Send us Fan Mail Chronic illness can quietly take over everything: your schedule, your energy, your relationships, and eventually your identity. We sit down with Jennifer Zator, LCSW, a therapist who specializes in chronic illness, eating disorders, and body image, to talk about what it actually looks like to stay connected to who you are when your body and capacity keep changing. If you’ve ever felt like your diagnosis is running your life, this conversation offers language, tools, and a lot of compassion. We get honest about grief and the messy duality of accepting limitations while still holding hope. Jennifer breaks down why acceptance is not the same as approval, how to rebuild trust with your body in small steps, and how to approach body image when “focus on what your body can do” doesn’t feel accessible. We also touch on real-world nourishment barriers like fatigue, pain, brain fog, and the logistics of feeding yourself when shopping and cooking are hard. Then we zoom out to wellness culture and diet culture, especially the flood of social media advice, supplements, and elimination plans that promise symptom relief. We talk about how chronic illness can both motivate eating disorder recovery and complicate it, particularly when GI symptoms make eating feel impossible, and why collaboration with a registered dietitian, therapist, and medical specialists matters. We close with concrete guidance for support people: what to say, what not to say, how to avoid “fixing,” and how to keep a relationship from becoming only about illness. Subscribe, leave a rating and review, and share this with someone who needs a steadier, more humane take on chronic illness, body image, and recovery. Show notes: Trigger warning: this show is not medical, nutrition, or mental health treatment and is not a replacement for meeting with a Registered Dietitian, Licensed Mental Health Provider, or any other medical provider. You can find resources for how to find a provider, as well as crisis resources, in the show notes. Listener discretion is advised. Resource links: Hilltop Behavioral Health: https://hilltopbehavioralhealth.com/ Alliance for Eating Disorders: https://www.allianceforeatingdisorders.com/ ANAD: https://anad.org/ NEDA: https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/ NAMI: https://nami.org/home Action Alliance: https://theactionalliance.org/ NIH: https://www.nimh.nih.gov/ How to find a provider: https://map.nationaleatingdisorders.org/ https://www.psychologytoday.com/us https://www.healthprofs.com/us/nutritionists-dietitians?tr=Hdr_Brand Suicide & crisis awareness hotline: call 988 (available 24/7) Eating Disorder hotline: call or text 800-931-2237 (Phone line is available Monday-Thursday 11 am-9 pm ET and Friday 11 am-5 pm ET; text line is available Monday-Thursday 3-6 pm ET and Friday 1-5 pm ET) If you are experiencing a psychiatric or medical emergency, please call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room. Support the show
