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Episode description: Lisa Whalen, PhD, is the author of Stable Weight: A Memoir of Horses, Hunger, and Hope. Her writing has also appeared in An Introvert in an Extrovert World, The Simpsons’ Beloved Springfield, Introvert, Dear, and Adanna, among other publications. Lisa teaches writing and literature at North Hennepin Community College and is an equestrian and volunteer for the Animal Humane Society. In this episode of Peace Meal, Lisa describes two key components of her eating disorder recovery: writing and horseback riding. Underscoring the multifaceted nature of the healing process, she reflects on how writing and riding each offered unique lessons for her mind and body. Writing, she explains, supported and extended her therapy lessons, while riding provided a space to put the lessons into practice. Lisa introduces us to a few of the horses that served as mentors throughout her recovery, highlighting the lessons they could teach us all about staying present, taking up space, and being imperfect. She then translates how these and other recovery “nuggets”—the wisdom learned from horses, writing, and therapy—continue to serve her life and career. We cover: The mental health benefits of writing, even if we never share our writing with others What horses can teach us about taking up space and owning our imperfections The power of body language in both animals and people How traits like perfectionism, high sensitivity, and introversion can be harnessed for good Why recovery—like all growth and learning—is best taken one step at a time In Lisa’s words: On the therapeutic role of horses: “For me, riding horses felt like a therapy practicum… I learned all this stuff while I was in therapy, and the horses were forcing me to practice it over and over.” On embracing imperfection: “There’s no end to the learning. There’s no perfect. You’re always working toward it, but it’s never a standard because the horses aren’t perfect—and they don’t care if they’re perfect or not.” On the support of therapy: “It started off for me as a safe space. It was this place I could go and I could talk about all the worst stuff about myself and there was no judgment. She was only rooting for me. She only wanted me to succeed and to be happy and healthy, and she had the tools and the skills to help me do it.” Learn more about Lisa on her website and follow her on social media @LisaIrishWhalen. Find her book, Stable Weight: A Memoir of Horses, Hunger, and Hope, at Hopewell Publications and on Amazon. Learn more about The Emily Program online or by calling 1-888-364-5977. — About the podcast: Peace Meal is an Emily Program podcast that discusses topics related to eating disorders, body image issues, and how society may contribute to distorted thinking. You can find Peace Meal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Podcasts. If you enjoy our show, please rate, review, subscribe, and tell your friends! Are you interested in being a guest on Peace Meal? Email podcast@emilyprogram.com for more information.

Episode description: Emily Layden is a writer and former high school English teacher from upstate New York. A graduate of Stanford University, her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Marie Claire, The Billfold, and Runner’s World. She joins us in this episode of Peace Meal to discuss her debut novel All Girls. We explore the depiction of disordered eating and anxiety in the book and society more generally, using Emily’s experience with the co-occurring concerns as context along the way.  We center our conversation on one of the characters of All Girls, Macy, who struggles with clinical anxiety and an eating disorder resembling ARFID. Emily tells us about her decision to write Macy as she did, eschewing graphic descriptions of behaviors to highlight Macy’s anxious thoughts instead. She describes what she hopes All Girls adds to the larger conversation about eating disorders and the adolescent females among whom eating disorders are particularly prevalent. Emphasizing the importance of taking both eating disorders and young women more seriously, we explore how society tends to think similarly of both. We cover: The relationship between anxiety, obsessive thoughts, and disordered eating/eating disorders  How exercising compassion with her students became a way for Emily to exercise compassion for herself How our culture routinely dismisses or trivializes eating disorder stories and other experiences prevalent among young women How one character in All Girls, Macy, can widen our cultural understanding of eating disorders What the reader response to Macy says about changing attitudes toward eating disorders and mental illness In Emily’s words: On the connection between anxiety and disordered eating: “Macy is anxious, you see in her chapter, about so many things entirely unrelated to her body or to food. But she copes with that anxiety through avoidant and restrictive behaviors.”   On typical eating disorder depictions: “So often when we have a depiction of an eating disorder on TV or in literature, it tends to be this very narrow reflection of the experience.” On the parallel between society’s understanding of young women and of eating disorders: “I think that there’s this whole culture that says that girls are not really whole people and thinks that they are trivial or overly emotional… and I think we see a lot of that same flattening with our cultural thinking about eating disorders.” Find Emily on Instagram @emilylayden and at emilylayden.com. Learn more about The Emily Program online or by calling 1-888-364-5977. — About the podcast: Peace Meal is an Emily Program podcast that discusses topics related to eating disorders, body image issues, and how society may contribute to distorted thinking. You can find Peace Meal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Podcasts. If you enjoy our show, please rate, review, subscribe, and tell your friends! Are you interested in being a guest on Peace Meal? Email podcast@emilyprogram.com for more information.

Episode description: Holly Toronto is a Certified Master Level Coach who specializes in body image. She has five years of experience helping people stop prioritizing other people’s expectations of beauty, belief, or behavior so that they can live their life from a place of wholeness, fully aligned with the truth of who they are. Holly joins us in this episode of Peace Meal to explore factors that impact our relationship with our bodies, as well as some strategies to improve it.  Holly first unpacks how purity culture shaped the way she learned to relate to her own body. Messages about sexuality contributed to body distrust and triggered negative body image at a young age. Her body shame increased as she grew into early adulthood and experienced acne. She adopted a “pure food” diet meant to clear her skin, but lost weight and received validation for that instead. Though it seemed normal and even “healthy,” in reality, the highly restrictive diet was taking a serious toll on Holly’s mental and physical wellbeing. And then came a turning point. Holly shares how finding intuitive eating impacted her life and career by challenging misguided ideas of health and set her on a path toward food freedom and body trust. She dispels common myths about intuitive eating and describes how she walks alongside her clients who adopt it. Emphasizing the importance of body trust and partnership, she offers tips for anyone seeking to heal their relationships with their bodies. We cover: The parallels between sexual purity and “pure” or clean eating Myths and realities of intuitive eating The far-reaching impact of body image healing How to relate to your body as a partner instead of an object How to honor and trust our body signals In Holly’s words: On the gifts of intuitive eating: “What intuitive eating gave me was a sense of trust in my body—that I don’t have to manipulate her for her to be healthy. For her to be strong. For her to be exactly what she needs to be. I needed to disconnect the weight from the worth and the weight from the health.” On the importance of body trust: “This body that we live in was our original life partner. And like any partnership, trust is the foundational element.” On connecting to ourselves: “Body image healing can be a gateway back to ourselves—to a sense of deeper homecoming, connection to ourselves, and what we want to be putting out into the world.” Find Holly on Instagram @holly.toronto. Learn more about The Emily Program online or by calling 1-888-364-5977. — About the podcast: Peace Meal is an Emily Program podcast that discusses topics related to eating disorders, body image issues, and how society may contribute to distorted thinking. You can find Peace Meal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Podcasts. If you enjoy our show, please rate, review, subscribe, and tell your friends! Are you interested in being a guest on Peace Meal? Email podcast@emilyprogram.com for more information.

Episode description: Maddy Walters is a psychology student passionate about eating disorder research and advocacy. She brings her passion and personal experience to this episode of Peace Meal to help us examine the intersection of social media and eating disorder recovery. We explore what it’s like to share your recovery online and to engage with others sharing theirs. Maddy reflects on what she’s learned by creating a recovery Instagram account and how her recovery has evolved in the time since she did. Highlighting the key benefits and challenges of participating in an online recovery community, she offers insight into both the rewarding and tricky parts. She emphasizes the importance of protecting and prioritizing recovery—online and off—and leaves us with practical strategies for others trying to heal in a social media world. We cover: Why and when Maddy decided to create a recovery Instagram page Finding solidarity, support, and encouragement in people who are also recovering The impact of triggering content online, including that which is intended as recovery inspiration Strategies for engaging with social media in recovery Resources to practice and protect your recovery both online and in real life In Maddy’s words: On encountering triggering content on social media: “If I see something that’s really good about a page, but there’s still so much that’s making me feel bad… I block, I restrict, I unfollow. Because there are a lot that don’t do that.” On what’s good about eating disorder recovery: “What’s not good?! I really just cherish every single day since I can actually enjoy it and understand what’s good about it instead of just focusing on myself.” On protecting your recovery when using social media: “It’s so important to guard your space.” Find Maddy on Instagram at @maddyjwalters. Learn more about The Emily Program online or by calling 1-888-364-5977. — About the podcast: Peace Meal is an Emily Program podcast that discusses topics related to eating disorders, body image issues, and how society may contribute to distorted thinking. You can find Peace Meal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Podcasts. If you enjoy our show, please rate, review, subscribe, and tell your friends! Are you interested in being a guest on Peace Meal? Email podcast@emilyprogram.com for more information.

Episode description: Katie Price is a registered nurse and yoga teacher whose understanding of what it means to care for bodies—both hers and others’—has been shaped by her recovery from anorexia. She cares deeply about walking alongside others struggling with eating disorders and hopes that by sharing her story, she can offer hope and support. In this episode of Peace Meal, Katie offers exactly that. She shares the many gifts within her story of illness and healing, revealing the light, growth, and support that can be found in moments of darkness and challenge. Katie begins with an honest account of life with anorexia, an illness her parents recognized early on. A meal plan, weight checks, and outpatient appointments were established quickly, but the eating disorder fought to maintain its hold. Katie found herself caught in a “tenuous dance” between it and recovery. The eating disorder led Katie to what seemed like the lowest point possible. “It felt like the darkest, rockiest bottom I could have ever imagined,” she reflects about the moment she entered a higher level of care. But there, at the hospital, is not only where she started to crawl out of the pit of anorexia, but also where she began to realize the gifts of connection, support, and hope she’d continue to find along her journey. Describing her life now, Katie paints a picture rich with feeling and meaning. It is not free from challenges—far from it, especially as a nurse during the pandemic—but still, she notes, it beats the days spent in illness. Even when it’s hard, she says, “I’m present to it, and it’s the fullness of life that I fought so hard for. And it’s so much better than my eating disorder—even when it’s a lot to handle—so I’m endlessly grateful for that.” Learn more about The Emily Program online or by calling 1-888-364-5977. — About the podcast: Peace Meal is an Emily Program podcast that discusses topics related to eating disorders, body image issues, and how society may contribute to distorted thinking. You can find Peace Meal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Podcasts. If you enjoy our show, please rate, review, subscribe, or tell your friends! Are you interested in being a guest on Peace Meal? Email podcast@emilyprogram.com for more information.

Episode description: Abby Anderson is a business school graduate who works a corporate job and is passionate about mental health, yoga, and personal development. Diagnosed with anorexia in the summer of 2018, she has experienced a series of ups and downs worth noting to anyone with an eating disorder or disordered eating. In this episode of Peace Meal, Abby tells us about the process of her eating disorder recovery, including the shifts in motivation she has experienced during it. She begins with the rock-bottom moment she first sought help. Exhausted and physically depleted, she recalls being highly motivated to make a change at the start of treatment. As is typical in recovery, her motivation ebbed and flowed as time went on, and she learned why healing is often described as a nonlinear process. “Your body catches up a lot before your mind does,” she says. In the process of recovering both physically and psychologically, disordered behaviors crept back into Abby’s life. Her “unhealthy voice” got louder the more she engaged in these behaviors, and the pressures of the college environment didn’t help. Returning to treatment allowed Abby to recommit to and strengthen her recovery, a process that continues today. She has insight into the common barriers to healing, as well as tools to maintain motivation. Abby shares several strategies that have been helpful to her healing, emphasizing the power of supportive environments and people. Reflecting on her own experience, she concludes with words of advice for those currently feeling unmotivated or ambivalent about recovery: “The best thing I ever did—and the hardest thing I ever did—was take my hands off the steering wheel and give it to someone else. . . give it to a professional.” Learn more about The Emily Program online or by calling 1-888-364-5977. — About the podcast: Peace Meal is an Emily Program podcast that discusses topics related to eating disorders, body image issues, and how society may contribute to distorted thinking. You can find Peace Meal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Podcasts. If you enjoy our show, please rate, review, subscribe, or tell your friends! Are you interested in being a guest on Peace Meal? Email podcast@emilyprogram.com for more information.

Episode description: Kenzie Osborne is a mental health blogger, chef, recipe developer, and former NCAA athlete. After battling intensely with anorexia, she was able to find peace with food through cooking, traveling, and learning about the many benefits food has on the mind, spirit, and body. Kenzie shares her story with us in this episode of Peace Meal. We begin by discussing a label long attached to her—“the healthy and fit one”—and its impact on her identity. A daughter of doctors and sister to high-performing athletes, she felt immense pressure as part of a family defined by health and athletics. “That’s who [others] knew my family was. That’s who they expected me to be,” she reflects. “And I felt like when I lived up to those expectations, I was accepted and I was praised, and I would get really positive feedback.”  As Kenzie’s “healthy” eating and exercise were validated, her eating disorder grew stronger, and its impact was far-reaching. Terrified and unable to be present around food, she missed out on social events. She faced health complications. Her wellbeing, her athletic performance—her life—suffered. Still, as it often is in a culture that normalizes disordered eating, it was hard to recognize that she had a serious illness. After a gym teacher expressed concern, Kenzie told her parents she needed help. Immediately, her family lent generous support in ways both traditional and creative. They joined Kenzie at meals—both virtually and in person, for however long they took—and started playing games inspired by shows like Chopped and Guy’s Grocery Games. “It was so cool because it got my mind away from the nutrition for a second and it put it on the creativity,” she says of her family’s Food Network-inspired nights. Kenzie took her new interest in food to culinary school, which both challenged and strengthened her eating disorder recovery. Gradually surrendering long-held control in food preparation, she began to see food as more than a nutrition label. She discovered what normal eating looks like—and what it tastes like. She opened her eyes to food’s various cultural, social, and creative elements. Culinary school, along with traveling, helped Kenzie appreciate food as integral to a full life. In addition to cooking and developing recipes, she celebrates food now by photographing and writing about the life-affirming moments we can share around a meal. Kenzie’s blog is currently under construction. For now, find her on Instagram at @chefkenzieosborne. Learn more about The Emily Program online or by calling 1-888-364-5977. — About the podcast: Peace Meal is an Emily Program podcast that discusses topics related to eating disorders, body image issues, and how society may contribute to distorted thinking. You can find Peace Meal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Podcasts. If you enjoy our show, please rate, review, subscribe, or tell your friends! Are you interested in being a guest on Peace Meal? Email podcast@emilyprogram.com for more information.

Episode description: Kesslee is a young professional, part-time coach, wife, and dog mom. She is passionate about serving others to become the best version of themselves and using her journey to help them along the way. Kesslee joins us in this episode of Peace Meal to share how perfectionism manifested during her eating disorder and recovery. She begins by recognizing the challenges of being a Division 1 distance runner. Under pressure to be small and lean for the sport, Kesslee restricted food while training more and more. The core issue, she says, was a belief that she was not enough—not for her coaches and not her parents. Now, Kesslee has tools and strategies for combatting the lie that says she is a failure. She offers a practical exercise and recommendations for those similarly worried that they’re not enough, emphasizing the power of therapy and meaningful relationships as well. Equipped with this professional and personal support, she is now focused on adding small nurturing and empowering things into her life. She strives to use her perfectionism for good and carries with her a bold affirmation: “I have been put on this earth to take up space and become stronger.” Get help from The Emily Program by calling 1-888-364-5977 or by visiting emilyprogram.com/your-recovery/get-help-now. — About the podcast: Peace Meal is an Emily Program podcast that discusses topics related to eating disorders, body image issues, and how society may contribute to distorted thinking. You can find Peace Meal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Podcasts. If you enjoy our show, please rate, review, subscribe, or tell your friends! Are you interested in being a guest on Peace Meal? Email podcast@emilyprogram.com for more information.

Episode description: Christie Dondero Bettwy is the Executive Director of Rock Recovery, a nonprofit that uniquely combines clinical and community care to help people overcome disordered eating. In this episode of Peace Meal, Christie shares with us her personal and professional experience with eating disorders. She first traces her path through illness and healing, highlighting the risk factors that contributed to her disorder as well as the community that helped her find freedom from it. Then she unpacks her decision to enter the eating disorders field–including how and when she knew she was “recovered enough” to translate her personal experience and passion into a career at Rock Recovery. Finally, Christie helps us reflect on the tremendous impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on eating disorders. We discuss how COVID-19 has triggered and exacerbated these illnesses, and how we, as a field, must work collaboratively and creatively to meet the tremendous need for care now and beyond the pandemic. Learn more about Rock Recovery at rockrecoveryed.org, and follow the organization on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Learn more about The Emily Program online or by calling 1-888-364-5977. — About the podcast: Peace Meal is an Emily Program podcast that discusses topics related to eating disorders, body image issues, and how society may contribute to distorted thinking. You can find Peace Meal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Podcasts. If you enjoy our show, please rate, review, subscribe, or tell your friends! Are you interested in being a guest on Peace Meal? Email podcast@emilyprogram.com for more information.

Episode description:  Charlotte Markey, Ph.D., is a Professor of Psychology and Health Sciences at Rutgers University in Camden, New Jersey. She has researched body image and eating behaviors for nearly 25 years, and is the author of The Body Image Book for Girls: Love Yourself and Grow Up Fearless. Charlotte joins us in this episode of Peace Meal to discuss adolescent body image. Offering research and practical insight into the multifaceted topic, she notes that body image encompasses far more than whether we like our bodies. She touches on its various dimensions and implications in the everyday lives of adolescents and teens. Body image has long been considered a women’s issue, and our understanding of the unique experiences of boys and men is still evolving. Research on body image in trans and nonbinary youth lags even further behind, Charlotte notes, but it is clear that adolescents of all genders are suffering from body image concerns.  Tools for helping this population develop a strong body image are particularly important, especially given that disordered eating and eating disorders often manifest during adolescence and young adulthood. One strategy Charlotte offers is to think of our bodies not in terms of how they look but instead of what they allow us to do.  “So many people grow up feeling like their body is the problem. Instead, I think it’s just so much healthier to think about… no, your body actually allows this all to happen,” she says.  To help children value body functionality over appearance, Charlotte stresses that adults must model the lesson themselves. They can avoid commenting on their own and others’ physical appearance and shift the focus to internal traits instead, teaching adolescents that they are valued for who they are instead of how they look.  Charlotte acknowledges the difficulty of promoting positive body image in an image-conscious, diet-obsessed world. Countering society’s messages about appearance and diets requires careful thought and continual practice.   But it can be done, she maintains.   Learn more about The Body Image Book for Girls online, and find Charlotte on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Learn more about The Emily Program online or by calling 1-888-364-5977.   —   About the podcast:   Peace Meal is an Emily Program podcast that discusses topics related to eating disorders, body image issues, and how society may contribute to distorted thinking.   You can find Peace Meal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Podcasts. If you enjoy our show, please rate, review, subscribe, or tell your friends!   Are you interested in being a guest on Peace Meal? Email podcast@emilyprogram.com for more information.  

Episode description:  Melissa Louise Johnson is a Marriage and Family Therapist, adjunct professor at Bethel University, and the founder of the Impossible Beauty blog and podcast. Through her work at Impossible Beauty, Melissa is on a mission to expand and renew beauty, as she believes the American brand of beauty is divisive, destructive, and far too narrow. Melissa explores the concept of beauty with us in this episode of Peace Meal. She describes how cultural beauty messages impacted her childhood, adolescence, and the development of her eating disorder, as well as how she recognized and reckoned with these messages in recovery. Appearance standards were set early in Melissa’s life. Animated princesses, sitcom actresses—all of the media's kind and “good” characters—reinforced a singular image of beauty. External beauty was important, the media showed. And beautiful meant thin. On top of these media images, another layer of cultural messaging emerged in Melissa’s adolescence and early adulthood. These messages, Melissa sees now, included disordered ideas about food and body. Her peers actively engaged in diets and swapped diet culture messages, all of which reinforced dieting as a means to meet the thin beauty ideal. It was in eating disorder treatment that Melissa began to critically examine society’s messages about beauty, thinness, and dieting. In group therapy, she observed how these messages had impacted other people’s lives, her heart breaking at all the damage they inflicted.   “We’ve been so lied to about what beauty is and our worth,” she came to realize.   Increasingly aware of these cultural lies about physical appearance, Melissa sought to redefine the concept of beauty for herself and others. Toward that end, she created Impossible Beauty, a blog and podcast that aim to expand narrow societal standards.   In her work at Impossible Beauty, Melissa differentiates between culture’s fleeting, fickle standards of beauty and true beauty, which is eternal and unchanging. The blog and podcast invite others to examine appearance expectations as well.  “There is actually another path that we can take that actually values our humanity and the sacredness of us as eternal beings—who have so much value beyond how we align or don’t align to this very small picture of beauty,” Melissa says.  Find Impossible Beauty at impossible-beauty.com and on Instagram and Facebook. Connect with Melissa on Instagram at @melissa.louise.johnson.  Learn more about The Emily Program online or by calling 1-888-364-5977.  —  About the podcast:  Peace Meal is an Emily Program podcast that discusses topics related to eating disorders, body image issues, and how society may contribute to distorted thinking.  You can find Peace Meal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Podcasts. If you enjoy our show, please rate, review, subscribe, or tell your friends!  Are you interested in being a guest on Peace Meal? Email podcast@emilyprogram.com for more information. 

Episode description: Jaeden Luke is a singer-songwriter who wrote the single “Beautiful” for his older sister Kianna, who experienced and fully recovered from an eating disorder. Kianna is a graduate of St. Martin’s University, a young adult group ministry leader, and the author of a forthcoming book about her healing journey, The Cross That Set Me Free. Jaeden and Kianna join us in this Peace Meal episode to explore the sibling experience of eating disorders. The brother and sister pair recall how Kianna’s eating disorder impacted their relationship as well as how their relationship—and “Beautiful”—helped her heal. The siblings have always been close, they share. But Kianna’s eating disorder wedged itself between her and her brother, as is characteristic of these isolating illnesses. Entrenched in the depths of her disorder, Kianna grew distant from the family and friends so meaningful to her. She turned down plans and hid from others, her eating disorder isolating her in misery and darkness. It was hard to accept help and love. Jaeden describes the difficulty of witnessing the dimming of Kianna’s light and stealing of her spunk. Though he didn’t understand what was happening, he remembers that one feeling was clear: “I just felt like I was losing a lot of her.” Feeling confused and helpless, he turned to a means of expression most familiar to him, music. Jaeden wrote “Beautiful” for Kianna in the early stages of her recovery. His goal in writing the song, he reflects, was to package a message of comfort that would travel with her anywhere. No matter what, the song would be a reminder that he would always be there. In a Peace Meal first, Jaeden then plays the song live, sharing his encouraging anthem again with Kianna as well as anyone affected by these illnesses. “You are so beautiful,” he sings, strumming his guitar in rhythm. Kianna takes us to the moment she heard the song for the first time. She recounts the complex mix of emotions she felt then: shock, love, and determination along with the numbness that often comes early in recovery. “It was incredible,” she says, “and it gives me goosebumps every time.” The two then unpack the lyrics of “Beautiful.” For Jaeden, they captured Kianna’s journey as he saw it, and for Kianna, they inspired her to commit to recovery more fully and actively. More determined after hearing it, she hoped that one day she would believe its resounding chorus. Reflecting on their own experience, Kianna and Jaeden offer advice for other siblings, including creative ways to reach out to those struggling in isolation and darkness. They champion support that is less about “fixing” things and more about walking alongside your loved one in love and presence. Hear “Beautiful” on Spotify, Apple Music, Soundcloud, and YouTube, and learn more about Jaeden on his website and Instagram. Watch for more news of Kianna’s book, The Cross That Set Me Free, soon. Learn more about The Emily Program online or by calling 1-888-364-5977. — About the podcast: Peace Meal is an Emily Program podcast that discusses topics related to eating disorders, body image issues, and how society may contribute to distorted thinking. You can find Peace Meal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Podcasts. If you enjoy our show, please rate, review, subscribe, or tell your friends! Are you interested in being a guest on Peace Meal? Email podcast@emilyprogram.com for more information.

Episode description: Rachel Wilshusen is a dynamic writer with liberal arts degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, University College London, and the University of Cambridge. After an extensive battle with anorexia, she wrote Emancipated Love Junkie: Liberating Myself From Anorexia to embolden others to follow her path toward recovery. Rachel shares with us her experience of eating disorder recovery in this episode of Peace Meal. She illustrates it as a multi-step, nonlinear journey that began the moment she first reached out for help and continued well into and after her stay at an eating disorder center. Treatment provided the necessary structure, education, and tools to help Rachel launch her healing, and then her task was to implement the lessons learned into her own life. To actively value her health, she says she relied on continued support from eating disorder professionals and a regular practice of self-care. She reminded herself again and again, even when she couldn’t quite believe it was true: She deserves to treat herself well. With repetition and practice, Rachel has been able to quiet her inner critic and treat herself as she would treat her best friend. Self-kindness allows her to handle slips along the way and to reframe her perspective when negative, self-defeating thoughts come. It also helps her to keep her perfectionism and desire for control at bay. Some of the biggest gifts of Rachel’s recovery include the ability to respect, trust, and affirm the power of her body and the opportunity to learn more about herself. She shares how her relationship with her body evolved with pregnancy, as did her appreciation of nutrition. These big and “mini-wins” along the way, Rachel concludes, are what make her recovery. It has indeed been a nonlinear process—but a beautiful one. To put it short? It’s a “manifestation of self-love,” she says. Rachel’s book is available in print and digital form on Amazon. Her blog, Live Free & Happy, is on her website, rachelwilshusen.com. Learn more about The Emily Program online or by calling 1-888-364-5977. — About the podcast: Peace Meal is an Emily Program podcast that discusses topics related to eating disorders, body image issues, and how society may contribute to distorted thinking. You can find Peace Meal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Podcasts. If you enjoy our show, please rate, review, subscribe, or tell your friends! Are you interested in being a guest on Peace Meal? Email podcast@emilyprogram.com for more information.

Photo courtesy of Kiera Russo Episode description: Kiera Russo is a student at The University of Notre Dame, studying Film, Television, and Theatre. An eating disorder survivor, she hosts the podcast Heavier Than I Look, which aims to empower other survivors, educate listeners, and foster conversation surrounding eating disorders. By finding meaning in her own suffering, Kiera hopes to fight against the silence that eating disorders demand and to liberate others from the same demand. In this episode of Peace Meal, Kiera shares with us her eating disorder and recovery story. She traces the beginning of her illness to the time following eighth grade. During this period of transition, stress, and anxiety, Kiera started running to prepare for her school’s track team. But, she says, “it easily and quickly turned into…a mechanism for me to control not only how many calories I would allow myself that day, but also how much weight I could possibly lose.” While Kiera’s eating disorder was taking root, people around her inadvertently reinforced it by remarking positively on her behaviors and body changes. These comments validated the disordered behaviors, all the while worsening her illness. After years of struggling in silence, shame, and confusion, Kiera opened up about her illness in a class poetry assignment. She recited the poem in front of her classmates, uttering the words “eating disorder” for the first time and acknowledging that she had one. At this moment, Kiera gave herself her voice and revealed it to others. While sharing her experience was an important step in Kiera’s overall story, it did not resolve her eating disorder. She continued to struggle with restricting and bingeing in secret, experiencing a taste of freedom only temporarily when she entered college. Surrounded by friends who had healthy relationships with food and their bodies, she was able to eat without concerns about weight and body. It was a “blindingly euphoric” time, she says. Unfortunately, additional comments about her weight triggered food and body concerns again. Immense fear returned to mealtimes, and darkness encroached upon her life. At this point, Kiera revealed to herself that she needed help. Despite the obstacles to seeking help, Kiera successfully advocated for the professional care her eating disorder required. Equipped with proper support, she pursued recovery while quarantining last year. She ditched the scale, journaled, and rethought her identity, relationship with food and body, and vocational plans. Born out of her recovery was Heavier Than I Look, her podcast which has transformed her plans for her future and kindled her sincere desire to amplify her and others’ voices. Listen to Heavier Than I Look on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and PodBean, and follow the show on Instagram and Twitter. Learn more about The Emily Program online or by calling 1-888-364-5977. — About the podcast: Peace Meal is an Emily Program podcast that discusses topics related to eating disorders, body image issues, and how society may contribute to distorted thinking. You can find Peace Meal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Podcasts. If you enjoy our show, please rate, review, subscribe, or tell your friends! Are you interested in being a guest on Peace Meal? Email podcast@emilyprogram.com for more information.

Episode description: Dr. Shauna Frisbie is a Licensed Professional Counselor, an approved Supervisor for Licensed Professional Counselors (LPC-S), a Certified Eating Disorders Specialist (CEDS), and a National Certified Counselor (NCC). She has taught psychology, family studies, and counseling since 2001 and is currently a Professor of Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Lubbock Christian University. Shauna joins us in this episode of Peace Meal to discuss the value of sharing and discussing visual content in therapy. Her phototherapy techniques are described in her 2020 book, A Therapist’s Guide to Treating Eating Disorders in a Social Media Age. Images, Shauna explains, and the stories we attach to them provide insight into deep emotional processes and responses. “When I do phototherapy with clients, I’m really trying to help them explore the meaning behind these images,” she says. In treating images as communicators of meaning, she and other trained therapists can help facilitate emotional awareness and processing with clients.  Shauna outlines how social media and smartphones have made images more relevant than ever, especially for young adults in a developmental stage of identity searching and relational skill development. For those susceptible to eating disorders, this increased exposure to images can be especially problematic. Shauna explains how phototherapy can help uncover how visual content impacts clients’ relationship to their bodies and/or sense of identity, as well as offer means of healing. Learn more about Shauna at drfrisbie.com, and find A Therapist’s Guide to Treating Eating Disorders in a Social Media Age at norton.com/author/22703/shaunafrisbie.  Learn more about The Emily Program online or by calling 1-888-364-5977. — About the podcast: Peace Meal is an Emily Program podcast that discusses topics related to eating disorders, body image issues, and how society may contribute to distorted thinking. You can find Peace Meal on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play. If you enjoy our show, please rate, review, subscribe, or tell your friends! Are you interested in being a guest on Peace Meal? Email podcast@emilyprogram.com for more information.

**Content warning: This is one person’s story; everyone will have unique experiences in recovery and beyond. Some stories may mention eating disorder thoughts, behaviors, and symptoms. This episode includes mention of sexual assault. Please use your discretion when listening and speak with your support system as needed. Episode description: Miranda Snyder is a student in the Honors College at the University of Maine, where she is studying to be a high school ELA teacher. A strong proponent of storytelling-based advocacy, her past and current advocacy efforts emphasize the power of lived experience. The power of Miranda’s lived experience is on full display in this episode of Peace Meal. She shares with us her eating disorder story, charting it from illness to “quasi-recovery” to full recovery. When Miranda first underwent treatment for anorexia in eighth grade, she felt she had little say in the matter. She received ample support from friends, teachers, and friends, but her participation in care was more passive than active. Although she achieved nutritional rehabilitation, she continued to struggle with strict food rules and routines for the next several years. She lived in so-called “quasi-recovery.” “I figured, ‘This is as good as it’s gonna get,’ she says, reflecting on that time. “I would be doing the best I could and be achieving so well, but I would always have an ED in the back of my mind.” And then came a turning point. Earlier this year, Miranda realized that she is “worth so much more than a quasi-recovered life.” She entered treatment again, this time on her own terms as a 21-year-old. Miranda put her whole self into recovery, making it a project that received her full focus and dedication. She voraciously took notes in virtual “eating school,” relied on support from family and friends, and regularly journaled affirmations and plans for her future.  In moving beyond quasi-recovery, Miranda has found space for things far more meaningful than disordered rules and routines. She’s better able to engage in coursework, research, and advocacy, she says, as well as relationships with others. She’s more present, more centered. She has claimed a sense of self rooted in her true values—and a life fully free from the leech that is an eating disorder.  Learn more about The Emily Program online or by calling 1-888-364-5977. — About the podcast: Peace Meal is an Emily Program podcast that discusses topics related to eating disorders, body image issues, and how society may contribute to distorted thinking. You can find Peace Meal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Podcasts. If you enjoy our show, please rate, review, subscribe, or tell your friends! Are you interested in being a guest on Peace Meal? Email podcast@emilyprogram.com for more information.

Episode description: Brittany Braswell is a Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist (RDN) who runs a virtual private practice for those struggling with food and body image concerns. In both individual and group settings, she helps clients reduce their anxiety and disordered behaviors so that they can achieve lasting freedom from the bondage of their eating disorders. Brittany joins us in this episode of Peace Meal to explore recovery from a faith-based perspective. For many, she explains, faith is a belief system more powerful than an eating disorder, one in which people can trust when distancing themselves from their illness. To place trust in faith during recovery, Brittany emphasizes the importance of intentionality. “I think being able to reconnect to those values or to your faith is really about turning down the eating disorder volume and getting really intentional about identifying and listening for those healthy voices,” she says. As those healthy voices become louder in recovery, people can also strengthen their connection with their bodies and nutritional needs. Faith can augment a non-diet approach like intuitive eating, Brittany says, highlighting the alignment she sees between scripture and intuitive eating principles. She explores this connection in greater detail in her eBook, Faith Over Fear. A key to recovery—for people of faith and otherwise—is finding eternal worth and an identity separate from the eating disorder. “Once you know your worth and identity,” Brittany says, “place your identity in that thing that’s unshakeable.” To learn more about Brittany and her faith-forward approach to recovery, visit her website at brittanybraswellrd.com. There you can find her free eBook, Faith Over Fear: Ditch Food Rules and Nourish Your Body Without Guilt, information about the services she offers, and other resources. Brittany is also on Facebook and Instagram. Learn more about The Emily Program online or by calling 1-888-364-5977. — About the podcast: Peace Meal is an Emily Program podcast that discusses topics related to eating disorders, body image issues, and how society may contribute to distorted thinking. You can find Peace Meal on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play. If you enjoy our show, please rate, review, subscribe, or tell your friends! Are you interested in being a guest on Peace Meal? Email podcast@emilyprogram.com for more information.

Episode description: Kezia Reeder is a former Emily Program client and staff member and a continual advocate for eating disorder recovery. In this episode of Peace Meal, she joins host Dr. Jillian Lampert to describe her holidays with an eating disorder. “I feel like I was constantly stressed from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Eve,” Kezia says. “It’s supposed to be a time of celebration and… in the United States, a lot of our celebration centers around gathering for a meal.” Reflecting on four years of holidays like these, Kezia says she struggled at first without any outside support. She hid her disorder from family and friends, suffering in silence amid food- and body-related conversations and a lack of routine around meals. She could not be present. Over the course of her recovery, Kezia explains that she used trial and error to navigate the holidays successfully. The more present she was in treatment, she says, the more present she could be outside of it. With the help of her treatment team, she learned how to enlist the support of her sister, develop a meal plan, and approach holiday food as just food. “Do what works for you, and there’s a lot of different ways that holidays can look successful with an eating disorder,” Kezia explains.   The holidays look different now that Kezia’s eating disorder is no longer invited. “They’re awesome,” she says. “They’re just a whole new level of awesome because I know how challenging they have been in the past. So there’s a lot that I appreciate about it now.” If you or your child are struggling with food this holiday season, The Emily Program can help. Learn more about treatment online or by calling 1-888-364-5977.  — About the podcast: Peace Meal is an Emily Program podcast that discusses topics related to eating disorders, body image issues, and how society may contribute to distorted thinking. You can find Peace Meal on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play. If you enjoy our show, please rate, review, subscribe, or tell your friends! Are you interested in being a guest on Peace Meal? Email podcast@emilyprogram.com for more information. https://www.emilyprogram.com/ — Follow The Emily Program on Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheEmilyProgram Twitter: @emilyprogram Instagram: @emilyprogram

Episode description: Maddy Kit is a woman in recovery who is writing a book about her experiences with anorexia and other obstacles. She hopes to share her story with the world to help anyone going through something similar.  Maddy joins us in this episode of Peace Meal to share her recovery story. She tells us first about developing anorexia at nine years old and the barriers to care she experienced at this young age. She then reflects on how her eating disorder evolved in the context of bullying and isolation, as well as a severely traumatic event in high school. Though her illness was not a choice, she notes how it did provide some short-term comfort and illusory control in the face of these painful experiences. She then goes on to describe how she came to accept eating disorder care. Initially resistant to it, she understands recovery now as a life-saving experience, one that has allowed her to realize her worth beyond her body and to pursue interests like writing, traveling, and spending time with friends and family.   Learn more about The Emily Program online or by calling 1-888-364-5977. — About the podcast: Peace Meal is an Emily Program podcast that discusses topics related to eating disorders, body image issues, and how society may contribute to distorted thinking. You can find Peace Meal on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play. If you enjoy our show, please rate, review, subscribe, or tell your friends! Are you interested in being a guest on Peace Meal? Email podcast@emilyprogram.com for more information.

Episode description: Mark Schindler is an NBA writer and podcaster for SB Nation and his co-created site, Premium Hoops. Mark joins us in this episode of Peace Meal to reflect on his eating disorder experience, particularly as it relates to his pursuit of a professional boxing career. His food and body image concerns manifested in the sport and contributed to an eating disorder that extended far beyond it. Sharing how his illness compromised both his physical and mental well-being, Mark warns of the dangers of weight-cutting and offers a definition of health that encompasses more than appearance. Strewn throughout the episode are meaningful words of advice and comfort for those considering recovery. Find Mark on Twitter @MSchindlerNBA. Learn more about The Emily Program online or by calling 1-888-364-5977. — About the podcast: Peace Meal is an Emily Program podcast that discusses topics related to eating disorders, body image issues, and how society may contribute to distorted thinking. You can find Peace Meal on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play. If you enjoy our show, please rate, review, subscribe, or tell your friends! Are you interested in being a guest on Peace Meal? Email podcast@emilyprogram.com for more information.