Liv Label Free | Neurodivergent Eating Disorder Recovery

You know what’s been missing from the podcast space? A GROUP podcast where neurodivergent aliens with ED lived experience come together to share their struggles & insights. Because let’s be real, there’s nothing more validating than hearing from others that have the EXACT same thoughts as you… Which is why I’m beyond excited to share that myself and past Autistically ED-Free Academy participants have launched that group podcast! In this first episode, we discuss why eating disorders are distractions from our creative potential, the fear of emptiness in quasi recovery, and how we’re one quantum system in different bodies communicating through a collective unconscious energy field 😍 Want to join our live group calls AND get access to a shit ton of other neurodiversity-affirming resources? Everything is now part of the Liv Label Free Membership! When you join, you’ll get instant access to: ✅ 3x monthly live group coaching calls (including 1x monthly pod!) ✅ Private WhatsApp group for 24/7 support ✅ Full access to my extreme hunger course ✅ Full access to hours of recorded coaching calls (including Academy group calls!) The membership is the most affordable way to get access to me and my community! And if you sign up for the annual plan, you get a FREE 1-1 coaching session with yours truly 🥰 Sign up here: https://livlabelfree.com/membership I’ve been pretty tired of existing lately, but authentic CONNECTION is what makes life worth suffering for 💗🌈✨ With love always, XO Liv 💌 Sign up for Liv Label Free emails! https://livlabelfree.com/join 📚 Read my books! https://livlabelfreebooks.com

Happy 2026 my friends! It’s been a while since I recorded a solo episode, but it feels ✨aligned✨ again, so here we are! In today’s podcast, I share 5 things I’ve left behind in 2025 so that I can step more fully into my BEING. 💌 Sign up for my newsletter! https://livlabelfree.com/join👯 Liv Label Free Membership: https://www.livlabelfree.com/membership📚 Read my books! https://livlabelfreebooks.com💗 1-1 Coaching: https://www.livlabelfree.com/coaching Autistic Burnout and Energy Q&A:  https://www.livlabelfree.com/podcasts/liv-label-free-neurodivergent-eating-disorder-recovery/episodes/2148905858Neurodiversity-affirming meditations: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPe4yiySjHmHZt_BU0YFpDZO92JBVhyqt&si=z70HW_uPxftU5QY5

In this first episode of the Liv and Kathi coalescence, we let the conversation flow where our souls guide us! We chat about breaking free from past identities, following your intuition, how reality is a collective dream, and so much more. Ready to discover your authentic self with others who genuinely understand the neurodivergent experience of eating adaptations? Join us in 51 Days to Freedom! https://livlabelfree.com/freedom Sign up for Liv Label Free emails! https://livlabelfree.com/join

Livia shares a powerful metaphor to help you take the first step to breaking free from quasi recovery. If you’re ready to take the next step, join us in 51 Days to Freedom! https://livlabelfree.com/freedom Sign up for Liv Label Free emails! https://livlabelfree.com/join

Livia Sara chats with Rachael Herron about creativity, art, and how words will always fail. If you or your loved one are terrified of letting go of the eating disorder identity, this conversation is going to inspire and empower you to become the person you were born to be! Sign up for Liv Label Free emails: www.livlabelfree.com/join

Livia chats with Anna, who discovered me through my book Rainbow Girl, participated in the Autistically ED-Free Academy, and is on her own journey to discovering what freedom looks like after an eating disorder. This episode is the start of a new podcast era in which I leave behind excessive preparation and scripted episodes. Instead, I’m fully leaning into what my soul has been craving most – authentic, raw, & live connection 🫶 Anna and I talk about SO much, including how our evolving stories do NOT have “fairy tale endings,” why “discovery” is a much more powerful term than “recovery,” and why leaving conformity behind is the key to real freedom. 👯 Liv Label Free Membership: https://www.livlabelfree.com/membership📚 Read my books! https://livlabelfreebooks.com

Go on a walk with me as I record another spontaneous voice memo! In this episode, I share my evolving relationship with the podcast format, explaining how I’m craving more live, soul-to-soul connections rather than speaking into the void. I discuss feeling claustrophobic as I try to externally match my internal vastness through words, and how authentic connections through 1-1 Coaching, the Autistically ED-Free Academy, and the Existential Autistic Membership have become infinitely more meaningful than solo recordings. This episode covers my shift away from social media and AI-generated content to focusing on my books and my desire to preserve my speaking energy for live connections rather than scripted episodes. All in all, I’m embracing change and adaptation, moving toward a podcast format featuring guests and genuine energy exchange while being transparent about the everyday struggle of existing as an autistic person beyond the facade of “life is perfect” after an eating disorder. ✨ Existential Autistic Membership: https://www.livlabelfree.com/membership🌈 Autistically ED-Free Academy: https://www.livlabelfree.com/group📚 Read my books! https://livlabelfreebooks.com💗 1-1 Coaching: https://www.livlabelfree.com/coaching

In today's episode, I’m pulling back the curtain on my everyday experience being AuDHD (Autistic and ADHD). I share how trapped I feel in this body, how overwhelmed I am by my own mind, and how masking & giftedness play a role in it all. Discovery resources for you:🎙️ Free audiotraining: https://www.livlabelfree.com/free-audiotraining✨ Existential Autistic Membership: https://www.livlabelfree.com/membership💗 1-1 Coaching: https://www.livlabelfree.com/coaching📚 Neurodiversity-Affirming Books: https://livlabelfreebooks.com Mentioned episodes:Second Puberty & Feeling Trapped in a Body https://youtu.be/xKygJ1lExJgAre Eating Disorders a Form of Autistic Masking? https://youtu.be/6uvYhhN3BzkExistential Nausea (go on a walk with me!) https://youtu.be/cSbmVDWHHQs Episode transcript:Hello my friend and welcome back to the next installment of the Dopamine Diaries, AKA we’re continuing our conversation on ADHD! Because if you listened to the previous motherfucker of an episode on the relationship between autism, ADHD, and anorexia, you know that I’m all about being comprehensive. Because I am a DEEP learner. When I learn, I LEARN. I want to know everything there is to know about the topic I’m interested in. Which is of course why school was so hard for me, why I was quietly dying inside with my perfect grades and constant studying but struggling to keep up with it all because there was never enough time to truly go deep into the material.  And while I had SO many questions, a huge part of masking for me was hiding my curiosity. I was SO afraid of not being liked and of people thinking I was not smart enough, that I didn’t ask questions and just tried to figure everything out on my own. Of course, this can make you feel very lonely, because you’re constantly trying to suppress everything that you are. And while I feel like I’m just going off on a tangent here in sharing how I’m a deep & independent learner and how I grew up masking my curious self, I actually do feel this is super relevant to today’s topic. Because in the last episode I was really focused on the restrictive eating disorder manifestation of ADHD traits, but today I want to pull back the curtain on my personal life and talk about my everyday experience of being an AuDHDer, which is of course the combination of Autism and ADHD. I’ve got SOOO much to say so this is enough of an intro, time to dive in! Okay so where shall we start? Let’s just start at the beginning, I mean that just makes sense, right? But you don’t look like you have ADHD! Well for any of you that know my story and perhaps have read my memoir Rainbow Girl, you know I was the “good girl.” I was the star athlete in all my sports, I got good grades, I was one of the favorite students of all my teachers, and well, from the outside, my life was quite perfect! My middle sister Mae, by contrast, was the troublemaker. She was always losing her homework, going to the principal’s office for not listening to the teacher, and she would make us late for everything. The apparent contrast between me and her could not have been greater. This is why, when I started exploring ADHD for myself after being in the neurodivergent community for a few years after my autism discovery in 2020, my whole family said I *couldn’t* have ADHD. Because whereas my sister would start school assignments past midnight on the due date, I would start 3 weeks in advance to give myself a “buffer” because you know, just in case anything goes wrong. I never misplaced things and I got straight A’s, so how could I claim I had difficulty focusing? Well, I hope you realize I’m being sarcastic because these are precisely the myths that often cause ADHD people to go undiagnosed, especially when autism is also present. Because the thing is that ADHD will present differently in an AuDHD person. For me personally – and it’s actually funny saying this out loud because we often talk about masking in the context of hiding our autism – but I believe that my autism masks my ADHD. And the most prominent way in which this shows up in my life is that my autism has routines that make up for my ADHD challenges. To give a concrete example, there’s the stereotype of ADHD people always losing their keys. Well for me, it’s not that I’ve never lost my keys or always lose my keys or in the grand scheme of things can never find anything, it’s that my autism has routines to always put everything back in the same place. Or to get even more specific, my autism is really good at finding patterns. So if I notice I’ve lost my keys three times in a week, my pattern-seeking-brain will go “Oh no, this has happened three times already! We better create a routine around the keys to prevent further mishaps.” This is why autistic traits are inherently adaptive; because in this example, it’s not that we’re being “rigid” about where we’re placing something, it’s that it probably makes us anxious to do something different every time because then you naturally increase the chances that something could go wrong AGAIN! Speaking of anxiety, nothing makes me more anxious than time pressure. When I was growing up, my family was always rushing, and we were always late to everything (and just to be fair to Mae, this wasn’t only because of her. My mother and father are also ADHD). I despised this so much because I was always ready to go way in advance, and in retrospect, even this seemingly insignificant aspect of our family dynamics could have been part of my feeling like I had no control, which is of course where the eating disorder so conveniently came in. I couldn’t control what people thought of me and I couldn’t control whether we’d be on time, but I could control what I ate and how I moved. Going back to not being able to handle time pressure, this is again where my autism is super adaptive. Because I don’t want to rush, my autism ensures I always have a buffer to be way on time, or as we say it in Dutch, “ruim op tijd” which literally translates to “roomily on time” (yes, I totally just made up the word “roomily” for the sake of a precise translation!). From this perspective, I have often wondered whether someone who presents as autistic and ADHD can even be labeled with the simple amalgamation “AuDHD” – because our experience goes way beyond “pure autism” plus “pure ADHD.” I don’t solely resonate with either label, meaning I feel like it’s almost a unique condition, or rather, a unique way of being. And maybe it’s just me, but don’t you feel that merging two existing conditions – or again, two ways of being – misses the point entirely? Because the point is to represent a unique human being? Anyways, here I go again with my semantic rabbit holes and this is why I always come back to liv label free. Because the truth is, no matter what we call anything, words can never even begin to encompass the complexity of the energy that has coalesced to create the unique human that is you. And as I’ve said before on this podcast and in my books, I’m not against labels. It’s all about the intention behind the label. For example, the label “anorexic” or “disordered” is not helpful because you’re essentially intertwining someone’s identity with something that is not a core part of their being. However, when I use the terms autism, ADHD, and AuDHD to explain my experience so I can connect with you, well now the labels are serving a really important function, right? That being said, this is actually a perfect transition into the next thing I want to discuss which is what I like to call the autism vs ADHD battle. The Autism vs ADHD Battle For as long as I can remember, I’ve felt an internal tug-of-war. My autism craves safety, predictability, routines, and stillness. But my ADHD constantly wants the complete opposite. My ADHD is constantly chasing movement. It wants novelty, which, for me, looks like NEVER being satisfied with what I’m doing. When I’m walking, I want to be writing. When I’m writing, I want to be biking. When I’m biking, I want to be eating. But when I’m eating, I want to be writing! For me, this is where the existential claustrophobia comes in – which, on previous podcasts, I defined as the acute awareness of being a boundless creative that’s confined by the limitations of physical reality. Because I want to do so much and I want to do it all at once, realizing that I can’t actually do multiple things at once AND that this body I inhabit has limits to how much it can do at all causes me to feel really claustrophobic in this human body costume. I literally cannot handle being bored because in moments of stillness, my soul feels like it’s pressing against my physical skin which is obviously so painful. But I think the most painful realization for me is the innate sense of my soul being pure energy – so the concept, dream, vision, soul experience, whatever we’re gonna call it – of being able to create and move and flow all at the same time does not match the physical laws. I know that’s kind of abstract, so what I mean by this, is that in my dreams (or rather, in my soul sense, if you know what I mean, like the part of me that is not bound by physical constraints) that part of me is most creative and writes best when I am running at the speed of light. My most creative ideas come when I’m working out, which has so often made me want to have the ability to write and be exercising at the same time. But of course, this is not physically possible! (And by the way, no, a walking pad or stationary bike is not the same. I literally feel like I need to be sprinting or doing something intense as fuck AND be creating my art at my most intense capacity.) So, I think that is precisely why I always want to be doing something different; it’s because in my soul, I do possess the ability to be doing everything at once. Or if we’re getting real spiritual, I am everything at once! And wow I honestly don’t know how I went from talking about ADHD to my soul being everything, but I guess it makes a lo

In this first installment of Dopamine Diaries, Livia Sara unravels the overlooked connection between autism, ADHD, and anorexia. You’ll learn how dopamine differences create a neurodivergent vulnerability for engaging in anorexia behaviors, including restriction, compulsive exercise, ADHD hyperfocus, and constantly thinking about food! Further resources:📚 Neurodiversity-Affirming Books: https://livlabelfreebooks.com✨ Existential Autistic Membership: https://www.livlabelfree.com/membership💗 1-1 Coaching: https://www.livlabelfree.com/coaching📖 Free Extreme Hunger Guide: https://www.livlabelfree.com/extreme-hunger-guide🎙️ Free Autism and Eating Disorders Training: https://www.livlabelfree.com/free-audiotraining Mentioned episodes:Autism and Binge Eating: https://youtu.be/V1Ut5spEVHsBut Restriction Helps Me Focus! https://youtu.be/_MHB8y9qackBlack & White Thinking in Autism and Anorexia https://youtu.be/TpDAEncit2YAutism, Anorexia, and Metabolism https://youtu.be/xsOBtfY9CcAIs it harder for an autistic person to recover? https://youtu.be/jh7kYLOpUcM Episode transcript:Ok my friends, we need to talk about something that I literally have never heard anyone talk about but (at this point) it comes up with almost every one of my clients, because almost every one of my clients isn’t only autistic but is also ADHD. So what we’re gonna be talking about today is the connection between ADHD and anorexia. And I’m super excited to finally be diving deep into this connection because most of the information on neurodivergence and eating disorders is still quite binary. Supposedly, autism is linked to anorexia and ARFID (Avoidant-Restrictive Food Intake Disorder), while ADHD is linked to binge eating and compulsive overeating. While, of course, these links are valid and true, where’s the nuance? Why is no one talking about how autistic people struggle with binge eating or how ADHDers struggle with restrictive eating disorders? Well, I’ve already done a whole series on autism and binge eating on this podcast, so now I’m starting a series on how those of us who are autistic and ADHD interact with food and movement. In this first episode specifically, I’m unpacking the overlooked connection between autism, ADHD, and anorexia through both scientific research and lived experience as an AuDHDer with a history of anorexia nervosa. We’ll explore how core anorexia symptoms like restriction, compulsive exercise, and mental hunger can be better understood through the ADHD lens, and what this understanding means for more effective approaches to recovery – or should I say, discovery? Whatever term you prefer to use on your unique journey, let’s get to discovering! Busting the Dopamine Myth: Wanting vs. Liking Before we get to any of the specific ADHD and anorexia overlaps, we need to bust a common myth about dopamine. Many people believe that dopamine floods our brain when we engage in rewarding activities. I mean, this is why ADHD people are constantly seeking stimulation, right? Because they constantly want to experience reward? Well, not quite. In reality, dopamine isn’t primarily responsible for pleasure or satisfaction. Rather, it’s at the foundation of anticipation and motivation. What this means is that a dopamine surge happens not when we experience the reward itself, but during the anticipation phase right before we obtain it. This “wanting” versus “liking” distinction is critical to understanding both ADHD and eating disorders. In ADHD brains – and autistic brains too – dopamine is lower when compared to neurotypical brains, which obviously creates a specific vulnerability. Us AuDHD folks experience intensified “wanting,” but a diminished “liking” of the actual reward, which creates a perpetual cycle of seeking satisfaction without ever feeling satisfied. This is why so many ADHD people do experience binge eating and compulsive overeating – in these cases you’re constantly wanting the food to stimulate you in a way that your brain and nervous system are never satisfied with. So that’s the binge eating angle. But again, why is no one talking about the dopamine high – the euphoria – that you get from engaging with anorexia or bulimia? Why is no one talking about how addictive restriction is, how the anorexia is never satisfied, and so you keep setting new “precedents” around food and exercise? Because I don’t know about you, but for me, the eating disorder made me feel superhuman. I was able to numb out everything that didn’t directly support the eating disorder, including the existential questions, my relationships, and, well, everything else that makes life meaningful. So I’m going to elaborate on all of this later in today’s episode, because right now I really want to emphasize this concept of numbing and how it applies to the full spectrum of disordered eating behaviors, which I have termed The Adaptive Eating Spectrum (TAES). So even though anorexia nervosa and binge eating disorder seem like the epitome of contradiction, the underlying mechanisms – especially in neurodivergent people – aren’t actually different. Whether someone restricts food or eats too much of it, the root of the behavior is to numb and escape. It’s an escape from sitting with the discomfort of being a soul so infinite, so vast, and so boundless that being in a human body feels like being trapped in a cage. The eating disorder – or as I like to call it, eating adaptation – is a way to numb yourself from the existential thoughts, the fear of being wrong in this world, and the perpetual anxiety that arises as a direct result of navigating a world that wasn’t built for your neurodivergent nervous system. How My Autism Manifested as Anorexia Nervosa If you’ve been around for a while, you know that I’ve talked plenty about how I believe my autism manifested as an eating disorder, or again, eating adaptation. My need for predictability turned into strict eating schedules and rigid exercise routines. My sensory overwhelm turned into fear of weight gain. My fear of being healthy – and, more specifically, being healthy in a female body (we’re talking boobs, butts, and periods) – manifested as trying to stay as small as possible. It hasn’t been until more recently – due to, ya know, being a lifelong learner, being relentlessly curious, and constantly asking WHY – that I’ve started reflecting on eating disorder behaviors through an ADHD lens. (And major shoutout to all my clients right now, because none of these insights I’m sharing would have occurred to me without the meaningful conversations I’ve had, and continue to have, with other neurodivergent beings.)  It’s worth disclaiming here that my personal experience of anorexia in relation to both ADHD and autism will always be skewed because I’m not purely ADHD or purely autistic. I’m AuDHD, which means the autism and ADHD are interlinked, and it’s this interlinking that creates the unique conditions for my unique experience of, well, everything! Including my history of disordered eating. And I am planning on recording a dedicated episode about how my autism and ADHD are constantly battling each other, which obviously creates its own set of difficulties, eating disorders aside. But obviously that’s a story for another day, so back to the main topic of today which is ADHD and anorexia. In fact, now it’s time to get juicy because we’re starting off with the infamous claim “but restriction helps me focus!”? But Restriction Helps Me Focus! The reason I’m starting with this restriction and focus aspect of the ADHD-Anorexia connection is because I’ve done an entire episode and blog post with this title on the Liv Label Free Podcast before, so I definitely encourage you to listen to that episode if this is a topic you resonate with. But what exactly do autistic and ADHD people with eating adaptations mean when they say restriction helps them focus? How can this even be true? Doesn’t everyone say that eating more and recovering will improve your focus? Well to answer all those questions, we need to start by debunking the belief that this statement is used to “lie” or “manipulate.” Because I’m sure we’re all familiar with the idea that weight gain is a top priority when someone is malnourished because a malnourished brain equals a brain that cannot think clearly, right? This understanding lies at the root of why so many people with anorexia who aren’t autistic may display autistic traits. Not because their anorexia has caused autism or they are now becoming autistic, but because the brain simply does not have enough energy to process information that it doesn’t deem necessary for survival. (And I do explain this energy trade-off in my book How to Beat Extreme Hunger and in my episode on Black & White Thinking, so do go check those out if you haven’t already!) Because the brain does not have adequate energy to consider a vast array of options, it narrows its focus to what can be easily grasped. Enter the ability to hyperfocus on meal plans, calorie counts, exercise routines, and watching What I Eat in a Day videos, but getting a full-blown panic attack when your mom can’t read your mind of how many almonds you always put on your oatmeal when you test her to make sure she still loves you (because hello codependency, which is a whole nother topic, and if you want to read more about my experience with this, go do yourself a favor and grab a copy of my book Rainbow Girl!). It’s worth clarifying that just because a malnourished brain mimics an autistic brain in many ways, this obviously does not mean that an autistic brain is inherently a malnourished one (and yes, I am well aware that many health “experts” have their own theories about how diet causes autism and ADHD and other bullshit like that, but we’re not even going to get into that here for obvious reasons.). Well, to be fair, nutrition can help improve the more disabling aspects of neurodivergence – such as anxiety and depression, which have everything to do with the gut-bra

Welcome to this Liv Label Free meditation! I’m Livia Sara, an autistic eating disorder recovery coach that’s here to help you turn your MESS into your MESSage. Today, I’m delighted to guide you through this meditation designed for autistic people struggling with eating disorders. It’s a connection that’s hugely misunderstood, which is beyond unfortunate because of how common autism and eating disorders are! My promise to you with this mediation is that you will feel validated and that you will walk away with at least a teensy tiny bit of hope. Because you are absolutely not alone, my friend. Freedom from disordered eating is already out in the Universe waiting for you. Your unique version of a healthy relationship with food is already swirling through the cosmos, waiting for your powerful neurodivergent essence to collide with it! But of course, that can be difficult to imagine, let alone to trust, when you feel stuck. When you feel like food is your only coping mechanism. When you feel that food and exercise are your only way of numbing from this overwhelming world not built for you. So that’s what we’re going to explore together today. Through your breathing and intention, and my guidance, we’re going to regulate your nervous system together, and we’re going to create the space for YOU to create a life you don’t need to escape from. Which is a life of safety. Because when you feel safe, there’s no numbing necessary. 💗 1-1 Coaching: https://www.livlabelfree.com/coaching ✨ Existential Autistic Membership: https://www.livlabelfree.com/membership 🎙️ Free Audiotraining: https://www.livlabelfree.com/free-audiotraining

Do you ever have a conversation with someone where you talk about SO much that you have no idea what you talked about afterwards? Well that’s literally the experience I had with Rosie in today’s podcast episode! Rosie contacted me around this time last year after she had completed my free audiotraining “3 Steps to Recovery From an Eating Disorder as an Autistic Person.” She’d already gotten so many insights from that training that we decided to work together through 1-1 Coaching, and we’ve been best friends ever since! We both felt it only *made sense* to have her come on the podcast to talk about ALL the things, including: Rosie’s lived experience of an eating disorder as an autistic person How eating disorders are adaptive safety mechanisms rather than about weight loss or body image Why freedom isn’t about “recovering from” an ED at all, but rather, about creating a life worth suffering for Even I got super vulnerable in sharing how my life AFTER an eating disorder is actually way more challenging than when I was struggling with anorexia – but how this is precisely what we mean when we talk about creating a meaningful life! 📚 How to Get Out of Quasi Recovery: https://livlabelfreebooks.com💗 1-1 Coaching: https://www.livlabelfree.com/coaching✨ Existential Autistic Membership: https://www.livlabelfree.com/membership🎙️ Free Audiotraining: https://www.livlabelfree.com/free-audiotraining

In this episode, Livia Sara unpacks the following 3 myths about autism and eating disorders: It’s harder for an autistic person to recover from an eating disorder You can’t diagnose someone with autism if they have an active eating disorder Autistic people can’t eat intuitively You’ll also hear a preview of two chapters from Livia’s newest book How to Get Out of Quasi Recovery, which you can buy here: https://www.livlabelfree.com/quasirecoverybook Book a discovery call for 1-1 coaching: https://livlabelfree.com/coaching Mentioned episode: What if My Autistic Traits Weren’t There Before My Eating Disorder? Blog post of this episode: https://www.livlabelfree.com/blog/3-myths-about-autism-and-eating-disorders

Livia answers a listener question about how to get rid of headaches, tinnitus, and dizziness in anorexia recovery. Want more? Find my books, courses, and coaching programs at livlabelfree.com Episode transcript: Hello my friends, well today is another Q&A episode and today’s question comes from jellyfish1093 on YouTube and they asked if I could do an episode on physical and mental symptoms no one talks about when in anorexia. And obviously there are an infinite number of things no one talks about – or rather, not enough people are talking about – when it comes to eating disorders, especially when said eating disorders intertwine with autism and LGBTQ+ identity and chronic illness and all the other things that well, no one talks about! And by this point, I do hope you know that a huge goal of mine with this podcast and with my books and my courses is to shed light on these underserved topics because they’re things I wish I had known during my own recovery. They’re the things my family wished they’d known because they would have been better able to support me. They’re things that all healthcare professionals SHOULD know so that they can help individuals unleash their full potential rather than trying to treat a “disorder” that’s merely a manifestation of, again, everything no one talks about. Anyways, all that being said, because we’ve of course gotta have some direction, I replied to jellyfish1093 asking if they could elaborate on what stage of recovery they’re in and specifically what symptoms they wanted me to talk about. And here’s what they replied:  “I’m currently in quasi recovery. My weight is very low and I am still exercising every day and struggling immensely. I am eating 4 meals a day but have been experiencing headaches, dizziness, tinnitus, and other symptoms like brain fog, extreme anxiety and depression. I also have Autism. Just looking to find hope that if I can fully recover that these symptoms can go away. For 4 years I have been trying to find out why these symptoms are happening but now I am wondering if they are all related to anorexia? Just trying to find hope. Thank you.” Well we’ve got a lot to get into and I am super excited to get into it because, as you may have guessed, I did some research (which basically means I went into multiple research rabbit holes, a very autistic trait, I might add) and I paired my findings with my own lived experience and those of my clients to now bring you this podcast! So buckle up because I’m going to take you on a journey to what I’ve learned so that hopefully, jellyfish1093, this gives you hope, and to anyone else with similar experiences, I hope this gives YOU hope as well. So without further ado, let’s dive in! Alright so we need to establish the facts first. Based on what jellyfish1093 (I freaking love saying that username so thank you for gifting me this opportunity to have a laugh), we’re going to establish as a fact that you are malnourished. Your weight is low, you’re engaging in exercise that you probably shouldn’t be, and you’re not eating enough. So, you’re in a state of energy deficit. Quasi recovery aside, the fact is that your body is depleted. And the fact that I’m really hammering this down right now is because when the body is in a state of energy deficit, nothing can function correctly. And I mean nothing. Because the truth is that the human body is nothing more than a living organism that uses energy and requires that energy to be replenished. And if that energy replenishment – AKA eating and drinking – is hard for you, trust me, I am right there with ya my friend. The amount of times that I have wished that I could photosynthesize, the amount of times I have wished this body didn’t even have needs. The amount of times I have wished I didn’t have to drink or eat or sleep or shower or clean or whatever it is that we have to do on a daily basis just because we have bodies…my god, it’s fucking exhausting. But all those feelings aside, the bottom line is that we do have bodies. And these bodies do have needs. So what happens when we don’t give our body what it needs? What happens is that the body goes into energy conservation mode. It does everything humanly possible (no pun intended) to not use up its limited resources. Now, I’m not going to elaborate on the science behind this too deeply because I literally wrote an entire book called How to Beat Extreme Hunger explaining energy deficit and how this leads to energy debt and why extreme hunger is your body’s attempt at getting you back into homeostasis, and of course, in that book I also share my lived experience around all my recovery fears including mental hunger just being a bad habit, that I would become addicted to food and develop binge eating disorder if I gave into my extreme hunger, and of course, I share how to make peace with weight gain because I’m autistic and philosophical and the whole “oh just love your body and appreciate what it can do for you” NEVER resonated with me because to be honest my friends, I still feel hella trapped in this body. I mean for real, it’s too freaking constraining and demanding. But we’re not gonna go there right now because we were gonna talk about headaches and dizziness and tinnitus and all the things jellyfish1093 has asked about. But yeah, shameless plug for all my books right now because they’re awesome and I worked really hard on them and you can find them all at livlabelfreebooks.com or on Amazon. But now back to the episode and why it’s so important to understand that energy deficit AKA restriction causes the body to try and conserve energy is that this energy conservation causes all kinds of symptoms that, to put it bluntly, fucking suck. You weaken your digestive system which means that when you start eating again in recovery you’ll feel really sick and bloated. You starve your brain which means that there will be imbalances in ALL the neurotransmitters, so hello anxiety and depression. And if you compound energy deficit with being autistic, which I’m just gonna go off on a limb here and say you probably feel permanently burnt out just trying to navigate a world not built for you, well when you take all these factors into account, well no wonder you’re in so much pain all the time. But here is the plot twist: You’re not broken. You don’t need to be fixed. What you need is to create safety within yourself and your environment. But that’s of course just the overarching message of all of this. Because essentially, the trauma caused by being autistic in a non-accommodating world compounded with the trauma of an eating disorder, while ironically being the ED being a trauma response in and of itself, well all of this just creates a never-ending spiral of fight-or-flight mode, which is incredibly energetically demanding, and thus not sustainable.  So how does all of this connect to anorexia symptoms, specifically headaches and tinnitus? Well, there are a lot of different kinds of headaches, but for me personally, my headaches were always tension headaches. This might sound kinda weird, but I felt my headaches from the front of my head all the way down to my lower back and this is because I carry so much stress with me all the time, and honestly, I still do. But when you are malnourished, your body is way more fragile so everything you experience is going to be experienced on infinitely high volume. This is why we have zero flexibility when we have eating disorders. The body and brain simply do not have enough energy to consider other options. So hello black and white thinking and what is often termed as “rigid” thinking. Now of course there’s nuance to this because autistic people often already have difficulty with change. So again, add malnutrition to that, and you’ve practically just turned that autism dial up a few notches. This is also why many people who are not autistic can actually display autistic traits during active eating disorders. But again, that’s a whole nother topic which you can learn more about in my Autistically ED-Free Academy at livlabelfree.com/group or you can book a 1-1 coaching session with me at livlabelfree.com/coaching if you’d like to work with me privately.  So, jellyfish1093 and anyone else listening, I don’t know what kinds of headaches you’re experiencing or if there’s anything that makes them worse or better, but what I do know is that restriction is fueling your fight-or-flight response, which scientifically speaking can cause headaches! Why? Well, your body perceives restriction, so energy deficit, as a famine. When you’re not eating enough, your nervous system believes there aren’t enough resources. I mean, why else would you be starving yourself? As I’m sure I don’t have to tell you, a lack of resources is one of the greatest threats to human survival! But because your body is designed to do everything in its power to ensure your survival, it’s going to activate that fight-or-flight mode so you can fight or flee whatever is causing you to be malnourished. Of course, your nervous system that obviously doesn’t have a logical thinking organ cannot know that you’re not actually in a famine environment, and it doesn’t know that you’re purposely restricting for other reasons, including fear of weight gain, autistic masking, and all the other things I talk about on this podcast and in my books and courses. Now, why is this relevant? Because when you’re in a permanent state of fight-or-flight mode, your body is literally tensing up ALL the time! Your neck muscles, your shoulder muscles, your scalp muscles, everything is constantly clenched and ready for battle. And, well, can you guess what happens when those muscles stay contracted for weeks, months, perhaps even years? Hello tension headaches! Of course, tension headaches aren’t the only type of headaches that restriction causes. Now, let’s talk about what happens when your brain is literally running on empty. As I’ve talked about before on this podcast, your

Livia and Mike chat about the fear of not knowing who you are, redefining success, and how to create a meaningful life in the void of infinite possibilities. ✨ Existential Autistic Membership: https://www.livlabelfree.com/membership💗 1-1 Coaching: https://www.livlabelfree.com/coaching🎙️ Free Audiotraining: https://www.livlabelfree.com/free-audiotraining  

Have you always asked why? Have you always been so relentlessly curious that it overwhelms your own mind? Have you always asked existential questions only to become mentally paralyzed by the fact that they will never have answers? I feel you. In fact, I was recently explaining to my psychiatrist that my brain feels like a room filled with bouncing balls. You know what he replied? “Wow, it must be exhausting to think like that.” Me: Yeah, no shit, Sherlock! 🕵️ In all seriousness though, being a neurodivergent soul in a human body is exhausting. Not only are you navigating the overwhelming stimulation of the external world, but you’re constantly being confronted with your own inner landscape that’s much too vast to be contained within a physical vessel (let alone a single lifetime). It’s this disconnect that can cause neurodivergent people to feel trapped… 👉 Trapped in expectations 👉 Trapped in a body 👉 Trapped in the system 👉 Trapped in the pressure to perform 👉 Trapped in the prison of your own mind And what’s a more convenient way to escape than through the rules of an eating disorder? When I started learning about health and nutrition in fifth grade, everything clicked. Suddenly, I had a clear path forward. As long as I adhered to the rules in my black-and-white composition notebook, I would be on the fast-track to becoming “the perfect healthy eater.” Whereas the existential questions I continued to ask had no answers, my eating disorder always did. Instead of me being overwhelmed by the abundance of choices around me, anorexia simplified my options. The eating disorder was never about food or weight – it was about the comfort of having clear boundaries in a boundless world. Black-and-white thinking serves the same purpose. When you’re spending SO much energy on surviving, there’s simply nothing left to consider the colorful in-between! ❌ 🌈 But aren’t you bored of living in black and white? Don’t get me wrong – I’m not telling you to abandon structure. Quite the opposite, in fact! What set me free from the ED prison while embracing my autistic self was creating freedom routines – routines with built-in flexibility, routines that include space for spontaneity. Because here’s the truth: The problem isn’t that you think in black and white. The problem is that your eating disorder hijacked this adaptive mechanism and turned it against you. In the Autistically ED-Free Academy, you’ll learn how to channel your autistic traits into a life that aligns with your authentic self. You’ll learn how to use the very same traits that trapped you in ED prison as keys to break free. Here’s what Becky has to say: “I am so grateful to have been a participant in Livia’s Autistically ED-Free Academy. My daughter has been in recovery for anorexia for the last four years and was recently diagnosed with autism. I can’t tell you how comforting it is to finally have someone understand and validate the struggles our daughter has been through. Livia has helped me to recognize that some of my daughter’s “ED behaviors” are actually autistic adaptations, and that not all ED recovery follows the same path or responds to the same treatments. The weekly meeting topics and the Q&A sessions were equally beneficial. I highly recommend the Autistically ED-Free Academy to anyone who is struggling in their recovery and wants to begin to trust themselves and their loved ones again.” Are you ready to discover what your life of freedom looks like when you embrace your neurodivergent self? 🌈 Join the Autistically ED-Free Academy: https://www.livlabelfree.com/group Your eating disorder gave you answers when nothing else could. Now it’s time to discover the answers that actually set you free. Your rainbow-full life is waiting, XO Liv 💗 Want more emails like this? Join my weekly newsletter: https://www.livlabelfree.com/join

In this spontaneous “walk with me” voicememo, I share my experience with existential nausea and how painful it feels to be confronted with consciousness. Let’s connect!🌐 WEBSITE: https://livlabelfree.com/📚 BOOKS: https://livlabelfreebooks.com🍩 INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/livlabelfree/

I know you’re tired – tired of going back and forth between the ED and “trying recovery again.” Tired of believing it’s possible for you to achieve freedom, only to be submerged back into belief that you’ll just have to “manage” an eating disorder forever. Tired of having your entire life REVOLVE around rigid eating schedules and strict exercise routines. There’s no sugarcoating it: being “in recovery” is f*cking EXHAUSTING. But more importantly, it’s no way to live. And I know you know that, which is precisely WHY you keep “trying recovery again”! Let me be brutally honest with you: every time you try to recover the “normal” way, you’re fighting your autistic brain. You’re being asked to abandon the very traits that make you the unique human that you are. No wonder you keep falling back into old patterns. Your neurodivergent nervous system is trying to protect you in the only way it knows how. Most recovery advice tells you to “go all in,” smash the scales, delete the calorie counting apps...but for you, going down this path just feels wrong. Because the typical approach is consistently unsuccessful, you start believing you’re broken. Unfixable. You believe that you’ll just have to “manage” the eating disorder forever. Meanwhile, life is passing you by. You’re watching everyone else move forward while you feel more and more behind – and you know you’re missing out on becoming who you’re truly meant to be. But here’s what I want you to know: the problem isn’t you, and it never was. The real problem is that no one has taught you how to create your unique version of freedom while honoring what your autistic soul truly needs. That’s exactly why I created the Autistically ED-Free Academy: https://www.livlabelfree.com/group  This isn’t another recovery program asking you to choose between honoring your neurodivergence and healing your relationship with food. Instead, the Academy turns the tables (pun intended) – it shows you that honoring your neurodivergence is precisely what allows you to heal your relationship with food and movement! Over the course of 8 weeks, you will: ✅ Finally reclaim your autonomy from the eating disorder that’s been stealing your life✅ Stop feeling behind everyone else and start building the life you’re meant to live✅ Learn how to channel your autistic traits into meaning and purpose rather than fear-based ED behaviors✅ Create your own “freedom routines” that will serve you for life✅ Connect with other autistic individuals who truly understand your experience …and MUCH more! Here’s what previous Academy participants have to say: “This program was brilliant! It helped me shift my mindset to understanding how eating disorders function as adaptive responses when experienced by neurodivergent people. The Academy shone a light on a way forward – to decode what is serving vs not serving our authentic selves, and therefore a way out of the false safety of an eating disorder.”– Eve, Australia “I learned so much that I never knew about autism and eating disorders even after years of being in both communities online. Explanations as to why I struggle with certain behaviours and situations, how our brains and bodies work, and techniques to help move away from needing an eating disorder to handle the world. I struggle to justify spending money on myself but I’m so glad I spent this money. Thank you Livia!”– Nico, UK 🌈 Want to join these success stories? Join us in the Autistically ED-Free Academy today! https://www.livlabelfree.com/group Your freedom is waiting, XO Liv 💗 Want more emails like this? Join my weekly newsletter: https://www.livlabelfree.com/join

🎉 The Autistically ED-Free Academy is OPEN! Save your seat: https://www.livlabelfree.com/group For most neurodivergent people, the fear of weight gain isn’t about body image or the infamous “wanting to be thin so I can look like the models on the magazines!” In today’s episode, Livia Sara chats with Harriet Parsons and Jenny Langley about the real reasons autistic people fear weight gain beyond the stereotypical “fear of fatness” or distorted body image. Whether you’re an autistic person who feels misunderstood in eating disorder treatment or are a caregiver seeking to understand the connection between autism and anorexia, this episode is guaranteed to give you new insights.

🎉 The Autistically ED-Free Academy is OPEN! Secure your spot: https://www.livlabelfree.com/group Do you feel behind in life due to your eating disorder? That’s how I felt for many years. While my peers were progressing through school, getting jobs, and forming relationships, my whole life was on pause. In today’s episode, I explain why ED recovery actually gives you a jumpstart on a meaningful life & and how you can reframe your own sense of delay as perfect timing.

💫 Join the Existential Autistic Membership: https://www.livlabelfree.com/membership🌈 Autistically ED-Free Academy: https://www.livlabelfree.com/group The connection between neurodivergence, eating disorders, and LGTBQ+ is undeniable – yet it isn’t talked about enough. As someone who’s incredibly passionate about inviting curiosity and compassion to underserved topics, I’m very excited for you to listen to this podcast episode with Nico! Nico, who uses they/them pronouns, shares their journey of navigating an eating disorder that began at 14, getting diagnosed as autistic at 18, and exploring their non-binary identity. From struggling with unwanted changes during puberty to finding trans-affirming healthcare providers, Nico’s story sheds light on the complex web of neurodivergence, gender, and recovery (or rather, discovery). This conversation highlights the importance of community for neurodivergent individuals, the challenges of accessing trans healthcare, and the courage it takes to experiment with identity in safe online spaces. Nico and I also discuss our personal experiences with feeling “wrong” in a body, exploring the nuanced difference between “body betrayal” and “existential claustrophobia” – it’s fascinating! So whether you’re questioning your own gender identity, supporting someone who is, or are simply seeking authentic conversations about the messy & map-less process of discovering who you are, this episode offers both validation and practical insights for your journey. TLDR: This conversation explores the intersection of autism, eating disorders, and LGBTQ+ identity, finding specialized healthcare providers, the role of online communities for neurodivergent people, ED recovery approaches that honor both neurodivergence and gender identity, and the patience required for authentic self-discovery.