Episode 024

A Different Kind of Back to School: Supporting Your Student Through Eating Disorder Recovery

In this episode, Jenni Gaines and Laura Cohen talk through what the back to school season actually looks like when a child is in eating disorder recovery, drawing entirely on their own experience as caregivers. They cover slow re-entry plans and partial schedules, the school services many families never learn about until they ask, and the specific problem of school lunch — why a lunch monitor is not meal support, and what creative workarounds families have used to protect a third of the day's nutrition. Laura walks caregivers through the 504 plan in detail: what it is, what it is not, how to request one, and what to do when a district refuses. Both hosts spend time on the emotional side too — the exhaustion of navigating social noise all day, the grief of a social life on hold, and the permission to change the plan when it stops working. Listeners will come away with practical questions to bring to their school and a reminder that this season is now, not forever.

00:00 Introduction and Disclaimer

01:00 Why Back to School Feels Different in Recovery

02:30 Laura's Story: A Senior Year Interrupted

05:00 It's Not All or Nothing: The Slow Re-Entry Plan

06:40 School Services Families Don't Know Exist

09:40 Jenni's Story: Six Weeks of Homebound School

14:00 School Lunch: Why It's the Hardest Part of the Day

17:30 Getting Creative with Lunch and Snacks

20:20 Finding a Safe Person at School

24:50 Social Noise and Why They Come Home Exhausted

28:20 Adjusting Expectations: Sports, Activities, and Milestones

33:00 The 504 Plan: What It Is and How to Request One

41:00 When a District Says No

42:20 Validation, Collaboration, and Flexibility

SUPPORT & RESOURCES - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

FEAST website:

https://feast-ed.org/

FEAST programs and services:

https://feast-ed.org/programs-and-services/

Episode 023

Trust & Treatment: How Outpatient Teams Support Lasting Recovery (with Melanie Lehman)

In this episode, Laura Cohen sits down with Melanie Lehman, a registered dietitian and licensed dietitian nutritionist. Laura and Melanie unpack how caregivers can build and get the most out of an outpatient treatment team: how to tell an eating disorder specialist from a general dietitian, what questions to ask a prospective provider, and how the dietitian, therapist, and medical provider roles overlap and collaborate. Melanie explains why outpatient care is the long haul rather than a quick fix, how she builds rapport with kids who won't engage, and why the caregiver is the most important member of the team.

Listeners will come away with concrete language to use (including asking a doctor for orthostatic vitals), red flags that signal the wrong fit, and reassurance that they have every right to advocate and be treated as a partner in their loved one's care.

00:00 Introduction and Disclaimer

01:20 Laura Introduces Melanie Lehman

03:00 How Laura and Melanie Met: A Shared History

05:30 Choosing a Dietitian: Why Specialty Matters

08:00 Questions to Ask and Trusting Your Gut

13:00 Building an Outpatient Team and What It Includes

15:00 The Purpose of Outpatient Care: The Long Haul

19:30 Roles of the Dietitian, Therapist, and Medical Provider

27:00 Orthostatic Vitals and Additional Team Members

30:30 Building Rapport with Kids Who Won't Engage

36:00 The Caregiver's Role: Communication and Advocacy

43:30 Handling Disagreements, Weight Goals, and Three Takeaways

SUPPORT & RESOURCES - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

FEAST website:

https://feast-ed.org/

FEAST programs and services:

https://feast-ed.org/programs-and-services/

MEDA (Multi-Service Eating Disorders Association):

https://www.medainc.org/

Lehman Nutrition (Melanie Lehman's practice):

https://www.lehmannutrition.com/

Guest Bio:

Melanie Lehman is a Registered Dietitian and Licensed Dietitian Nutritionist in private practice. She specializes in supporting individuals struggling with eating disorders, disordered eating, and body image concerns. She studied nutrition at the University of New Hampshire, and went on to complete her dietetic internship at Massachusetts General Hospital. From there, she began her career at the Cambridge Eating Disorder Center and subsequently was the Assistant Director of Clinical Services at Van Dusen Nutrition, a private practice group. Two years ago she took the leap to start her own private practice and recently hired her first dietitian, and hopes to grow Lehman Nutrition in the years to come. She is a member of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and MEDA (Multi-Service Eating Disorders Association).

Episode 022

Safe to Play: Returning to Sport After an Eating Disorder (with Megan Hellner and Katherine Hill)

In this episode, Jenni Gaines and Laura Cohen sit down with Dr. Katherine Hill, a board-certified physician and former NCAA Division I swimmer, and Dr. Megan Hellner, a registered dietitian and researcher, the co-founders of AthleatMD, to talk through one of the questions caregivers ask most: when is it safe for an athlete to return to sport after an eating disorder? Katherine and Megan explain what makes athletes a unique population, why weight suppression and stress fractures so often get missed, and how RED-S (Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport) overlaps with eating disorders across all genders and sports. They walk through early warning signs, the medical red flags that warrant pulling an athlete from training, and how to tell an athletic heart from a malnourished one. Laura also shares her own lived experience as a dietitian who missed the signs in her gymnast daughter. Listeners will come away with a hopeful, practical roadmap for a low-and-slow return to sport, guidance on working with coaches and athletic staff, and specific tools, including the SEES return-to-activity guidelines, to bring to their own care team.

00:00 Introduction and Disclaimer

01:40 Guest Introductions: Katherine Hill and Megan Hellner

04:00 What Makes Athletes a Unique Population

08:00 Higher-Risk Sports and Early Warning Signs

12:30 Laura's Lived Experience: Stress Fractures and Weight Suppression

16:40 What Is RED-S and Low Energy Availability

20:00 Low Testosterone and Missed Signs in Male Athletes

24:00 ARFID, Underfueling, and Overtraining

28:00 Bradycardia and Medical Red Flags to Stop Training

32:45 Deciding Whether to Step Away from Competition

37:15 Coaches, Schools, and How Much to Share

47:15 Returning to Sport and the SEES Guidelines

SUPPORT & RESOURCES - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

FEAST website:

https://feast-ed.org/

FEAST programs and services:

https://feast-ed.org/programs-and-services/

AthleatMD:

https://www.athleatmd.com/

FEAST webinar — Helping Parents of Athletes Navigate Return to Sport While Battling RED-S and/or Eating Disorders:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIpNYWqMkB0

SEES — Safe Exercise at Every Stage guidelines:

https://www.safeexerciseateverystage.com/sees-guidelines

Guest Bios:

Katherine Hill, MD, is a board-certified physician, eating disorder specialist, and co-founder of AthleatMD. She completed her undergraduate degree, medical degree, and clinical training at Stanford University, where she later joined the faculty in Adolescent Medicine. She went on to serve as the lead physician at Equip Health for four years before launching AthleatMD with Megan Hellner. A former NCAA Division I swimmer, Dr. Hill brings both clinical expertise and lived athletic experience to her work with athletes navigating eating disorders, RED-S, and the pressures of sport.

Dr. Megan Hellner is a registered dietitian, researcher, and co-founder of AthleatMD, where she specializes in helping athletes and individuals recover from eating disorders and Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S). For more than two decades, she has served as the founding dietitian for some of the nation's leading eating disorder treatment programs. She is passionate about giving caregivers the knowledge, tools, and reassurance they need to confidently support their loved one's recovery journey.

Episode 019

Title: You Don't Have To Do This Alone: A Conversation for Male Caregivers (with Wayne Herring and Kevin Olmsted)

In this episode, Jenni Gaines and Laura Cohen sit down with Kevin Olmsted and Wayne Herring, co-facilitators of Men of FEAST and fathers who each supported a daughter through an eating disorder and into recovery. Kevin, who left his career in the wine business to become a full-time caregiver during his daughter's seven-year recovery journey, and Wayne, a business and life coach who navigated a crisis hospitalization at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, share the distinct roles they each played and the emotions they carried — fear, hopelessness, failure, and grief over what their daughters lost. Together they give listeners a genuine look inside Men of FEAST, a virtual support group for dads and other male caregivers, and explain what makes it different: the permission it gives men to be present, to be honest, and to ask for help. Listeners will come away with a clear message from two men who have been through it: you don't have to face this alone, and recovery is possible.

00:00 Introduction and Disclaimer

01:02 Guest Introductions: Wayne Herring and Kevin Olmsted

03:31 Wayne's Journey: From Talk Therapy to CHOP

08:16 Kevin's Journey: An Overnight PhD in Eating Disorders

12:37 Day-to-Day Roles in Recovery

18:36 Identity, Roles, and the Male Caregiver Experience

27:29 What They Wish Someone Had Said Earlier

30:56 Fear, Failure, and Mourning What Was Lost

35:47 What Is Men of FEAST?

39:23 Permission, Progress, and the Power of Peer Support

42:41 Encouraging Male Caregivers: Don't Leave the Room

45:26 Closing Thoughts: Hope and the Possibility of Recovery

SUPPORT & RESOURCES

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FEAST website:

https://feast-ed.org/

FEAST programs and services:

https://feast-ed.org/programs-and-services/

Men of FEAST:

https://feast-ed.org/men-of-feast/

Kevin Olmsted's memoir, Scared Dad Feeding:

https://www.scareddadfeeding.com/

Guest Bios:

Kevin Olmsted lives in Northern California with his wife of thirty-four years and is the father of two adult children, including a daughter now seven years into recovery from anorexia. A longtime member and co-host of Men of FEAST, Kevin left his career in the wine business seven years ago to serve as a full-time caregiver during his daughter's recovery. He is also the author of Scared Dad Feeding, a self-published memoir about his family's experience navigating his daughter's illness and recovery, and is frequently sought out by other families facing similar challenges.

Wayne Herring lives on a twenty-acre farm in rural Pennsylvania with his family, where they raise pigs and cows. He is the father of five children, including a daughter who has recovered from anorexia. Wayne helped found Men of FEAST alongside other parents and now serves as a co-facilitator, drawing on both his lived experience as a caregiver and his work as a business and life coach to support other male caregivers. He is also an avid runner and lifelong learner who describes himself as grateful every day for his daughter's recovery.

Episode 018

Title: Voices of Hope: A Professional Boxer's Hidden Fight (with Danny O'Connor)

In this episode, Jenni Gaines and Laura Cohen sit down with Danny O'Connor, a former elite professional boxer, Olympic team member, and author of Weight Class, to hear his firsthand account of battling an eating disorder across more than two decades of competition. Danny traces the origin of his disordered behaviors from his wrestling days in high school — where no one taught him healthy weight management — through his professional boxing career, where he spent years cutting weight in secret while hiding a binge eating disorder from coaches, nutritionists, and nearly everyone around him. He talks candidly about the difference between weight cutting and an eating disorder, what it felt like to lose control of the one thing he'd always been able to discipline, and the role his wife Diane played in keeping him afloat. Listeners will come away with a deeper understanding of how eating disorders hide in plain sight in weight class sports, why men are particularly isolated in this experience, and what caregivers can do — and be — when someone they love is struggling.

00:00 Introduction and Disclaimer

01:02 Guest Introduction: Danny O'Connor

03:18 Childhood: Family, Food, and a Sandlot Life

06:02 Wrestling, Weight Cutting, and No One Telling Him Anything

13:33 Downward Spiral: Academics, Arrests, and Losing Wrestling

18:10 Finding Boxing: How a PAL Gym Changed Everything

20:57 How Weight Classes Work in Amateur and Professional Boxing

26:53 From Weight Cutting to Eating Disorder: When Control Vanished 31:08 Binge Eating and the Behavior He Couldn't Stop

36:25 Hidden in Plain Sight: 15 Nutritionists and Still Silent

41:58 Isolation, His Wife Diane, and Finding the Right Supports

49:00 Recovery Isn't Linear: Treating the Eating Disorder Like an Opponent

01:01:12 What Danny Wants Caregivers to Know

SUPPORT & RESOURCES

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FEAST website:

https://feast-ed.org/

FEAST programs and services:

https://feast-ed.org/programs-and-services/

Danny O'Connor's book, Weight Class:

https://www.amazon.com/Weight-Class-Fighters-Life-Death/dp/B0GMY44348

Guest Bio:

Danny O'Connor is a former elite professional boxer who grew up outside of Boston and was a member of the 2008 United States Olympic Boxing Team. As an accomplished amateur, he captured multiple national titles, including the US National Championships and the National Golden Gloves, establishing himself as one of the top fighters of his generation.

O'Connor turned professional in 2008 and competed at the highest levels of the sport for more than a decade, compiling a professional record of 31 wins and holding the WBC International Silver Super Lightweight Championship. Following his professional career,

O'Connor became a vocal advocate for greater awareness around weight class sports and eating disorders in men. Through his book Weight Class, he gives a voice to the many men who suffer in silence, drawing directly from his career in boxing and his firsthand experience battling an eating disorder in and out of the ring.

Episode 017

Voices of Hope: The Power of Parents in Recovery (with Kinsey Dalbec)

In this episode, Jenni Gaines and Laura Cohen sit down with Kinsey Dalbec, an eating disorder therapist at Equip who is also 13 years into her own recovery from anorexia nervosa. Kinsey shares the story of developing anorexia at 17, the crystal-ball moment in an adult treatment program that changed everything, and why her parents' refusal to back down was the single most important factor in her recovery. She and the hosts explore what leverage really means for parents of young adults, why the "once they turn 18, it's over" belief sells parents short, and how to set firm boundaries without damaging the relationship. Kinsey also describes what protecting recovery looks like more than a decade later and offers direct, practical encouragement to any caregiver feeling powerless.

00:00 Introduction and Disclaimer

01:03 Guest Introduction: Kinsey Dalbec

02:53 Kinsey's Story: From "Healthy Eating" to Anorexia

08:20 The Turning Point: A Crystal Ball in the Adult Program

10:48 What Helped Most: Parents Who Wouldn't Back Down

13:17 When Help Doesn't Feel Like Help

15:24 How Recovery Led to a Career in Eating Disorder Treatment

20:28 The Therapist She Needed but Never Had

22:46 The 18 Myth: Why Parents Still Matter for Young Adults

27:15 Redefining Leverage as an Act of Love

31:15 Empowering Parents to Trust Their Instincts

35:51 Unconditional Love Means Getting in the Trenches

39:09 Setting Boundaries Without Losing the Relationship

43:51 Protecting Recovery: The McDonald's Test

46:39 Spotting Sneaky Eating Disorder Behaviors

49:34 Final Words: Don't Sell Yourself Short

SUPPORT & RESOURCES - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

FEAST website:

https://feast-ed.org/

FEAST programs and services:

https://feast-ed.org/programs-and-services/

FEAST blog post:

https://feast-ed.org/dear-mom-and-dad-thank-you-for-saving-my-life/

FEAST Family Guide: https://feast-ed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/FamilyGuide_UsingLeverage_2025_v2.2.pdf

Guest Bio: Kinsey Dalbec is an eating disorder therapist currently working at Equip who has also been in her own recovery from anorexia nervosa for 13 years. After developing anorexia at 17 years old, she received Family Based Treatment, which eventually led her to full recovery. She is now a married mother of two young children and uses her life experience and clinical expertise to help patients and families navigate their own treatment and recoveries.