You know when someone says, "Oh, that's normal", but something in your body clearly doesn't feel right? Maybe you've lost your period and brushed it off because you exercise a lot. Maybe a doctor waved it away. Maybe you've been praised for your discipline, your control, your "healthy" lifestyle, even while your body has been quietly asking for more.

In this episode, we're having an honest, deeply human conversation about hypothalamic amenorrhea (HA), disordered eating, and the ways diet culture disguises itself as wellness, especially in athletic, high-achieving bodies.

"It is not normal to not have a period." - Dr. Nicola Rinaldi

"I had prided myself on my body because I thought I was very healthy. What I came to realize was that I was not, and I was abusing my body in a lot of ways." - Gemma Lewis

"I told countless people in my life that I didn't have my period, and nobody had ever said that. Nobody had ever asked me, 'Are you not concerned about the long-term implications of this and what you're doing to your body?'" - Gemma Lewis

"Our society really encourages that. Our society encourages exercise more, eat less." - Dr. Nicola Rinaldi

"I Googled 'how can I get my period back without gaining weight'. There is no good answer out there." - Gemma Lewis

"HA can happen to anyone in any body size." - Dr. Nicola Rinaldi

"You are more than your body." - Dr. Nicola Rinaldi

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Dr. Nicola Sykes website

Connect with Dr. Nicola Sykes on Instagram

No Period, Now What?

Period Recovery Community

REVEAL Study

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January has a way of making everything feel louder. The pressure to start over, "fix yourself", and come back "better" than before. If you've ever felt that quiet panic underneath all the New Year motivation, this episode is for you.

Instead of making a New Year's Resolution, we're making an anti-resolution.

"When we're under pressure, it's kind of impossible to make deliberate decisions and to really feel calm about it." - Rachelle Heinemann

"You don't need a dramatic reinvention to be worthy of the start of the year or even a 'fresh start'." - Rachelle Heinemann

"A lot of food-related resolutions or like body-related resolutions are rooted very much in shame, guilt, comparison, anxiety, fear of not being in control." - Rachelle Heinemann

"If you're thinking 'I need to change because there is something terribly wrong about me as a person'… even if it is the best resolution in the world, that is never gonna hold up." - Rachelle Heinemann

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For so many of us, nighttime feels like stepping into a different version of ourselves. One that feels "fine" all day, but starts to unravel the moment the sun goes down. One who can't stop thinking about snacks, who wanders into the kitchen on autopilot, who feels out of control around food in ways that never show up at noon. It can feel confusing, frustrating, even shameful.

Listen to the full episode for the full unpacking and for the practical steps that can help you finally feel at peace when the night comes.

"Your body might not be confused or just randomly anxious. It might actually be undernourished." - Rachelle Heinemann

"Sometimes we get caught up in what we call healthy habits… and these are like the perfect conditions to breed bingey eating or nighttime food anxiety." - Rachelle Heinemann

"At night, usually that's where all the leftovers emotionally show up." - Rachelle Heinemann

"Emotional hunger is not fake hunger, it's just a metaphoric hunger." - Rachelle Heinemann

"If you're hungry, whether it's metaphoric or otherwise, you're hungry for something." - Rachelle Heinemann

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Struggling to find motivation in recovery, or trying to make sense of what keeps people pushing through something as painful as an eating disorder, opens a door to a much deeper conversation. This episode steps right through that door.

In this episode, we welcome back a longtime favorite guest: Dr. Jeffrey DeSarbo, a neuropsychiatrist and internationally known educator whose work sits at the intersection of brain science, mental health, and eating disorder treatment. If you've heard his previous episodes, you already know that he has a profound ability to make complex neuroscience feel not just understandable, but actionable. This time, he brings something new, something that might seem unexpected coming from a neuroscientist: the science of a bucket list. And no, not the Hollywood version. Not skydiving. Not "visit Paris." Something far more foundational.

"It's okay to be skeptical because that's part of it." - Dr. Jeffrey DeSarbo

"Recovery kind of involves helping the brain remember how to feel that, that curiosity, pleasure, connection, and flexibility again." - Dr. Jeffrey DeSarbo

"When you go places, and you meet different people with different cultures, the one thing I have learned… it has helped tolerability." - Dr. Jeffrey DeSarbo

"We're programmed, and we don't even know we're being programmed to think and, more importantly, to react." - Dr. Jeffrey DeSarbo

"Your brain is always changing." - Dr. Jeffrey DeSarbo

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Dr. Jeffrey DeSarbo's YouTube Channel

Dr. Jeffrey DeSarbo's Website

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Whether you're supporting others or navigating your own process, this episode offers language and perspective to help you sit with the messiness rather than fear it.

In this episode, we slow down to explore why ambivalence exists, what it reveals about our experiences, and why it's a doorway rather than a roadblock. We unpack the deeper meaning behind body goals, what thinness represents, the safety it promises, and why those promises feel so powerful even when they aren't rooted in truth. You'll learn how to face fear without bypassing it, and why sitting with discomfort is often the catalyst for real change.

"When somebody has an attachment to a certain body size or shape, it's because it means something and it represents something." - Rachelle Heinemann

"Ambivalence is when you want two things that contradict each other, where there are opposites at the same time. This is literally the purpose of therapy is to work through ambivalence." - Rachelle Heinemann

"The reason why we get stuck is because of ambivalence. It's because we want two things at the same time, and they're contradicting each other, and we cannot move forward." - Rachelle Heinemann

"What if we stopped treating body goals as something to take apart or dismantle? And if we started seeing them as something to understand, something to explore?" - Rachelle Heinemann

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If you've ever wondered why PCOS feels so confusing, why the symptoms don't line up, why the advice is contradictory, why the solutions feel like guesswork, you're not imagining it.

That's exactly why I brought back Julie Duffy Dillon, registered dietitian, author, and host of Find Your Food Voice, to cut through the noise. Julie has a rare way of talking about PCOS that immediately makes your shoulders drop: it's science-based, deeply compassionate, and totally free of judgment or quick fixes.

" So many people are led to believe that it's just a problem with their ovaries, but really, PCOS is an endocrine disorder that starts in the brain, not in the ovaries. It's something that someone's born with and they're, they die with it too." - Julie Duffy Dillon

"We don't have a lot of research. Doctors don't always have the answers, and there's a lot of weight bias in there, too. And unfortunately, most people just know about the reproductive interventions. They don't know about all the other ones." - Julie Duffy Dillon

"I do feel like with PCOS, you have to advocate for yourself more. It's annoying." - Julie Duffy Dillon

"PCOS is the number one cause of anovulatory infertility." - Julie Duffy Dillon

" If you're eating enough with PCOS, adding movement is something that can really help with your insulin levels. But if you are someone who's painfully tired or your insulin levels are really high, so you have these cravings all the time, adding exercise or movement is just gonna make things worse." - Julie Duffy Dillon

Julie's Website: https://julieduffydillon.com/

Free Tools: https://julieduffydillon.com/voice/

Julie's Podcast: https://julieduffydillon.com/podcast/

Book: https://julieduffydillon.com/book/

Book bonus downloads: https://findyourfoodvoicebook.com

PCOS Membership: https://julieduffydillon.com/pcos-power-course/

Bergen Mental Health Group Inc. is hiring! If you think you'd be a great fit, check it out!

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Relapse isn't the end of recovery. It's part of it. There's this moment that happens for so many people in recovery, that sinking feeling when you realize some of those old patterns have crept back in. Maybe it's skipping a meal. Maybe it's the familiar swirl of guilt, shame, or perfectionism. Whatever form it takes, relapse can feel like you've failed. Like everything you've worked so hard for just… disappeared.

Listen to the full episode to learn how to meet relapse with curiosity, connect with what it's trying to teach you, and continue forward on your path to healing.

Tweetable Quotes

"Relapse isn't the end of recovery, guys. It's not the end of the road. It's a moment in it." - Rachelle Heinemann

"We're not going to label it as a success or failure, but we're going to explore it." - Rachelle Heinemann

"Is the body communicating something that the mind can't yet say?" - Rachelle Heinemann

"Even if it feels like you revisit the same old place, you are there with a lot more awareness and capacity than you have in the past." - Rachelle Heinemann

"Recovery happens in connection. Recovery cannot happen outside of connection." - Rachelle Heinemann

Resources

Bergen Mental Health Group Inc. is hiring! If you think you'd be a great fit, check it out!

Grab my Journal Prompts Here!

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LEAVE A REVIEW + help someone who may need this podcast by sharing this episode.

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You can connect with me on Instagram @rachelleheinemann, through my website www.rachelleheinemann.com, or email me directly at rachelle@rachelleheinemann.com

Thank you to our sponsors! This episode includes paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services.

Hidden River Healing provides compassionate, residential eating disorder treatment for girls, adolescents, and young women. Their expert clinical team emphasizes family involvement and individualized care in a beautifully designed facility surrounded by nature — a peaceful environment that supports recovery and lasting healing.

Program Highlights:

• Specialized care for ages 8 and up, including a dedicated house for Emerging Adults (21+) and Mid-Life Adults
• In-network with most commercial insurances
• Ability to treat NG tube patients

Learn more: hiddenriverhealing.com/about-us
Follow on Instagram: @hiddenrivertx

NOTE: We will be taking next week off for Thanksgiving. See you in December!

Have you ever looked around and wondered how everyone else seems to have such an easy, peaceful relationship with food? They order what they want at restaurants, stop when they're full, and move on with their day. Meanwhile, you're stuck in your head, negotiating with yourself, worrying about how much you ate, or planning the next meal before you've even finished this one. If that sounds familiar, you're not alone.

Listen to the full episode to learn how you can start to rebuild trust with your body, release food guilt, and finally feel more at ease around eating; one meal, one moment, one connection at a time.

"Eating is not just a means to nourish yourself. It is a means to connect." - Rachelle Heinemann

"The very first thing is you need structure. Because we can't really play around if we're not eating enough. And when we play around with our food, then we play around with our hunger fullness cues." - Rachelle Heinemann

"What we're doing is shifting from our bodies and our meal plans as something to control and shifting to our bodies as something to listen to." - Rachelle Heinemann

"It's not about getting it right, it's about just rebuilding these lines of communication." - Rachelle Heinemann

"Your food choices don't define your worth." - Rachelle Heinemann

Bergen Mental Health Group Inc. is hiring! If you think you'd be a great fit, check it out!

Grab my Journal Prompts Here!

Looking for a speaker for an upcoming event? Let's chat!

Now accepting new clients! Find out if we're a good fit!

LEAVE A REVIEW + help someone who may need this podcast by sharing this episode.

Be sure to sign up for my weekly newsletter here!

You can connect with me on Instagram @rachelleheinemann, through my website www.rachelleheinemann.com, or email me directly at rachelle@rachelleheinemann.com

Thank you to our sponsors! This episode includes paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services.

Hidden River Healing provides compassionate, residential eating disorder treatment for girls, adolescents, and young women. Their expert clinical team emphasizes family involvement and individualized care in a beautifully designed facility surrounded by nature — a peaceful environment that supports recovery and lasting healing.

Program Highlights:

• Specialized care for ages 8 and up, including a dedicated house for Emerging Adults (21+) and Mid-Life Adults

• In-network with most commercial insurances

• Ability to treat NG tube patients
  
  

Learn more: hiddenriverhealing.com/about-us
Follow on Instagram: @hiddenrivertx