeating, while unpacking why restriction, deprivation, and psychology matter far more than simplistic “food addiction” narratives.

The eating disorder always makes out how hard recovery is. But the reality is, that living with an eating disorder is harder than recovery.