5. Body Neutrality, PCOS & Embracing Our Whole Selves with Eden Davis

In this episode we dive into the reality of eating disorders, weight inclusivity, striving towards body neutrality and living with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). Eden shares her own road to recovery, and how she learnt to lovingly create body neutrality and love for ourselves at any size.

It’s also loaded with lots of practical tips - Eden gives us lots of evidence-backed strategies for fostering our own body respect and how we can implement nutrition-based approaches to build a balanced and healthy version of ourselves that are more about addition rather than restriction.

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About Eden:
Eden is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist who practices medical nutrition therapy through Health At Every Size (HAES) and weight inclusivity. She works with clients through nutrition therapy, meal support, grocery shopping, cooking, intuitive eating, and gentle nutrition.  She enjoys focusing on gentle nutrition through increasing nutrient variety, sharing evidence based nutrition practices, and implementation of practical behavioral enhancements.

• Follow her on Instagram at @pearlwellnesspractice
• Website

About Andi

Hello! I'm Andi and I'm a Voice & Expression Coach, Medium, and Actress, and I love all things spirituality, expansion and being brave. I have been on a really long journey with my body. If my journey has taught me anything it’s that as humans we are incredibly powerful self-healers. When we allow ourselves to be brave and share our stories, we embody our most transformative ally – our beautiful, empowered strength. I am here to help you reclaim your whole creative, connected and confident self so that you can become EVERYTHING that you are here in this life to be. xx

• @andi.matthies on Instagram
• Be a guest on the podcast

Transcript

Andi M: ​ Welcome to Body Diaries, the podcast that shares our real, raw and unfiltered body stories so that we can finally shake off shame, reconnect with our whole selves and ignite everything that our bodies are capable of.

 I'm your host, Andi Matthies and each week we connect with some of the world's most inspiring body-led humans and explore the energetics that changed their lives. If you've ever felt disconnected from your body, or you are craving to finally unlock your whole experience, this podcast is for you.

Andi M: .

Hello, gorgeous human. I'm so excited to share this week's episode with you where I sit down with the gorgeous Eden Davis. Eden is a registered dietitian nutritionist and she helps others with polycystic ovary syndrome or PCOS. And eating disorders, as well as gastrointestinal issues through gentle nutrition and evidence based wellness practices.

In this episode, we together dive into the reality of eating disorders, weight inclusivity, and living with PCOS. Eden shares with us her own road to recovery and how she learned to lovingly create body neutrality. 

Eden, welcome to Body Diaries. I am really looking forward to our conversation today. We are diving into the world of eating disorders, of weight inclusivity, of PCOS, which I'm particularly interested to talk to you about because it's something that I've heard a lot about, but I don't know much about, so I'm really looking forward to learning more about that today.

Welcome.

Eden Davis: Hi, it's so wonderful to be here. Thank you for having me.

Andi M: Of course. I know you have a big story in this space, particularly with the journey that you've been on with your body, so I'd love for us to start there today if you want to start by sharing your journey, your diary entry, your story with your body.

Eden Davis: Sure. So, it all started in middle school, where my relationship with food and body took a turn for the worse. I always had a healthy connection with nutrition, enjoyed eating with friends and family, and just getting creative in the kitchen. But all that seemed to change. Growing up in a broken home with a lot going on behind closed doors, my body desperately searched for something in my environment to control.

I fell into a dangerous pattern of restricting my intake all day at school. And then passing out in the bathroom, coming home, and binge eating in my bedroom. My mom became really worried, and she asked if I'd be willing to go speak with a therapist, which I was extremely hesitant about, but I agreed, mainly because I don't think I really had a choice.

This was the first time I had ever seen a therapist and ever spoken about my eating disorder, and to this day, I can really recall the entire interaction. The moment I walked through the door, this therapist scanned my body. Up and down was the longest moment of my life. Had a smirk on her face and then says, You clearly eat, so why don't you tell me what the real problem is?

Because you don't have an eating disorder. Now, this was clearly not an eating disorder specialist, but back then, we didn't know any better. We didn't know that you were supposed to see someone who specialized in this area. I just remember the way my skin burned from embarrassment as she sat there and judged me and my body and essentially called me a liar.

I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what to say. But I knew I wasn't going to entertain her for a moment longer. I got up and I asked to be taken home. The entire car ride home was a nightmare. Being yelled and cussed at and accused of making up an eating disorder just for attention. The eating disorder continued, because eating disorders don't just magically go away on their own.

It was just this time I got a lot craftier with hiding it from everyone. Fast forward to high school, my eating disorder became a lot more aggressive. I was still living in a medium sized body, but participating in extremely dangerous behaviors. There was one night that after I passed out, I had a really challenging time to get out of the bed and just function properly.

It was really difficult to recover from, and I ended up back at the hospital. I had several medical complications from the eating disorder, which resulted in a neck brace and an extended stay. I remember a community coming to check in on me and talking with my mom. I recall this same conversation taking place countless times in the hallway.

How can she have an eating disorder? She isn't even thin. Are you doctors sure that's what it is? There I was, unable to pick my head up in a neck brace in excruciating pain, yet nobody could see the eating disorder right in front of them. Because I wasn't in a smaller body. Fast forward a few months. My eating disorder continued to progress.

Yet this time, I was in a smaller body. I remember going to the doctor for strep throat. And they did the routine checkup, they took my weight, they did my blood pressure. My doctor came in, and he explained how worried he was. I was flagged for being underweight, and I had a large percent weight change in a short amount of time.

Despite all the signs, the symptoms, cries for help, absurd lab values, hospital visits over the year, the neck brace, that's what finally caught someone's attention, just seeing this deadly mental illness, was my weight. I'm proud to be here today and have a fully recovered life from an eating disorder.

I've taken my passion for nutrition science, eating disorder recovery, and weight inclusivity to advocate and to support others along their own health and wellness journey.

Andi M: Oh, Eden. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, Eden, for sharing that. There are so many points of your story that... hit me in the heart because I can resonate so many times. And the thing that I find fascinating about so many of our stories. Is this external judgment of what an eating disorder looks like in a human and then the label that gets attached or not attached based on that?

And you talk a lot about in your work, weight inclusivity, eating disorders at all sizes. I would love to dive in there and just explore that more. What is that? What does that look like? And how is that playing out for you in your story and also in your clients?

Eden Davis: Absolutely. I love the point that you touched on about how eating disorders can impact anyone. You know, They come in all shapes, they come in all sizes, and they don't discriminate. They don't discriminate on size or gender or ethnicity. They can really impact all individuals. So, that's such a good piece that you bring up.

And in terms of weight inclusive care, weight inclusivity is really working with an individual and treating them as a whole. Looking at their overall health and wellness, not looking at the number on the scale or the BMI and saying, okay, just go lose weight. You know, We're looking at the individual and seeing what.

Behavioral changes may or may not need to take place and not having any weight bias in the conversation.

Andi M: I love that we're looking at the whole person. It's interesting how we tend to carve out and compartmentalize different pieces of ourselves. So we have our body, which is separate to our personality, which is separate to what we do. And these things tend to really solidify in those high school and college years.

How are you working with clients to kind of bridge that compartmentalized parts of ourselves and those things that do tend to trigger those eating disorders and bring people back into that holistic kind of weight inclusivity and changing our perception of how we see ourselves?

Eden Davis: Absolutely. I think something really powerful that I like to bring to the table is just evidence based nutrition science. You know, It's not diet culture. It's not a quick fix. It's true nutrition. And there's a lot that goes into healing an eating disorder. But from the nutrition side, what I really like to do is get in there with nutrition therapy and see, like, What are our beliefs around food?

You know, Where are they holding truth? And can we challenge that with research? So I really enjoy approaching it from the nutrition science perspective.

And then. Looking at it through body acceptance and body respect as well, with eating disorders, there's such a fixation on body, but the interesting thing is we're normally very disconnected to our bodies while we're in the depth of an eating disorder. 

Andi M: I love that you've just mentioned that disconnection and that feeling of disassociation because I know that was my struggle the whole time. And you also mentioned there around beliefs driving these behaviors of eating disorder. So I'd love to know, like, what were some of those beliefs that led to that disconnection for you?

And how did you embody that?

Eden Davis: Yeah. I think a really big belief for me personally and what I hear through a lot of my clients is that sense of control, right? Like, we can't control our environment. We can't control these things that are taking place in life, but we are meant to believe that we can control our intake. We can control what we do with our body.

We can control our movement. And in the beginning, sure, yeah, you are making, those choices. But when the eating disorder progresses, That false sense of control is really there and we realize we don't have control anymore. This illness has taken over. So, really going towards that belief and seeing, it might feel like control, but is it really in control on the end?

And that's kind of where, a therapist will step in. So, our in house therapist, we usually take it from there and be like, okay, you know, like, let's dig deeper. Let's really look at what this eating disorder is connected to.

Andi M: Yeah, control is such a big one. And I remember Having to dig into that myself around the eating disorder because what you've just said there is so true around what we're trying to do is control how we look. Control how we feel. And we're doing that through the mechanism of food or overexercising or all of those different other behaviors that we're doing to get this sense of control of our bodies back.

But when we dig underneath that, the key is actually we're disconnected, which is driving this desperation to create this false control mechanism. So I love that you've mentioned and brought up for us this sense of control. 

Eden Davis: So what are you seeing then as some of the key things to start combating this need to have a sense of control that is filtering into some of these behaviors like eating disorders?

absolutely. So, really working with that, therapy piece of, okay, where's the sense of control coming from? What is the driving force of it? And then from the nutrition side, we really like to work on nourishing the brain, you know, getting us Back to where we are eating consistently throughout the day so that we can reach our health and wellness.

So on my end, I do a lot of the, Hey, let's do meal support together. You know, Like, let's eat a meal. Let's eat a snack together. Accountability around intake and consistency and that so that we can nourish the brain and they can go about respecting their body. We talk so much about. Body image and something I really love to challenge my clients with is what is the body?

We hyper fixate on it so much, but what is the body? Because the body should be our home. It should be a place of comfort and safety. And, for several reasons, it's unfortunately not always the truth. So it's getting to a place where we can see it that way. And through body image work is finding body acceptance, accepting our bodies.

That's the challenging piece for where it is. We're not trying to change it anymore. We're not trying to fit society's, desire for a certain shape or a certain size, but accepting our genetic makeup. And. Doing so through body respect, respecting our body with mindful movement, respecting our body with gentle nutrition.

And we don't want to hyper fixate on food and nutrition and movement feeding the eating disorder, but we do want to be mindful. We want to see, okay, have I moved my body mindfully today? Have I honored that? Have I been listening to my body? What does it want nutrition wise?

How do I make my body a home? I feel like we really do that through acceptance and respect to our bodies.

Andi M: Body acceptance and body respect feels so good. As soon as you said those words, I was like, YES! But there was also, and I know a lot of women experience this because I have in the past as well, more so than I do now, it's like... What is that? Like, that feels so foreign. Like, how do I even understand, integrate, absorb body acceptance and body respect because I'm so used to being on the other side of the spectrum?

Eden Davis: Right. And the spectrum is such a good point. When we look at the body image spectrum, we see body acceptance, body love, body liberation, but that's not all we see. We see body hate. We see all these things that we also don't love about the body. And I think it's so important To kind of see where we are throughout the day and throughout the week on the body image spectrum.

In the body image workbook, we actually have the body image spectrum and we challenge our clients to go in there and see where they are throughout the day. And funny story With a spectrum, you know, the picture, it's like that nice straight line, right? It's so clean cut and has all these different things that you might feel with a body.

And I remember putting it in the workbook and I was like, I just don't feel like this is a good representation of what we feel with a body image. So I ended up, oh my gosh, I'm trying to explain what it looks like visually. So it's like a line graph and it's just up and down zigzag, like it looks like a hot mess.

And I think that's really how body image perception looks at times. And I was, I got done making this mess essentially. And I was like, I think this really speaks home to so many people because, research shows us that every two minutes our thoughts around body image can change. You know, We can look in the mirror and we can be wearing this outfit and we can be feeling body liberation.

We're ready to take on the day. We feel awesome. We turn around to get our keys. We look back in the mirror and all of a sudden we hate everything we see. We were so happy two minutes ago, but now we have to go change. We need 10 different outfits. This isn't going to make it. This is going to ruin the day.

And I think kind of coming to a place where we understand that, we are not going to jump out of the bed every single day with body liberation. But especially when we're in recovery from something like an eating disorder, it's just not going to start off that way, so finding body neutrality.

If you have a lot of body hate, instead of setting up this unrealistic expectation of I'm going to have body hate, but now I'm going to have body liberation. Let's work our way towards body liberation, but let's just find body neutrality at first, and one way I really like to do that is we have this mirror exposure that we like to walk clients through.

And essentially what it is, is we scan the body, and we can start from the head, we can start from our toes, a place that you're most comfortable with, and we say, okay, I'm going to take 15 seconds on each area of my body. And I'm going to describe it objectively, and that's the key word is objectively. So, objectively, we're not going to sit here and say, Oh, I have acne.

I hate my acne. It's so embarrassing. X, Y, Z. We're going to say, Okay, I have some acne in this corner. Okay, next. And just neutralizing that conversation. We don't have to say, Oh my gosh, I love that. That's not honest. It's not, realistic for some people, but just, saying, you know, and coming to the terms that is taking place is finding neutrality.

So, scanning the body and then talking about it objectively can really help us find a place, a body neutrality. And from there, we can work off the spectrum. Then we can work on, body love, body peace, body liberation to continue building on that framework of a positive body image.

Andi M: It is so incredible, Eden, that concept of body neutrality and how you've described that feels so good in my body and I'm sure it does for our listeners as well. It's so interesting that you describe that we want to go from hate to love and that jump is so big. That jump is so big but to come in through that neutrality piece feels so good and When you mentioned objectivity, which I know some of us are practiced in the subjectivity of judgment of our bodies, but looking at it factually, particularly getting used to looking at it in the mirror and looking at it factually feel so good, but I do want to ask you for anyone who's wanting to step into this and is still kind of feeling the mind slip back into that judgment or into that hate or into that, like you described the acne and what the acne represents emotionally.

How can someone start using body neutrality and overcome some of that resistance or some of that slipping back that comes up?

Eden Davis: It's such a good point. And, putting that time limit on it is going to help. If I say, okay, I'm in a, pretty good mind space. We don't want to do this. It was a very hard challenge. So don't do it, on a day that you are having it. Really, negative thoughts when you're in a safe space, try to practice it then and say, I am not spending more than 15 seconds in one area.

So, for example, if I started with my head and I said, okay, objectively. I have dirty blonde hair. Okay, great. Next section. Okay, my forehead. If I hated my forehead and I was like, I have a huge forehead and I start to derail or I say I have acne and acne means, X, Y, Z. I'm catching myself and I try to bring myself back.

No, just. Describe this area of the forehead. Okay, maybe I'm a little sunburned. Maybe I say, okay, well, it's slightly red. I have a little bit of a sunburn going on, or something like that. And then I'm noticing I'm going right back to that negative thought. Okay tough. It's been 15 seconds.

Move on. We're not going to sit here and allow that derailing to take place. So, going on to the next section of the body really helps because then we're not sitting there and we're not fixating on it and having a lot of negativity, which is going to derail that exposure.

Andi M: I love that. And you were saying before, the more and more we do it, the more we start to see ourselves from that neutral perspective. What is bridging over from the slightly sunburn and yes, I have acne into the actually finding peace and power and comfort in that. And then switching into, I love the expression you used before about hot mess.

Like how do we switch into that hot mess? I don't mind because this is me and I'm here at Type Energy.

Eden Davis: Yeah. And the journey is going to look so different depending on the individual, but once we find body neutrality and we get away from that negative self talk, you know, get away from those hateful comments that we might be holding, we're really able to just make peace with it, you know, it's like, Oh, okay.

I have acne and or maybe we're mindful about it and we're like, okay, I have acne. Maybe I'll go to the dermatologist cause it hurts and I'm gonna, get a new skincare routine going. What we're seeing is we're objectively talking about ourselves and we're bringing ourselves to more, of a neutral and positive.

Perspective and I have oh, my gosh, I have 1 individual who we were doing some body image work and they mentioned that they wanted to the mirror exposure. So we're doing the mirror exposure and they get to the area where they have stretch marks, which majority of people have, but we don't talk about that.

So they get to their stretch marks and they said, I hate this part of my body. I hate this part of my body. Oh, I have my stretch marks. And I was like, what do you think about your stretch marks? Cause they're talking negatively about these other areas. I'm curious to what our thoughts are on the stretch marks.

And they said, these are my warrior scars. What do you mean? I'm like, okay. That's awesome. So I love the way that they, you know, kind of went about that. They're like, Oh my gosh, no, I hold these near and dear to my heart. And I was like, are you comfortable, like sharing more about that? And they're like, yeah these scars have gotten me through so much in life.

They show me how I grow and how, you know, amazing my body is. And I'm so proud of this growth. And I was like that is how we find body liberation. is we get away from that negative talk and we see what our body can do for us. They didn't see that as an embarrassment because it didn't fit society's standards.

They didn't see it as something they should be ashamed of and cover up. They literally saw it as their warrior scars and I just think that is so beautiful and really speaks to, their own story.

Andi M: Oh my gosh. My whole body lit up when you said that what an incredible way to look at something that, like you said, we would often look at and either if you've got dysmorphia on board, remembering. the weight that you were or the thing that you went through to look at them and be so empowered to say, these are my warrior stripes.

These are the representations of the things that I've overcome. Wow. Wow. Wow. I just think that's fabulous.

Eden Davis: Yeah, it was a beautiful breakthrough moment. And then we just challenged, well, how can we see these other areas that we're working toward neutrality in to find that body liberation in a similar, way? And they're like, okay, that's a good challenge, so we continue to work on how can we see these areas as accepting, how can we view these as our power and our strength?

So it was a really cool piece of finding their body piece.

Andi M: Amazing. And this sense of neutrality and inclusivity of ourselves. I'm interested how this then links over to weight inclusivity and shifting into that healthy at every size type mentality that I know is a big piece of your work. I

Eden Davis: Yeah. Weight, inclusivity, and health at every size are near and dear to the practice because through eating disorders, PCOS, anything, health and wellness, every individual deserves equal treatment. We know through research and science that Weight does not equal health. So being able to see somebody and see what is your day to day look like, you know, what is your lifestyle?

And just because someone's in a smaller body or a larger body doesn't mean that they are necessarily, in good health. And it's like, well, let's explore that. And the answer is not weight loss. 

 So it's really seeing the whole individual and just taking weight off the table. I always tell clients when they're working on that body part and they're like, I want to lose weight.

I'm like, but why? Like, tell me more. Let's dig deeper. Why do you want to lose weight? And they're like, well, I want to be healthy. I'm like, why? Does your size have to mean healthy? What about lifestyle factors? What are the other pillars of health and wellness? And they're like, well, I want to, eat more veggies.

I want to meal prep more. I'm like, let's do it. You know, We can totally do those things, but weight is not going to get us there. That's not the answer. It's not the solution. And weight isn't even a behavioral change, so I always remind people, let's Stop with weight loss and let's lose the weight of anxiety.

Let's lose the weight of stress. Let's lose the weight of the eating disorder. Let's lose those things and then see how it impacts our overall well being.

Andi M: love that so much and particularly when you talk about weight not being a behavioral shift. 

I'm interested then you also in your work do a lot with PCOS and I'm really interested the connection between body neutrality, weight, healthy at every size, and then the condition of PCOS.

How does that all connect? And what is PCOS?

Eden Davis: Yeah. PCOS is polycystic ovary syndrome, and it's a hormonal and endocrine disorder. It actually affects more than 10 million women. So it is gaining more and more awareness throughout the years, which is wonderful and very needed for individuals who are struggling with it. And there's, it's so fascinating to me because of, What all goes into it?

So PCOS is characterized by high levels of androgens from the ovary and is associated with insulin resistance. So, the thing with PCOS is that an individual is going to have high levels of androgen. They're going to have high levels of insulin floating in the body. Something that's really important to note here.

Is that there are a lot of changes that can come with PCOS. Weight fluctuation is a really big one. It's one of the first things that people might notice. thEre's also, there could be acne on the body and the majority in the facial region. There's excessive hair growth. Or there can be hair loss, there is absence of a menstrual cycle or just any regular cycle, and there can also be spots of insulin resistance on the body as well as a few other things.

So there are a lot of things. Body changes taking place, and it makes sense because with PCOS, we have elevated levels of androgen, we have elevated levels of insulin, so our hormones are just really increased, and we're seeing that on the body. One reason that I really enjoy working with PCOS is because there's also a huge element with providing weight inclusive care.

So I love working with PCOS, and...

Helping them understand, okay, this is an endocrine, this is a hormonal disorder, this is why it's happening. Here's what we can do about it, though. We can do gentle nutrition for PCOS. We can do mindful movement for PCOS. And we can, really manage these signs and symptoms. PCOS is also the number one reason for infertility.

So sometimes people will come to me and they were, trying to expand their family and they have PCOS and maybe that's how they found out they had PCOS. So there can be a lot of elements to it. buT throughout my training, something that I really enjoyed learning was that weight loss is not the answer for PCOS.

We have no research that shows weight loss is going to long term help with PCOS. It's not. So, I love to just help them take off that pressure of like, hey, let's focus on, gentle nutrition, let's focus on movement, let's focus on body acceptance, and That is going to help PCOS. So it's really great.

Being able to incorporate that and not doing something that's a restrictive diet, not looking for a quick fix because PCOS is unfortunately lifelong. So what good is it going to be if we do a quick fix or an elimination diet? Sure you could do that, right? But like long term, are you going to do that for the rest of your life?

How is that going to impact you? So I really love just. Relying on science and that area and showing them here. This is what research has shown us. This is how we can really help manage PCOS.

Andi M: I love what you've just said. And PCOS, we don't hear about that a lot. And so hearing your experience, hearing your knowledge of what it is and how to start working with it is really powerful.

 What does a PCOS diagnosis look like?

Eden Davis: So, uh, if you are listening and you're thinking, okay, I have seen, you know, this weight fluctuation kind of take place out of nowhere. Maybe you have some facial hair or, excessive hair growth on the body that wasn't previously there. maYbe you're seeing some acne, maybe your menstrual cycle has been off.

I would strongly encourage you to go see your doctor and let's get some lab work done. So, uh, the diagnostic criteria for PCOS is that you have to have two of the three. anD these three are having few or some missed cycles throughout the year, having a clinical or biochemical signs of hyperandrogenism, so seeing high levels of androgen in the body, or having polycystic ovaries.

So, if you go to your doctor and you can identify, okay, I have at least two of these three things going on, then they'll be able to see that you have PCOS. And it can be scary, to be told, oh, you have this. But the good news is that it's absolutely manageable. And it doesn't have to be this intense, restrictive, diet.

It's honestly about addition way over restriction when it comes to something like PCOS.

Andi M: That concept of addition over restriction is really interesting. Talk to us more about that.

Eden Davis: Absolutely. I really love. The nutrition for PCOS, because something I commonly see are people who have both an eating disorder and PCOS. So individuals who have PCOS will be more than likely to actually develop and eating behaviors, 60 percent to be exact. So, uh, I like how when we're going through PCOS treatment, if they also have an eating disorder, it just helps us get, stay into that routine of eating consistently, eating enough throughout the day.

And it's not restriction. It's not, Oh my gosh, I can't have, a carbohydrate now because that's going to impact my glucose level. It's, No, that's totally fine. Let's apply some gentle nutrition and, mindfulness. Do you want this simple carb right now? And if the answer is yes, I want this hand, this handful of fruit.

Awesome. Have it, but can we maybe pair something with it? Can we put a protein or could we put a fat or something that has a lot of fiber with it just so we can see a stable glucose reading? And uh, By adding these other macronutrients, what we're doing is we're just preventing a spike in our glucose, which is going to help us long term with PCOS.

And when clients are able to see like, oh my gosh, I can have ice cream, like I can have whatever I want. There's such liberation in that we don't feel the need to go on a crazy restriction. And we also don't feel the need to be rebellious. When someone tells you, oh, you can't, do X, Y, Z, our human nature is to go, okay, watch me, you know, like, I'm going to go do it anyway.

So it also helps prevent that from thinking that you can never have it again. So I really, I really enjoy working on that nutrition perspective of, hey, let's just understand nutrition. Let's just see how this is impacting our glucose level so that we can. Okay. keep them more steady. We have to eat throughout the day so that our glucose doesn't drop.

And I mentioned how it can actually turn into binging behaviors, and that's why. So, we need to eat around every three to four hours to keep a good glucose reading in the body. And when we don't, what happens is... The body has used glucose. Glucose is our primary fuel source, right? So when we use it, and it drops in the body.

And when it drops, our body is aware that we have hypoglycemia, low blood glucose. And This is, not good, and it's scary, and we could, pass out, go into coma. There's tons of things that can come from this. So the body is wired for survival, and it's like, I'm not gonna pass out, you know. so it starts telling the body, it's like, hey, get some carbs now.

Like, we're not trying to do this right now. So everything in us is like, go eat carbs, go eat carbs. So when our blood sugar drops, we'll go and usually overeat carbs because the body's freaking out. You know, The body's like, hey, we're in overdrive, eat everything in sight. And then people will commonly see binging behaviors due to that.

So, when I talk to people that first time, they start Explaining kind of like what they're experiencing. I'm like, okay, so you're seeing the binge restrict cycle. They're like, what? I'm like, the blood glucose drops because you restrict it and then you go into a binge purely on carbs. They're like, yes, I'm like, okay totally manageable.

Totally something we can work on. And it makes sense, you know, when you look at it through that science perspective of why, you started craving these things because you weren't eating enough. You weren't eating throughout the day. We didn't have a stable reading. The body was just trying to survive, but now that we know that, we can gear up, we can meal prep, we can plan out our meals and our snacks to make sure that we prevent that from happening in the future, which is something that we Do with eating disorders already.

So it's really cool to see how one can really help the recovery of the other.

Andi M: Yeah, and it's so powerful, isn't it? Having that scientific understanding of what the body is actually going through. And when you talked there about, a simple thing like balancing the nutrients to give the body that sustainable kind of macronutrients that it needs to be able to hold itself in these beautiful neutral states is so powerful.

which is the perfect transition now for me to ask you more about your work and what that looks like because some of the things that you've shared are so powerful. I'm sure there are listeners who are like, Tell me more. Where do I get more information on all of this stuff? So I'd love to know.

Eden Davis: absolutely. I just really love empowering people with that science approach and the body image acceptance when it comes to both PCOS and eating disorders. foR PCOS, I typically, We'll do a 4 part session with individuals, and I break up the learning objectives into 4 different sessions. And then afterwards, what my clients really appreciate is that all the handouts, all the education, research, all of the PowerPoint essentially is sent to them.

So they can have that to look back on. They like that. And then I also offer in app support, which is something I really enjoy doing. 

 So the in app support is really cool because someone can just go on there and say, okay, I had this for my snack and I know it's not really balanced.

I don't really know what to put with it, but I know I love this. You know, Like, I know I love this and I don't want to get rid of it, but I don't know what to put with it. And I'm like, okay. And then I'll start naming something so I can pair well with it. I'll be like, well, didn't you mention you really like, olives?

Like, do you think olives would be good here? And they're like, oh, my gosh, I didn't think about adding that, so it's very individualized, which I think is key when it comes to treatment is we need it to be individualized so that it's realistic and sustainable. So. Through that app support is where we really get to see the magic and the beauty of, okay, how can we make this really work for us?

So I really enjoy doing that as well. And then I actually am going to have an e course on PCOS coming out and then also have a Body Image Workbook. So, the Body Image Workbook is broad, open to anyone. And then we'll be doing another Body Image Workbook specific to PCOS, as there is just so much that can come with that.

Andi M: That sounds amazing, Eden. There's been so many key takeaways that I have. I'm really grateful, and I know there's going to be a lot of people listening today that are gaining a lot out of this conversation.

So thank you so much for being here. When we do want to connect with you, where do we go? What is the best place to be able to connect, contact, and get some of this new stuff that you're putting out?

Eden Davis: Absolutely. I think community support is so important, to hear someone else's journey and to hear these type of stories and to know, I'm not alone. You know, There are other people who have been there and done it and to know that, recovery and these things are possible. So. I really love being able to have that community aspect with individuals.

I am on Instagram. it's Pearl Wellness Practice on Instagram, also on TikTok. And then my website is pearlwellnesspractice. com. So I have a lot of blogs, especially around eating disorders and PCOS. I have a few quizzes. So if you're listening today and you're like, do I have an eating disorder?

Do I have PCOS? You can actually go take those complimentary quizzes and get a better understanding of what it might look like. But yeah, tons of resources over there on the website. You're more than welcome to uh, submit a message on the website if you want to connect and look further at working together.

And then I'm so excited to share that my podcast will be coming live um, this upcoming January. the practice is Pearl Wellness Practice Grit and to Worth, and our podcast is going to be called Grit and to Worth, podcast by Pearl Wellness.

Andi M: I love that. Grit into worth. How amazing. Thank you so much for being here, Eden. It has been so wonderful to have this conversation. Very insightful. And I'm really excited to stay connected, to tune into the podcast when it launches. So thank you for being here today.

Eden Davis: I really appreciate being here. Thank you for having me.

Andi M: This was such a beautiful conversation with Eden. It had so many great nuggets of helpful information. If you're feeling drawn to work with Eden, please connect with her on Instagram at Pearl Wellness Practice. And again, if you're feeling that pull to explore what working with me could look like, please do drop me a message on Instagram at andi.matthies. Together, we can really crack open your connection with your body and start to really deepen that, as well as to start opening your own higher energetic abilities 

so that you can really pull down and anchor in everything that you're meant to be in this lifetime.

Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode. If you loved listening, please subscribe to the podcast and leave a review because I'd love to give you a shout out. You can find us on Instagram at @bodydiariespodcast.

You can also find me, your host, at @andi.matthies. And if you're feeling ready to share your story on Body Diaries or you have some powerful insights from your own work that you know would help others on their own journeys, fill in the guest application that's in the show notes.

This podcast was recorded in Naam, the traditional lands of the Kulin Nation, to whom I pay my respects to Elders past and present, as well as any other Aboriginal Elders of other communities who may be listening.