Dr Liz O’Riordan on Cancer and Food: Separating Myths from Medicine

I am so thrilled to have the wonderful Michaela Thomas - clinical psychologist, ADHD specialist, and author of The Lasting Connection - joining me for this fascinating deep dive into the ADHD brain. We’ve talked about neurodivergence on the show before, but rarely do we look at it through the lens of our relationship with food. Michaela completely shifted my perspective by explaining that ADHD isn't just a "focus" problem; it’s a systemic, whole-body regulation issue. We explore everything from the "good girl" conditioning that leads many women to mask their symptoms for decades, to the staggering reality of how internalised criticism eventually manifests as burnout or disordered eating.

Trigger Warning: This episode does include discussion of eating disorders and disordered eating, so please take care while listening. In this episode of Chew on This, I’m joined by personal trainer, author and trainee eating disorder psychotherapist Elle Mace for an honest conversation about recovery, body image and what it really takes to rebuild a relationship with food. Elle shares her lived experience of anorexia, binge eating disorder and bulimia over a 17-year period, opening up about how early body comparison, people pleasing and low self-worth shaped her struggles, and what finally helped her begin the long road to recovery. We talk about the emotional roots of eating disorders, the chaos of living with food obsession, and the unlearning that recovery demands in a culture that still glorifies restriction. Elle reflects on how her relationship with food has changed from “chaos” to “incredible”, and shares what she has learned through recovery, motherhood, training as a psychotherapist, and writing her forthcoming book Food Freedom. It’s a thoughtful and powerful conversation about recovery, self-understanding, and how a different relationship with food is possible.

In this episode, I’m joined by Dr Helen Wall, GP, menopause specialist and author of Menopause and ADHD. We explore what’s really happening during perimenopause—not just physically, but in the brain—and why so many women are left feeling anxious, foggy and unlike themselves without understanding why. Helen explains how fluctuating hormones impact mood, memory and emotional regulation, and why so many symptoms have historically been misdiagnosed or dismissed.

In this episode, I’m joined by registered dietitian and fertility nutrition specialist Ro Huntriss for a thoughtful and reassuring conversation about what the evidence really says when it comes to food, fertility and trying to conceive. We explore why fertility can become such an emotional space to navigate, how nutrition is often one of the first things people reach for when they feel powerless, and why Ro is so passionate about bringing clarity to an area that is often full of misinformation, false promises and anxiety.

In this episode, I am joined by Charlotte Ord - counselling psychologist, body image specialist, eating disorder specialist, and author of Body Confident You, Body Confident Kid — for a thoughtful conversation about body image, food, control, and the messages we pass on to the next generation. Together, we explore how body image develops, why it becomes so entangled with eating behaviours, and how diet culture, restriction, shame and “food noise” can pull us further away from ourselves.