Real Health Radio

Pamela St Clair shares how she achieved full recovery after living with an eating disorder for decades. We explore what finally helped her recover, why it is never too late and how her experience led her to become an eating disorder recovery coach.

In this episode, I explain what refeeding syndrome is, who may be at risk, the warning signs and monitoring that matter, and how nutrition can be increased safely. I also explore how unnecessary fear can reinforce restriction and delay the nourishment needed for recovery.

This week on the show I speak with Dr. Brad Smith, the chief medical officer for Rogers Behavioural Health. We talk about the co-occurence of many conditions with eating disorders: OCD, anxiety, depression, and addiction. We also cover ERP (Exposure and Response Prevention) - what it is, how it works and how it can be used for different aspects of recovery.

Virgie Tovar joins the podcast to examine how GLP-1 weight-loss drugs are reshaping diet culture, from the medicalisation of restriction to the marketing of weight stigma as compassion. We discuss the impact on eating disorder recovery, the psychological cost of weight cycling, and what it takes to choose body acceptance in a culture still determined to sell thinness.

One of the most common mistakes I see people making is to go slow in recovery. As part of this episode I look at the common reason why people take this approach and why it doesn't help.

Nutritional rehabilitation receives a huge amount of attention, and rightly so. But considerably less attention is given to what comes next: learning how to build a life in which you no longer need the eating disorder.

Do you know how to cope without using eating disorder behaviours? For many (or most) the eating disorder becomes their only means of coping. This means that part of recovery is about learning other ways of coping, and that's what this episode is about.

This episode explores everything you need to know about extreme hunger in eating disorder recovery, including why it happens, why it can feel so frightening, and how to respond when hunger feels relentless. It also covers mental hunger, hypermetabolism, weight restoration, common mistakes, and the myths that can keep people stuck.

This week I the show I speak with Talia Cecchele. We talk about overcoming compulsive movement, digestive issues in recovery, the RAVES framework and how it can be used when making choices about food changes in recovery as well as some nutrition myth busting.

Summer can make eating disorder recovery feel harder, but it doesn't have to derail your progress. In this episode, I unpack many common summer challenges and share practical ways to navigate them without letting the eating disorder regain ground.

The eating disorder will always try to convince you that now is not the right time to recover. You will never feel completely ready, so rather than waiting any longer, start before you feel ready.

Most people think self-compassion is about being kinder to yourself. In this episode, I challenge that idea and explain why true self-compassion in eating disorder recovery is often a behaviour, not a feeling. We explore what self-compassion looks like in practice with food, movement, body image, and recovery commitments, even when your mind is arguing against you

This week on the podcast I am looking at Adam Grant's book Hidden Potential and the ideas from it that can be applied to recovery.

<p>Today's guest is Livia Sara. In this episode, we chat about the overlap between autism and eating disorders, existential loneliness, metabolism, body image, eating variety and its place in recovery, the fear of weight gain, hunger signals, interoceptive awareness, and how intuitive eating does or doesn’t work with autism.</p>

Are ultra-processed foods really “addictive” or is the fear around them creating more anxiety and obsession around eating? In this episode, I break down a new 2025 study exploring dopamine, ultra-processed foods, and overeating, while unpacking why restriction, deprivation, and psychology matter far more than simplistic “food addiction” narratives.

The eating disorder always makes out how hard recovery is. But the reality is, that living with an eating disorder is harder than recovery.

In this episode, I answer listener questions on navigating social life in recovery, giving yourself unconditional permission to eat, and coping with body image distress, relapse patterns, support groups, and the role of co-occurring medical conditions in long-term recovery.

Today on the show I'm chatting with Victoria Kleinsman. We cover her 20 year battle with an eating disorder, escaping an abusive relationship, reaching a place of full recovery, how she went from body hate to body love and so much more.

Knowing what to do in recovery isn’t the same as actually doing it. In this episode, I break down why change still feels overwhelming, why insight doesn’t lead to action, and how patterns, thoughts, and isolation keep you stuck. If you’ve ever found yourself saying “not yet,” this will help you understand why and what to do differently.

In this episode, I speak to recovery coach Emily Spence. We unpack the reality of living with an eating disorder and what it actually takes to reach full recovery. We cover extreme and mental hunger, neural rewiring, rest, food indecision and the importance of bold action taking in recovery.