Find Your Strong Podcast
Encouraging people to find what FEELS good in terms of food, movement and their bodies. Let's challenge the wellness w*nkery and start a new conversation.In each episode, Christine and Ela discuss their thoughts on diet and fitness fads, speak with fabulous guests about finding peace with food and their bodies, and interview experts so that they can share their insights with you, our lovely listeners. The hope is that together we can change the narrative around fitness and nutrition, and help you find YOUR strong!
Who Says You're Not Sporty?! A Chat with Christine Hobson
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A cup of tea and a sit down with the wonderfully down to earth and inspirational Christine Hobson*, a tiktok and instagram sensation at the age of 73!
Christine believes at her core that you don't have to be sporty to become someone who enjoys sport. Christine spent most of her life believing she was rubbish at PE. At school she was the child nobody wanted on their team. Fast forward to now, and she's completed 125 marathons.Â
Some key takeaways:
- Sometimes we're our own worst e...
Why Are We All Talking About What We Eat?
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“You're not lazy because you're resting, and you're not greedy because you have a second portion, you're just a bit hungrier.”
So Ela's lovely daughter Milly came up with our topic for today, which is a cracking one.
We discuss the following:
Has food and eating become performative?Does diet culture dominate our food choices at work/ school/ with friends?Our food choices are often tied to our identity. Being 'the healthy one', 'the good one' or 'not a lunch person'. Sound familiar? Women's appetites are still judged throu...What To Do When You Experience Body Image Distress.
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In this episode we talk about body confidence in midlife. As bodies, skin, hair and energy levels change, old and new negative body image thoughts can emerge, and the pull of the anti-aging and diet culture narrative adds pressure.Â
So what you can do in the moment when body image distress flares up? We share some personal examples, and some tools we have learned and practiced ourselves and with our clients.
Some takeaways:
Midlife can be a choice point. You have agency!Beware the “shoulds”. Mo...Can We Talk About Kids, Food and Body Image?
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We're BACK!
It has been a hot second since we last recorded an episode together and of course we're starting with an emotionally charged subject, just to get you thinking.
In this episode, we spoke about the messages kids absorb from our own relationship with food and our bodies.
How do we feel if our child or a friend's child gains weight? Is it ever ok to talk about a child's weight, even if it from a place of concern?
Key Takeaways from this episode:Â
...From Weight Watchers to Embracing Your Features.
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This week,I'm flying solo and I'm so excited to be chatting with the inspirational Christina Testut.Â
Christina is a fierce body image advocate as well as a published author and Kindergarten teacher, and is passionate about developing confidence and building a strong self esteem within her students.Â
As she says: "Changing the narrative around body image for our youngest generation and generations to come, has become my purpose."
Christina talks honestly about going from being a Weight Watchers Cover Star, where she realised she was very "go...
Burnout, Belief, and the Right to Recover - with Bex Spiller
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Bex Spiller is the founder of The Anti-Burnout Club and creator of the Right to Recover campaign — joins Ela to talk burnout, workplace culture, and why recovery should be a right, not a luxury.
We covered Bex's Burnout Story
Bex built a marketing agency from her bedroom at 21, then hit a wall physically and mentally while studying for an MBA in addition to long working hours. A GP eventually named what she'd been feeling: burnout — a word she'd never heard before. That crisis, plus losing her father to s...
What We Resist, Persists
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In this episode, we explore a simple but powerful idea: when we resist uncomfortable feelings, they tend to grow stronger, not weaker.
This pattern shows up everywhere: for example anxiety on a plane, dental fear, body image, ageing, and cravings.
Key threads we unpack:
Resistance breeds shame. When we don't admit we're struggling — because we feel we shouldn't be — that gap between who we are and who we think we should be becomes a breeding ground for shame.Naming a fear diffuses it. How advo...Letting Go of the Athlete Identity, with Caroline Toshack
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In this episode, we're joined by the wonderful Caroline Toshack for a thought provoking conversation about coming home to our bodies after an eating disorder or indeed years of chronic dieting.
Caroline shares how her career evolved from personal training, sports coaching and competitive endurance sport into Pilates, yoga and body-led therapeutic work. We talk about her experience of living with an eating disorder, the pressure and identity that can become wrapped up in athletic performance, and the shift that came when movement became less about punishment and more about connection.<...
Intuitive Eating isn't for everyone.
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We've been thinking a lot lately about intuitive eating and whether it really is for everyone. There's so much confusion and misinformation out there, and we wanted to take a moment to cut through some of that.Â
At its heart, Intuitive eating isn't a diet, a religion, or a set of rigid rules to follow — it's a flexible framework designed to help you find freedom and peace around food.Â
The more we work with different clients, the more we believe that almost everyone can find an entry point into it...
Your Body Is Not a Project to Fix: Unapologetic Ageing with Deb Benfield
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In a world determined to sell us anti-ageing solutions, what would it look like to trust our bodies instead? This conversation explores ageism, diet culture, menopause, embodiment, and the radical possibility of ageing without apology.
 We just loved this conversation with Deb Benfield. Deb truly embodies her work and exudes an inner confidence and an ease with herself and her own body, that is at once disarming and encouraging.
Key Takeaways:
 Diet culture and ageism often collide in midlife, creating pressure to "fix" our bodies just as they're ch...Summer Bodies, Heatwaves & Unlearning Diet Culture
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If you're based in the UK, you'll know that at the time of recording it was SUPER hot here. Hotter weather can often bring up body image concerns, that may have kept themselves hidden under the layers of autumn, winter and spring. Â
Key Takeaways:
Summer can bring body image struggles back to the surface — especially when we’re wearing less and comparing ourselves to unrealistic images online.Feeling uncomfortable in your body doesn’t mean you’re failing at body acceptance; it means you’re human.There’s a huge differen...What If We Stopped Fighting Aging?
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I recently turned 50 and Ela is hot on my tail, and as such we are thinking more and more about what it means to embrace our bodies as they inevitably change.*Â
We are swimming in a sea of diet culture which is compounded by anti-aging culture once we hit upwards of 35. How do we reconcile our fears about our bodies changing, when they are now visibly aging? Â
What are our options if we want to reject botox, fillers and cosmetic procedures. Are we destined to become invisible and lose our...
Training for Our Old Lady Bodies, with Elizabeth Davies @thiswomanlifts.
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In this episode, we sat down with Elizabeth Davies (This Woman Lifts) to explore strength training, ageing, body image, and what it really means for women to feel strong. Together we unpack the lifelong pressure women face to stay small, youthful, and aesthetically “acceptable.
The conversation covers everything from postpartum recovery and the fear of “getting bulky” to social media, midlife fitness culture, bone health, and raising the next generation of girls with a healthier relationship to movement. Warm, honest, and evidence-informed, this episode challenges diet culture narratives and reframes fitness around...
What Are You Really Training For? Fitness BEYOND Shrinking Your Body.
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Why do you move?Â
Why do you exercise?Â
There are plenty of reasons, but when we ask people if they'd move in the same way, if movement didn't change how their bodies looked, we often hear a resounding NO.Â
You have full autonomy but.....
While we believe that everyone has full autonomy over their bodies, we also know how beneficial movement and exercise can be for us. We are very passionate about empowering people to feel stronger, fitter, more mobile, just better. And at...
Redefining Exercise After Eating Disorder Recovery, with Jenny Langley
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What a joy to have Jenny Langley on the podcast.Â
Since her son recovered from anorexia 20 years ago, Jenny Langley has campaigned to raise awareness of eating disorders and the impact on the whole family, and to provide practical help and support to families affected by eating disorders. Â
Jenny co-authored the New Maudsley Skills-Based Training Manual and wrote of her family’s experiences in the book Boys Get Anorexia Too.Â
 In this episode, we talked about recovery, empowering parents and carers as well as those struggling and here a...
Is Our Obsession with Tracking Helpful or Harmful?
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Are you tracking your weight/progress/calories/sleep/exercise/whatever-else-there-is-to-track?
We had a feisty conversation about it (always feisty!!), and feel that tracking can be helpful in some situations (e.g. when you are training for a certain goal, when you are recovering from an eating disorder, or when the person tracking is in a good place with food, exercise and their body).
BUT: tracking can distract us from trusting our body, listening to our intuition and reduce our ability to feel what we need...
Perfectionism Isn't Who You Are and the Burnout Cycle Isn't Inevitable.
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Part 2.
We could chat to these folks all day. Tasha* and Brandon are heart-centred coaches who work with recovering perfectionists (Hello!) people struggling with burnout as well as high achieving humans who are navigating complex life circumstances and have lost themselves along the way.
In this episode we touch on the following topics:
The real definition of burnout and why it is always unique to the individual.What is the first step out of burnout and how do we prevent relapsesWhy Nervous System Regulation is key and how t...Can We Eat Sugar AND Be Healthy?
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Ela and I were wondering about our topic for this week and a recent episode of Dragon's Den got us thinking about sugar, continuous glucose monitors and the absolute fear we have around "processed sugar".
On Dragon's den, the dragons were tasting a new type of oat energy ball and each of them tasted it, agreed how delicious it was and immediately said that because it tasted so good, that meant it must be bad for you. Steven and Deborah both declined to invest on the premise that the sugar content w...
Shrinking Celebrities, GLP-1s and Why We're Angry!
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Christine and I are angry - we re trying to work out why we are so easily led into obedience when it comes to body image and dieting. Watching people (in particular celebrities) shrink before our very eyes is NOT an invitation to do the same, rather, it should be a cause for concern - it shows that we are still way too focussed on appearances and unattainable 'beauty' standards.Â
This misdirected focus keeps us under control - we haven't got time to make the world a better place if we a...
Eating Disorders Do NOT Have a Look. Fighting the Stereotypes.
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In the UK this is Eating Disorders Awareness week, so we thought we should talk about it.
I have had too much lived experience with eating disorders as I'm sure many of you have had.
This week I have become enraged at eating disorders and what they have stripped from me and from my family's life. But one key thing to remember is that by talking about eating disorders and the rising impact they are having on our young people, we are creating awareness.
Sophie @e...
Who's Benefiting From Our Body Dissatisfaction? A Conversation with Evelyn Tribole (Re-Release)
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Ela and I are beyond excited to bring you this week's guest, the OG of Intuitive Eating herself, Evelyn.
This of course, was one of our most popular episodes to date and if you listen, you'll understand why.
Ela and I are both Intuitive Eating Counsellors and were lucky enough to train with Evelyn. She is force to be reckoned with!
If you are new here or have never heard of Intuitive Eating and don't know what the fuss is about, this is the episode for you.
How To Tell if Your Relationship with Exercise is Disordered.
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Another fiery episode today where we talk about the tell-tale signs of overexercise as well as some tips for getting back into movement, after a long period of absence.
Untangling weight loss and movement is one of the hardest parts of rebuilding our relationship with our bodies. For many of us, coming from a disordered eating background, it can be all too easy to replace restriction with overexercising. We're still maintaining that felt sense of 'control' over our bodies. We can cope with listening to our bodies' hunger cues, as long as w...
The Only Exercise Advice You Need for the Menopause.
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We were not holding back.. It’s fair to say that both of us are super grateful to all the trailblazers that put perimenopause and menopause on the list of topics that we can now all pretty openly discuss. We are both heading towards 50, and are both supporting clients who are going through hormonal changes in midlife.Â
Whilst we see that there is a place for tailored perimenopause and menopause support, we also feel that, yet again, vulnerability is exploited through monetisation – supplements, potions and lotions are being flogged alongside promises to ge...
Why Eating Disorders Are Really About Our Relationship with Our Bodies.
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This is our first episode of 2026 and it is one that we both feel incredibly passionate about. We explore why fitness spaces can be high risk environments for eating disorders.
Sophie, founder of ED Informed, joins us to discuss how diet culture, harmful fitness messaging and a lack of staff training leave many people vulnerable and unsupported.
We start by discussing some common misconceptions about eating disorders (this will shock you) Did you know that only 6% of people with eating disorders are in the "underweight" category? We talk about t...
Starting the New Year SOFT not STRONG.
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Happy holidays everyone! This is a re-release from our January 2025 episode about easing into the new year. If you are thinking you need to change your body in 2026, this may just help you reframe and re-evaluate your goals.
We had a great chat about how we can set goals in a sustainable wayÂ
We also talked about
- new year's resolutions and how we have full permission to opt out of making any
- how we can set more sustainable goals and not get sucked into quick-fix 'so...
Extreme Thinness Culture - How Did We End Up Here AGAIN?!
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Spicy one this week. Â
We both believe that individuals have agency and that commenting on an individual's body, whether it be out of 'concern' or otherwise, is just not helpful.
But can we call out a cultural shift towards extreme thinness? F*ck yes!
We feel that we have to. We have a duty of care as professionals working in the non-diet space. We work with clients from disordered eating backgrounds, many of whom are slowly rebuilding trust in their bodies but who are often hugely vulnerable.
...Maybe You're NOT Inconsistent and You DON'T Lack Discipline @rulesandrebellion
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Tasha and Brandon and their membership - the Village-Â have been a lifeline for me over the last few months, which personally have been incredibly difficult.
They work with recovering perfectionists, folks struggling with burnout and high-achieving humans who are navigating complex life circumstances (clcs) and have lost themselves along the way.
If you have ever felt exhausted and overwhelmed by the everyday, and crave some clarity and some space to pursue the goals you've pushed to one side, this is the conversation for you.
Although they d...
Nana Crawford. Celebrating Your Jiggles.
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What a joyful conversation with the one and only Nana Crawford, creator of Jigglefitt. She is a powerhouse and her energy is truly infectious and we hope you love this conversation as much as we did.
We talked to Nana about the following topics:
Body Acceptance after having kids and seeing your body change out of recognitionHow to get to know your body againHow dance can help bring you back to your bodyWhy dancing is for everyone, and why it's ok if it doesn't land first time.The racist roots o...GLP-1s - Why Informed Consent is Key, with Aoife McMahon @thatirishdietitian
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Before I share the show notes below, a quick disclaimer: this episode is for information and education purposes only and does not focus on medical risk/ replace advice from a medical professional. If you are taking any weight loss drug or are considering taking one, please consult with a professional/ your healthcare provider.Â
Now - what a treat to have the lovely Aoife McMahon on the pod today!
Aoife is a specialist eating disorders, disordered eating and body image dietitian. She supports individuals in one-to-one sessions to rebuild a p...
Can Hypnotherapy Help in Eating Disorder Recovery? With Dr Rachel Evans
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We had the pleasure of chatting with Dr Rachel Evans for this episode - and we absolutely loved her multi-faceted approach to eating disorder recovery. Rachel draws on her own lived experience with Bulimia, and uses lots of different therapeutic modalities in her client sessions so that each session is tailored exactly to the individual client.Â
Rachel kindly shared her own story with us, and we are sure it will resonate with many people, because it highlights that there often isn't a distinct moment in time when our relationship with food g...
Body Image, Eating Disorder Recovery and Cake, with Dr Kamila Irvine - RE-RELEASE
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We are re-releasing this to coincide with the APPG report from Dump The Scales, that was delivered to Number 10 yesterday, alongside a petition calling for an inquiry into all eating disorder deaths.
You can find the full report here
It's always humbling to speak to our amazing experts, and our conversation with Dr Kamila Irvine was no exception! Whilst she is a very senior researcher and serious advocate for weight-inclusivity, she is also incredibly good fun to chat to!Â
We talked about:
- How neurodivergence ca...
Dr Jenn Salib Huber. Accepting Your Changing Body Through Peri to Post Menopause (Re-Release)
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To celebrate the release of Jenn's first book - Eat to Thrive, we are re-releasing this impactful conversation with Jenn, which remains our most popular episode to date!
What an episode. I realised about 20 minutes of chatting to Jenn that I wanted to work with her so immediately signed up to her Midlife Feast Community.
Dr Jenn Salib Huber is a Canadian registered dietitian, naturopathic doctor and fellow Intuitive Eating Coach.
She is on a mission to help women thrive in midlife by helping them navigate the p...
Pilates Princesses Vs Muscle Mommies. Our Take.
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This was a feisty conversation.
The conversation was inspired by an article from Mikala Jamison on Substack, entitled 'The Long Con of Pilates Culture.'
This is by no means a takedown of Pilates as a movement modality. I (Christine) am a Pilates teacher myself and swear by its considerable benefits, however, I would not be inclined to direct a client to Pilates if they wanted to increase muscle mass or bone density.
You can absolutely build strength in Pilates, and you can improve muscle endurance, joint...
Exercise Without Agenda. A Quietly Radical Approach with Author Bethany Rutter
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Bethany Rutter is an author and online personal trainer. She is the author of four books for young people and two books for adults. Her next novel is Ask Me Anything, out November 2025.
It was a joy to speak with Bethany - so refreshing to hear how she has come to be chill with the body she is in and how she has come from hating PE at school to enjoying movement.Â
We talked about
- Bethany's own body and movement story
- spinning, sweating a...
Body Image Disruptors - They Happen to Everyone (and They Suck!)
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Christine and I had a really honest conversation about body image disruptors and how we deal with them. Disclaimer: we don't have a 'one-size-fits-all' solution for you! But we are here to validate that they happen to almost everyone, that they suck, and that they can really knock you sideways.
It's so hard to avoid comparing yourself to others, to avoid absorbing images that portray 'the ideal body', and to accept your here-and-now body. We get it, we hear it, we hear you!
AND, whilst body image disruptors are...
Your Body Belongs to You. How to Get Off the Diet Train Once and For All.
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If social media were to be believed, everyone is on a diet. No judgement here, believe me. We live in a dieting culture - it is the air we breathe and the sea we swim in.
But we are shrinking ourselves in more ways than one, at a time, where we need to take up space and stand up to the establishment, not cower under it.
Alok Venom: "I belong firmly and irrevocably to me. Once I began to realise that this body is mine, other people's appraisal of it b...
Healing through Lifting. The True Meaning of Strength, with Alyssa Ages
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Alyssa Ages* is a force to be reckoned with. Author, freelance journalist, crossfit athlete, marathon runner, strong woman competitor, and advocate for strength training and taking up space as a woman.
Alyssa talks to us about how strength training, in particular, helped her regain trust and confidence in what her body could do. She talks candidly about her struggles with infertility, how going back to the gym after a miscarriage helped her process some very difficult emotions.
We also discussed the following topics together:
The benefits of strength tra...Stefanie Michele. How to get out of your head and into your body.
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Ela and I have been excited about this episode for quite some time.
Stefanie Michele* is a binge eating recovery coach as well as host of the very popular Life After Diets podcast with former guest Sarah Dosanjh.
She has recently completed her training as a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner and now approaches her recovery coaching through this trauma-informed lens.
Through our conversation, we touched on the following topics:
Why striving to be 'body positive' doesn't work for everyone.Are we applying our perfectionist gaze to body...The Problem with Couch to 5k. A Conversation with Jill Angie *Re-Release*
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RE-RELEASE of one of my favourite ever interviews from March 2023. Only my 6th episode of the podcast before Ela joined me.❤️
Jill Angie is a trailblazer. She is changing the conversation for fat women over 40 and for anyone who thinks they're too old or too slow.
She is making huge waves in the running game and it was an absolute joy to share an hour with her.
I am currently training for a marathon, and Jill's podcasts have inspired me and have been my constant companion on my lo...
The Skinny Epidemic - Why Are We Shrinking Ourselves Yet Again?
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Skinny is back. With a vengeance.Â
We're furious. Listen, we are very much speaking from a position of privilege in terms of both being in straight-sized bodies, but approaching fitness and health through an anti-oppressive and inclusive lens, this is simply not good news.
Eating disorders and disordered eating are very much on the rise, as is body dissatisfaction, and the very sad truth is, is that there is no quick fix when it comes to our fitness,our bodies and indeed our confidence. Sure we can lose weight in t...
