Today I’m speaking with Melissa Carmona, a HAES therapist in North Carolina. Melissa talks about her experience growing up in Columbia, South America and what messages she received about body image from a Latino Country and what it was like making the transition to live in the US. We dig into how mental health stigma runs deep in South America, and how there are so few resources for women especially, to receive help.
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This week I welcomed Valentina Olivadese, a truly holistic nutritionist onto the podcast. Valentina shares how her trauma history lead her to find solace in her eating disorder. After working towards recovery for years with professional help, she now shares her wisdom through her practice as a holistic nutritionist. While we spend most of our conversation digging into Valentina’s personal story, we have some really powerful takeaways from this brave, vulnerable, and heartfelt conversation.
If you know someone who you suspect is struggling with an eating disorder, it’s important to notice and let them know that you are there to support them, or help them find someone who can support them. Simply saying something can help that person feel seen.
So many people write off sexual assault as something that is normal. It’s not. And while many survivors experience trauma that can present in many different ways, including disordered eating, if this is something you’re struggling you might have to ask for help over and over again. It will be difficult, and challenging, but you can do it.
You don’t have to wait for someone to tell you it’s okay to eat. When we try to control our bodies through dieting and restricting, we are essentially allowing ourselves to be controlled by diet culture. When we give ourselves permission to eat and take care of ourselves, we reclaim that control, and essentially practice body autonomy.
http://www.jessihaggerty.com/blog/blp39
Marci is a Food and Body Imager Healer™. She has dedicated her career to counseling, supervising, and teaching in the field of eating disorders. She is a Certified Eating Disorder Registered Dietitian and Supervisor, certified Intuitive Eating Counselor and Certified ACSM personal trainer. In addition to her group private practice and three adjunct teaching positions, Marci launched an online eating disorders training for dietitians in 2015 and co-directs a specialized eating disorder internship at Simmons College. She volunteers for a number of national eating disorder organizations including the iaedp certification committee and is serving as an eating disorder resource professional for The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
This is the second episode in a three part series about the intersection of eating disorders and substance use disorders, and after the previous episode, I wanted to really dig into the topic of food addiction, what is is, and what it is not, with the one and only, Marci Evans. In this episode Marci and I talk about the research around food addiction, and also how you can move forward and improve your relationship to food, and your experience around food, if you are currently suffering from feelings of food addiction. What did you think of this conversation? Let me know in the comments below!
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