Episode 86: Healing from Within: An Intuitive Journey with Katie Beecher
“Katie Beecher is… eerily accurate. Her readings… have a heavy dose of spiritual insight, too, which goes straight to what’s going on in your emotional life.”
Katie Beecher, MS, LPC is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Medical and Emotional Intuitive with over thirty five years of experience. Katie is featured in over 200 media outlets including Goop, Kourtney Kardashian’s website Poosh and Miranda Kerr’s Kora Organics Blog.
Katie says, “when I was 10 years old I went through early puberty. I was bullied relentlessly for what I looked like. For having breasts. For having hair. For being a little bit different. That took me to a place of intense shame; wanting to hide, hating being female and hating my body.”
Join me to hear Katie describe the routine that keeps both her body and mind healthy (clue; pole dancing) while helping others recover from eating disorders by treating the root causes and healing from within.
EPISODE TIMESTAMPS:
[00:19] - Meet Katie Beecher: Medical and Spiritual Intuitive
[01:05] - Katie's Unique Process and Intuitive Soul Painting
[03:45] - Katie's Relationship with Food and Recovery Journey
[08:22] - Early Life Challenges and Eating Disorder Onset
[14:11] - Therapy and Self-Discovery
[26:06] - Expressing Through Movement
[26:41] - Understanding Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS)
[27:22] - Challenges and Symptoms of EDS
[29:18] - Diagnosis and Support for EDS
[32:32] - Empowerment Through Physical Strength
[36:36] - Root Causes of Eating Disorders
[39:49] - Spiritual and Emotional Healing
CONNECT WITH KATIE BEECHER:
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!
If you enjoyed this episode, please let us know your thoughts on Instagram @lovethisfoodthing and consider leaving an honest review and rating for the show - we’d be extremely grateful.
WAYS WE CAN HELP YOU:
EPISODE #86 TRANSCRIPT: HEALING FROM WITHIN - AN INTUITIVE JOURNEY WITH KATIE BEECHER
Jemma: Welcome to Love This Food Thing podcast. I'm Jemma. This is the place where we explore our relationship with food, be it friend or foe, and how this affects our behavior. Here's today's episode. Welcome back to Love This Food Thing podcast. I'm. Delighted to be joined by Katie Beecher. And Katie is a medical and spiritual intuitive and licensed counselor.
She's also the author of a book about root causes called Heal From Within, which contains her own healing story from a severe eating disorder and suicidal depression. Katie, welcome to Love This Food Thing podcast.
Katie: Thank you so much for having me.
Jemma: We had a few issues, didn't we, around my, uh, understanding of time zones, which I always seems to get wrong.
Anyway, we're here now. We're here now. Before we start, could you just describe being a medical and spiritual intuitive.
Katie: Yes, for sure.
Jemma: Thank you. So I know Pete, I tell No, I love it. I love it. But I just want us to all know where we're coming from.
Katie: Yeah, I know. Absolutely. Most people don't know.
Um, so I'm able to tune into people's lives and experiences and energy and feelings and thoughts and symptoms.
Um, root causes, all sorts of things. From anywhere in the world. And my process is pretty unique. I just, with a name and age, I create a four page report. It's very extensive and it has to do with anything that has ever affected anybody. And it can be trauma or childhood or career or, um, you know, relationships.
Um, yeah, literally anything. And, um, then I create an intuitive soul painting. So it's a symbolic way of giving people information and it's really fun. It's out of watercolor. Yeah. And before meeting with anyone, um, I send the report and painting and people are usually like, okay, this is really crazy. How do you know this?
And I can't explain it. That's okay. And then we meet for an hour and go over everything. Um, I get more information from my guides. People can ask questions, and the goal is really to look at everything. Um, I. That's causing difficulty or that's enhancing people's lives and what you can do about it, how you can, you know, enhance abilities.
I, I teach people how to connect to their intuition during every session. And it's also to have a plan moving forward. It's not just, you know, this is what's going on, but then what can you actually do, um, to improve your health and helpings. Okay. Fantastic.
Jemma: Do you come from a Mediumistic background? I do.
Katie: Yes. Um, at a very, very young age, I realized that I could sort of know what was going on in people's heads and I was picking up information from dead people didn't know. Okay. Um, yeah, so I do, you know, other types of readings, animal readings and medium stuff and all that too. You know, that all factors in.
Jemma: Oh, fantastic. I just want to press pause now and have you do a reading for me. Alright. Forget the listeners. Okay. Um, brilliant. Well I know that we're gonna weave that in throughout the rest of our, our chat. Um. I just, yes, I love, well, we are on the same wavelength. That's sort of what I'm going to say and it's what I said before I press play.
And I just think that, um, it just rounds outta the picture, doesn't it, of why we are here and what we are and what we're doing here and makes making sense of all this time that we have on this planet. Yeah, for sure, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. So let's just dive in with the first question, which is, how would you describe your relationship with food?
Would you describe it as a friend or a foe?
Katie: I have to say, at this point in my life, right, I've been recovered for 35 years. Um, it, it is a friend. And I don't fear it anymore. Um, I am a, a pole pole athlete, which sounds crazy to most people, but, um,
so a pole athlete as in, um, pole dancing, athlete dancing, pole dancing.
Jemma: Fantastic. Okay. Brilliant. God, you must be strong. Okay. Strong and flexible and. Yes.
Katie: And, um, an aerial, um, aerialist as well. Oh, okay. Okay. You know, part of what keeps me sane. Thank you, God. Um, but. I realized, you know, I need fuel. I need fuel. Yeah. For, for doing what I do. And so I need food. And I, it's amazing not to fear anymore and not to have my life revolve around that fear, you know?
Um. Yeah, and even the eating disorder, I came to find that it was a friend because it was so necessary for me to find out who I was and separate from negative people and become my authentic self and even develop my abilities. So that viewpoint has really changed, um, changed everything for me.
Jemma: I found that when I was.
Actually a long way into recovery, let's call it discovery. I've got a few issues around, I always say the same thing, but around mental health parlance and sort of, yeah, you know, kind of the stereotypical diagnosis, but let's call recovery discovery and uncovering. But many years later I was able to say that my eating disorder, um.
Yeah, my eating disorders were the kind of greatest tools I had for healing because I really had to get to know myself in a way. I don't know, maybe I would've done, maybe I would've. I mean, there are less destructive ways aren't there to find out about yourself other than eating disorders. But man, you really have to dig deep and uncover and go through everything forensically to, yeah, to understand what makes you tick.
Katie: You really do. And I always say one of the hardest parts of my recovery, um, or discovery, I like your word discovery, was, um, learning how to love and accept myself and all of it, you know, um, and even accepting things that were positive about myself and. Strength and, you know, um, I feel like the whole eating disorder thing is just, it's a way to push down pain.
Yeah. Um, and to live in fear.
Jemma: So, yeah, I think so too. And there's such great distractions and procrastinators and you can be, become. So expert at your eating disorder, can't you? That, um, you're kind of fulfilled on, on so many levels, even though it's destructive and eventually will take you under
Katie: it, it really is an addiction.
You know, I like that addiction model with it because it becomes an obsession. It's your whole life. Yeah. Including, you know. Are people watching me eat and, and what do people think of, of Yeah. And what I'm eating and what I look like, and yeah. And it becomes a sort of, and this is not a put down, but it becomes a very narcissistic way of life because you're just focused on everything about you and about the eating disorder.
And you really, it's a hard thing to see beyond yourself.
Jemma: I used to sit on the bus and watch people. Eating crisps, cheese and onion crisps. I dunno if you have them where you are. Sounds really good. And yet they are delicious, but they're particularly stinky and I, they're and I, to sit there in this kind of.
State of smug satisfaction, self-satisfaction. Absolutely starving thinking, oh God, I can't believe these people are eating crisps in public. Wow. You know, and, and, and I wonder if they're looking at me and thinking, Ooh, she doesn't need any food. I mean, you know. Really? No. How so how, let's not talk about me.
Let's talk about you. So how did all your, how did all your stuff start? Were you, when and why? Do you know, or Yeah, just unpack it a little bit for me.
Katie: Sure, sure. So,
um, my family was pretty dysfunctional, a lot of control issues and shame. And my father was, um, very addicted to gambling, although I didn't know that.
Okay. Later in life. Um, but a lot of control stuff and misogyny and, um, so I really wasn't allowed to have a voice or express myself or be authentic. So that was a big part of it. But I remember when I was 10 years old, I went through early puberty. Wow. And. Girls are horrible people. Mm-hmm. And, um, I was bullied relentlessly for what I looked like for having breasts, for having hair, you know?
Right. Yeah. Um, and just being a little bit different than other people and that. Took me to a place of intense shame and wanting to hide and, and hating being female and hating my body. And I know depression started. It may have well been going on before that, um, probably, but that's really an intensification of that.
And then, um, I went to, as going through puberty early, I put on 20 pounds. Just 'cause your hormones changed. Yeah. And um. I, I really didn't care about it. It really didn't bother me that much. I wasn't, I don't know, I wasn't really cognizant of it or whatever. And then I went to get some ice cream out of the freezer one day, and my father with his beer, big, huge gut, um, says to me, you really don't need that ice cream.
And Right, okay dude, f you, but you know, so I got the ice cream anyway, because I was like, screw you. Yeah. But the very next day I started my first diet and it was extreme. It was a thousand calories a day, you know? Right. I'm a very deterrent person, but I set my lung into something. Yeah. So I lost weight and I got more attention for, from my father for losing weight than I did getting straight A's, which is pretty sad.
Mm-hmm. But it wasn't, it wasn't sustainable because I just went back to the way I was eating and so that became this yo-yo cycle and, um, screwed up my metabolism and had some other, you know, stuff going on, but it, I just couldn't keep it off. And so I. I turned to bulimia. Um, yeah, as a way of trying to keep it off.
It still didn't work. I still, you know, weighed a lot more than I wanted to because you're binging all the time. Yes, of course. You know, but that, that's what I can trace it back to.
And so, so you were, you were 10 when you started, went into puberty, which is so early. Yeah. Um, I know, not so much now. I think it's getting younger, isn't it?
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And not, it wouldn't be so uncommon, but still quite, um, rare. So when did you yourself kind of kick in? 13, 14? Or was it when you were 10? 11.
I think it was more around I, the number 12 was coming to me, and I think it was around that age. Okay.
Jemma: Okay. Did you, did you get the attention you wanted from your dad?
Katie: Well, I mean, no. Um, no. I just got so much attention. Okay. I love Okay. Right, because he was always heavy and so he sort of looked at me like, wow, you know, how are you doing this? This is amazing. And, and, um. So, yeah, I still knew that he wasn't a good person and although, you know, like a lot of narcissists and um, and people with bipolar, um, it was very up and down.
So he could be a really nice person and also he can go into these rages and be a total jerk. So, and my mom just sort of put up with it and we were, were not put first, it was, you know, their needs were put first. So. Um,
Jemma: I'm, I'm really struck by your, your dad's gambling. That all or nothing mentality. And then because I was suffered with bulimia for a long time and then that bulimic all or nothing mentality, you know, you're either hoofing up, aren't you?
Vast quantities of food. You are not holding onto it, you're not holding onto any experience and you're getting rid of it as much as possible. I'm really struck by that link. My dad gambled a bit actually. It's
interesting.
Katie: Mm, it is. It is. Yeah. I always. Felt like I grew up in an alcoholic or drug addicted family.
Right. And, um, because there's this thing called a COA, it's adult children alcoholics. Yeah. Um, and it's a really neat group. And there's all of these, these principles that I. I related to so much and I ended up as an adult going to a COA meetings and, um, they have a great website. And just being like what I grew up with was no different than any other addicted family.
Jemma: Right. Okay. Okay. Well, yeah, because the impact of, uh, let's say emotional abuse is, uh, devastating, isn't it? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Things that very extreme things have got to happen, but that's not actually the case. So what, okay, so were you still. Binging and purging and restricting and everything else that you were probably getting up to in your early twenties.
How did you, when was the suicidal depression? Was that a.
Katie: It was. So at the age of 16, um, I was leaving school to go throw up. It was three times a day. Yeah. And my grades were suffering. All these things were happening. And I had decided that I couldn't live that way anymore, and I just wanted to end my life.
Right. And, um, hadn't told anybody about, it was very much, you know, we're really good secret keepers, right? Mm-hmm. So one day I came from through school and. This had to be divine intervention, but I decided to call our pediatrician. Yeah. Um, and tell him what I was doing and, and ask for help. And it was just sort of this, I don't know, I think I'd just gotten accepted into a college that was out of state and, um, so maybe I saw a little glimmer of hope there.
But, um, I called him and he kind of said it was 1983, so. I'm old, I'm 60. So, um, he, um, you know, basically said, well, you know, it's, you're probably just something you'll grow out of. It'll be okay, blah, blah, blah. And I said, no, I'm, this is really bad. And he gave me the name of a Youngian psychologist. I. Who took me three months to call her to get the courage up to call.
But, um, you know, made a step there. And the great thing about this type of therapy, and I know it's the only one that would've worked for me, is it's very intuition centered. It's all about self, self-love. She was totally open to my crazy medium psychic gifts and yeah. Um, and not only could I talk about them, she encouraged them.
And so the process was all around self-love and acceptance, and even looking at your eating disorder as your friend and talking about it, like having a written dialogue with it. And this is all in my book too, but um, it's about looking at it and saying, you know what, maybe you're not my enemy. And. Can I use you as a healing tool and figure out why you're here and what you want me to do, and use this as a ca at a, as a catalyst?
Yeah. For healing. Um, yeah. So yeah, it was pretty magical for me because it had always been the enemy, you know? It was, it was Satan. It was something I had to get rid of and something that was wrong with me. So that just, I know I couldn't have gotten better any other way.
Jemma: I love that I am a big fan of young and just the shadow self and mm-hmm.
The archetypes and, and everything. And I'm also thinking about, um, that oversensitivity or that's not oversensitivity, that sensitivity that you must have had as a kid. Mm-hmm. And how. It's quite challenging to hold that, isn't it? When you are very young and when you are picking so much stuff up and you are not being supported, it's really something and, and it's just, I, I think also kind of placing our distress upon food and our bodies and, and developing and being affected by eating disorders is also such a kind of appropriate, sometimes a normal response to what's going on.
Katie: Very much so, and I was so overly sensitive and I was really shy and everything just hit me, you know, even if like when you are an empath and when you're sensitive, I. One of the curses of it, yeah. End curses, is that you can understand why people are in pain and why they act badly. And so sometimes that makes you give them a pass.
Yeah. Right. And be like, no, it's okay that they're treating me like crap because these interviews or they've done this or, or you can pick up your pain, their pain. And while it's lovely to have sympathy for someone. It's a whole different issue to allow them, you know, to do that. And so I could even empathize with some of the stuff that my father did.
And again, people with bipolar can often be drama queens, although I can be a drama queen too. Um, so, you know, they were really good at getting your sympathy and, um, it, it really. Makes a lot of us empath. People are great at focusing on others and figuring out what they want you to be and what you need to do and what they want you to do before you even do it because you're, you're in a state of self preservation.
Jemma: Yeah, I absolutely agree. We're gonna take a quick break.
Welcome back to Love This Food Thing podcast. I'm here with Katie and Katie just talking about she found a, a Jungian psycho psychologist psychotherapist and who encouraged her gifts. And I'm wondering, Katie, how. Easy it was to let go of your bulimic behaviors because I found it very difficult. And even though I knew what I was doing and I was much more informed, I still found it difficult to let go because I was so used to, to kind of binging.
Mm-hmm. And, and having the binge. I can't encompass all my feelings and then getting rid of all my feelings and feeling empty and blank and hopeful like I could start again. So it was quite, um, it took quite a long time for me just to be able to contain my emotions and not have to, I don't know, express them destructively.
Are you with me?
Katie: Oh my God.
Yeah. It was, it was, I always say the eating disorder was one of the best things that ever happened to me. Yeah. Also, literally the hardest thing I'd ever gone through. Yeah. You know? And, um. It, it took me, I'm gonna say like from the, you know, the day the eating disorder started to the day, I really felt, it wasn't really a day, but process Sure.
Where I was like, you know, I'm in, I'm in good shape here. I mean, it was probably an eight year process and Yeah. You know, there's still, there's still body dysmorphia, you know, I mean, we're female and so there's, there's that, that I, um. Have, you know, still deal with it. It's sort of like, you know, you look in the mirror and you find the one little thing you don't like about yourself or, or the cellulite or whatever, and it's like, geez, you know, you've come too far to do this to yourself.
Um,
but we're human. Well, yeah, also in, I mean, we are a similar age. I'm 59, but in menopause, when your body just changes completely. And you have no control over it whatsoever. That was challenging for me. I didn't revert back to my old ways, but my, my, uh, kind of criticism around my body and, you know, what I thought about myself, it was terrible for a while.
It still pops up. Yeah.
I, I, I call it Satan, taking over your metabolism because Okay. Like, holy crap, you know? There were, you know, parts of my body that totally looked different than they did when I was, you know, what, 10 years ago. And, um, yeah, and, you know, add all the, the emotional stuff. I mean, thank God for hormone replacement because look, um, yeah, no, that all comes into it for sure.
And. There's things you can do, but there's also things that it just, it's just happening.
Um, so it's, it's like another, it's like another layer of surrender, isn't it? Oh my gosh. Yeah.
It really is. Um, and even with, so I do, you know, this vigorous form of exercise and I have put on 10 pounds of muscle from it, right.
And, um, my body, my family always jokes like, you wouldn't have even put on a bikini or a bathing suit, you know, even when you weigh less. But I. Because I love the sport so much. Yeah. Um, it's been so freeing because it's the first time I have found movement that I don't relate to, to like what I wear or Right.
Much I hate or, and in order to do it, you have to wear, um, you know, just a little bit of clothing because you have to stick to the pole. It's not 'cause we're sweaty. So, you know, um, I will literally fall to my death if I don't stick to the pole. And so, you know, I, I've competed in two national competitions and I go to class and it's just, it's amazing how my body, um.
Image has changed because of the love of this. So it's so healing. Um, but yeah, I mean, you, you know, you asked about how hard it was. It was so hard, and there would be days when I felt like I got this, I'm doing well. And then a few days where like, this is awful. I can't do this. So. For people listening, um, it's, we're always hard on ourselves anyway.
And so if you are brave enough to start that discovery process and it takes so much courage, try not to get down on yourself. When things are hard and when you feel like you've backtracked or you know, just the whole process is so challenging and we need to give ourselves credit for just being brave enough to, to get stored in or to admit that there's a problem.
Jemma: What would you Yeah, I agree. Again, what would you, you see, I'm a massive fan of therapy because I had a fantastic psychotherapist. I had a few, but someone who really saved my life. Mm-hmm. It was less about the kind of like the therapy model that he used. It was more to do with the relationship that I had with him.
Not that it was a particularly comfortable relationship a lot of the time, but he was brilliant and I stuck with it 'cause I knew that he was gonna help me get back on my feet. But some people just don't like talking therapies. Having said that before, I kind of like stopped talking. I think bulimia is so much about not being able to express oneself and stuffing everything in.
And so I think talking particularly if you are affected by bulimia is almost an essential. Now some people say, no, I don't agree actually, and I found a different way to recover, discover myself. What would you suggest if someone is, isn't, doesn't have a therapist available or doesn't really feel it's for them?
Where would you, where would you go?
Katie: That's a really good question. For me, I think one of the things that I loved about the Youngian model and what I've discovered, um, in my own practice is that when trauma happens to us or the whole experience of an eating disorder, it doesn't happen exclusively in your head, right?
Yeah. Right. So words are. Important but not fully adequate because all of this stuff is experienced by our body and by our energy. Yeah. So I really love, um, working with art therapy, for example. Okay. And that's part of why I do the soul paintings because. Um, I'm careful about what I put in reports. Um, people, you know, my guides discover things that people have never told anybody, you know about sexual abuse or things.
So those words on a page can be really scary. Yeah. But. If they're presented as, um, you know, red areas, um, on a painting or, or just things like that. People are such, they seem less threatened and less afraid and they will be like, you know, I can say these red areas around this second chakra around your reproductive or against, you know, I was picking up.
A lot of trauma and they will then be able to say, Hey, yeah, I had, you know, I was sexually abused or I was, whatever. Yeah. Um, and also movement for me, um, it's a way of expressing. Pent up energy and anxiety. Yeah. And trauma. And you don't need to word it to death, you know, you, you don't need to necessarily relive all of that stuff again because it is being released.
So for me, when I work with people, um, it's a combination of all those things. And also looking at physical reasons that contribute. So. For me, I have LER Danlos, which is a hypermobility disorder, but there's a high correlation between EDS. And, um, eating disorders. And it makes sense because part of EDS is not knowing where your body is in space.
Um, feeling. Oh, that's, that's so interesting. Right? Yeah. Go on. Carry on. Feeling very detached. Um, having body movements and body things that you can't control. Like hypermobility even ah,
as in your tendons and stuff. And your joints. Yeah. Yeah. Um. Even. And do, do, do you move
involuntarily? Um, sometimes, yeah, because like, like I used to put both of my hands over my head and my shoulders would dislocate.
Wow. Okay. And just things like that, that you're like, what is going on with my body right now? And you feel really clumsy and there's neurodivergence involved in it. Yeah. Yeah. And metabolic disorders, you know, your metabolism and your hormones get screwed up. So, because you're, because you're out of sync.
Um, it's part of, so EDS is a chronic inflammation of connective tissue. Right. So collagen and stuff, and there's connective tissue all throughout your body. Sure. So there's always this inflammation and there's 13 different types of this. The most common type I identify all the time, my daughter has it too, but it's, it was considered rare.
So people don't diagnose it well, they don't know what it's like. And so. People walk around me like, there's something really wrong with me, and no one's identifying it. And then they wonder why they feel out of their body. They can't be present in their body.
Jemma: They can't be embodied, can they?
Katie: Yeah.
Jemma: And then
Katie: it's what are, what are the symp,
Jemma: sorry?
What are the symptoms? I think you're getting there. I just interrupted you. No,
Katie: no, no. It's, it's a little crazy because the symptoms are so varied and they. They vary with each person. Like my daughter and I have the same subtype and we have different, and the same symptoms, but it can include things like, you know, weird, random pain, gut issues, like I said, um, neurodivergence pots, um, literally like your whole body.
It can affect your heart, it can affect, um, your, um, so anxiety and depression, like those kind of things can go along with it. Um, how do you find out so. When, um, thankfully my guides pick this up all the time. Okay. And, um, what I do, it was so frustrating for me to try and help people get formally evaluated.
And I didn't do it until I was in my, like, late fifties. My daughter did it at 25. 'cause they're smarter than us, right? Yeah, that true, that's true. She's like, mom, you need to go get evaluated. I'm like, I know I have it. She goes, no, no, really. So thanks, brilliant. But um, so what I've done is I've created a letter.
I write as a, um, licensed counselor saying, you know, I do kind of a preliminary identification because there's things that you can look for. There's like a checklist of things. So I do a preliminary evaluation ish, and then we talk about the 8 million symptoms that can be involved. Okay. Um. I give them a letter basically saying, I'm working with this person.
I've identified some preliminary symptoms of EDS, there's lots of links, and then I say, I'm recommending that this person be evaluated. And then there's a list of a million symptoms that I suggest that people check off and they bring this to a practitioner. Um, sometimes it's, you know, a regular practitioner or an osteopath or Right.
Um, so anybody who listened, you know, honestly. Yeah. Um, and then, um, or even to an EDS clinic if they can find one. And then that gives them ammunition to then have someone take them seriously to do a formal evaluation. But it's, it's so frustrating. Um, it's, it's really painful to watch because when. When people finally realize that they have this, it explains like symptoms they've had their entire lives.
And, um, so it's, yeah, there's a lot of information like on my, um, Instagram about it and, um, but yeah, it's one of the, it comes up all the time
Jemma: and, um, amazing. Yeah. And we'll, we'll have all your information on our show notes. Um, yeah, that, I'm just thinking about that whole feeling of not being, not being.
Not being in your body, which is hard enough for young girls anyway. No, and just, yeah, it's just so complex, isn't it? Sometimes I just think, no, it's very simple. It's this and this and this. It's so nuanced. Eating disorders are nuanced and so. Wide ranging and the, yeah, the, the factors, you know, because there's always the usual list of culprits, isn't there?
It's diet culture, it's social media, it's psychological. No, it's just everything.
Katie: Well, it's, and yeah, something like, you know, polycystic ovarian syndrome, PCOS. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I have that and, and it can be hurt. Of EDS, but you know, I have that, my daughter has it and that totally screws up your metabolism. It makes you produce too much testosterone.
Yeah. And you gain weight no matter what you're eating, basically. So, I mean, what a great way to lead somebody into, you know, self harm in an eating disorder and not liking yourself.
Jemma: Yeah, for sure. For sure, for sure. Okay, we're gonna take a quick break.
Welcome back to Love This Food Thing. Here with Katie, we've, and I just said to Katie in the rate that she's the first person to talk about EDS, and she said she's really, really keen on people knowing about it. So do reach out to her if this resonates and you would like to find out more. And what did I wanna say to you?
That's right, the pole dancing. Katie makes so much sense because you're talking about the, the, the kind of, the, the sheath of the body, aren't you? Like the musculature and the skin and then the energetic kind of container. Mm-hmm. And I'm thinking about, I'm sitting on this pole and the strength that you need to then contain it all and stay on that pole just and how, and you talked about 10 pounds of muscle and how kind of like.
You kind of repacked yourself. Mm-hmm. That's the feeling I get. And it must feel wonderful to, to feel that that strength and that, um, vitality contained,
Katie: that must feel great for you. And also I think that when we're physically strong, that we're also emotionally stronger and yeah, like I don't need someone to help me pick up my 40 pound bag of mulch at the garden center, you know?
Yeah. And I also feel like if I were approached by someone in a dangerous way or whatever, I could run, or I would have a better chance of fighting myself off or. The other thing that's interesting, and my guides just told me to mention this. Mm, is weight can be a shield from the rest of the world. And of course, again, my, my daughter again, wise child, um, once said, we can't be afraid to take up space.
Jemma: Oh, I was writing about that this morning. I can't believe you just said that. Oh my God. To take up space is an absolute imperative. We must expand. Exactly. And to be seen
Katie: Yes. And heard. Right. And so weight can both hide us, or anorexia can, can hide us as well and make us smaller. Yeah. Um, but it, it, the bigger we are, kind of the more we are noticed and the more we take up really important space.
And so being able to take up that space in a way that feels strong and healthy to me. Um, and you know, you're seen, um, my whole body, I mean, I do wear clothes, but you know, being seen in a way that I wasn't before and having a really great group of, um, people, women there, mostly women, men come to. Um, you know, who are supportive and who cheer you on.
And, um, it's, it's so empowering and people always say like, oh my God, I'm not strong enough to do that. But honestly, when you start, you start with beginners. I could barely do anything when I started and. Um, yeah, it's pretty, you know, it's pretty amazing, um, what I've been able to work myself up to, but, and it's not even let hold, that's important. Like, find something that you enjoy and that makes you feel strong.
Jemma: Yeah. You know, we're, we're talking about strengths, aren't we? We're talking about vitality and we're talking about being in your body and we're talking about reclaiming your kind of, um, your life force. And if you, if you are there, then you want to move and you want to feel strong and awake. I think that's what we're talking about.
Katie: Yeah. And even with EDS, like or anything, the less you move, the stiffer you are and the more in pain you're going to be. And so movement is one of the greatest therapies for EDS or for anything? I believe being honest.
Jemma: Yeah. Yes. I, I agree particularly, and we're very privileged to be able to move, aren't we? So? Yes. Yes. A hundred percent grateful for that. Every single day I would like to talk about your book. Heal from in. And I would like to talk about, um, root causes and for instance, do you have, on a take on why eating disorders are on the rise at the moment, do you have a, a take on what that root cause or causes might be?
Katie: When, um, when I was 16 and going through my discovery mm-hmm. My dad clearly said, with connection to intuition, self-love and self-acceptance, you can heal from just about anything. Yeah. And when you don't have that, it leads to self harm and physical and emotional illness. And I feel like. It's so sad that eating disorders are rising because we know so much about them and we know so many ways to potentially prevent them.
And we, I think, are becoming more accepting of people of different sizes. Um, but there's still this, this pressure of perfection and so much anxiety and so much. Um, misogyny, you know, and we still live in a patriarchal society. Mm-hmm. And I feel like, and what I hear from people is that they feel less and less in control of the world and the politics and the, the, um.
You know, the prejudices that people have and more and more pressure to perform. Like for example, when, um, you know, when I was in school, you didn't need to have more than a 4.0 to get into a decent school and Right. And now it's, you have to be in 10,000 activities, you know, have a, a 4.5, um, all this stuff just to be able to get.
Into a decent college, for example. That's just one example, but just to be
Jemma: part of the tribe that you wanna be part of. Oh
Katie: dear. Yeah. And so, and especially people who were high achievers who tend to be perfectionist, those who tend to be the eating disorder proud, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, that there's, there's just so much pressure in general.
And then social media definitely hasn't been helpful, um, because. People rarely look the way they actually look on social media. Like it's really important for me to not put up filters and not, you know, and to be authentic, but you have these people, this impossible standards to live up to and or people acting like everything's perfect and smile.
Yeah. Um, you know, um, so I feel like it's just more anxiety and more pressure and um, more perfectionism and I. It makes me really sad, but you know, even less acceptance of female power and female energy, not that. Men don't get eating disorders because they do.
Jemma: Yeah, no, I know that's not, or not what you're saying. I know that. So do you think from a, that's very interesting, isn't it? I was just thinking from a sort of spiritual aspect, is there anything that you would like to share?
Katie: Yes, absolutely. That's a really point because I do think there's a huge spiritual connection. And when you're anxious and when you are pressured, you leave your body, you remove yourself from your body. And what that also does is it disconnects you from your intuition. Yeah. And so there's, I don't know that people are being taught or wherever taught maybe to trust their inner voice and be able to express it and to, you know, kind of rebel against the, the norms of society or whatever.
But, um, being authentic. So important. And also to me, it's so fascinating that so many people have issues with boundaries, with healthy boundaries. Mm-hmm. That brought all the time. And, um, you know, there's a new book about it, but, and it's not a new concept. No. Um, no. It's, it's been around forever and just to be able to.
To say no, to do self care. To prioritize yourself. Yeah. Um, you know, to, um, to remove yourself from families in situations that are toxic and negative. Like if people could set boundaries and be okay with that. So much of the anxiety and eating disorders and physical illness and all that would, would go away, in my opinion.
Jemma: It's difficult though, isn't it, because when you maybe want to set boundaries when you're younger, you don't actually, you are unable to do it maybe physically, obviously financially, if you're dependent on a mm-hmm. A family and, and people looking after you, and it's only. Later. I just, I think it's so important for people who do suffer from eating disorders, to hear from other people, particularly you're 60, I'm 59.
All the work that we had to do and what we did. So important to hear that it's possible rather than perpetuating a kind of myth that you can't recover and get your life back and really never think about those years. 'cause when I. You know, when I think about a lot of my time, it's just blurry. And I remember those times were so acute and I thought, I'll never forget this.
I know. And of course I have. Of course I have.
Katie: Yeah. For me, also a big part of it was getting away from dysfunctional family members who were toxic and, and that can be super hard to do guilt and pressure and all the things and you know, but. It was really detaching from people who were influencing me badly or didn't want me to be myself or didn't want me to have a voice, and just being able to come into my own and being like.
Screw you. I really don't care what you think anymore and you don't even know me. And to make your own family, you know, to, to, yeah. Make your own chosen family. And then you can surround yourself with supportive people who like you for who you are. What would you
Jemma: say to someone right now who doesn't have a family around them who's suffering and they're on their own and they can't see a way out?
Katie: One thing I'd say is you may be better off because I had zero support from my family. And in fact, when I finally did tell my parents what I was doing, um, my father actually said to me, well, it's not working. You're still fat. Right. Helpful. Awesome. Thank. And my mother said, well, we'll give you money to pay for half of it.
And I'm like, oh my God, you guys are like frigging responsible for this shit and sorry, I don't wanna find this way. No, it's fine. It's fine. And like you don't even want to be involved. I knew they wouldn't be wanting, be involved in therapy 'cause they didn't do anything wrong. Um, so I think too, maybe those people that you don't have, you don't have for a reason and it's really good motivation to, you know.
Find a new support system, um, it, it can be lonely. But ultimately too, I knew I was in this myself. No one was doing this for me. No one was gonna do it for me. I had to do it myself. And so it's, I. For me, it, it, it hurts, but it was like, okay, well kind of like accept it and do what you can with it. Is it you saying like, by your own rescuer?
Katie: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Those people aren't gonna change. Also expecting the world or other people to kind of go, oh my God, I see you are in so much pain. Let me sort that out. Probably not gonna happen. Might do. Probably not, probably gonna be you that needs to dig, dig deep and haul yourself out of what, wherever you are, do you not think?
Yeah. And, and I had to, I, I love to tell people. Other people's pain might be the best gift they've ever received. Meaning a lot of us were fixers and savers and would push aside our own feelings to help other people and when really we needed to help ourselves. And playing God and trying to control really is doing people and you a disservice.
You know? Um, and a lot of this is, is in my book with, I was about to say, is this all in your book? I. It is and Right. My book, you know, gives a lot of my backstory and helps people to connect with their own intuition and identify their issues positive and negative, I guess. Um, and look at what they need to identify.
And then it takes people through the way that I do a medical intuitive reading. And it breaks up the body into chakras. Not so much for the energy aspect, but to look at everything about every aspect of your body, um, spiritual, emotional, and physical. And look at like step-by-step things that you can do to address these issues, um, you know, at your own pace.
But there's like tools and I always tell people, get the book book rather than the audio or get both because there's a lot of visual. Yeah, things in there. Um, but it, it, yeah, and it, it looks at what are the root causes for the physical and emotional things going on in my life, and, and how do, how do my past experiences relate and how does all this stuff come together, and then what can I actually do?
Um, and there's a lot of like youngian psychology stuff in there too. Um, but it's information from my guides and my experience, um, and I've gotten amazing feedback. So I'm really
Jemma: fortunate. Well, I've been on your website. I've seen your fa, your feedback. It's fantastic. I'm also struck by. Just different approaches, um, and breaking everything apart so it's manageable so that you could, I dunno, look at your heart chakra and totally, you know, go, go, go to issues around your heart.
And as that bit gets healed, maybe your behavior changes a little bit and you start to feel a bit more at peace and, you know, so on. It's just like this, there's so many, um, so many ways in, aren't there? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And I think also. For anyone listening who's struggling, whatever resonates. Whatever works for you, works for you. Doesn't matter if it didn't or does for someone else, it's about you.
Katie: Totally. You know, it makes me kind of sad that a lot of the eating disorder treatment is focused around just changing behaviors or controlling what people eat or like those of us with eating disorders, we don't need more control in our lives.
Thank you very much. No, we need more surrender. We need more. We really do. We do what? What? What works for you? What's your intuition saying? Not I'm gonna control how much you eat right now.
Katie: Yeah. You know? So I think that's a missing piece.
Jemma: I love that. Just before we wrap up, 'cause I've got one final question for you. Is there anything that you'd like to say, a final piece from your guides? Anything that you would like to leave us with?
Katie: I just wanna tell people that you are worth it and don't give up and. It's not, it's a really tough process, but trying to get better is a million times better than being immersed in all the pain and, and you're worth it and you're worthy of, of self-love and acceptance and it's never too late to start.
Jemma: Yeah. I, yes. Amen to that. So random final question. Alright. Everyone gets asked this. If you were on an island, any kind of island, any kind of climate, you have a store cupboard, olive oil, seasoning, chili, whatever, what five favorite foods would you take with you? You are allowed to change your mind tomorrow, but just right now.
Katie: You are so funny. Okay, so, so the first, the first one coming to me is creme brulee, because creme brulee is, oh, nice. Fancy, right? Yeah. I, I love vegetables. Any vegetable? Um, yeah. Okay. Pick one. Uh oh, pick one. Oh, gracious. Okay. Um, so, so, broccoli. Yes. For some interesting reason, it's going to, um, strawberries, fresh organic strawberries. Yeah. Um, I, and I really, it's so funny. I really like my steak. Okay. How do you have your steak? Um, any way possible, but cooked by somebody else.
Jemma: Any food by else. Okay, so you've got creme brulee, broccoli. This is a meal here, strawberries. Steak cooked by someone else. Final. Oh, choice. Wow.
Katie: Um oh. Oh, definitely some really, really good Italian cookies.
Jemma: Ah, yum. Yum, yum, yum. Katie, thank you so much for coming on. Love This Food Thing podcast. It's been an absolute joy. Oh, my pleasure. Thank you. Thank you.
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