Episodes

I started this podcast on a roll about freedom but I got sidetracked by a conversation with a mum who was concerned about her 13-year-old daughter with anorexia and the treatment approach that was being taken. This is my response including a message to her 13 year old daughter. In essence I believe a whole person approach is essential to helping someone recover from anorexia and other EDs. Part of this approach is tackling the eating disorder behaviours, and with anorexia this definitely means a...

I love this quote by John Eldridge, “Let people feel the weight of who you are and let them deal with it.” It fits so well with the premise of Women Worth their Weight and the Freedom Express. I believe self acceptance is the key to overcoming disordered eating and developing health and life-affirming behaviours. I believe self rejection is at the heart of disordered eating. The path into disordered eating may not start with intense feelings of self rejection but this is generally where it ends ...

I believe the journey out of bondage into freedom requires a whole person approach. It’s not enough to focus on food or regular eating although that is very important. In my own journey from restricting anorexia into binge-eating/purging anorexia the lack of attention to what was going on inside me left me floundering in the dark. This is why light and ILLUMINATION are so important to me and my work. I believe the ability to SEE how you’re eating disorder functions is the first key to get free ...

When we’re in the midst of anorexia it is very difficult to articulate the struggle we experience within. Our behaviour towards food and body reflect our inner experience (and are highly expressive) but not in a way that most people will understand. I wrote Illuminating Anorexia to help bridge this gap, to provide a “window in” on what’s going on inside the heart and mind of one who struggles with restricting and binge eating/purging anorexia, in the hope that it would help sufferer and carer fi...

Picking up from the last podcast (Why I differentiate Anorexia from other Eating Disorders), I want to now illuminate the experience of restricting anorexia, the tightening treadmill (see also TreadmillDiagram) and the movement from restricting sub-type to binge-eating/purging sub-type. This movement within anorexia is not uncommon, and it can be easily misunderstood. I welcome your feedback and questions. michelle@michellesparkes.com @mp_sparkes

The reason I differentiate anorexia from other eating disorders is because there are two sub-types of anorexia – a restricting sub-type and a binge-eating/purging sub type. Understanding the difference is important when considering how best to approach and support someone with anorexia. Unlike most ED presentations, a person with anorexia (restricting sub-type) does not present with recurring binge eating and loss of control. This person progressively restricts the amount of food and calories t...

Free to be wrong and free to be loved…woohoo! Bring on the freedom. This is a continuation of the previous post. Amazing, wonderful, mysterious, sublime how the realities of life, the vulnerability, the humbling, the movement down from our lofty ideals and self-importance are the very means by which we rise and are liberated to live and love in new and wonderful ways. I’m learning, always learning and the way is not always (seldom) what I would naturally choose …but I guess we only get to enjoy ...

One of the most liberating experiences of my life is to know and accept my frail, flawed, finite humanity. It reads like a misprint doesn’t it? As human beings we often spend much of our lives ‘protecting’ ourselves from this vulnerable reality but I have discovered it to be the very bedrock of freedom. And to discover that I am loved and chosen in my imperfection is the jewel of the crown. The healing oil, the balm, the salve, the soothing and the most liberating and revolutionary truth I know…...

This is a brief addendum to the episode on Beating the bully in your head. When I said get out of the environment (change your perspective) and get going (release some of the energy bound up in the mental battle with the bully ), I was not advocating that you go out and over exercise if this is something your bully hounds you to do. The bully always punishes. In the example I gave my bully tried to get me to work harder and harder until I was exhausted and despairing. So I got out of the ring (l...

I love this play on words. I use it deliberately. Perfectionism is a losing game. The more you chase perfectionism the more it will elude you. You will find yourself chasing your tail and getting worn down in the process. And who knows what you may lose along the way…health, friends, money, time… opportunity…JOY! I have loved (& hated) the journey of losing my perfectionism. Hated because it’s been hard hard work. LOVED because the freedom on the other side of the journey is worth it. Yesterday ...

Have you ever found yourself getting beaten up by the bully in your head? Most people are familiar with this experience. It’s good to know how your bully operates. After five days cooped up at home trying to recover from flu I was aware of a sense of ‘time’ pressure building to complete some work. There was a legitimacy about the pressure because I have construction work scheduled next door and a houseguest arriving in 2 weeks so my window for getting this work done was closing. However, the bul...

I just listened to an interview on Hack radio regarding ‘Treating Anorexia.’ Canadian professor Louis Charland (?spelling), Philosopher of Science and Bioethicist, was speaking with Sarah McFee about the merits of treating anorexia as a “passion” (an affective disorder of feelings rather than thinking). He said current cognitive therapies are “just not effective enough” and that people with anorexia “need to feel differently before they start thinking differently”. As a health professional train...

I was speaking with a young lady last night and it reminded me that when you’re in a healthy weight range it can be difficult for others to recognise that you are struggling with an eating disorder. If you need help with disordered eating please don’t think you have to get “sicker” for others to believe you have a problem. Even if you haven’t yet found health professionals that seem to understand, trust me, there will be those that do. Doctors and health professionals have to be across lot of di...

I was reading a newspaper article this morning about the doubling rates of anorexia in young people under 14 years of age in the UK. We have similar figures in Australia. I thought I’d share some thoughts about how can we (adults) can help build resilience in our kids and younger people. Here are a few quick thoughts: Commend character – things like honesty, trustworthiness, reliability, being responsible, being diligent. Praise personal qualities – being caring, a good listener, generous, kin...

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by bad news and challenging life circumstances? I’m sure we all have. When wave after wave crashes in on your world or ebbs away at you over a long season it can make it difficult to rise out of the bog and see (or believe for) anything hope-full in your future. There is such power in shifting our focus away from what we don’t have (the bad news or difficult circumstances we face) to what we do have. This is the power of gratitude and the wonderful thing is it’s av...

Following on from the last episode (where I spoke about some of the factors I believe are giving rise to the increasing prevalence of eating disorders and disordered eating in our communities), I want to say a little more about the importance of the roots of our security going deep into a foundation of unconditional worth and value. We need to know this more than just as a mental construct. It needs to be fleshed out and experienced in our relationships. I encourage you to strengthen (nurture an...

Two unrelated articles stirred my mind this week. One by journalist Brian McNair from University of Technology Queensland, about “terror going viral” where he explores some of the downside of our interconnectedness via Internet and social media. The other, by the National Eating Disorder Collaboration interviewing Prof Susan Paxton about the rising prevalence of eating disorders in Australia. She says there’s no one particular cause but points to the interplay of genetic, socio-environmental fa...

Following up my last episode with SB, realise I got a bit feisty but I know that when a person is feeling too ashamed to reach out for human help they need to know at a deep gut level (deep in their soul) that they are OKAY as they are; that their reality is NOT too big or too broken for them to experience the liberating (& HEALING) truth and power of their loveability, worthiness, and value. We’re all simple human beings, made of the same stuff and when we get beat up and broken by life events ...

The most powerful truth I know to help you get FREE from an eating disorder is to know (by experience) that you are loved, desired, of inestimable worth, chosen. You may never have experienced these things, and if you’ve been on the ED treadmill for a long time, the lies you’ve believed may blind your mind and block your heart from receiving these truths and taking in the nurture (physical and emotional) that may be around you! This is a very real experience for a person locked in battle with an...

A young lady wrote in to ask how she could get free from the ED mindset. This was my response. You can watch it on YouTube where I refer to the model I created to help explain the ED ‘solution’ to the problem of pain (you can download a copy of this model here). Getting FREE from the ED mindset is a process that requires tackling both the behaviors and the underlying self experience (feelings, thoughts and beliefs) that keep us stuck on the ED treadmill. I welccome your feedback and questions.

Have you ever felt like you would NEVER be free from your eating disorder or disordered eating experience? Have you ever wondered, "How on earth did I get stuck in this place where thoughts of food and weight (and exercise) consume me?! I didn't start here. How did this happen?" i want to reassure you, you are not alone. And I want to encourage you, you can be FREE! Completely free. You can get unstuck from the bondage and LIFE-consuming nature of your ED. Here's a MAP and 4 Keys to help you SEE...

Have you ever watched something you wished you had not? I had this experience recently. It was a reminder that I need to be discerning about what I “let in” to my inner world via my eyes and ears. If I want to be healthy and at peace within, I need to guard and nurture my soul. To feed on images and words that bring life, hope, peace, joy. Predominantly. I don’t bury my head in the sand to life’s harsher realities. But there are limits to what I can (health-fully) digest. Some images are better ...

Pt 2 in a 2 part series originally shot on video and available on my YouTube channel. Recovering from an eating disorder requires (re) connecting with your self, your body and other people in healthy ways. You will need support. We all do. It’s part of being human. Reaching out is not a sign of weakness but of strength. Help is available. Here are some options and things to consider as you look at what support might mean for you. Feedback and questions welcome.

Recovering from an eating disorder requires (re) connecting with our self, our body and other people in healthy ways. You will need support. We all do. It’s part of being human. Reaching out is not a sign of weakness but of strength. Help is available. Here’s some options and things to consider as you look at what support might mean for you. Feedback and questions welcome.