Welcome

Episode description:

This is the first episode in our new Recovery Series. The Recovery Series aims to share stories of those in eating disorder recovery in hopes of starting conversations, breaking stigmas, and encouraging healing. On this episode, host Claire Holtz sits down with Japanese-American singer-actor Anna Hashizume as she shares her story of healing.

Individuals suffering from eating disorders often hide their struggle from those around them for a variety of reasons, including shame, lack of information, or fear. Eating disorders want individuals to suffer in secret because then the individual can stay sick longer—safe from the intervention of others. Don’t listen to your eating disorder. And don’t suffer in silence. Reach out for support as soon as you start to recognize symptoms—getting an eating disorder treated early and effectively has been shown to result in higher success rates.

Five Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Feel Shame About Having an Eating Disorder

1. Eating Disorders Are Common.

In the United States alone, 30 million individuals will struggle with an eating disorder in their lifetime, about 10 million of those people being men. Among teens, eating disorders are the third most common illness and are far more prevalent than breast cancer or HIV. While you may feel like you are the only one struggling with disordered eating, it’s important to know that many people have shared your experience and gone on to achieve full recovery.

We’ve all heard the word “supermom,” which typically refers to a mother who can maintain all domestic duties alongside a full-time job or a mother that goes above and beyond in providing for herself and her family. While the idea of a supermom can seem like something to strive for, it’s often an unrealistic ideal that comes with serious consequences.

What Is a Supermom?

In one article, supermom is defined as a mother who wakes up “bright and early, cooks the kids a nutritious breakfast from scratch, drives them to school, commutes to the office, does errands over lunch, picks up the kids, does chores, and tucks them into bed.” In addition to being the perfect parent and employee, the supermom is also the perfect spouse. She exercises to maintain the “ideal” body, eats well, and is always available to support her partner when needed. While these aren’t necessarily bad traits, it’s nearly impossible for any one person to achieve this standard of living.

For many individuals with a restrictive eating disorder, weight gain is an essential part of recovery. Gaining weight after intentionally restricting food intake and increasing exercise can be scary and challenging—and it also requires a thought pattern change. Individuals can no longer think of weight loss as the goal, they have to start thinking about weight stabilization as the goal.

Understanding Restrictive Eating Disorders

There are five types of eating disorders: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, other specified feeding and eating disorder (OSFED), and avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID). However, out of these five categories, providers typically see that anorexia, bulimia, and ARFID involve both restrictive eating and notable weight loss.

Eating disorders can affect all individuals, regardless of who they are or how they identify. For those who are in their childbearing years or pregnant, this time period often overlaps with the age range in which eating disorders (EDs) are commonly diagnosed. Despite the fact that eating disorders and pregnancy can co-occur, there often isn’t an open dialogue about the overlap. With eating disorders potentially causing an increased chance of complications in pregnancy, we believe it’s important to start talking about eating disorders, related medical complications, and pregnancy.

Episode description:

Spoken word poet and author Blythe Baird joins Peace Meal to discuss eating disorder recovery, using art as a vehicle to healing, and her latest book, “If My Body Could Speak.” Blythe shares with us the origin story of her eating disorder and how she found comradery (and fame!) in sharing her experience.

Here at The Emily Program we love recovery resources and believe that creating a community is vital to keeping individuals on track with recovery. One of our current favorite ways to find support outside of direct treatment is podcasts! We wanted to share our love of recovery podcasts with you, so we compiled a list of our favorite eating disorder recovery podcasts.

Peace Meal

Most of us have had the experience of having a strong craving for something at one time or another. Some food item or beverage that sounds particularly good. A new study brings forward a possible reason why we sometimes overconsume that food or beverage.

In a study conducted in Cologne, Germany (1), researchers used PET scan technology to see the areas of the brain that were activated by dopamine release, a brain chemical associated with pleasure, reward, and satisfaction. The study subjects were given either a milkshake or a tasteless beverage, and then the PET scan tracked dopamine release once when the beverage was first tasted and then again when it reached the stomach.

In an interesting and somewhat counterintuitive finding, the researchers found that the higher the desire for the milkshake, the lower the release of dopamine from the stomach.