Category Archives: Podcast

In this episode, I talk to a mom whose daughter has said she’s an “almond mom.” Find out what an almond mom is and how to think about this accusation. Also learn what to listen to, and how to set boundaries around appropriate behavior when it comes to TikTok.  If you want help caring forContinue reading “38. Am I an almond mom?”

In this episode, I talk to a mom whose daughter has anorexia and is making threats of suicide during meals. This is terrifying and getting in the way of eating. I provide practical advice for how the mom can prevent and respond to threats during meals.  For more information about suicide: American Foundation for SuicideContinue reading “37. Threats during meals”

In this episode, I talk to a mom whose daughter is spending hours picking her body apart in the mirror every day. This is so painful to watch, and the mom is not sure how to respond. I provide information about why it happens, how to change the culture in your home, and a six-stepContinue reading “36. She hates her body”

In this episode, I talk to a mom who has dedicated her life to her daughter with anorexia. But now mom is having panic attacks and binge eating in the middle of the night. I address the lifestyle changes and boundaries that need to happen in order to help everyone in this family get theirContinue reading “35. I’ve got my own issues”

In this episode, I talk to a parent whose teenager has an eating disorder, and the arguments are endless. On top of the eating disorder arguments, there are also arguments about almost everything else. I’ll talk through how to stop having so many arguments and build a better home environment for everyone. If you wantContinue reading “34. Exhausted by the arguments”

In this episode, I talk to a parent whose child has an eating disorder. Mom believes that she knows the best course of treatment, but the daughter refuses to discuss it. The mom wants to know how she can convince her daughter that she knows the best thing to do. I address how best toContinue reading “33. How can I convince her?”

In this episode, I talk to a parent whose child has an eating disorder, and she is worried all the time. The mom’s friends and partner have told her it’s a problem, and her kids are both annoyed and upset with her for worrying. But she feels as if she has no option. So IContinue reading “32. I’m worried all the time”

In this episode, I talk to a parent whose child has an eating disorder, and they suspect the care they’re getting is inadequate. The child’s anxiety therapist suggested that the parents should back off and allow the child to choose recovery, but is that really the best answer? I’ll talk through why that’s not aContinue reading “31. Should we just back off?”

In this episode, I talk to a parent whose child has an eating disorder, but it’s anxiety that is really a problem. We’ll talk through what happens when anxiety and an eating disorder are effectively running the show in a family and what you can do to stop it from happening.  If you want helpContinue reading “30. Anxiety is running the show”

In this episode, I respond to a parent whose daughter is in recovery from an eating disorder. And that’s going well, except her brother seems mad. This dad wants to know how to help his son love his daughter again. I address what he can do to help everyone feel a lot better. If youContinue reading “29. Son is sick of daughter’s eating disorder”

In this episode, I respond to a parent whose child is weight-restored but still not really in eating disorder recovery. I’ll review how and why eating disorders develop and what this parent can do to help her child get into a full recovery. If you want help caring for a child who has an eatingContinue reading “28. There’s still so much to do”

In this episode, I respond to a parent whose child is returning from residential treatment for their eating disorder. While homecoming is of course good, it can also be very stressful for parents. So I review how this parent can prepare for their kids’ return and I also talk about how to take care ofContinue reading “27. Return from residential treatment”

In this episode, I respond to a parent who is juggling having a son with an eating disorder with having a marriage that may be headed for divorce. I talk through how to approach recovery strategically so that she has some space to think. Then I suggest that she make an active choice in termsContinue reading “26. Headed for divorce”

In this episode, I respond to a parent who is burned out after two years of helping her child through an eating disorder. She wants to do better, but needs help. I address this through the analogy of the oxygen masks on an airplane. Worldwide, airplanes carry a very specific message for mothers: put yourContinue reading “25. Mom’s burned out”

In this episode, I respond to a parent who is wondering if they can insist their daughter change treatment teams. The daughter is over 18, so while the parent doesn’t have a lot of opportunities to control treatment, since they are paying for it, they could insist on a change. I talk through some ofContinue reading “24. Change treatment teams?”

In this episode, I respond to a parent who is wondering if they should attend family gatherings this year, given that their daughter has an eating disorder. The family gatherings will likely involve food and body talk, so this is a big decision. I walk through how to plan ahead and what to think aboutContinue reading “23. Should we skip Christmas?”

In this episode, I respond to a parent who is wondering how he can stop his son from purging. I review why people purge, and how understanding the urge to purge can help parents respond rather than react. Then I talk about how you can replace the purge with emotional comfort and care. This isContinue reading “22. How to stop the purge?”

In this episode, I respond to a parent who is wondering why treatment providers tell her not to talk about weight with a child who has underweight anorexia. In my experience most parents have been given this directive, but they haven’t been told why this is important or what to do instead. I talk throughContinue reading “21. Can I tell her she’s too thin?”

In this episode, I respond to a parent whose child blames them for all sorts of things, from serving meals to getting divorced. Most parents of teenagers deal with blame, so I address how to respond to blaming statements more effectively.   If you want help dealing with eating disorder treatment, schedule a consultation here: WebsiteContinue reading “20. She blames me for everything”

In this episode, I respond to a parent whose child is negotiating every bite they eat. This is a common complaint, because it’s both scary and exhausting to parent when a child talks about every bite they eat. I provide advice based on an FBI hostage negotiation technique. This is effective because FBI negotiators areContinue reading “19. Negotiating every bite”

In this episode, I respond to a parent whose child has an eating disorder. This parent is worried because it seems like their child is never happy anymore. All the parent is seeing is anger and sadness. I share information about how happiness is just one of six core emotions. And when a person hasContinue reading “18. She’s never happy anymore”

In this episode, I respond to a parent whose child has an eating disorder. This parent feels terrible because they lose their temper frequently. Of course the parent knows that they *shouldn’t* yell, but they feel powerless to stop themselves in the moment. This is not uncommon, and luckily we can change our behavior andContinue reading “17. I lose my temper”

In this episode, I respond to a parent whose child has left and returned to an eating disorder treatment center twice and wonders what she can do to avoid an endless cycle. She is frustrated and worried about her child, and wants to know who can help. I’ll talk about the thing that almost nobodyContinue reading “16. Who can help?”

In this episode, I respond to a parent who is worried about her 20-year-old son who has an eating disorder and won’t talk about food and eating. He either yells or withdraws when she tries to engage him in conversations. I talk about why this might be happening and provide her with a counter-intuitive methodContinue reading “15. He won’t talk about food with me”

In this episode, I respond to a mom who is worried about her daughter’s lack of motivation for eating disorder recovery. I review the most important things, which are to feed her regularly and keep her in therapy. And then I also talk about what mom can do to help make meals less unpleasant andContinue reading “14. Not motivated to recover”

In this episode, I respond to a mom who is worried about her daughter’s food fear during eating disorder recovery. The mom says her daughter is terribly afraid of food and is continually removing foods from her list of safe foods. I’ll talk through what fear feels like so that you can understand where thisContinue reading “13. My daughter is afraid of food”

In this episode, I respond to a dad who is worried about his son’s weight gain. He says that his son was “chubby” as a kid but then got really into working out and adopted a rigid keto diet. But during quarantine, he stopped working out and started eating carbs again. He gained weight. IContinue reading “12. My son is gaining weight”

In this episode, I respond to a parent whose daughter is constantly engaging in body-bashing. Mom is doing the best she can to respond appropriately, but the bad body thoughts seem to be getting worse. I provide a scientifically proven response to circular and escalating thoughts like this. This method feels unnatural for most parents,Continue reading “11. How to respond to body bashing”

In this episode, I respond to a parent whose daughter is bingeing and purging and won’t talk to her. Her daughter is a “good kid” who seems to have dropped into a completely foreign place, and her family doesn’t know what to do to help. I begin by breaking down where the eating disorder mightContinue reading “10. Bingeing & purging & won’t talk to me”

In this episode, I respond to a parent who is wondering how long recovery takes and what it looks like. This is a really important question, so I begin by laying out the “iceberg” theory of mental health in which the visible part of the iceberg is the eating disorder, which is one part ofContinue reading “9. What is eating disorder recovery?”

In this episode, I respond to a parent whose child has panic attacks. They’re in treatment for an eating disorder, but the panic attacks seem to be getting worse. I walk the parent through what a panic attack is, and why we often see them with eating disorders. I also provide a way to thinkContinue reading “8. Getting through a panic attack”

In this episode, I respond to a parent whose child is non-binary. They are struggling in a day treatment program, which they say perpetuates microaggressions and is harmful. I address some of the challenges in getting eating disorder treatment for a non-binary child and provide some recommendations for finding treatment that affirms their gender whileContinue reading “7. Non-binary child says treatment is harmful”

In this episode, I respond to a parent whose son has bulimia. He loves being on the cross-country running team, but his treatment team has asked him to stop during treatment. I address the main reasons why parents don’t want to pull kids from sports teams during eating disorder treatment and talk about why theContinue reading “6. Can he keep running during treatment?”

In this episode, I respond to a parent whose mother-in-law makes frequent comments about other people’s weight and diets. Since her daughter is in eating disorder treatment, this focus on weight and diets is problematic. I give mom some ways to think about grandma’s behavior and then provide a script that will set a clearContinue reading “5. Grandma keeps talking about weight & diets”

In this episode, I respond to a mom who is getting calls from her daughter who is in an a residential/inpatient treatment facility for an eating disorder. The calls are stressful and the mom is ready to go and pull her daughter out. I share a technique for making the decision to keep her daughterContinue reading “4. Should I pull my daughter out of residential treatment?”

In this episode, I respond to a dad who is worried about his son, who is eating a lot and sneaking food. He’s wondering whether this is binge eating and, if so, what he should do about it. I ask a lot of questions about food structure, restriction, weight, and what’s considered “normal” and “healthy.” Continue reading “3. Son is binge eating – what to do?”

In this episode, I respond to a mom who is worried about her daughter, who had anorexia and is now practicing intermittent fasting. The mom is understandably concerned, so I address whether intermittent fasting can be “intuitive” and also whether it can be healthy.  If you want help dealing with intermittent fasting, schedule a consultationContinue reading “2. Intermittent fasting – healthy or not?”

In this episode, we explore what it’s like to deal with food refusal and tantrums during meals. Eating with anorexia at the table can be challenging even at the best of times. I share a grounding method to help you calm yourself down even when your child is angry and upset. This will help youContinue reading “1. Food refusal and mealtime tantrums”

In this episode, I tell you who I am, what I’m doing, and what I hope you will get from this podcast. My goal with this show is to give you small actionable tips. It’s designed to help you navigate your child’s eating disorder. I’ve read tons of books and interviewed hundreds of therapists, doctors,Continue reading “Welcome to the ED Parenting podcast”