Speaker 1: Maybe that's Lisa, and we're just two girls that want
Speaker 1: to have a conversation with you. Dear sixteen year old
Speaker 1: Andrea hey gorsgeous, Dear younger Lauren. Each episode is stories
Speaker 1: from people I would deprive myself. Why myself obsessively? Because
Speaker 1: I was eating healthy? I couldn't understand that I had
Speaker 1: a problem with food. Losing my period scared me the most.
Speaker 1: My story starts when I was around seven. That's when
Speaker 1: I started to hate my body. Body image is like
Speaker 1: our inner picture of our outer self healthy behaviors. I
Speaker 1: had a much bigger role at all health than the
Speaker 1: actual number on the scales. Internal dialogue can be so
Speaker 1: powerful and often it's super negative and critical in a
Speaker 1: way that we wouldn't talk to other people that we
Speaker 1: care about. When you start to share your story, that
Speaker 1: gives other people the courage to share theirs. I know
Speaker 1: you would be proud now of how far you have
Speaker 1: come in your relationship to food, exercise, and to yourself.
Speaker 1: I felt freedom, I've gained relationships. I've found my true
Speaker 1: sense of self worth. There's one thing I need you
Speaker 1: to take away. You're going to be okay, welcome to
Speaker 1: outweigh this is an intro that you know if you're
Speaker 1: listening to this podcast. We don't always do an intro,
Speaker 1: but if you hear us do one, it's because we
Speaker 1: had an afterthought and we want you to know it.
Speaker 1: Or we actually might need to put a trigger warning,
Speaker 1: and I want you to hear me now and receive
Speaker 1: this trigger warning and take it seriously. You're your own person.
Speaker 1: You can make your own decision what you're going to
Speaker 1: listen to. But this is an episode I would have
Speaker 1: maybe listened to to try to figure out what else
Speaker 1: I could do to help my body lose weight or
Speaker 1: do whatever it is I want to do. So my
Speaker 1: encouragement to you would be we're gonna try to talk
Speaker 1: about everything on Outweigh episodes. We don't want to censor
Speaker 1: and edit our content. We think that this is a
Speaker 1: very serious matter, and I would just encourage you mentally,
Speaker 1: if you're not in a place to really hear this
Speaker 1: episode and take it as help instead of part of
Speaker 1: your toolbook that you use to fuel you're eating disorder
Speaker 1: or disordered eating patterns. Then I would encourage you to
Speaker 1: press pause now and say this episode for when you're
Speaker 1: in a better place. Yeah, Hey, fam, I definitely piggybacking
Speaker 1: on what Amy said. This episode is so important. We're
Speaker 1: joined by an amazing eating disorder registered dietitian, and I
Speaker 1: think what you'll hear her say, but I want to
Speaker 1: just say it right now before you even move forward,
Speaker 1: is what is your intention in listening to this episode?
Speaker 1: So what is your intention? Ask yourself right now, and
Speaker 1: if it's coming from a place of I want to
Speaker 1: best support my body, then go for it. And if
Speaker 1: anything is coming up, as you know in your gut
Speaker 1: of I want to take advantage of what might be
Speaker 1: said here to further along and live in secrecy and
Speaker 1: have more tools to get away with what I've been
Speaker 1: getting away with, then perhaps pause this episode and don't
Speaker 1: don't take a listen. Lisa and I care about y'all,
Speaker 1: and that's why we feel it's important to share that
Speaker 1: with you before certain episodes that could be triggering. So
Speaker 1: there you go, that's our trigger warning. We hope you're
Speaker 1: enjoying all the guests and experts that we're having on
Speaker 1: and Michelle is amazing, and after you hear this, you'll
Speaker 1: realize why we'll definitely be having her back on Welcome
Speaker 1: back to Outweigh Today we have on eating disorder registered
Speaker 1: dietitian Michelle Pillow Pitch. You can find her on Instagram
Speaker 1: at Michelle two Els Pillow Pitch Nutrition. We'll drop that
Speaker 1: in the show notes because it's a little bit of
Speaker 1: a hard one and we're going to be learning all
Speaker 1: about how to discern if you have an eating disorder
Speaker 1: or disordered eating. So welcome, Michelle. We're so excited to
Speaker 1: have you. Thank you, thanks for having me. I'm excited
Speaker 1: to be here. So let's jump right in to the
Speaker 1: good stuff and help our listeners learn how to discern
Speaker 1: if it's disordered eating orn't eating disorder. What can we
Speaker 1: be on the lookout for. Yeah, it's a great question,
Speaker 1: and I think that there's a lot of crossover. So
Speaker 1: a lot of the disordered eating symptoms and traits like
Speaker 1: maybe counting calories or over exercise or things that are
Speaker 1: super common in our society are also present in eating disorders.
Speaker 1: What is the distinction is, I would say the intensity
Speaker 1: of both the symptoms, so maybe they happen more frequently,
Speaker 1: as well as the distress caused by food or the
Speaker 1: thought of weight gain. So, for example, if somebody has
Speaker 1: let's say anorexia, nerrosa, they would be really anxious to
Speaker 1: the point of like almost panic about eating foods that
Speaker 1: might cause weight gain. It's this real fear of a
Speaker 1: larger body size and with anoxia. Ing on that topic,
Speaker 1: the weight can also be a diagnosable factor, and I
Speaker 1: do like to really really emphasize that low weight is
Speaker 1: not necessary to have an eating disorder. Plenty of people
Speaker 1: have eating disorders, even anorexia, without being underweight. But if
Speaker 1: someone is underweight to the point of being medically unstable,
Speaker 1: having lab values that are off, feeling faint and dizzy,
Speaker 1: very often not being able to stand up too fast,
Speaker 1: those things can be signs that your weight is also
Speaker 1: a part of the diagnosis. That is part of that
Speaker 1: criteria for anorexia, and then for other disorders like bulimia
Speaker 1: or binge eating disorder, the frequency of behaviors is also
Speaker 1: part of that diagnosis. So the d s M five,
Speaker 1: for anyone who doesn't know, is the Diagnostic and Statistical
Speaker 1: Manual of Mental Disorders. I think that's the exact title.
Speaker 1: So that's like the Dictionary of Mental Illnesses. And so
Speaker 1: there are criteria for all these disorders, and for bulimia
Speaker 1: and binge eating disorder, the binges and the purges are
Speaker 1: occurring for I think it's once a week for at
Speaker 1: least three months to classify a diagnosis. If it's happening
Speaker 1: once a week and it hasn't been three months yet,
Speaker 1: that doesn't mean oh, don't get help yet. You know,
Speaker 1: anything that is disrupting your life is of course deserving
Speaker 1: of help. But that frequency is also kind of a key.
Speaker 1: So can we actually get just a quick definition of
Speaker 1: anorexia and bulimia and I guess binge eating disorder? Are
Speaker 1: those the three main eating disorders that you work with? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I would say those are the main ones. And then
Speaker 1: I mean orthorexia is a really big one. I think
Speaker 1: you guys have touched on it before. I don't think
Speaker 1: it's in the d S, m um, it would be
Speaker 1: considered eating disorder otherwise like unspecified something like that. But
Speaker 1: that's another main one. So anorexia is primarily a restrictive
Speaker 1: eating disorder, so limiting food intake to an inappropriate level
Speaker 1: based on your age and height and your calorie needs.
Speaker 1: Also that intense fear of weight gain and weight changes
Speaker 1: and body image. It can also have an aspect of
Speaker 1: body dysmorphia. And not seeing your body as it accurately appears,
Speaker 1: and low weight is part of that diagnosis. There's also
Speaker 1: something that is very unfortunately called a typical anorexia, which
Speaker 1: would be a restrictive eating disorder without low weight. And
Speaker 1: I would say probably every eating disorder professional is fighting
Speaker 1: against that name because obviously, like, that's not a typical
Speaker 1: that's just a human who is not at a severely
Speaker 1: low weight. So with the anorext it's primarily the restriction.
Speaker 1: Bulimia involves purjey, so that would be compensating after a binge.
Speaker 1: And I also like to define binge because a lot
Speaker 1: of people think, oh, I'm binging because I ate a
Speaker 1: bunch of Halloween candy and Halloween is on my mind.
Speaker 1: What classifies a binge is having a quantity of food
Speaker 1: that is larger than what is typically needed or what
Speaker 1: you would have in like a normal average meal to
Speaker 1: meet your needs in a distinct period of time, and
Speaker 1: having this feeling of being out of control, like you
Speaker 1: can't stop even if you wanted to. So that kind
Speaker 1: of compulsive and out of control feeling is also really
Speaker 1: characteristic of a binge. If it's Thanksgiving dinner and you
Speaker 1: eat a lot of extra pie because you only have
Speaker 1: it once a year and you just love it. Like,
Speaker 1: that's not necessarily a binge, you know. We can also
Speaker 1: choose to eat past fullness because it's enjoyable and we
Speaker 1: want to and those are completely normal things that like
Speaker 1: mentally distressing feeling of being out of control is really
Speaker 1: characteristic of a binge. Um, so that is kind of
Speaker 1: binge eating, just order having those frequent once a week
Speaker 1: episodes at least of binge eating eating those larger quantities
Speaker 1: of food. And then bulimia is primarily the purging, so
Speaker 1: having a purging episode every time there is a binge,
Speaker 1: and anorexia can also have binge purge as a form
Speaker 1: of compensation for eating. So there's so much overlap. People
Speaker 1: don't often fit into just one little box. Can you
Speaker 1: also speak to what a purge might look like, because
Speaker 1: for some people, they're probably thinking in their heads that
Speaker 1: automatically means throwing up, but that could mean going to
Speaker 1: the gym for five hours exactly. Yes. Um, that's a
Speaker 1: really good point. So purging is really any form of
Speaker 1: compensation for food eaten. So it could be making yourself vomit,
Speaker 1: it could be purging getting rid of those calories and
Speaker 1: from over exercise, so exercising much more than your body
Speaker 1: kneeds or wants. It could be taking laxatives after meals,
Speaker 1: or diuretics and using that type of medication. It could
Speaker 1: be even like sitting in a sauna for a ton
Speaker 1: of time, all sorts of things. So primarily I would
Speaker 1: say the vomiting, the exercise, the laxatives, and diuretics are
Speaker 1: the main things. Um And yes, those are all forms
Speaker 1: of purge, which I would say could be kind of
Speaker 1: interchangeable with compensation. For the purpose of someone identifying and
Speaker 1: just for people listening right now that may feel shame
Speaker 1: around anything she just said, specifically laxatives or sitting in
Speaker 1: a sauna for long periods of time, Lisa can speak
Speaker 1: to her experience. But I've done every single thing you
Speaker 1: just mentioned, so there is no shame and we need
Speaker 1: to be talking about it. Because I didn't even realize
Speaker 1: my sauna sessions were harmful. But in college I would
Speaker 1: go sitting there after I'd already done tons of work
Speaker 1: out at the gym, and I would put saran wrap
Speaker 1: around my stomach and sweat it all out in the
Speaker 1: sauna for like forty five minutes and then I would
Speaker 1: The pleasure I would get from unwrapping the suran wrap
Speaker 1: is such a mental thinging But also I was completely miserable,
Speaker 1: but didn't really know that that what I was doing
Speaker 1: was wrong. But I still hit it from everybody. And
Speaker 1: I remember one time my roommate found a bunch of
Speaker 1: suran wrap in my trash can, and I was mortified.
Speaker 1: I just ignored it. But I mean, I still remember
Speaker 1: that clear as day, and that was twenty years ago.
Speaker 1: I remember on Season one about way you talked about
Speaker 1: the suran wrap and the sauna, And there's actually been
Speaker 1: a resurgence of that trend at a popular wellness I'm
Speaker 1: putting in quotes. I don't know anything about it. I'm
Speaker 1: not like mocking it, but like a wellness spot in
Speaker 1: New York City where a lot of models are doing
Speaker 1: this and and and it became very popular and it's
Speaker 1: really important. Not everybody, I'm sure that does the suran
Speaker 1: rap has a disordered relationship to food or an eating disorder,
Speaker 1: but you know when you're doing it excessively compensatory lee
Speaker 1: and so forth. So there's a line. And you know,
Speaker 1: this year, I think it was this year has been
Speaker 1: a weird year, but it was this year I wrote
Speaker 1: about my use of laxatives, and it was something I
Speaker 1: never spoke of out because even I've I've shared so
Speaker 1: much about my disordered eating journey, laxatives like that made
Speaker 1: me feel so disgusting and shameful. And I'm just gonna
Speaker 1: say it again here because it's so not okay. How
Speaker 1: you know, easy it is? But I pooped in my
Speaker 1: pants once as a college student. I can't blame gonna
Speaker 1: say this on that way. But the body is not
Speaker 1: supposed to do that. Like I was destroying my inside
Speaker 1: and that didn't stop me. By the way, that was
Speaker 1: just a moment of Wow, I'm doing something serious. I
Speaker 1: you know, maybe put a pause on it for a moment,
Speaker 1: But not okay at all. And what's even more not
Speaker 1: okay is any shame you may feel around something that
Speaker 1: you've done in the past. So that's why I told
Speaker 1: that very embarrassing story. So the one thing I just
Speaker 1: want to ask Michelle, is you know, with laxatives for me,
Speaker 1: it's very open about her story with binging and purging.
Speaker 1: I took laxatives, but it wasn't you know, three times
Speaker 1: a week for six months, so I was in that
Speaker 1: gray area. Again. If I'm not a clinical eating disor order,
Speaker 1: what am I? That doesn't make it okay? So what
Speaker 1: would you say to somebody who is using or participating
Speaker 1: in compensatory behaviors such as the shana or over exercising,
Speaker 1: or laxatives or diuretics, but not at the frequency that
Speaker 1: makes it, you know, bulimia, get help. I always say
Speaker 1: it's important for anyone to get help, to reach out
Speaker 1: to talk to a therapist, dietitian, someone close to you
Speaker 1: before that if that feels like too big of a step,
Speaker 1: because sure, maybe you didn't have a clinical eating disorder,
Speaker 1: but clearly that behavior was disrupting your life. You know
Speaker 1: that's not something that we want anyone to be doing.
Speaker 1: So I always always, always say, I probably say this
Speaker 1: a thousand times a day, what is your intention? The
Speaker 1: intention matters? I ask every single client that whenever they
Speaker 1: say is it's good, is it's bad? So if you're
Speaker 1: taking laxatives once because you're really backed up, you went
Speaker 1: on a trip, whatever, like okay, normal. If you are
Speaker 1: taking it because you ate something that you feel guilty about,
Speaker 1: or because you want to lose weight and it's clearly
Speaker 1: too many peelate your body. That's disordered intention that deserves
Speaker 1: help and attention. So I would say, reach out and
Speaker 1: the shame is something so important to talk about. I'm
Speaker 1: so glad that you guys are both sharing your stories
Speaker 1: because I mentioned at least earlier, I used to work
Speaker 1: in a residential treatment center and new clients when I
Speaker 1: was meeting them for the first time, would always say, Oh,
Speaker 1: I don't think I need to be here. I really
Speaker 1: don't need to be here. I'm just doing it because
Speaker 1: my parents told me to blah blah blah whoever. And
Speaker 1: I always told people if we accepted clients based on
Speaker 1: who thinks they need to be here, I'd be out
Speaker 1: of the job. We would never have anyone nobody thinks
Speaker 1: they need help. But if you are resonating with any
Speaker 1: of these intentions in any of these stories, then you
Speaker 1: deserve help, and it's really important to reduce that stigma
Speaker 1: and to be able to reach out and get it.
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna throw something else in the laxative conversation,
Speaker 1: because again, trying to recognize whether or not you need help,
Speaker 1: maybe you're not taking laxatives like that, say laxative on
Speaker 1: the box, but you're drinking smooth Move tea every day
Speaker 1: or every night before bed, because I certainly was doing that.
Speaker 1: That is an easy way to disguise it because it's
Speaker 1: this organic herbal tea and it's like, oh, I just
Speaker 1: kind of need to go to the bathroom. And I
Speaker 1: would drink that publicly and openly in front of my
Speaker 1: family and be like, oh, I gotta make a smooth move,
Speaker 1: and that was more acceptable than I'm gonna go pop
Speaker 1: my laxative pills. So that is a warning. Look at
Speaker 1: that behavior as well, anything you're using to disguise. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's actually how it started for me. At my college roommate.
Speaker 1: You know, we went to a health food store. Again,
Speaker 1: a health food store, so I assumed anything I'm buying
Speaker 1: from a health food store is good for me, and
Speaker 1: it's tea tea is good for me. And you know
Speaker 1: this is before Instagram with you know, now we see
Speaker 1: these laxative teas all over, So that was really important point. Amy,
Speaker 1: Thanks for bringing that up. You talked about lab values
Speaker 1: in anorexia, and I think that's something that a lot
Speaker 1: of people don't understand. When we talk about anorexia, we see, oh,
Speaker 1: they're just a thin person. You know, they're fine. What
Speaker 1: is going on health wise for somebody with anorexia? A
Speaker 1: lot of things can be going on, and it's also
Speaker 1: so individual, so in terms of lab values, they can
Speaker 1: be off in any sort of thing, like a lot
Speaker 1: of nutrient deficiencies, because of course you're not eating a lot.
Speaker 1: But I will say that it's actually fairly uncommon to
Speaker 1: have lab values that are really off. And that's another
Speaker 1: reason why so many clients come to me and say,
Speaker 1: I don't really need this, I'm fine, My labs are fine,
Speaker 1: and our bodies I know, Lisa, you know this as
Speaker 1: a dietician. Our bodies are so complex and work so
Speaker 1: hard to keep everything in balance, and I just always
Speaker 1: tell people it's normal till it's not. So maybe they're
Speaker 1: fine now, but if you continue down this path, it's
Speaker 1: not going to be fine. Bone health is really big,
Speaker 1: so even before things show up as off, I would
Speaker 1: say bones can be deteriorating osteopenia and osteoporosis. So using
Speaker 1: bone strength is very common in young people who suffer
Speaker 1: from anorexia, so that is of course not something we want.
Speaker 1: Hormones and your menstrual cycle can be affected. And again
Speaker 1: I always want to give a disclaimer that it doesn't
Speaker 1: always happen, and so some people are super sensitive and
Speaker 1: if they lose two pounds, they lose their period. Some
Speaker 1: people I personally have worked with clients who have had
Speaker 1: a twenty thirty year long battle with anorexia never lost
Speaker 1: their period, had children, and been severely underweight the whole time.
Speaker 1: So if you still have your period, that doesn't necessarily
Speaker 1: mean I don't have a problem. But if you lose
Speaker 1: your period, that's definitely a sign that something is off.
Speaker 1: I like what you said, it's normal until it's not.
Speaker 1: That's a really good reminder, and I would think, and again,
Speaker 1: we've spoken about this and we shared our stories on
Speaker 1: the first four episodes of Our WAGH. But I was
Speaker 1: once told when I was much younger, by a mentor
Speaker 1: to me that every time I threw up, it was
Speaker 1: a slow suicide. And so can you just speak to
Speaker 1: the harm that we're doing to our bodies all to
Speaker 1: fit into some whatever box of what we think we
Speaker 1: should look like. Describe what that really means, because I
Speaker 1: feel like that can sound really drastic to someone that's like,
Speaker 1: what stop like slow suicide? Don't even but it's it's
Speaker 1: so true. Yeah, no, it is. There are so many
Speaker 1: things that are harmful and people only think about I
Speaker 1: shouldn't say only, but tend to think about the external
Speaker 1: and well, I don't look thin enough where my teeth
Speaker 1: aren't ritting out of my head. But yeah, especially like
Speaker 1: with purging, the integrity of your esophagus and digestive system
Speaker 1: is being damaged. I don't want to be like a
Speaker 1: horror story here kind of scaring people, but I think
Speaker 1: it's important to know what's possible that it can get
Speaker 1: to a point where you can't stop the sort of
Speaker 1: opposite flow of your digestion and there is involuntary regurgitation
Speaker 1: that happens. Even just your digestive health being off poor
Speaker 1: neutral and absorption as your intestines are being damaged, really
Speaker 1: your whole digestive system being totally ruined. I've seen people
Speaker 1: end up with a colostomy bag from an eating disorder
Speaker 1: and other complications of it. You know, it's kind of
Speaker 1: interesting that, like gut health is so trendy, but at
Speaker 1: the same time, people are doing these behaviors to change
Speaker 1: their body that really impact your digestion, your bone health,
Speaker 1: you know, being able to so easily break a bone
Speaker 1: at a very young age having fractures. Heart health is
Speaker 1: also really really dangerous, and I tell people when you're
Speaker 1: not eating enough, someone who has a restrictive eating disorder,
Speaker 1: your body, if it doesn't have enough carbohydrate to use
Speaker 1: for energy, then it goes to breaking down fat and muscle.
Speaker 1: And people think, oh, yeah, I'm going to use up
Speaker 1: all my fat, but also protein and muscle, and your
Speaker 1: heart is a muscle, and your heart can deteriorate. Your
Speaker 1: heart can stop from purging too much from refeating syndrome.
Speaker 1: If you restrict too far and then reintroduced food when
Speaker 1: your body is not ready for it or too quickly,
Speaker 1: that can cause electrolyte imbalances. It's really dangerous for heart rhythms.
Speaker 1: So it's a serious thing. I think a common statistics
Speaker 1: thrown around is the anorexia is the deadliest mental illness,
Speaker 1: and people don't really realize that. So, yeah, that's actually
Speaker 1: a great pivot because eating disorders so much right now
Speaker 1: on the internet is to blame quote unquote diet culture.
Speaker 1: And obviously, you know there is this pursuit of thinness
Speaker 1: ingrained in all of us. But one thing that I
Speaker 1: think is kind of getting lost in the mix, is
Speaker 1: that eating disorders in the nature that we're discussing them
Speaker 1: today are not just because of diet culture. Right, What
Speaker 1: are some of the factors that could go into causing
Speaker 1: and eating disorder? So many and it's never just one thing.
Speaker 1: So you know, if someone is listening and has a
Speaker 1: child or parent or best friend with an eating disorder,
Speaker 1: nothing is your fault or any one person's fault. They
Speaker 1: are biopsychosocial disorders. So there's a biological component. It is
Speaker 1: ingrained in our biology of our body. There is a
Speaker 1: genetic component. I actually researched that for my master's degree.
Speaker 1: It was really interesting and psychological. So there is a
Speaker 1: mental health component. These are mental disorders, so there's that
Speaker 1: whole piece, often probably always co occurring with anxiety, depression,
Speaker 1: any type of other psychiatric diagnosis, and social So yes,
Speaker 1: there is the diet culture piece, the people you're around,
Speaker 1: the sports you're in, the cultures and activities that can
Speaker 1: also influence things. And it has to be that perfect storm.
Speaker 1: So you know, one person might be in competitive dance
Speaker 1: or something that is a community in which eating disorders
Speaker 1: are prominent, and maybe they don't have the genes that
Speaker 1: predispose them to the eating disorder, and they're fine. But
Speaker 1: somebody else does have that genetic makeup and that psychiatric
Speaker 1: makeup and they do develop an eating disorder. So it's
Speaker 1: really complex, certainly. And so for somebody listening that resonated
Speaker 1: with either the arexia the bolimia, somebody might be listening
Speaker 1: and they're they're nervous. What is the first step that
Speaker 1: they should take, because I think that's where a lot
Speaker 1: of people actually get stuck. Yeah, the first step is
Speaker 1: I would say tell someone eating disorders thrive in secrecy,
Speaker 1: So putting it out there to whoever you're comfortable with, Well,
Speaker 1: then get the ball rolling with somebody holding you accountable,
Speaker 1: helping you get help, helping you make the phone call
Speaker 1: to a therapist or a dietitian or your doctor or
Speaker 1: whatever you need to do. That is the first step
Speaker 1: that you feel comfortable with. But just sharing is really important,
Speaker 1: and I think especially for the eating disorders that are
Speaker 1: so shameful, I'm so glad that you guys brought up
Speaker 1: the shame piece because anorexia tends to be this like
Speaker 1: glorified eating disorder. Oh, everyone wants to be thin, and
Speaker 1: nobody wants to talk about their binge eating, And that
Speaker 1: is kind of an over generalization, but that's what I
Speaker 1: see the most. So if you're binging, telling someone is
Speaker 1: probably the last thing in the world you want to do.
Speaker 1: And that's why it's the most important, because these are
Speaker 1: also relational disorders. You know. Eating disorders can cause lying
Speaker 1: and stealing and hiding things, and so putting it out
Speaker 1: in the open is what's going to squash it. The
Speaker 1: more people who know, the more you are saying out
Speaker 1: loud that you're wanting to beat this thing, the more
Speaker 1: capable you will be of beating it. Oh, I'm so
Speaker 1: glad you brought up that piece, and some people listening
Speaker 1: may have, Like you said in the beginning, you may
Speaker 1: not fall into one category. I certainly have dabbled in
Speaker 1: all of them, not so much anorexia, but I was restricting,
Speaker 1: which then led to my binging, and then I purged,
Speaker 1: and then I have suffered from orthorexia, which I didn't
Speaker 1: even know was a thing until recently. But I had
Speaker 1: that for way longer than before I ever heard of it.
Speaker 1: But I always kind of in my head secretly wished
Speaker 1: I just struggled with anorexia, because that would have been
Speaker 1: easier to talk about and more I hate to use
Speaker 1: this word acceptable, but it seemed more like that would
Speaker 1: be something where people like, oh, okay, yeah, I get
Speaker 1: that too again, talk about all the other things you
Speaker 1: have going on, and even now I would maybe put
Speaker 1: orthorexy in that category of like people don't really know
Speaker 1: what it is, so I can be like, yeah, yeah, orthorexia,
Speaker 1: you know I have that, and that's just wanting to
Speaker 1: eat so healthy, and then people are like, oh, yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: I can get on board with that disorder. But they
Speaker 1: all need attention and they all need help. That's the
Speaker 1: purpose of this and your work too. Of course, just
Speaker 1: thank you for being a part of this conversation of
Speaker 1: getting it all out there. All of them need attention,
Speaker 1: and not one of them should be glamorized more than
Speaker 1: the other or more acceptable to talk about. We should
Speaker 1: be talking about every single thing so that other people
Speaker 1: can strip the shame and we can all start healing together. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think we definitely need to have Michelle on again
Speaker 1: because there's so many different details that we could have
Speaker 1: dove into, but for this one, I just wanted to
Speaker 1: cover how to tell if you have disordered eating versus
Speaker 1: eating disorder, and I think you you provided us so
Speaker 1: much valuable information. So you can find Michelle again at
Speaker 1: Michelle Pillow Pitch Nutrition. We will put that on the
Speaker 1: show note and we'll also put the website so if
Speaker 1: you are in the New York region, perhaps you can
Speaker 1: book a session to work with Michelle directly. Thanks for
Speaker 1: being here, Michelle, awesome. Thank you guys so much.