EP 250: 5 Scary Stories Your ED Tells You + How to Stop Being Haunted by Them This Halloween👻🍬

Happy Halloween, girlfriend! But let's talk about what's TRULY scary - the lies your eating disorder has been telling you that keep you trapped, paralyzed, and missing out on your life. In this special Halloween episode, host Lindsey Nichol unmasks the 5 scariest stories your eating disorder tells you and reveals why they're complete fiction. If you're a woman over 40 who's been haunted by food fears, candy panic, and the belief that you've been struggling "too long" to ever find freedom, this episode is your wake-up call. Lindsey shares her own triggering Halloween experience - dressing up as a plastic surgery victim in her mid-20s, complete with bandages and circles marking her "imperfections" - and how that costume revealed just how deep her denial really was. Then she walks you through each scary story, debunking the lies and replacing them with truth. This isn't just a Halloween episode. This is permission to finally unmask your eating disorder and step into the freedom you deserve - no matter your age, no matter how long you've been struggling. In This Episode, You'll Learn: Lindsey's Halloween Confession: Why Halloween was always triggering (candy panic, food fear, restriction spirals)The plastic surgery victim costume story that revealed her denialHow eating disorders convince you the horror show is normalThe moment she realized she was literally wearing her body dysmorphia as a costume The 5 Scary Stories (Lies) Your ED Tells You: Scary Story #1: "If I Eat Candy, I'll Lose All Control" Why restriction and deprivation CREATE the loss of controlHow scarcity breeds obsession and leads to bingingThe truth about trusting yourself around "forbidden" foodsWhat you're really missing when you avoid Halloween treats with your family Scary Story #2: "I'll Gain Weight Immediately If I Stop Restricting" Why your body is not a calculator waiting to punish youThe truth about initial weight fluctuation during healingHow restriction has NEVER given you the body you thought it wouldWhat set point really means and why fighting it exhausts you Scary Story #3: "I Can't Trust Myself Around Food" Why you've forgotten what trust feels like after years of external rulesHow every restriction reinforces the lie that you're not capableWhat you're modeling for your kids or grandkids when you don't trust yourselfThe truth: trust is rebuilt one choice at a time Scary Story #4: "Everyone Will Judge Me If I Gain Weight (And So Will I)" The double lie: external judgment + internal harsh criticWhy the people who matter want you PRESENT, not perfectWhat people are actually judging (your obsession, not your body)The scary truth: you're already miserable, the ED isn't protecting you FROM misery Scary Story #5: "I've Been Struggling So Long, I'll Probably Always Be This Way" Why the length of time struggling has NOTHING to do with recovery potentialThe truth for women in their 40s, 50s, 60s+ finding freedomWhy "I wish I had started sooner" means TODAY is your soonerHow to stop wasting one more Halloween believing this is your fate The Unmasking: Why you're exhausted from wearing the ED maskHow to stop hiding and pretending this is sustainableWhat it means to take off the costume and show up as your real selfThe truth about who you are underneath the eating disorder Key Takeaways: ✨ The ED convinces you the horror show is normal - it puts a mask over your eyes so you can't see reality ✨ Fear of losing control actually CREATES loss of control - restriction is what makes you feel out of control ✨ Your body has a set point - fighting against it is what's exhausting you, not the weight itself ✨ You CAN trust yourself - but trust is rebuilt one choice at a time after years of external rules ✨ The people who matter want you present, not perfect - they're judging your obsession, not your body ✨ It's NOT too late - recovery is possible at ANY age after ANY amount of time struggling ✨ You're already miserable - the ED isn't protecting you from misery, it IS the misery ✨ Today is your "sooner" - stop waiting for the perfect time to unmask and get free Powerful Quotes from This Episode: "These aren't the fun kind of scary stories. These are the lies that keep you trapped.""I was literally wearing my body dysmorphia as a costume""Your fear of losing control is actually what creates the loss of control""You've spent DECADES restricting and you STILL don't have the body you thought restriction would give you""You're trading temporary weight fluctuation for permanent freedom - and that's the best trade you'll ever make""Every time you follow a rule instead of listening to your body, you're telling yourself 'I can't handle freedom'""The people who matter don't care about your body size. The people who care about your body size don't matter""You're ALREADY miserable. The eating disorder isn't protecting you from misery - it IS the misery""The length of time you've been struggling has NOTHING to do with whether you can recover""You've...