In a recent episode of The Dr. Leaf Show, my daughter Dominique and I talk about something we'd never discussed this openly before: our own eating disorders, and how one was passed from me to her.

I counted calories at university, down to 500 a day, until my sister picked up an apple and asked whether I was doing the math in my head. Dominique was diagnosed with anorexia at 13, spent over a year in therapy, and admits she blamed her grandmother and me for years afterward.

We both talk about how a pattern like this moves through a family. Eating disorders aren't merely fixed in the genes; environment and inherited thinking patterns can prime the next generation for the same struggle. Understanding that shifted something for Dominique, including how she saw the pattern, and changed the whole story Dominique had been telling herself.

Dominique shares two exercises her therapist gave her that she still returns to when the old thinking resurfaces, including the eulogy exercise, which asks you to consider what you actually want to be remembered for, and how far that is from a number on a scale.

We also get into why "I am struggling with anorexia" is a truer sentence than "I am anorexic," where GLP-1 medications actually help and where they carry real risk, and whether we should ever comment on someone else's body, and if so, how to do it with kindness instead of judgment.

I want to be upfront: I'm not an eating disorder specialist. What I bring is the mind side: catching the trigger, questioning the thought underneath it, and building a new pattern deliberately over 63 days with the Neurocycle. If you're struggling, please also talk to a qualified eating disorder professional.

Listen to the full conversation here, and if it resonates, share it with someone who might need to hear it.

If you or someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder, the National Alliance for Eating Disorders Helpline is 1-866-662-1235.