The Hunger Trap Podcast

Vincenza opens up to Diana and Lisa about how her lifelong body struggles and disordered eating were influenced by her breast cancer diagnosis at age 36. (Note: The terms “obesity” and “overweight” appear in this episode.)

Equestrian Lisa Whalen, author of Stable Weight: A Memoir of Hunger, Horses, and Hope, chats with Diana and Lisa about how her spiritual connection with horses helped her seek balance in life and overcome an eating disorder.  

Michelle was a professional dancer in training with a secret: she suffered from an eating disorder that consumed her life and robbed her of her love of dance. Michelle opens up to Diana and Lisa about the prevalence of eating disorders in the dance world and how shifting from dance to yoga helped her heal and accept her body. 

Despite appearing in numerous theater productions and boasting the voice of an angel, Olivia was once fired from an acting job for gaining eight pounds. In this episode, Diana and Lisa chat with the actor about the intense pressures that performers face to conform to rigid body standards, as well as how she manages to not let these expectations or rejection shake her self worth. 

Listener Ashley reached out to Diana and Lisa to share her her years-long struggle with substance abuse, her recovery journey, and how she is now tackling her eating disorder. 

Eating disorders can go hand-in-hand with other mental disorders, including substance abuse disorder. Lisa and Diana chat with Dr. Tamara Pryor, who has worked in the eating disorder space for 35 years and recently contributed to a book about eating disorders and substance abuse, about the link between these mental disorders and treatment strategies. 

Lisa and Diana get real in a spur-of-the-moment, one-on-one that was inspired by photos of Bridget Fonda, a Melanie Lynskey interview, supermodel Instagrams, and Minnie Mouse’s makeover to ask the burning question: Why aren’t women allowed to age?

Lisa and Diana chat about mindful eating, the perils of diet culture, and breaking free from its chains with Dr. Alexis Conason, a licensed psychologist, certified eating disorder specialist-supervisor, and author of The Diet-Free Revolution: 10 Steps to Free Yourself from the Diet Cycle with Mindful Eating and Radical Self-Acceptance.

Cate Navarrete is the founder and executive director of the Body Positive Alliance — and she’s just 17 years old. Diana and Lisa chat with Cate about how she turned her eating disorder into an opportunity to create a student-led non-profit organization that explores topics ranging from body image and body culture to the representation of marginalized groups. Cate talks teen insecurities, social media, and how her Alliance plans on creating a better future for young people who are susceptible to body pressures. 

Writer and Boston Globe Music Critic Ken Capobianco opens up to Diana and Lisa about how decades of anorexia led to a stroke in his forties, an awakening, and a second chance at life. They touch on everything from how skinny male rock stars like Prince and Mick Jagger contributed to Ken’s body desires to the ways in which the medical community misunderstands and fails men and young boys with eating disorders.

Diana and Lisa chat with “India," a veteran from the U.S. Armed Forces, about what it is like to have your livelihood in the military tied to your weight and physical fitness, and how that pressure can contribute to disordered eating.

Diana and Lisa chat with Dr. Jessica Mudry, Associate Professor and Associate Chair of the School of Professional Communication at Ryerson University, about why the U.S. government got involved in people’s food choices, how everything from German capitalism to wars changed food guidelines and got us counting calories and macros, and how food lobbyists made us believe “milk it does a body good.”

Hey all! The Hunger Trap Podcast will be on hiatus throughout the remainder of the year. We'll be airing three encore episodes that originally debuted over the summer, in case you missed them while you were having fun in the sun (or shivering the the southern hemisphere.) We'll return with a new episode on January 10, 2022. Have a great holiday! 

Before social media, teens devoured magazines like Seventeen and Sassy. But what kinds of messages were we actually receiving about beauty, weight, and bodies? Diana and Lisa page through Seventeen magazines from the 1990s and take a deep-dive into the history and influence of teen magazines, as well as its deeply flawed mixed messages. 

Lisa and Diana catch up with food writer Hannah Howard to talk about how her complex relationships with food and body image led her down the path of restaurant work, eating disorder recovery, and food writing. We also dive into specifics about her second memoir that showcases a group of resilient women who persist and thrive in the male-dominated food industry.

Stephanie Mallick, aka Bella Bombshel, is a plus-size model, social media influencer with hundreds of thousands of followers, and a presence on the controversial OnlyFans site — she also suffered from bulimia for several years. Stephanie talks to Diana and Lisa about how she recovered from an eating disorder to become a fat-positive sex and and beauty icon, as well as her feelings on plastic surgery and the challenges of juggling privacy with online fame. 

Dr. Dori Steinberg spent the bulk of her career researching obesity and weight control interventions. Then she had an awakening and realized: her long-time eating disorder was informing her work and that instead of helping people (as she intended), she was harming them. Dr. Steinberg talks to Diana and Lisa about her painful recovery, hiding her ED in nutrition studies, and her new role as director of research at Equip.

Lisa and Diana go back to the future with special guest Luigi Pedalino at the wheel of the DeLorean to revisit how weight, body image, and eating disorders were handled on the sitcoms and commercials of yesteryear.

Lisa and Diana catch up with a career paramedic from a major metropolitan area to discuss weight stigma in Emergency Medical Services (EMS), the challenges EMTs and paramedics face on a day-to-day basis while caring for patients, limitations in terms of knowledge and equipment provided to help those in larger bodies, and the best ways to advocate for yourself or a loved one during a medical emergency.

Lisa and Diana chat with Kate Stephens,  a licensed clinical professional counselor at Empowering You LLC, about the connection between trauma, eating disorders, and how we can sometimes find comfort in maladaptive practices to avoid pain, suffering, and re-traumatization. 

In honor of All Hallows Eve Lisa and Diana take a break from the horrors of eating disorders and diet culture to scare themselves with body horror films and sexy Halloween costumes. Diana gives Lisa the lowdown on different horror genres, Lisa dissects the sexy Halloween costume phenomenon, and they chat about “Jennifer’s Body” and “Excess Flesh” (contains spoilers).

Lisa and Diana chat with Nora about her journey towards a healthy attitude around weight and body image while managing type 2 diabetes, binge eating disorder, and ADHD.  

Diana and Lisa talk to Dr. Gregory Dodell of Central Park Endocrinology in New York City about how weight cycling (yo-yo dieting) can negatively affect your metabolism and health, putting you more at risk for diseases like type 2 diabetes. Dr. Dodell also gets to the bottom of why many doctors continue to prescribe weight loss at any cost.

This week Lisa and Diana reconnect with Dr. Roberto Olivardia to learn about the connection between attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and eating disorders, and the unique implications for treatment that result from having this double diagnosis. Dr. Olivardia also shares his personal experiences about what it is like to have ADHD and work with it to lead a productive and fulfilling life.

Eating disorder treatment has come a long way since the 1990s. Family-based treatment is now considered one of the most successful options — but it involves turning over complete control and care to guardians, which is often in direct conflict with a patient’s desire for control. Diana and Lisa caught up with JD Ouellette, the Director of Mentorship at a new virtual eating disorder treatment startup, Equip. In her role at Equip, JD leads a team of Family and Peer Mentors who provide expertise by experience alongside medical practitioners, dietitians, and therapists in the successful Family Based Treatment (FBT) method. JD also shares her personal story of helping her daughter recover from anorexia. 

Diana and Lisa speak to Allison, a guest who recovered from Atypical Anorexia, to reveal how this diagnosis differs from low-BMI anorexia and how weight stigma, faulty media depictions of bone-thin anorexics, and doctors are preventing more people from getting help from this dangerous disorder. Diana shares an emotional revelation about her own disorder and the word “Atypical” is called into question (in other words: it’s bullshit). 

Welcome back! Join Diana and Lisa in this season two premiere as they play a riveting (and ridiculously challenging) game of Two Truths and One Lie to uncover the wackiest of the wacky weight loss diets, devices, and procedures that have existed throughout history. 

Lisa and Diana chat with Jennifer Ophir, a renowned chef, food stylist, culinary producer, and recipe developer, about her experiences cooking in some of New York City’s hottest kitchens, including the Michelin-star awarded Perry Street, while also struggling with an eating disorder. Jennifer shares about how the grueling hours and tense atmosphere “on the line” fueled her own struggles with food and body image, and how she now strives to balance her passion for cooking with her own well-being.

Lisa and Diana chat with fitness expert Amanda Thebe about her book Menopocalypse: How I Learned to Thrive During Menopause and How You Can Too to demystify perimenopause and menopause. We touch on the physiological and psycho-emotional aspects, chat about the link between eating disorders and change, and get tips on how to thrive during this time. Also, ye listeners that have a 2 and 3 at the start of your age who think you can skip this one? Don’t — the more you know now, the more you'll flourish!

Lisa and Diana chat with NASM-certified, award-winning, brilliant AND hilarious Roz the Diva Mays about pole dancing, her career as a personal trainer, struggles with body neutrality/love, and finding passion for fitness in whatever size body you have.

What does a person mean when they say “I feel fat?” Diana and Lisa share insight from women with different body types on what this phrase means to them and the ways in which it is often shorthand for negative emotions and feelings.

Writer and Boston Globe Music Critic Ken Capobianco opens up to Diana and Lisa about how decades of anorexia led to a stroke in his forties, an awakening, and a second chance at life. They touch on everything from how skinny male rock stars like Prince and Mick Jagger contributed to Ken’s body desires to the ways in which the medical community misunderstands and fails men and young boys with eating disorders. 

Diana and Lisa chat with Dr. Roberto Olivardia about the many reasons why more men are being diagnosed with eating disorders — from confusion over the role masculinity plays in modern-day life and the popularity of restrictive diets like Keto to the rise of muscular ‘80s film heroes like Sylvester Stallone and Star Wars action figures with bulging biceps. How can we help this oft-overlooked demographic?

Diana and Lisa chat with Dr. Jessica Mudry, Associate Professor and Associate Chair of the School of Professional Communication at Ryerson University, about why the U.S. government got involved in people’s food choices, how everything from German capitalism to wars changed food guidelines and got us counting calories and macros, and how food lobbyists made us believe “milk it does a body good.”

Registered Dietitian and body and gender activist Lindsay Birchfield explains how gender dysphoria, barriers to medical treatment, and media are contributing to skyrocketing eating disorder rates in the transgender and non-binary communities. They touch on the struggles so many face, the importance of nutritional support during hormone therapy, and how medical practitioners can become better allies.

Diana and Lisa chat with “India," a veteran from the U.S. Armed Forces, about what it is like to have your livelihood in the military tied to your weight and physical fitness, and how that pressure can contribute to disordered eating.

Lisa and Diana face the harsh realities of learning what it is like to live with and love a person who struggles with food by listening to spouses' perspectives. Originally released 2/22/21.

Beginning the week of July 4, 2021 Lisa and Diana will finish out Season 1 of The Hunger Trap by alternating between an encore episode and a new release throughout the summer. Join us in early September 2021 for Season 2, and thanks for listening.

This week Diana and Lisa caught up with Dr. Natasha Larmie, AKA The Fat Doctor UK, to discuss anti-fat bias in the medical community, her activism around weight-inclusive care, and how patients can advocate for themselves in the face of weight-based discrimination at the doctor’s office.

Diana and Lisa talk to Dr. Jason Nagata, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco, about why adolescence is a fragile time when many eating disorders first surface, how an increase in screen time contributes, and how a lack of research is hurting a growing number of boys and young men suffering from eating disorders.

Diana and Lisa talk candidly with a mom whose teenage daughter is currently seeking treatment for an eating disorder. They explore the mental, emotional, and financial toll an ED has on the family, as well as mom guilt, teen dieting trends, and how the stress of the pandemic contributed to the issues.

Diana and Lisa revisit the popular TV show Friends in light of its reunion and do a deep dive on Botox, fillers, damaging weight-related stereotypes, and what responsibility (if any) women have to be role models for other women. While the duo have differing opinions of Friends, they both agree that ‘90s TV was sometimes a shit show. 

Diana and Lisa catch up with Zoe Klein, MSW, RSW, to talk about the intersection of female sexual appetite and the enjoyment of food, how both are policed in our society, the role pornography plays, and just why there are so many damn photos of half-naked women eating spaghetti.

Bea is in her sixties and worked for one of the most popular commercial diet programs on the planet for many years. She reveals to Diana and Lisa how her body image challenges led her to the company, what their expectations were of workers, and the emotional toll that working in the weight loss industry had on her.

Lisa and Diana chat with Jennifer Ophir, a renowned chef, food stylist, culinary producer, and recipe developer, about her experiences cooking in some of New York City’s hottest kitchens, including the Michelin-star awarded Perry Street, while also struggling with an eating disorder. Jennifer shares about how the grueling hours and tense atmosphere “on the line” fueled her own struggles with food and body image, and how she now strives to balance her passion for cooking with her own well-being.

Registered Dietitian and body and gender activist Lindsay Birchfield explains how gender dysphoria, barriers to medical treatment, and media are contributing to skyrocketing eating disorder rates in the transgender and non-binary communities. They touch on the struggles so many face, the importance of nutritional support during hormone therapy, and how medical practitioners can become better allies. 

Australian Clinical Psychologist Louise Adams, who hosts the popular podcast All Fired Up, joins Diana and Lisa to talk about how anger can be a positive and productive emotion for seeing through the bullshit of diet culture and healing from an eating disorder, as well as how your negative emotions could be trying to save you. They also chat about eating disorders and mental healthcare in Australia.

Diana and Lisa chat with Dr. Roberto Olivardia about the many reasons why more men are being diagnosed with eating disorders — from confusion over the role masculinity plays in modern-day life and the popularity of restrictive diets like Keto to the rise of muscular ‘80s film heroes like Sylvester Stallone and Star Wars action figures with bulging biceps. How can we help this oft-overlooked demographic? 

Diana and Lisa dissect the dreadful What I Eat In A Day trend with “guest appearances” (not really) by Gwyneth Paltrow, Martha Stewart, and Moon Juice founder Amanda Chantal Bacon. They explore the moral implications of so many smoothies and activated cashews, as well as how much it really costs to eat like a “wellness”-obsessed celebrity.

Lisa and Diana catch up with journalist Mallary Tenore to discuss how loss — the loss of a parent, a loss of control, and even the loss of the sense of smell — can send someone into an eating disorder tailspin. We discuss Mallary’s New York Times article “When I Lost My Sense Of Taste To Covid, Anorexia Stepped In,” in which she details her experience with COVID and how losing her sense of smell and taste (a manifestation of the illness) caused a relapse of an ED she had been in remission from for decades.

Lisa and Diana chat with NASM-certified, award-winning, brilliant AND hilarious Roz the Diva Mays about pole dancing, her career as a personal trainer, struggles with body neutrality/love, and finding passion for fitness in whatever size body you have.

Diana and Lisa chat with Religion Scholar Dr. Alan Levinovitz about religious food restrictions, how they relate to eating disorders, and the modern day phenomenon of achieving a spiritual state through practices like Intermittent Fasting and keto diets. 

Diana and Lisa chat with UK-based Registered Dietitian Laura Clark about the state of diet culture in the United Kingdom, the confusing messages around the anti-diet movement, and making peace with past dieting advice regrets. 

Lisa and Diana catch up with Emily Duke, comedian and fat activist, to discuss her Slate article, “I Am Fat. To Get the Vaccine, I Had to Say I Am ‘Obese.’” We dive into her struggles with an eating disorder, recovery, navigating a fat-phobic medical system, and her vaccine experience. 

Why are so many people who suffer from eating disorders going without help? And why is the relapse rate for people who get help so high? Professor and clinical social worker Rebecca J. Lester, who was diagnosed with anorexia at 11 and is the author of award-winning book Famished: Eating Disorders and Failed Care in America, chats with Lisa and Diana about the levels of care available, how insurance companies can thwart recovery, and why BMI is a flawed measure for diagnosis and recovery. 

Lisa and Diana chat with fitness expert Amanda Thebe about her informative book Menopocalypse: How I Learned to Thrive During Menopause and How You Can Too to demystify the very real and normal process of perimenopause and menopause. We touch on the physiological and psycho-emotional aspects, chat about the link between eating disorders and change, and get tips and tricks on how to not only survive but thrive during this time. Also, ye listeners that still have a 2 and 3 at the start of your age who think you can skip this one? Don’t. Because the more you know now, the more you'll flourish!

Also: we're giving away one free copy of Amanda's book to a lucky listener. Just go to our Instagram -- @hunger_trap_podcast or Facebook page at The Hunger Trap Podcast, like the post about her book and tag a friend. The winner will be selected during the week of March 8th. 

Lisa and Diana face the harsh realities of learning what it is like to live with and love a person who struggles with food by listening to spouses' perspectives. 

Lisa and Diana chat with Alissa Rumsey, RD, about the history of the Body Mass Index (BMI) and its controversial influence on health access and medical treatment in American society. 

From the ‘90s Wonderbra and Spanx to inclusive modern brands like Savage X Fenty, Diana and Lisa’s special Valentine’s Day episode is a love-hate letter to lingerie. How are sexy garments marketed to women of different body sizes? And is lingerie really empowering? Or is it another patriarchal obligation thrust upon us? 

Lisa and Diana are reunited with their high school classmate, Amanda-lee Seely, to chat about Amanda's struggles with an eating disorder while working as a professional equestrian. Amanda recalls how she found salvation from her body and food struggles through motherhood, recovery programs, intuitive eating, and her creative work as a wedding photographer. 

Diana and Lisa chat with art historians Dr. Heidi Strobel and Dr. Amber Ludwig about women’s changing body ideals throughout art history, the role of the female muse, and how art influences the way women portray themselves on social media. 

Lisa and Diana take a trip around the world with Anthropologist Dr. Erick Castellanos to uncover how different cultures approach food, guilt, women’s changing body expectations, and the role that women play as food caretakers. 

Lisa and Diana take a trip back in time to adolescence to make connections between puberty, male attention, and their eating disorders. They also explore the “cloak of invisibility” that body extremes provide and how girls cope with “blossoming” into women.

Lisa and Diana discuss the concepts and principles of Intuitive Eating (IE) with guest Kirsten Ackerman,  a non-diet registered dietician who strives to help her clients restore trust with their bodies, food, and explore practices of body image healing.

Heather “The Heat” Hardy, world champion boxer and MMA fighter, dishes on the beauty, brains, and brawn required to make a name for herself in a male-dominated sport. She pulled no punches and gave it to us straight about weight struggles, brutal training, body image, and the fight for equal pay for women.

Lisa and Diana have a frank discussion about their eating disorder triggers, trust issues when it comes to the Health at Every Size movement, and where they both are with their recovery. 

In Episode 5 Lisa and Diana chat with Oona Hanson, a parent coach, about helping children navigate the rough seas of body image and healthy food relationships in our diet-centric culture.

What does a person mean when they say “I feel fat?” We share insight from women with different body types on what this phrase means to them and the ways in which it is often shorthand for negative emotions and feelings. 

We explore what it means to look like a “real woman,” a phrase that has become ubiquitous in our society. Also: women policing other women’s bodies on social media and how our eating disorders and body image affect our relationships with other women. 

From Cindy Crawford’s sexy Pepsi commercial to Snackwell’s fat-free cookies and “guilt-free” nonfat yogurt, we explore how guilt, shame, fear, virtue signaling, and the hyper sexualization of women in diet and lifestyle advertising affect women. Plus: the trope of the woman who eats anything she wants and stays skinny and the takeover of health and nutrition elitism.  

Food, Morality & Mixed Messages.

In this first episode of The Hunger Trap Podcast, Diana and Lisa chat about a classist New York Times political fridge quiz, the screwed-up messages we receive about food and weight, and the moral connections we associate with food.