Not About Food

This episode's guest Sophie developed BED symptoms at an early age. With the NHS's limited options and capacity for treatment, she turned to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Eating Disorders (CBT-E) via a private therapist. In this discussion, Sophie helps us break down a lot of the stigma around binge eating and how CBT-E was instrumental in her ongoing recovery. Help us get new equipment: https://ko-fi.com/notaboutfoodpod Our twitter: https://twitter.com/notaboutfoodpod Our Instagram: https://instagram.com/notaboutfoodpod Contact Us: notaboutfoodpod@gmail.com CWs: Discussion of binge eating, mentions of anorexia, mentions of bulimia

Therapist Kel O'Neill... Twitter: https://twitter.com/notaboutfoodpod Instagram: https://instagram.com/notaboutfoodpod Contact Us: notaboutfoodpod@gmail.com CWs: Fatphobia, weight, weight loss, anorexia, OSFED, EDNOS, BMI, hospital, suicide, self-harm, death

Emetophobia - the fear of vomit/vomiting - can have a huge impact on sufferers in terms of their behaviours and what they feel safe consuming. This can make eating disorders even more difficult to manage as safe foods between the two are often incompatible. However, the inverse also applies, where this mismatch can motivate those with such conditions into recovery. There is a delicate balance to be found here, and BBC journalist and eating disorders campaigner Sarah Robertson gives us the run down on her experience all the way from childhood through to becoming a mum. Sarah's twitter: https://twitter.com/sarah_robbo Our twitter: https://twitter.com/notaboutfoodpod Our Instagram: https://instagram.com/notaboutfoodpod Contact us: notaboutfoodpod@gmail.com CWs: Emetophobia, vomit, anorexia, restriction, self-harm, pregnancy, childbirth

The title says it all... in the UK, a law recently came into effect which means restaurants with 250+ employees (across their whole chain) have to display a calorie count for each dish on their menu. Not only does this greatly impact those with eating disorders, but everyone that goes to restaurants. This just further promotes disordered eating and diet culture, something we've got more than enough of already! Blog post: https://caras-corner.com/2022/04/06/how-to-cope-with-calorie-labelling-in-restaurants/ Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/notaboutfoodpod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/notaboutfoodpod Contact us: notaboutfoodpod@gmail.com Support us: https://ko-fi.com/notaboutfoodpod CWs: mentions of calories without specific numbers

It's Autism Acceptance Month! Last year, we did a fantastic episode with Phoebe's good friend Michelle, and this year we invited the lovely Ella Pit to join us to talk all about how autism is still widely misunderstood, and how that can lead to particular difficulty during treatment for eating disorders, as well as day-to-day life in a world built for neurotypical people. Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/notaboutfoodpod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/notaboutfoodpod Contact us: notaboutfoodpod@gmail.com Support us: https://ko-fi.com/notaboutfoodpod CWs: Discussion of anorexia, mentions of hospital treatment for eating disorders

Diet culture is rife in the UK and we've had enough! Returning guest and registered dietician Vicky Messam joins us to give a scientific breakdown of why some of the most popular diets, apps, and weight loss groups are ineffective for healthy and long-term weight loss and instead serve only to line the pockets of those peddling potentially dangerous lifestyles. Our ko-fi: ko-fi.com/notaboutfoodpod Our Twitter: twitter.com/notaboutfoodpod Contact Us: notaboutfoodpod@gmail.com Content Warnings Mentions of Binging, Purging, Vomiting Discussion of anorexia, restriction, diet culture

After six long months, Not About Food is back with a bang for Eating Disorders Awareness Week! Phoebe talks to Beth about how living with PCOS affected her relationship with food. We have made a Ko-fi page for listeners who want to help us keep doing what we're doing! You can donate to our production cost at http://www.ko-fi.com/notaboutfoodpod The books Phoebe mentioned: Happy Fat by Sofie Hagen and What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat by Aubrey Gordon Content Warnings: Anorexia, Diet Culture, Mentions of Orthorexia and Binging

Sophia, who suffers from cerebral palsy, has also had a complicated relationship with food since a young age. She and Phoebe talk about the challenges this has brought Sophia throughout school, treatment, and other areas of her life.  Sophia's Blog: https://pinksparklybeads.wordpress.com/2021/05/31/eating-disorders-and-disabilities-what-i-wish-id-known-before-starting-treatment/ Sophia's Twitter: https://twitter.com/Sophia6110 Sophia's Instagram: https://instagram.com/Sophia6110 Get a free audiobook of your choice when you sign up to Audible using our link! https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/audible/mlp/mfpdp/B07GNJPH1F?actionCode=AMN30DFT1Bk06604291990WX&tag=notaboutfood-21 Personality Disorder Petition: https://www.change.org/p/world-health-organisation-stop-the-icd-11-personality-disorder-framework-from-coming-into-practice Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/notaboutfoodpod Our Instagram: https://instagram.com/notaboutfoodpod Contact: notaboutfoodpod@gmail.com Content Warnings: Ableism, Anorexia, Restriction

The ever-wonderful Phoebe Jameson aka FatPheebs gets right into the challenges of being an influencer, their experiences of fatphobia, and about 50 other things that I (the editor) can't fit into this description box! This was such a fun and varied episode, but also a bit different from our usual programming. Please don't be afraid to send us feedback via social media or email to let us know what you think. FatPheebs' Twitter: https://twitter.com/fatpheebs FatPheebs' Instagram: https://instagram.com/fatpheebs Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/notaboutfoodpod Our Instagram: https://instagram.com/notaboutfoodpod Contact: notaboutfoodpod@gmail.com Content Warnings: Suicide, self-harm, fatphobia, disordered eating

After our last episode covering refeeding, many of you reached out to us on social media with questions for Vicky. We're excited to bring you this follow-up episode with more of Vicky's fantastic in-depth knowledge and advice. We've partnered with Audible once again so you can get a FREE audiobook of your choice when you sign up for an Audible free trial through our link. We are once again recommending Laura Thomas PhD's "Just Eat It" as a great way to learn more about intuitive eating: https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/audible/mlp/mfpdp/B07GNJPH1F?actionCode=AMN30DFT1Bk06604291990WX&tag=notaboutfood-21 Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/notaboutfoodpod Contact: notaboutfoodpod@gmail.com Content Warnings: Explicit mentions of weight amounts as a goal in re-feeding, explicit mentions of calorie amounts regarding topics of starvation, BMR, and what these values represent.

Registered dietician and anorexia survivor Vicky gives us all the details on what to expect when going through refeeding - both in hospital and at home. She starts with a breakdown of how eating disorders affect your body physically and then how refeeding can help the body to recover.  You can get Laura Thomas PhD's book Just Eat It for FREE on Audible using our link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/audible/mlp/mfpdp/B07GNJPH1F?actionCode=AMN30DFT1Bk06604291990WX&tag=notaboutfood-21 Simply sign up for a 30-day Audible trial and get this book at no charge. Not only do we highly recommend this book but you will be supporting the show directly by giving it a try. Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/notaboutfoodpod Contact: notaboutfoodpod@gmail.com Content Warnings: Restriction, Binging, Purging, Refeeding, Death, Surgery

Phoebe speaks to friend Amy Collier about their experiences of eating disorder treatment, and how flying solo making their own decisions outside of treatment led to empowerment and sustained recovery. Intervention and t can be reatment is vital but is it a long-term solution? Content warnings for anorexia, restriction, weight, death, food.

It's June which means it's Pride month! This episode is the first of a series about being LGBTQ+ and having an eating disorder, and we are proudly a completely queer run podcast. Our guest Sarah discusses the intricacies of being non-binary and how that influenced their eating disorder, and how they navigate recovery despite gender dysphoria. Buy Gender Euphoria! https://amzn.to/3iQdjmz Laura Kate Dale's Twitter: https://twitter.com/LaurakBuzz Sarah's Twitter: https://twitter.com/s_ar_ah_0 Content Warnings: Restriction, Gender dysphoria, Sexism, Transphobia Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/notaboutfoodpod Contact Us: notaboutfoodpod@gmail.com

A more general discussion this week with the fantastic Sarah Frances Young (@BodyPositivePear), who tells us what it's like to be diagnosed with Atypical Anorexia, how the diagnosis' ties to BMI in the past were very problematic and how the ED community now has a small but vocal minority gatekeeping against fat people with anorexia. She then gives us some background on the body positivity movement and how it has been turned into little more than a trend by well-meaning but perhaps misguided influencers. Content Warnings: Binging, Purging, Restriction, Fatphobia, BMI, Transphobia Sarah's Instagram: https://instagram.com/bodypositivepear Sarah's YouTube: https://youtube.com/sarahfrancesyoung Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/notaboutfoodpod Contact: notaboutfoodpod@gmail.com

Mental illness is extremely common both during and post-pregnancy and eating disorders can certainly be part of that. Despite this, medical professionals working with pregnant people have little to no knowledge of eating disorders which can cause serious problems for both the baby and their carrier. Both our guests struggled with eating disorders while pregnant and their experiences are sadly quite similar and very concerning. Abi and Christina give us plenty of details and reveal the shocking lack of attention given to these issues. Editor's note: I did the intro for this episode and got our email address wrong! The correct one is below. Also, I'm afraid there are some audio issues with this episode. As mentioned previously, recording over Zoom and having everyone at home makes for a non-ideal recording environment. Please bear with us while we keep making tweaks to our workflow that will allow us to put out higher quality content! Content Warnings: Anorexia, Pregnancy/Birth, Alcohol, Restriction, Binging, Purging, Over-exercise, Surgery Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/notaboutfoodpod Contact: notaboutfoodpod@gmail.com

Phoebe's long time friend Alex comes along to talk about how chronic pain has affected their relationship with food while reminiscing about the good side of being in hospital and how they supported each other both then and in the years since. Alex also gives some advice to those struggling to get the right diagnosis and treatment for their condition(s) in a world where AFAB people are all too often dismissed and assumed to be being overdramatic about their symptoms.  Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/NotAboutFoodPod Contact Us: notaboutfoodpod@gmail.com Content Warnings: Restriction, Binging, Self-harm, Blood, Surgery

There are so many misconceptions about Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID), to the point where it's often misdiagnosed as anorexia, despite several key differences. It's also generally considered a childhood illness, but it can and does extend into adult life for many people. Our guests Tahlia and Lucie give us the rundown and even make Phoebe realise a few things about her disordered eating as a child and how it relates to ARFID. Tahlia's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tahliadavid/ Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/NotAboutFoodPod Contact: notaboutfoodpod@gmail.com Content Warnings: Weight, Purging, Vomiting, Restriction, Alcohol Editor's note: There's a mention of "CAMHS" (pronounced "cams") a couple of times in this episode. For those outside the UK, this refers to Childhood and Adolescent Mental Health Services, the primary body for treating and referring minors with mental health issues. Additionally, there may be some fluctuation in volume throughout this episode due to an issue with the recording. We hope that you understand that recording over Zoom often results in unideal set-ups and while we try our best to make everything crystal clear, some issues are inevitable!

We've spoken to a lot of people about their experiences of EDs, but this time we get a different perspective. Paul Webb (AKA "dad") has an open, honest, and insightful chat with Phoebe about what it's like to watch your daughter develop Anorexia, methods of coping, and reflections on mistakes that can be made. This is our longest and most raw episode yet, and it's one that we're incredibly proud of. However, please check the content warnings below as this episode contains a lot of heavy content. The advice given here is just from Paul's personal experience, and if you are suffering yourself or trying to help a loved one who is suffering, also consider contacting one of the following services: Beat (UK): https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/ NEDA (USA): https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/help-support/contact-helpline Before this episode, we asked for some of your questions so that we could do a Q&A of sorts on this episode. Any that weren't answered in the episode will be tweeted out with a written reply in the near future! Content Warnings: Anorexia, Restriction, Drug Use, Addiction, Self-Harm, Needles, Suicide, Death

The fabulous Jason Wood of Orthorexia Bites joins Phoebe for a deep dive into what Orthorexia is, how different it is to other eating disorders, and the struggles one can face trying to get a diagnosis and/or treatment for the condition. Jason has just announced that he's publishing a book! You can find more info here: https://www.orthorexiabites.com/ Also, be sure to check out Jason's Twitter/Instagram for more updates on the book and his site: https://twitter.com/orthorexiab, https://instagram.com/orthorexiabites Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/notaboutfoodpod Our Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/notaboutfoodpod Content Warnings: Weight Loss, Anorexia, Orthorexia, Restriction, Fatphobia

Phoebe was invited to speak on BBC Radio Essex to speak about anorexia, recovery, and the incredibly sad death of Nikki Grahame.

Just some thoughts from Phoebe after some online interactions regarding the tragic death of Nikki Grahame. Please reach out to us for support if you're struggling.

We're joined by two guests this week - Lauren and Lilith - each with very different experiences of veganism and how it affected their recovery. Often associated with restriction, veganism can be detrimental to recovery, but in the case of Lilith and many others, it offers achievable goals and a good way to manage their eating disorders. Lilith's Socials: @LilthJCooper (Twitter), @GearsForQueers (Twitter, Instagram) Lauren's Socials: @LaurenKrissss (Everywhere) Our Twitter: @NotAboutFood Contact: notaboutfoodpod@gmail.com Content Warnings: Restriction, Binging, Disordered Eating, Weight

Phoebe and her close friend Michelle have an in-depth discussion about the crossover between Neurodiversity and Eating Disorders, with Michelle giving a thorough insight into how her autism affects her relationship with food. Twitter: https://twitter.com/notaboutfoodpod Contact: notaboutfoodpod@gmail.com Content Warnings: Binging, Purging, Restriction, Suicide, Self-harm, Ableism, Bullying We're on all major podcast platforms!  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4RlGLyzrCNsXAjtZB4Xgbx Google Podcasts: https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy80ZmU4MjcwMC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw== Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/not-about-food/id1556607655 Anchor: https://anchor.fm/not-about-food Breaker: https://www.breaker.audio/not-about-food Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/i78g8zfb RadioPublic: https://radiopublic.com/not-about-food-Wk7ejl

Furthering last week's conversation on eating disorders in people of colour, Phoebe listens to Amina and Yasmin talk about how their cultural upbringings intertwined with their eating disorders. Amina's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/a_n_kayani Amina's Twitter: https://twitter.com/meenakayy Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/notaboutfoodpod Contact: notaboutfoodpod@gmail.com Content Warnings: Binging, Purging, Restriction, Weight Loss, Disordered Eating, Racism, Bullying, Fatphobia

Phoebe talks to two guests about how being people of colour affected their relationships with their bodies and food, and how racism penetrates every aspect on their lives. Blezzing's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blezzingdada/ Shona's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fashionforserialkillers/ Contact: notaboutfoodpod@gmail.com, https://twitter.com/notaboutfoodpod Content Warnings: Weight Loss, Disordered Eating, Racism, Bullying, Fatphobia, Islamophobia

Phoebe talks to Charlotte Earney, who describes her experience with BED and facing medical fatphobia, as well as looking at how ADHD can affect our relationship with food. More info on Eating Disorders Awareness Week: https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/edaw Twitter: https://twitter.com/notaboutfoodpod Charlotte's Twitter: https://twitter.com/charlotteearney Charlotte's Instagram: https://instagram.com/charlotteearney Contact: notaboutfoodpod@gmail.com Content Warnings: Binging, Purging, Restriction, Self-harm, Exercise, Fatphobia

Not being one to dance around the subject of eating disorders, Phoebe and her friend Maddie delve right in for episode one. It's Eating Disorders Awareness Week so what better time to have this discussion? Beat Live Chat: https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/support-services/online-groups Twitter: https://twitter.com/NotAboutFoodPod Contact: notaboutfoodpod@gmail.com Content Warning: Binging, Purging, Restriction, Self-harm, Alcohol, Abuse