You know when someone says, “Oh, that’s normal”, but something in your body clearly doesn’t feel right? Maybe you’ve lost your period and brushed it off because you exercise a lot. Maybe a doctor waved it away. Maybe you’ve been praised for your discipline, your control, your “healthy” lifestyle, even while your body has been quietly asking for more.

Especially if you have a complicated relationship with food, body image, or control, resolutions can feel less like hope and more like a trap dressed up as self-improvement. We talk honestly about why resolutions feel so tempting, how shame and pressure sneak into food- and body-based goals, and why that “clean slate” fantasy rarely delivers what it promises. 

Let’s be clear: nothing about this makes you weak, broken, or lacking willpower. In fact, what happens at night is almost always a signal; a physiological one, an emotional one, or both. Sometimes it’s as simple as your body saying, “Hey, I didn’t get enough today,” even if you didn’t feel hungry at the time. Sometimes it’s the residue of all the structure, pressure, and performance mode of the day finally melting away…and taking your guard down with it. And sometimes, the quiet of the evening is the only space where the loneliness, exhaustion, or unmet needs you pushed aside earlier finally surface.

In this episode, we welcome back a longtime favorite guest: Dr. Jeffrey DeSarbo, a neuropsychiatrist and internationally known educator whose work sits at the intersection of brain science, mental health, and eating disorder treatment. If you've heard his previous episodes, you already know that he has a profound ability to make complex neuroscience feel not just understandable, but actionable. This time, he brings something new, something that might seem unexpected coming from a neuroscientist: the science of a bucket list. And no, not the Hollywood version. Not skydiving. Not “visit Paris.” Something far more foundational.

Whether you’re supporting others or navigating your own process, this episode offers language and perspective to help you sit with the messiness rather than fear it.

If you’ve ever wondered why PCOS feels so confusing, why the symptoms don’t line up, why the advice is contradictory, why the solutions feel like guesswork, you’re not imagining it. PCOS is one of the most misunderstood conditions out there, and the internet has not helped. Everywhere you turn, there’s another promise to “balance your hormones,” another restrictive plan, another fear-based warning about what will happen if you don’t get it “right.”

Healing isn’t supposed to be perfect or linear, and when we stumble, it doesn’t mean we’ve failed. It’s a moment, one that can actually offer us valuable information about what still needs care, attention, and compassion.

In this week’s episode, we’re unpacking what it actually means to feel “normal” around food, and why that word can be both confusing and powerful. Because when most of us say we want to feel normal, what we really mean is that we want freedom. Freedom from guilt. Freedom from rules. Freedom to trust ourselves again. We’ll talk about how to rebuild that trust, how structure can be the surprising foundation for flexibility, and why connecting with your body, and with other people, is such a vital part of the healing process.

The holidays are a time of joy, connection, and celebration. But they can also stir up difficult emotions, memories, and patterns, especially if you’ve experienced trauma or struggled with disordered eating. In this episode, we’re diving into the complex and often misunderstood relationship between eating disorders and trauma.

You’re in a meeting, at school, or out with friends, and instead of focusing on what’s in front of you, all you can think about is what you’ll eat next, what you shouldn’t have eaten, or what you’ll allow yourself later. That constant mental chatter, what many call food noise, can be exhausting.

In this episode, I break down what treatment can look like when someone is struggling in the “middle” of the spectrum. Not in a medical crisis, but still needing real support to heal their relationship with food. We’ll explore the three core pillars of treatment (what I call the “three-legged stool”), the role each professional plays, and why collaboration across the team matters so much.

In this episode of Understanding Disordered Eating, I’m joined by my good friend and colleague, Sydney Green, MS, RD, to unpack the truth about body image: what it really means, how it shows up in daily life, and why it’s so intertwined with our relationship to food. 

For decades, the conversation has been clouded by vague definitions, conflicting philosophies, and the fear that “recovery” might not even be possible. In this powerful conversation, I sit down with Carolyn Costin, a renowned therapist, author, and pioneer in the eating disorder field, to dig into what recovery actually looks like, why she believes full recovery is possible, and how to strengthen the “healthy self” rather than fight against the eating disorder voice.

In this episode, I’m breaking down what separates the two, how to recognize when things may be shifting into dangerous territory, and why the labels themselves matter less than the impact food and body image struggles are having on your daily life. 

In this episode, I’m diving into the messy, real-life struggle of being present, especially when it comes to food, body stuff, and the feelings we’d really rather not deal with. From binge-eating as emotional escape to zoning out mid-meeting, it turns out our disconnect from the present moment isn’t random... It’s learned, rehearsed, and maybe even a little protective.

In this episode, I’m diving deep into the overlap between imposter syndrome and complicated relationships with food and body image. From the masks we wear to feel “enough,” to the inner critic that just won’t shut up, we’re peeling back the layers of what it means to doubt ourselves, hard, while trying to appear like we’ve got it all together.

You know that feeling when someone says, “Wanna hear a secret?” and suddenly your ears perk up? Secrets are juicy. But they’re also heavy, sneaky little burdens that shape our relationships, our bodies, and even how we eat. Seriously. Today, we’re diving back into the murky waters of secrets with none other than the incredible Dr. Katheryn Zerbe. If you’ve been around the UDE fam for a while, you’ll remember her from our earlier episode on secrets and eating disorders (if not, press pause and go listen to that one first—we’ll wait).

I’m unpacking the idea I’m calling The Perfectionist Paradox—where striving for perfection actually gets in the way of the thing you’re trying to do well in the first place. Neat trick, right?

In this episode, we dig into the messy, misunderstood world of eating disorders—the biology, the psychology, and all the medical myths that keep getting passed around like bad advice on the internet. Ever wondered why meds don’t seem to "work" for some people with anorexia? Or why the heck BMI is still a thing? Yeah, we go there.

If you’ve ever found yourself saying, “No, but really, my situation is different,” we’re talking about that too. Because while yes, biology and hormones play a role, a lot of us are way too quick to jump to, “I need a drastic fix” before we’ve even tried addressing our relationship with food (or, you know, feelings).