Shoulders Down
When you live in the diet mindset, you spend much of your time living in your head- constantly tallying, dwelling, and stressing over your food and lifestyle choices. When you become an intuitive eater, you learn to drop into your body and start living shoulders down. The territory below your shoulders contains your innate wisdom and power. Shoulders Down is a podcast designed to teach you how to harness your intuition to govern not just how you eat but also how you live. Shoulders Down Podcast is hosted by Anti-Diet Dietitian and Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor, Leah Kern, who works with clients to heal their relationships with food in her private practice, Leah Kern Nutrition. Disclaimer: All content in this podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. The information and education provided is not intended or implied to supplement or replace professional medical treatment, advice, and/or diagnosis.
Shoulders Down
🔄 Transfer Addiction: When Substance Recovery Shifts Into Orthorexia with Sydney Greene
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In this episode of Shoulders Down, Leah sits down with certified eating disorder specialist Sydney Greene, to explore the overlap between disordered eating and substance use.
Sydney shares her personal story of growing up around addiction, developing orthorexia, and later navigating sobriety — only to find her compulsive behaviors shifting toward exercise, clean eating, and wellness. Leah and Sydney unpack how addiction and disordered eating often co-occur, why recovery isn’t always linear, and how socially praised behaviors can mask deeper struggles.
Together, they discuss the concept of transfer addiction, how one compulsive behavior can replace another, and why healing requires addressing the underlying unmet needs — not just the behavior itself.
⚠️ Content Warning ⚠️
This episode includes discussion of substance use, addiction, suicidal thoughts, and grief. Listener discretion is advised.
You’ll hear about:
- Sydney’s personal story with substance use and disordered eating
- What “transfer addiction” means and how it shows up in recovery
- Why sobriety can sometimes intensify disordered eating behaviors
- Why intuitive eating may not be appropriate early in addiction recovery
- The overlap between orthorexia, compulsive exercise, and addiction
Mentioned in this episode:
- 🥗 Orthorexia: When “Healthy" Eating Becomes Dangerous
- 🧗‍♀️Wellness Culture in Mountain Towns with Katie Campbell
- 🥛 Proteinification, Pilates, Glucose Monitors & The Wellness Trends That Shaped 2025
- đź’°Are You Binge Spending? Where Budget Culture Meets Diet Culture with Rachel Duncan
More From Sydney
- Website: sydneygreenehealth.com
- Instagram: @greenehealth
More From Leah:
- đź“šDownload your free Intuitive Eating Starter Pack
- Apply to The Embodied Method, my 1:1 coaching program
- Join my self-paced course, The Return
- Subscribe to Leah's Youtube Channel
- Subscribe to my personal Substack
- Follow me on Instagram for more intuitive eating content @leahkern.rd
- Visit my website to learn more about my coaching offerings
- Subscribe to my weekly newsletter to get a nugget of intuitive eating inspiration delivered straight from my heart to your inbox each week.
- Send me a voice message on Speakpipe
- Email me: Leah@leahkernrd.com
