Livia Sara is joined by Maddie, a psychology student, content creator, and face behind the Instagram account @love.madelaine_ where she shares her journey through OCD and eating disorder recovery, autism discovery, and embracing her authentic identity.

In this episode, we explore the overlap between autism, OCD, orthorexia, anorexia, and why so many neurodivergent people struggle to find support that truly fits. Maddie reflects on her diagnoses of ARFID, anorexia, and OCD, and how her autism discovery was the missing piece that transformed her healing process.

This episode offers a fresh perspective on healing, self-understanding, and creating a life that feels aligned with who you truly are. Whether you're neurodivergent yourself, supporting someone with an eating disorder, or questioning whether traditional recovery approaches are working for you, this episode is for you!

Key Topics Discussed:

• Maddie’s journey through anorexia, orthorexia, OCD, and autism discovery
• Why neurodivergent people often feel misunderstood in traditional eating disorder treatment
• Why embracing autistic traits is the key to freedom
• The importance of autonomy, self-trust, and individualized support
• Why recovery is not about fixing yourself, but about discovering who you truly are

🌈 The Autistically ED-Free Academy is now available as a 1-1 private coaching experience! Get all the details at www.livlabelfree.com/group

🫶 Find us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/livlabelfree/ and https://www.instagram.com/love.madelaine__/

Today I’m joined by Julia, a former 1-1 coaching client turned dear friend & now the person who helps me behind the scenes at Liv Label Free! What started as a coaching relationship has grown into a friendship, a collaboration, and countless deep conversations about neurodivergence, eating adaptations, spirituality, and what it actually means to create a life that feels aligned.

In this episode, we explore the often-overlooked grief that can come with discovering you’re autistic and/or ADHD later in life. We discuss loneliness, unmasking, self-compassion, soul-level connection, spirituality, eating adaptations, trusting the universe, and why neurodivergent discovery is not just about understanding yourself – it’s about creating a life that truly aligns with who you are.

Key Topics Discussed:

• Julia’s experience of discovering she’s autistic and the unexpected grief that followed
• Unmasking, self-accommodation, and no longer being able to “just push through”
• Loneliness in neurodivergent discovery and the importance of feeling truly understood
• The connection between neurodivergence and eating adaptations, safety, and trust
• Spirituality, soul-level connection, and creating an aligned life by trusting yourself

Whether you're autistic, ADHD, a caregiver, or have just always felt different, this episode is a powerful conversation about grief, belonging, connection, and discovering who you are beneath the masks you've learned to wear.

P.S. If you’d be interested in working with me and Julia together as a part of Julia’s training to become a Liv Label Free coach, contact me at https://livlabelfree.com/contact!

💗 Work with Livia! https://www.livlabelfree.com/coaching

🫶Find us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/livlabelfree/ and https://www.instagram.com/juuls_healingjourney/

📚 Buy Livia’s books: https://livlabelfreebooks.com/

Last year, I received an email from a lovely individual inquiring about coaching opportunities. I asked if she could briefly share her story and some of her goals for coaching. In true autistic style, she replied with what she described as “a novel to explain herself, lol.” I loved reading this “novel” because, as with most emails I receive, I resonated with so much of her lived experience.

In her email, this individual shared how she had struggled with disordered eating for most of her life. At age 46, she was diagnosed with autism, which she said was “life-changing in ways I can’t even begin to describe.” Over the years, she’d tried countless “treatments” for her eating challenges – but as I’m sure you can already guess, these attempts had not only failed, but led to feelings of hopelessness.

The reason I reflect on this correspondence is because there was one sentence in her email that I immediately thought of after I recorded today’s podcast episode. She wrote that she’d been scouring the internet for links between autism and overeating, but ended up finding very little that resonated. “It’s all about ARFID and beige food and anorexia,” she wrote.

And she’s right; there is very little out there on the connection between autism and binge eating, which is why I am BEYOND excited to be diving into this conversation with my good friend Kory Andreas on the podcast today!

After we talk about the lost generation of autistic relatives and how our grandmas are basically the same person, Kory opens up about her MCAS (Mast Cell Activation Syndrome) which is super common in neurodivergent people. Kory also talks about her experience with binge eating, learning that it was rooted in being neurodivergent, and how starting ADHD medication practically made all her binge urges disappear overnight.

This was such a high energy conversation (I mean, just put two neurodivergent people in a room together, right?) so I can’t wait for you to listen!

💗 Work with me! https://www.livlabelfree.com/coaching

🌈 Rainbow Girl, A Memoir of Autism and Anorexia: https://www.livlabelfree.com/rainbowgirl

🍫 Autism & Binge Eating Series: https://www.livlabelfree.com/blog/autism-and-binge-eating-part-1