Today’s episode is a conversation I’ve been excited to share. Lee and I met at the dietitian conference last month, and the moment he walked up to me after my session, I could sense how deeply everything we had discussed had resonated with him. What I didn’t know then is just how powerful and layered his story really is.
Lee talks openly about what it was like growing up as “the big kid,” the messages he absorbed from family and peers, and the moment a single comment at his grandparents’ house cemented the belief that something was wrong with his body. He shares how dietetics training — meant to help people — pulled him into an eating disorder, how masculinity shaped (and complicated) his identity, and how music, movement, rest, and self-compassion slowly helped him rebuild a more grounded relationship with himself.
This episode is honest, vulnerable, and deeply relatable. If you’ve ever struggled with feeling “too much,” “not enough,” or like you had to shrink yourself to be worthy, I think you’ll find something in Lee’s story that stays with you.
Key Themes We Cover
• Early body image messages
Lee’s first memories around food and body go all the way back to kindergarten — and they stuck. Comments from family, teasing at school, shirts-and-skins moments, all shaped how he saw himself.
• Masculinity + diet culture
Being a man in a female-dominated field, trying to fit into cultural ideas of masculinity, and grappling with the shame tied to both.
• How eating disorders function as coping
Lee describes how his eating disorder wasn’t about food — it was a way to manage stress, numb pain, and create control when he didn’t feel like he had any.
• The slow work of self-compassion
From leaving a shame-based religious environment to learning new ways of talking to himself, Lee explains how compassion slowly reshaped his inner world.
• Movement and music as grounding
Lifting, walking, resting, and especially playing the drums — these became the ways Lee reconnected with his body in ways that felt supportive rather than punishing.
• Connection over “perfect eating”
One of the most powerful parts of this conversation: the reminder that we lose something real when we turn food into rules instead of relationships.
