Eating Disorder Recovery in an Anxious World: Finding Safety With Food & Connection With Vanessa Scaringi, PhD & Kathryn Garland, LCSW

Attachment patterns can shape how we seek comfort, respond to uncertainty, and relate to food. Dr. Marianne welcomes back Vanessa Scaringi, PhD, and Kathryn Garland, LCSW, to discuss eating disorder recovery, emotional eating, and finding connection when the world feels unsafe.

The co-owners of CALM Counseling share insights from their book, Hungry for Connection: Heal Your Relationships with Food and People in an Insecurely Attached World. Together, they discuss how supportive relationships, self-compassion, and repair can help us build greater trust with food and ourselves.

ATTACHMENT STYLES & EATING DISORDERS

Learn about secure, anxious, avoidant, and fearful-avoidant attachment patterns and how they may show up in relationships with food and people. Vanessa and Kathryn explain why attachment styles can change and why a particular eating behavior does not automatically correspond to one attachment pattern.

EMOTIONAL EATING, FOOD ANXIETY & SAFETY

Eating behaviors can serve different functions, including seeking comfort and avoiding distress. The conversation considers how isolation, societal uncertainty, and disconnection can intensify food anxiety and disordered eating. Understanding what a behavior does for you can create space for curiosity and additional ways to meet your needs.

INTUITIVE EATING, DIET CULTURE & SELF-TRUST

Diet culture and wellness messaging often encourage people to question their bodies and fear food. The guests discuss intuitive eating, health optimization, and the moral judgments embedded in “clean eating.” Their alternative, “messy eating,” makes room for flexibility, imperfection, and a more compassionate relationship with food.

GLP-1s, FOOD NOISE & UNMET NEEDS

Dr. Marianne, Vanessa, and Kathryn discuss GLP-1 medications and the complexity of “food noise.” They consider biological hunger, cultural messaging, and emotional needs while encouraging ongoing conversation about food and eating, including when medication changes someone’s appetite.

EATING DISORDER RECOVERY THROUGH CONNECTION & REPAIR

Secure relationships allow room for disappointment, conflict, and reconnection. Vanessa and Kathryn explain how rupture and repair can support healing and why sustainable change takes time. Recovery can include building community, expanding coping strategies, and practicing a kinder internal voice.

WHO THIS CONVERSATION IS FOR

People navigating eating disorder recovery, emotional eating, food anxiety, or a difficult relationship with food may find this conversation helpful. Eating disorder therapists, dietitians, and loved ones can also gain insight into an attachment-informed approach to support.

CONTENT CAUTIONS

Discussion includes restrictive eating, compulsive exercise, orthorexia, diet culture, food insecurity, food fear, GLP-1 medications, weight-loss messaging, and purity culture. No specific weights, calorie counts, or instructions for eating disorder behaviors are provided.

CONNECT WITH VANESSA & KATHRYN

Learn about CALM Counseling and Hungry for Connection at keepcalmatx.com. Follow them on Instagram @keepcalmatx.

CONNECT WITH DR. MARIANNE

Visit drmariannemiller.com to learn about eating disorder therapy in California and Washington, D.C., global virtual coaching, and additional recovery resources. Find her on Instagram at @drmariannemiller.

If this episode resonates with you, follow Dr. Marianne-Land on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, or wherever you listen. Share it with someone who could use a more compassionate perspective on food, relationships, neurodivergence, and recovery.

RELATED EPISODES

Attachment Theory & Our Relationship With Food, Eating, & Body Image With Dr. Vanessa Scaringi & Kathryn Garland, LCSW-S on Apple & Spotify.