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We were taught that thinness meant beauty, discipline, and good health. But what if some of those lessons were lies?

Women's health educator Nancy Fisher joins me for a talk about eating disorders, body image, and the beliefs about food and weight that have followed us for decades.

Nancy and I attended the same college, where academic excellence coexisted with rampant disordered eating. We revisit those years—the restrictive eating, the pressure to stay thin, and the painful contradiction of looking our best while feeling our worst.

Nancy shares how her eating disorder began in high school and went largely unnoticed by her parents. She also introduces the fascinating research of Cynthia Bulik on the genetic underpinnings of anorexia nervosa, challenging the assumption that eating disorders are simply about diet culture or even family dynamics.

We explore the relationship between undernourishment and mental health, including my own questions about restrictive eating, depression, and bipolar disorder. For Nancy, becoming a mother brought new urgency to learning how to eat healthfully. She wanted to nourish herself not just physically, but emotionally—to have a greater buffer against stress and more patience and stability for her children.

Decades later, we're still confronting old habits, from scrutinizing our bodies in gym mirrors to refusing to step on a scale.

Nancy also shares surprising research on weight and mortality, including findings that people classified as overweight have, in some large population studies, experienced lower mortality rates than those classified as normal weight. It's a provocative challenge to the assumption that thinner always means healthier. And it's a reminder that disordered eating can affect women at any point in their lives.

This is Part 1 of our conversation about eating disorders, the lies we learned about our bodies, and the hard work of unlearning them.

In Part 2, Nancy returns to discuss five pillars of women's midlife health.

Nancy Fisher's Substack: HERE

Research Mentioned

Cynthia Bulik and colleagues — Genetics of Anorexia Nervosa
Nature Genetics (2019)
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6779477/

Katherine Flegal and colleagues — BMI and All-Cause Mortality
JAMA (2013)
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4855514/

Please note: Guests on Bipolar She share their personal experiences, knowledge, and perspectives, which may differ from those of the host, Janine Noel. Our conversations are intended to inform and inspire, not to replace professional medical advice.

If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis, call or text 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, for free, confidential support 24/7 in the United States.

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Bipolar She is dedicated to real conversations for women living with mental illness. Hosted by Janine Noel, the majority of episodes give voice to a woman who has lived-life experience with mental illness--or who has experienced the illness of someone close to them. Along the way, I interview experts in the field that address additional mental health concerns.

Frankly, coping with a mental health condition can be exhausting. Here's a place where you can land and find an episode that resonates with you. Some topics we've covered: being a bipolar mom or having a bipolar mom. Anxiety, agoraphobia, chronic depression, ECT, borderline personality disorder, ADHD, a psychiatrist that breaks your trust. A therapist who goes above and beyond to help you. The impact of trauma on your brain.

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