Episodes

This series is designed to inspire you and help you dream again; to recover the hopes and aspirations deep inside you that may have got lost in your battle with an ED. When your eyes are cast down, lost in the life-consuming territory of an ED, you need a vision of the future that will draw you forward, like a rope attached to an anchor out of the quagmire of your ED and into your future. Freedom beckons and that freedom has context. Within these stories of inspiration and dreaming, lie principl...

When the ED voice (the bully in your head) is making it hard or impossible for you to take in the nurture you need to survive and thrive you need help. You need other people to come alongside you and help you fight the lies and the fear that paralyses you SO THAT you can take in the food you need to survive and thrive. If you can’t do this on your own, you need help. A doctor, counselor and dietician at a minimum and if you’re still unable to make headway with this level of outpatient support, y...

When you’re fighting anorexia, you become afraid to eat. The terror of losing control and getting fat is REAL and is created by the eating disorder itself. I want to tell you, food is not your enemy; the fear of food and what it can do to you is your enemy. The ED voice lies to you. It exaggerates and amplifies things from a black and white perspective that gets stronger the longer you buy into the ED (restrict food) ‘solution’. You do not need to fear getting fat and losing control. AS you lear...

A great chat with Julie Duffy Dillon RD, dietitian, writer, speaker and host of the popular Love Food podcast, covering everything from her approach in working with people affected by ED/DE, to problems larger bodies experience in getting timely diagnoses, to her thoughts around mealplans and veganism, and her top 3 tips for making peace with food. These include: Stop fighting your body – put down your battle gear and ammo (start here) Respect your body – acknowledge that it’s your “earthsuit,...

Have you ever found yourself on a backroad by mistake or design? It’s a great opportunity to discover things you would otherwise miss. When we come away from mainstream messages about our worth and value, we have the opportunity to explore and discover (or recover) those things that are unique and special to us. When we’re not caught up in the slipstream, we can take time to notice what makes our heart sing, what interests us, what we value, what makes us curious, what gives us pleasure. It’s a ...

“Love is On”…says Revlon and the message is that your lovability is dependent on appearance. Don’t be sold a lie. More on this in this podcast. Gwen a podcast listener expressed her frustration at being “bombarded by images that make normal people look horrible.” Apart from unplugging what else can we do? Here’s a few thoughts: Step back, take a breath, put your scientist cap on, and ask yourself: What is the message behind this image? What product or service am I being sold? What do I think...

Binge-eating is a common feature in the disordered eating landscape. Binge-Eating Disorder as a diagnosis affects around 3.5% women, 2% men and 1.6% adolescents. Today I speak with Ryan Sheldon, a male who has struggled with binge-eating disorder and is using his experience to help others through his blog, Confessions of a Binge-eater. Important take home messages include: Accepting you have a problem Asking for help Finding someone you can trust to hear and not judge you when you’re struggli...

As we move into 2017 I will be bringing new voices, ideas and inspiration to help you SEE and GET FREE from your ED – voices of people struggling with ED, voices of people who have recovered from ED, voices of people working with ED, and voices from related fields that impact upon ED. Coming up I’ll be speaking with Ryan Sheldon a millennial guy with experience of binge-eating disorder, Julie Dillon RD, dietitian and host of the popular Love Food podcast, Kelly McJannett, 2016 ‘100 Women of Infl...

AMBIVALENCE refers to the tug of war that exists inside us when we feel pulled in two directions. Perhaps we know that something is not quite right (or perhaps people around us are reflecting this to us by expressing their concern). Until we are aware that we have a problem and ready to do something about it, most of us will defend against people trying to ‘help’ us before we’re ready. So what can YOU do (if you’re struggling right now), and what can the people around you do…that might be HELPFU...

Are you believing a lie about your worth and value? As you journey out of your eating disorder (or any life consuming/life controlling problem) you will “hit” some of the deeper (painful) self experience that sits below the surface of your (disordered eating) behaviours. This is a difficult but necessary part of recovery. At such times, it will be incredibly helpful if you can “be” where you’re at in the presence of someone who genuinely cares for you. This may be a therapist or counsellor. It m...

To know our worth and value at a deep level sets us up to do life in ways that are health-promoting and life-affirming. In this podcast I explore how our self concept develops using the analogy of building a house. We all have different experiences growing up and some people appear to have better “foundations” than others, but the storms of life hit us all at various times, and when they do, we have an opportunity to see what we’re basing our worth upon and to sink our roots deeper into eternal ...

What we believe in our heart shapes the way we see and do life – which in turn shapes our experiences and beliefs. It can be a continuing circle for good, health and life promotion, or it can be a continuing cycle for negativity, low self esteem and poor relationships. We have different life experiences but I would argue that we all have a solid reason to believe in our unique and unshakeable self worth. This audio is stripped from the video teaching I do on this subject in the 4×4 Freedom Expre...

Self Esteem Vs Self Worth. Are they different? How are they different? And what difference does that make? I believe they are different and that the difference is significant to our mental health and well being. Here’s why… Self esteem refers to how we esteem (or value) ourselves and is made up of all our beliefs about who we are, what we can be and what we can do in the future. Our experience of life shapes our self esteem (or self-valuing) which in turn, shapes our experience of life…for good...

Where we sit today (inside our skin; at home in our bodies) will be a reflection of our experiences – how we have internalised and processed our experiences and how these have shaped our beliefs, attitudes and behaviours – towards our body, our self, other people, our world. As we continue to act on, and in, our world we will have new experiences, which will confirm, challenge or shift our existing beliefs, attitudes and behaviours. And so we cycle. Moving forward into more health-promoting, lif...

Louise, a podcast listener wrote in to say, “Thank you to this podcast for illustrating that people with eating disorders are still human and deserve to be treated kindly, still – thank you.” To be honest I was kinda shocked. To me it is so obvious that eating disorders are one of many ways we human beings struggle with our emotional, inner world “stuff” that I get shocked to think that some people STILL don’t get this. The bigger problem is, as Louise infers, that this lack of understanding lea...

I love the way newness (fresh hope and expectation) are woven into the very fabric of our existence in the natural world. We get a new day every 24 hours, a new season every 3 months and a new year every 365 days. I want to encourage you whatever your past year has been, whatever your life has been, this is a fresh day, this is a new year and there is new hope for you. Here are 3 ways you can experience new hope this year. Questions and feedback welcome. michelle@michellesparkes.com @mp_sparke...

My journey through anorexia, EDNOS and binge eating exposed the LIE that I needed to be perfect to be worthy and deserving of life. It may sound so obvious (we all know perfection is it is impossible right?), but as the lie grows it creates such a bind, it DISCONNECTS the heart and mind of the affected person from TAKING IN the physical and emotional nurture they need to survive (& that may in fact be around them). For me, breaking through that lie required human and divine intervention. Both we...

In this podcast I explore the lie at the heart of an eating disorder – how it starts in seed form and develops over time, being reinforced by the food control ‘solution.’ I explore why I believe human and divine connection is so important in breaking through the lie and helping a person move towards freedom and wholeness, and I share my own experience of travelling into the heart of the lie with anorexia , nearly losing my life to it, how the lie was exposed and how I began to get FREE. Feedbac...

I believe there are a handful of key truths that (experienced) will take us forward into LIFE, and that are essential to the health and well-BEing of every person. These truths relate to our core needs to know we have worth and value, that we are loved and lovable, and that we can experience security in the face of uncertainty. You may see things differently to me and I welcome that. You don’t need to agree with me to benefit from my teaching. I invite your questions and welcome the opportunity ...

It’s Christmas Eve and I’m mindful that this can be a challenging time for people depending on where they sit in their relationships with family and friends. Regardless of your circumstances or emotions right now, here’s a truth that can bring such peace and nurture to your soul. You are chosen, choice and cherished. Feedback and questions welcome. michelle@michellesparkes.com @mp_sparkes

“Eating Disorders are not a choice” is a half truth that is unhelpful because it suggests that a person is powerless to get free from their ED. Nothing could be further from the truth. No one and nothing is more powerful than the affected person’s choice (over time and in situation after situation) in getting both into and out of the bondage of an eating disorder. That’s not to say the journey out of an eating disorder is easy or without great challenge, and that’s not to say it can be done with...

How do you re-establish your sense of worth and value when you don’t believe you deserve (or are entitled) to these things? The eating disorder lie that says you are not good enough/not worthy/don’t deserve to take up space, can shame, isolate, bind and blind a person to the point where it becomes very difficult for that person to take in physical or emotional nurture. This is the very nature of an eating disorder. Here are some strategies to help you break through that lie so you can believe an...

Anorexia and other eating disorders reflect a hunger for life – a hunger to know oneself as loved, worthwhile, of value, and to feel secure within. This may surprise you because you may know someone who has developed an eating disorder and think they come from a good family; they’ve had good life experiences; why are they struggling? When a person develops an eating disorder they buy into the LIE that they are not good enough and believe they can make themselves ‘worthy’ by lifting their game in...

Eating disorders are not a mystery. They reflect a way of dealing with emotional pain; pain in the heart or core “self.” You are not WRONG. Your hunger is not wrong, but because it’s origin is emotional (of the soul or psyche), your physical (food control) ‘solution’ will never take you where you want to go. It will never satisfy the hunger in your soul. Once you SEE this, it empowers you to consider your alternatives. If you need help to get free from eating disorder concerns it would be my ple...