The Full of Beans Podcast

In this episode of Full of Beans, Hannah is joined by Sarah Woodruff, mum to Grace and 1/3 of the podcast 3Mums1MissionARFID. Sarah co-created the podcast after feeling deeply isolated navigating her daughter’s eating difficulties, wanting to create a space where parents could hear stories that reflected their own and feel less alone.
In this conversation, Sarah shares Grace’s journey in more depth, including the years of uncertainty, dismissal, escalation, and the ongoing reality of supporting a child with ARFID and autism.
This episode is for parents, carers, and SEN professionals who are feeling unheard or wondering whether they’re “overreacting.” It offers reassurance that you’re not imagining it, permission to trust your instincts, and comfort in knowing that others have walked a similar path. Above all, it’s a reminder that ARFID is complex, individual, and never a result of bad parenting.
Key takeaways:
What ARFID can look like beyond early childhood
Why the term “late-onset ARFID” deserves questioning.
How autism, sensory overwhelm and anxiety can affect eating
Why emetophobia (fear of vomiting) can make eating feel genuinely unsafe
How school stress and transitions can exacerbate ARFID in children
How ARFID differs from “fussy eating”
How food avoidance can lead to weight loss, distress, or social isolation
How lowering pressure around food can support ARFID recovery
The power of parental intuition, even when professionals dismiss concerns
Timestamps:
02:50 Grace’s early eating and when things began to change
07:40 Anxiety, school stress, and the escalation of food restriction
10:10 ARFID, emetophobia, and reaching crisis point
13:30 Hospital care, NG tube feeding, and diagnosis
22:50 Autism, masking, and questioning “late-onset” ARFID
29:00 What helped: reducing pressure and rebuilding safety
36:20 A message for parents who are questioning themselves
Resources & Links
Listen to the 3Mums1Mission ARFID Podcast
Connect with Us:
Subscribe to the Full of Beans Podcast
Follow Full of Beans on Instagram
Check out our website
Listen on YouTube
⚠️ Trigger Warning: Mentions of eating disorders, ARFID, NG tube feeding. Please take care when listening.
If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share the podcast to help us spread awareness.
Sending positive beans your way, Han 💛

In this week's episode, Han is joined by Michelle Jacques. Michelle is a devoted mum of two who has lived with ARFID since her son started weaning. Through her own experience of supporting her son with ARFID, she has become a passionate advocate, working tirelessly to raise awareness and support others navigating life with this complex food intake disorder. She is the founder of @arfid_life_uk, where she raises awareness of ARFID by sharing her family's experience.
This episode holds space for the grief, the guilt, the fight, and also the hope, including the unexpected shift Michelle has seen as her son’s body becomes nourished again.
This week, we discuss:
What ARFID can look like and how it can go beyond “picky eating.”
How sensory differences, autistic eating, and ARFID can overlap
How illness can trigger choking fears and a trauma response that reinforces food avoidance
What it’s like when a child’s intake drops to just a couple of “safe” items
What a PEG (gastrostomy tube) is and how PEG feeding can support ARFID
The emotional impact of PEG decisions for parents, including grief andguilt
Why nutrition can change anxiety, rigidity, and capacity
The role of advocacy in ARFID awareness
How to document ARFID symptoms to report to a doctor
Timestamps:
03:10 Sensory differences, autism, and how ARFID developed over time
07:40 Illness, choking fears, and how trauma can collapse food intake
09:15 Hospitalisation: constipation and appendix surgery
18:30 What a PEG is (and what people often misunderstand about it)
29:40 How PEG feeding can support ARFID
41:30 Guilt, grief, and learning to let the feelings exist
45:10 ARFID Advocacy work
Resources & Links
Follow @arfid_life_uk on Instagram
Listen to the 3Mums1Mission ARFID Podcast
Connect with Us:
Subscribe to the Full of Beans Podcast
Follow Full of Beans on Instagram
Check out our website
Listen on YouTube
⚠️ Trigger Warning: Mentions of eating disorders, ARFID, NG tube feeding. Please take care when listening.
If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share the podcast to help us spread awareness.
Sending positive beans your way, Han 💛

Kel O’Neill is a UK-based counsellor, educator, researcher, and lived-experience advocate specialising in eating disorders. She is the founder of Mental Health Bites, creator of The Eating Disorder Recovery Companion, and the curator of VOXED – Voices of Experience in Eating Disorders. Kel’s work focuses on ethical, trauma-informed practice, challenging stigma, and bridging the gap between lived experience and professional knowledge.
This week, we discuss:
What VoxED is and why Kel created it.
Why eating disorder education often feels inaccessible, and what VoxED is doing differently.
How VoxED broadens “lived experience” to include clinicians, carers, researchers and community voices.
Why lived experience shouldn’t be tokenistic, and how it can be valued as expertise.
Why the eating disorder field needs shared spaces for nuanced, difficult conversations.
How recovery goes beyond food and weight to identity, meaning and living.
Timestamps:
00:00: What is VoxED?
02:10 :Where did the idea began (EDAW 2021)
05:10: Who's speaking at VoXED
06:40: Moving beyond “tick-box” lived experience
08:10: The purpose of VoxED: shared space + shared power
14:40: Why change has been slow in eating disorders (and what’s missing)
21:10: Recovery beyond food and weight: identity, meaning, and living
42:10: VoxED details: date, access, recordings, and low-cost tickets
VoxED conference details:
Date: Friday 13th February
Format: Fully online (9:00–18:30, with breaks)
Tickets: self-select pricing options £20 / £37 / £50
Resources & Links
Follow Kel on Instagram (@kel_mhb)
Visit Kel's website (www.counsellingandtraining.co.uk) to find out more about VOXED
Subscribe to the Full of Beans Podcast
Follow Full of Beans on Instagram
Check out our website
Listen on YouTube
If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share the podcast to help us spread awareness.
Sending positive beans your way, Han 💛

In this week's episode, Han is joined by Michelle Jacques, Sarah Woodruff and Jo Read. Together, they are the hosts of 3Mums1MissionARFID, which is on a mission to raise awareness regarding ARFID as a result of their experience of navigating their own experience of supporting their children with ARFID.
This week, we discuss:
What ARFID is and how it differs from “fussy eating”
How sensory sensitivity, gag reflexes, and nervous system overload affect eating
How fear of choking and emetophobia (fear of vomiting) can drive food avoidance
How illness and medical trauma can cause sudden drops in food intake
What it feels like to parent a child with ARFID, including guilt, grief, and constant vigilance
How dismissal and judgment from professionals and others impact families
What an ARFID diagnosis can offer, and where support often still falls short
How NG and PEG feeding can become part of ARFID care and the complex emotions that come with it
How school stress, anxiety, and social pressures can contribute to late-onset ARFID
Why peer connection and lived-experience support are so powerful for parents
Timestamps:
04:20 Why they started Three Mums One Mission: ARFID
11:00 Jo: sensory sensitivity, gag reflex, and “typical” feeding advice that didn’t fit
20:50 Michelle: illness triggers, supplements, and PEG feeding
32:00 Sarah: late-onset ARFID, school anxiety, crisis point + hospital experience
Resources & Links
Follow @3Mums1MissionARFID on Instagram
Connect with Us:
Subscribe to the Full of Beans Podcast
Follow Full of Beans on Instagram
Check out our website
Listen on YouTube
⚠️ Trigger Warning: Mentions of eating disorders, ARFID, NG tube feeding. Please take care when listening.
If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share the podcast to help us spread awareness.
Sending positive beans your way, Han 💛

In this week’s episode of Full of Beans, Hannah is joined by Melanie Davies, a sleep and stress consultant and clinical hypnotherapist, to explore how hypnotherapy can support anxiety regulation, emotional overwhelm, and disordered eating patterns.
Together, Hannah and Melanie unpack what hypnotherapy actually involves, how it works with the emotional and unconscious mind, and why nervous-system-based approaches may help when behaviour-focused treatments feel limiting or incomplete.
This week, we discuss:
What clinical hypnotherapy is and how it differs from stage hypnosis
Hypnosis as a naturally occurring state of focused attention
The role of the unconscious mind in habits, urges, and emotional eating
Anxiety, stress responses, and food-related coping behaviours
Emotional regulation as a foundation for sustainable habit change
Hypnotherapy as a complementary approach alongside existing treatment
Using imagination to support neural rewiring and behaviour change
Anchoring techniques to support self-soothing and nervous system calming
Evidence and emerging research in hypnotherapy, disordered eating, and IBS
Ethical practice, contraindications, and the importance of assessment
Timestamps
02:10 – Why hypnosis isn’t “mind control” and what actually happens in session
05:40 – Focused attention, suggestibility, and everyday hypnotic states
09:10 – Emotional drivers of binge urges, restriction, and food noise
13:30 – Individualised treatment and why one-size-fits-all approaches fall short
16:50 – Reconnecting with bodily cues, fullness, and interoceptive awareness
20:30 – Supporting long-term change: maintenance, self-hypnosis, and autonomy
24:10 – Calming cortisol, anchors, and nervous system retraining
27:50 – Clinical evidence: bulimia, impulsive eating, IBS and the gut-brain axis
33:20 – Integration with medical care, ethics, and suitability
36:00 – Accessing support and next steps
Resources & Links
Visit Melanie’s website: MelanieDaviesMindSolutions.com
Connect with Us:
Subscribe to the Full of Beans Podcast
Follow Full of Beans on Instagram
Check out our website
Listen on YouTube
⚠️ Trigger Warning: Mentions of eating disorders, disordered eating behaviours, anxiety, and binge eating. Please take care when listening.
If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share the podcast to help us spread awareness.
Sending positive beans your way, Han 💛