The Full of Beans Podcast

In this week's episode of Full of Beans, Han is joined by Tiffany Luxford. Tiffany is a 24-year-old psychology student at King's College London and an expert by experience, whose own journey with anorexia in her late teens now sits at the centre of both her professional focus and personal work. She contributes to co-production research and shares her story in the training of current and future clinicians, helping ensure the voices of people with lived experience remain central to how eating disorder care is shaped.
Tiffany also works with services across the UK to help design more compassionate and accessible treatment pathways, and is soon launching The Recovery Wave, a website of resources for anyone navigating recovery, particularly those without access to care or who haven't yet found support that fits their needs.
In this week's episode, we discuss:
The bullying and social pressure that triggered Tiffany's eating disorder
The impact of unsuccessful A&E trips and delayed eating disorder interventions
Falling between adult and child eating disorder services during COVID
Being discharged from eating disorder treatment at 18 due to age, not readiness
Gaps in eating disorder treatment caused by multiple diagnoses, including OCD
Why connection in eating disorder treatment supports and hinders recovery
Why university became the turning point in Tiffany's eating disorder recovery
Debunking the myth that eating disorder thoughts "never go away"
Tiffany's lived-experience resource for eating disorder recovery, Recovery Wave
⚠️ Content note: this episode discusses eating disorders, inpatient treatment, and mental health diagnoses including OCD and personality disorder. Please take care while listening.
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Connect with Tiffany via LinkedIn or check out her Tedx Talk

This week on the Full of Beans podcast, Han is joined by Dr Sam Chawner, a senior research fellow at Cardiff University.
Sam's research explores the complex links between eating disorders, genetics, neurodiversity and mental health, with a focus on groups who have historically been overlooked in research and clinical practice. His work looks at ARFID (avoidant restrictive food intake disorder) , and he is involved in the NHS Wales ARFID Steering Group and the EDGI (Eating Disorder Genetics Initiative) study, working alongside Beat, and those with lived experience to shape the future of ARFID research and care.
In this episode, we explore:
The links between eating disorders, genetics and neurodiversity
Why ARFID is still so misunderstood
The different types of ARFID, including the four subtypes
The overlap between ARFID and neurodivergence
What the first ARFID twin study found
The gaps in ARFID treatment research
The EDGI study, and how families can take part
Connect with Us:
Subscribe to the Full of Beans Podcast
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Connect with Sam on LinkedIn
Find out more about ARFID here
Find out more about EDGI study here
⚠️ Content Note: This episode includes discussion of eating disorders, ARFID, restrictive eating, and fears around choking and vomiting. Please take care while listening.
Thank you to @Nightingale Hospital for sponsoring the podcast.

This week on the Full of Beans podcast, Han is joined by Shikha Chopra, a lived experience advocate living with ARFID (Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder) who is currently navigating pregnancy. Shikha is also autistic and is a member of the ARFID Connect lived experience advisory group, led by Cardiff University.
Her advocacy work stems from her own struggle accessing ARFID support through the NHS and her local eating disorder clinic, as well as her experience with recovery and prevention language that didn't fit how she lives with ARFID.
In this episode, we discuss:
How a traumatic episode of sickness became a turning point in Shikha's ARFID
What it felt like for Shikha to finally have a name for her struggles
How Shikha's GP supported her through her ARFID diagnosis
Gaps in NHS eating disorder treatment for adults with ARFID
How peer support groups helped Shikha find validation for her ARFID experience
Why "acceptance" fit Shikha's ARFID better than "recovery"
The link between ARFID, autism and OCD
Navigating ARFID and autism through pregnancy
Advocating for her needs during maternity care with an autism health passport
Shikha's advice for accessing support for ARFID
⚠️ Content note: this episode discusses ARFID, disordered eating, trauma, and pregnancy. Please take care while listening.
Connect with us:
Subscribe to the Full of Beans Podcast
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Check out our website
Listen on YouTube
Find out more about ARFID Connect here
Check out Beat ARFID Page here
Check out First Steps info on ARFID here

This week on the Full of Beans podcast, Han is joined by Ella Clarke, a lived experience advocate currently working for LENs as an Expert by Experience. Ella has her own lived experience of an eating disorder and ADHD, and spent three years in hospital under a section. She now uses that experience to spread awareness and give others hope that recovery is genuinely possible. Outside of her advocacy work, Ella volunteers at Redgate Farm animal sanctuary, is proud crazy cat lady to Bella, a 14-year-old cat she adopted from Redgate last year, and this year travelled to Borneo to volunteer at a sanctuary for orangutans and sun bears.
In this episode, we discuss:
What motivates Ella to work as an Expert by Experience in eating disorder recovery
Ella's experience of hospital admission and treatment for an eating disorder
Why listening to the person, not just the diagnosis, matters in eating disorder treatment
Ella's experience of misdiagnosis and falling through the gaps between mental health services
How Ella's ADHD diagnosis became a turning point in her eating disorder recovery
The overlap between ADHD, anorexia and binge eating disorder
The small, incremental steps that helped Ella rebuild her relationship with food
Why normalising food, rather than commenting on it, supports eating disorder recovery
Reconnecting with hobbies, identity and life beyond the eating disorder, including Ella's trip to Borneo
⚠️ Content note: this episode discusses eating disorders, hospital admission, self-harm, and mental health diagnoses including ADHD and personality disorder. Please take care while listening.
Connect with us:
Subscribe to the Full of Beans Podcast
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Check out our website
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Connect with Ella via LinkedIn

This week on the Full of Beans podcast, Han is joined by Shannon Travers-Spencer, who has lived experience of anorexia, autism, ADHD, ARFID and chronic illness, and shares their journey online. Shannon is a passionate advocate for inclusive care for neurodivergent individuals within eating disorder services, and spoke at this year's Dump The Scales march about navigating the UK's eating disorder system, and the barriers and accommodations they faced along the way.
In This Episode:
Shannon's experience of ARFID from childhood, and anorexia developing later as a teenager
Untangling autism, ARFID and anorexia when they overlap so closely
Why an autism diagnosis partway through inpatient treatment changed everything about Shannon's care
The nuance clinicians face in adapting treatment without it being exploited by the eating disorder
How Shannon and a dietitian mapped out "autism-safe" versus "anorexia-safe" foods to understand what was really driving their eating
How undiagnosed autism may have contributed to the development of Shannon's eating disorder
Practical, simple adjustments that can make a significant difference in autistic-affirming care
Why listening to the patient, and being willing to adapt language and approach, matters more than any grand overhaul
The importance of joined-up care between eating disorder services and mental health teams
⚠️ Content note: this episode discusses eating disorders, ARFID, autism, suicidality, and inpatient psychiatric treatment. Please take care while listening.
Connect with us:
Subscribe to the Full of Beans Podcast
Follow Full of Beans on Instagram
Check out our website
Listen on YouTube
Connect with Shannon via Instagram @a.froggy.life
Watch Shannon's Dump The Scales speech here
Check out the Peace Pathway here