Morgan DiPrimo on Eating Disorder Recovery, Awareness & Fixing Treatment Access

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In this powerful interview, Morgan DiPrimo shares her personal journey through eating disorder recovery and sheds light on the challenges many face when trying to access treatment. The conversation explores stigma, systemic barriers, and why early intervention and awareness matter more than ever. Learn how storytelling and media can help create cultural change and support those navigating recovery.

00:00 Introduction and Guest Background
01:05 Morgan's Personal Journey with Anorexia
02:28 Challenges in Treatment and Insurance Barriers
04:11 The Need for Better Systemic Support
06:48 Morgan's Documentary and Global Insights
08:50 Misconceptions and Stigma Around Eating Disorders
11:20 Gaps in Treatment and Education for Clinicians
14:11 Prevalence of Different Eating Disorders
16:24 Signs and Early Detection in Youth
19:52 Morgan's Current Health and Wellness Routine
22:03 First Steps for Those Struggling
24:30 Reflections and Surprising Insights from Experts
27:26 Resources and How to Follow Morgan

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Welcome everyone to the Pulse Beat Podcast, sponsored by Cardio Miracle. I am your host today, Elizabeth Fairchild, and I am here with Morgan DiPrimo. We are so excited to be speaking with her, a New York-based eating disorder advocate, uh speaking, and documentary producer. She started out in TV working on shows like Jimmy Kimmel Live, so cool. Maury, even Super Bowl broadcast, and now she's using that storytelling background to tackle something deeply personal, which is producing a global documentary on eating disorders after her own journey through long-term recovery. So, Morgan, we are honored to have you here with us today. Um, welcome.

SPEAKER_01 0:51

Thank you, Elizabeth. I'm excited to be here.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

Tell us a little bit about your story. Obviously, there's a lot of cool things you've done in your life. Um, a little bit about your journey. Obviously, this is a sensitive subject. It's amazing that you can talk about it. Um, you know, I know it's hard for people to share personal things. So glad to have you here and yeah, feel free to share anything you'd like to.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

Yeah, no, it's definitely a sensitive subject, but I really think that it's important that uh people with lived experience come out and speak because even though eating disorders are the second um deadliest psychiatric mental illness, um, they're still very heavily stigmatized. So a little bit about my personal story. Um I was first diagnosed with an eating disorder when I was 16, um, with specifically anorexia novosa. And I went to an outpatient program here on Long Island, one one of the few that was offered. I think there's like probably two or three programs at the time on Long Island, um, which tells you something because New York and Long Island are one of the major cities, and yeah, we still have very uh little resources available. So uh went outpatient for about two years, um, managed in the sense that I did like the bare minimum to kind of get by and stay out of a high level of care. Then when I uh got into college, um, I went to Pace University. My sophomore year I relapsed pretty significantly, and I ended up in a residential treatment center. And it was there that I was exposed to a world that I hadn't been exposed to before, in the sense that I always thought you go to the doctor, insurance covers it, and you get better, and that's it. However, um, that was not the case. I was fortunate that I had pretty decent insurance through my dad's company at the time, but a lot of my peers did not. And what a lot of people don't know about eating disorders specifically is that only um 6% are clinically underweight, 94% can sit at a normal or high weight. Wow. So that leaves yeah, so that leaves a lot of people at risk for not receiving um the treatment that they need. So as a result, the insurance companies, when I was in treatment, um usually cut patients early. Like we're talking about a day to two days to three days, um, once their vital signs normalized, um, they they left treatment and had to go to a lower level of care. And as a result, I watched a lot of my friends relapse multiple times, um, you know, go in and out of treatment centers, families go into financial debt, taking out second mortgages on their homes, um, just things that didn't really have to happen if, you know, we had a better system in place and people were able to get the help that they need the first time. So because I had my opportunity at recovery, I believe that I should pay it forward. And that's what I'm doing.

SPEAKER_00 3:54

Yeah. I love that. I I actually have a friend, she passed away in 2023. She died of um, well, she had body dysmorphia issues pretty severely. Um, and I think she may have even struggled with anorexia too. So to hear your story, thank you for sharing that, obviously. And I agree, you know, in a lot of these institutions and a lot of these care places, you know, there is no continuity of care. Um, there is no really concern for the patient. There's a famous quote by Frances Peabody, and it says, the secret in caring for the patient is in caring for the patient. And it's like so simple, but I just think we've missed the mark, obviously, in so many, even in in other addiction communities, I think that that happens a lot, especially with the insurance, like you were saying, and and things are just not up to up to snuff. So it's such a reality.

SPEAKER_01 4:46

Yeah, insurance is just a huge problem. And you know, now a lot of these treatment centers are brought out by private equity firms. Um, there's pros and cons to that, but um the pro is, you know, there are more treatment centers. The con is, you know, it's are people really getting help? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:07

Are they really getting the help they need?

SPEAKER_01 5:09

It's a business model that, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:11

So it's just, yeah. So then from obviously you've seen a lot of that that corruption and that um, I guess we'll call it negligence. Um, you know, what have you done? Obviously, in your own life, you you've you've seen it, you've felt it, you've witnessed this, your experience, strength, and hope. That's why you're out here. Um, so what are some of the things that you've done along the way to get this message out there? Obviously, I saw you were on Jimmy Kimmel Super Bowl podcast, so um uh broadcast. So you're out there, you're out there, which is great with this information.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

Yeah. So my background with Jimmy Kimmel and the Super Bowl and and all that stuff, that was more so um just like on the media side of things. But um, my background is media and storytelling. Awesome. And when I've wanted, when I wanted to do something about this, I was like, well, I'm not gonna be a clinician because I have ADHD and I cannot sit in a classroom.

SPEAKER_00 6:05

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 6:06

But I do have a background in media and storytelling. And that my thought process was in the very beginning is that media does a really good job of creating cultural movements and creating conversations. So if we could just show people what's going on, maybe more people will begin to talk and it will become less stigmatized, and then change could ultimately be made. So um, I'm in the process right now of putting together a documentary, um, very pre-process of it. Um, but so far I've interviewed over 300 people globally on media owners, clinicians, researchers, people with lived experiences, experience. Um, unfortunately, um a lot of people who lost their kids from this. And it's just it's amazing that no matter where you are in the world, the political system, it is still such a problem.

SPEAKER_00 6:58

Absolutely. And the crossover of addictions, I just thought about that too, because my friend Gina, she had that same, you know, had the eating disorder, but also, you know, struggled with other addictions in her life. And I think that, you know, sometimes that's not even talked about enough, you know, because these people might need more help than, you know, even just that, um, which is crazy. So, and because everybody needs help and everybody deserves to live a quality of life. That's what we're about at Cardio Miracle. Um, you know, and we have this amazing whole food supplement. Funny enough, actually, Gina, my my late friend, um, she was on the Cardio Miracle and it was making her feel amazing, which is great because she was on meds for a lot of different things. And I think that also hurts people in these situations where the doctors just want to, again, sim sweep symptoms under the rug and not really address the root cause of things, which may be abuse or trauma, you know, family issues, whatever. So um, it's beautiful that you're doing this documentary and you've interviewed so many people already. So wow.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

Yeah, and a lot of people think that eating disorders specifically are a vanity issue, like you just want to look good and lose weight, and yeah. I can tell you that it's not. Um, you know, in some cases, uh people have a sexual trauma in their past, and they either want to not look like a female uh or be attractive to the opposite sex or the same sex. Um, you know, in my case, um I grew up with a learning disability in the 90s where it, you know, IEP's 504s um neurodivergence was not discussed. So you felt like an outsider. Um and also um that's not normal, you mean? It wasn't it wasn't smoking the whole life. Yeah. Um, but um I also am 5'10. So as a female, when I walked into a room, people have just noticed my body because I'm tall, you know, and it's not necessarily a bad thing, but I had all friends that were five threes as a kid. You just want to fit in, you know?

SPEAKER_00 9:12

So it's funny because I used to work in like a like a club uh situation, and um I there was always these tall volleyball girls that would come in and I say, What does the world look like from up there? And they said, a lot of tops of heads. And I'm like, that makes sense. So like that's kind of cool though, because of like, you know, like bird's eye view. So I don't know if I would hate it. I know what you mean about fitting in though.

SPEAKER_01 9:35

Yeah, no, and I didn't play basketball and I didn't play volleyball, and that's like always like the number one question that people I'm sure. Um, or can you get this from like the top level of the grocery store?

SPEAKER_00 9:46

It's like you're like, I'm I'm Zina, sure, it's fine. I'm yeah, Wonder Woman over here. It could be you got the long brown hair going for you, too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

Um, but yeah, so it's just certain things that make you stand out and feel different, and it could be something as simple as that, but it's definitely and it can happen to men too, which a lot of people are shocked about that people with men can have you know eating disorders.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

No, I've I've definitely seen it out just in the world. I mean, I I think I've been exposed to even if I didn't know those people, you know, sometimes it's just passerbys of you witness people's pain and you're like, gosh, I want to help that person. You know something's wrong. Um, you know, and there's a lot of that out there. And that's why what you what you're doing, what we're doing, what what everybody's doing on a any mission forward to move the needle is hopefully to help and to bring awareness so other people are like, hey, maybe they are in a place where they can help that person or they have a resource. So um, yeah, I think what you're doing is fantastic. And um, so tell me a little bit about from your 300 plus interviews that you've done, what are the biggest gaps in the eating disorder treatment and access to care, would you say?

SPEAKER_01 11:02

Um, there's a few. So specifically in the United States, we have an insurance system that a lot of people utilize. Um, a lot of treatment centers do not take Medicare and Medicaid, and um, doctors aren't educated on eating disorders. I believe that they receive like one hour of training, um, if that in medical school. But the shocking thing about um the doctor component is there's not a lot of training in malnutrition either. So with eating disorders specifically, like specifically um anorexia nervosa, or you could be malnourished at a at a normal weight, um, refeeding syndrome is a thing that could be deadly. So uh when I was in uh residential treatment, you have to increase the calories uh slowly, um, otherwise a person could have a heart attack. Um it's very dangerous. And a lot of times with eating disorders, there's a thing of like, why can't you just eat? Well, if you just eat and you're ear like and you're um you're just not paying attention to certain things and you go from a very restrictive diet to now a quote unquote normal diet, it could be more harmful. So it's very important that you know patients are monitored. Um, so when you know patients are acutely ill and going into these inpatient hospital programs, a lot of the times there's no protocol for eating disorders. So it's it could be very dangerous. Um, the insurance system is another thing. You know, a lot of insurance companies, it's they give a hard time with coverage for eating disorders, um, and you have to fit in a specific mold. And you could be too sick and you could be declared terminal. Um, or like you're you're you know, they don't want to help you because for residential treatment, you have to be a specific, you can't be acutely sick because there's a medical component to it. Um or you could be not sick enough and they could, you know, deny you a residential treatment. What a pendulum.

SPEAKER_00 13:10

I mean literally how do you catch the swing in the middle to get any help?

SPEAKER_01 13:14

Yeah, it's crazy. And you know, I think with one of my friends who unfortunately passed away, um her thing was she was she sat at a normal weight. Um, she was bulimic, and you know, she was cut from care quite early, and she ended up being anorexic, being too sick, and couldn't really get anywhere, and unfortunately passed away. So it's just there's so much work that needs to be done. Um there's uh people just need to be educated on it. So it doesn't, it doesn't have to get that far.

SPEAKER_00 13:52

Yeah. Yeah. And this may be a tough question. I I I guess for my own curiosity, out of, you know, anorexia, bulimia, um, binge eating, I don't know if there's a the a more common name for that or if that is the related to the bulimia. Um, is there more, is one of those more prevalent uh as a problem in this country over the other? Is it anorexia? Or I mean, in your research, have you found any information that points towards that?

SPEAKER_01 14:21

Yeah, so um as far as like the prevalence of um binge eating, there's a lot of prevalence in there. Anorexia is tough because the criteria usually goes by BMI. Um but some bodies do not uh get to that state. So you could be not taking intaking enough calories and be anorexic, um, but not meet the BMI criteria, so you won't get diagnosed. I think it's all a problem though. But um, you know, I feel like a lot of times, unfortunately, like binge eating kind of gets um tied in with like the obesity I'm a and it's totally different, you know, it's an eating disorder.

SPEAKER_00 15:09

No, absolutely. I mean, I've always recognized it, and I maybe have a little bit more awareness than like an average person, just because I've had some friends, you know, but um absolutely it's all a problem. It all needs all these people need help regardless. So um just addiction in this country. And it's funny, my my father actually recently passed away, but one thing we would always talk about is like addiction is addiction, whether it's it's overeating, undereating, watching too much TV, um, you know, drugs, whatever it is, like it's an addiction. Um, and this country, you know, land of the free, like, you know, we do have an issue with discipline, um, you know, just self-control, I think is a big thing. Um, you know, you look at other countries and the way they've gone about things, even like drinking, for example, like in Europe, you know, they don't really have a problem with the DUI issues as much. I realize transportation is different, but they're also exposed to it younger. Um, so you know, it's not like this prohibited, forbidden fruit. And so, um, again, and everybody's got trauma. So I guess, you know, you could always say that too. But yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:18

Yeah. No, I mean, it's uh addiction is definitely and kind of going back to how you were saying some people could struggle with multiple different things. Um, that is something that you know I've I've seen too is, you know, you have an eating disorder and you have alcoholism and drug addiction. It's like, well, where do you go first? Like, where's your first stop? And what are you targeting first? Because they're all very serious. So it's like, what does that healing journey look like? Um, and a lot of places that treat, you know, drug and alcohol may not treat the eating disorder and you know, and vice versa.

SPEAKER_00 16:54

Yeah, no, um, that makes that makes sense. Um, and is there are there signs that are in terms of talking about what people should be looking for? Are there signs of an eating disorder, you know, in high functioning, even to catch it early in like teens or young adults um that people should look for?

SPEAKER_01 17:11

Yeah, I mean, I could speak from my experience. Um, in my experience, I just started isolating myself from my friends. It I I will go back and say that it started out and I thought I was just being healthy. I thought, you know, everyone does this, everyone eats healthy, everyone um could be restrictive because like what we see on the media, it's so normalized, like the disordered eating. So it's very easy to um convince yourself that what you're doing is normal. And I then started to realize that if I was more restrictive one day, it was hard for me to go back to that normal without feeling super guilty about it. Then um, like friends and things started getting in the way of my preoccupation with my body and my food, and it started to feel really uncomfortable to go out and be with friends and eat in front of people. Um, and then I I had a weight loss component to it, but like I said, that's not everyone's experience. Um I lost my menstrual cycle, that was my own experience. Um, I uh I started getting heart palmentations. So yeah, I those were all my like my personal experience. But um the interesting thing about my journey too is you know, everyone thinks like the stereotypical anorexia weighs themselves multiple times a day. I was afraid of the scale because I thought if the number was too low, then it would confirm that I had a problem. And I was so convinced I did not have a problem. Um, so a lot of people don't think of that. Um, but I actually don't know my I don't know what the lowest number was.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

Wow. I I think that that uh is a resounding truth that some people may need to hear. And it's funny because now that I'm thinking back, because I actually lived with Gina for a year, um, she also did not like the scale. But then sometimes she was obsessed with it. And it just, it just, you know, in and obviously everybody's different. But thank you for sharing that because that was the very enlightening for me. Obviously, you look healthy now. I mean, you've been through so much, but you're glowing, you're radiant. We talked about you looking like Diana Ross. I hope I got that name wrong. Diana, did I say it right? It's not Diana Ross, Brianna, what's her name? Uh, from Wonder Woman. Anyways, regardless, you look what's her name?

SPEAKER_01 19:42

Oh, it's gonna drive me crazy now.

SPEAKER_00 19:45

I'm gonna have to look it up after. But um, I wanted to ask, like, so now obviously you're way more focused on health, taking care of yourself. You love food. What do you love to eat now? How do you take care of yourself? Like, give me some health routines and stuff that you do love. I'd love to know that.

SPEAKER_01 20:02

Yeah. So um, right now I am a mom. Um, so it's really important to say take care of myself. Yeah. And I married um my husband, who is a foodie and Italian. So we spent our whole honeymoon in Italy. And I would not have been able to do that if I was still sick. So as far as like my health routine now, um, I do I work out, um, but I try to be mindful about how long I am working out and I make sure that um I work out at a time where I need to get off at a certain time. Right. You know, I do go to workout classes, but I schedule them like a half hour to 45 minutes away. So it's not like around the block. So I go, you know, once or twice a week. Um hacks to kind of make sure that I'm not overdoing it. Um, yeah. And then I don't know. I think like the best health routine is honestly being around community and um, you know, staying busy. I think that's what makes you the most healthy. Um, but yeah, I don't know if that's like a boring answer.

SPEAKER_00 21:17

No, no, it's a great answer because I feel like every interview that I've done, it always comes back to like everybody feels their best when they're doing good, or at least when they're sharing their story and they're getting the information out there. So um that's very positive. And people need to continue to hear that. So um, you know, we're all we're all in this together as a human race. And I know that even the founder of Cardiom Miracle, John Hewlett, he'll say, I want to save 100 million lives, because he had his own brush with death in 2007, um, almost died of a heart, uh, he had a nicked vein from an emergency appendectomy. Um, and they wanted to do this quadruple bypass. And he was like, No, no way. And that's where nitric oxide entered the scene. And anyway, so It's helped a bunch of people since since then, but um we're we're all about that. So um let me ask you too, um, if someone is struggling right now, what are the first steps that they can take towards getting help? Let's let's talk about that.

SPEAKER_01 22:15

Yeah, so if they're struggling, I would say um to definitely um tell someone there's a lot of online resources out there. Um, I would say the best first step is to look for a therapist, but you want to make sure you look for a certified eating disorder therapist, C E D S. Um, because if you're yeah, if they're not um certified in eating disorders, things can go backwards very, very quickly. Um, it's very important that they know what they're doing. Um, and it's not an inappropriate question to ask, like how many eating disorder patients have you seen? Have you had any background in residential treatment centers, PHP, IOP? Um with eating disorders, it's very uh important that they build a team. Um so typically that team looks like a therapist, a nutritionist, um, a doctor, and sometimes a psychiatrist, depending on the individual and you know, their complications and their mental health background. Um, as far as resources go, if an individual cannot afford treatment or they're looking for online support groups or meal support, Project Heal is a great resource. Um Project Heal. Project Heal. Okay. And uh another really great resource for a hotline or a um, you know, support groups as well is National, the Alliance of Eating Disorders, National Alliance of Eating Disorders. Um, they have really great uh support groups as well. Um, and they're they're they have free online support groups and they also um have a search engine where they could find eating disorder help in their area.

SPEAKER_00 23:56

That's fantastic, Morgan. Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. And for anyone listening, um, we are going to drop the links so um you can reach out and thank you for sharing that, Morgan. Um, and then if there's anything else you'd love to share, I I think, I mean, this has been an awesome conversation. This has been personally enlightening for me, um, you know, and I I always love to as it may sound messed up, but like talking about the suffering aspect of things always brings out the light and the good. And I think that, you know, has always been the trend in these conversations and then like what what you do with it going forward, and you're obviously doing amazing things. Um, is there anything that I I guess let me ask this one thing I was curious about? So, in your in all you've done all these interviews, um, you've obviously talked to patients, you've talked to friends and people with experience and clinicians and experts. Is there any piece of advice or anything that you've heard from the experts or clinicians that has surprised you uh in your own research, obviously, because you went in knowing more than the average bear?

SPEAKER_01 24:58

Yeah. Um I it's hard to say like the surprising elements from like the clinicians. I will say like a lot of the researchers are looking for genetic components of eating disorders and um looking for the why. Um, but I think what do you think about epigenetics and eating disorders? Um, I think genetics was the gun society pulls the trigger. Yeah. I think there's definitely a genetic component. Um just like anything, just like alcoholism or addiction. But I think that in terms of research, that the a lot of people have gotten well. Um, and that sometimes with eating disorders, like you hear you're always gonna have this, and like it's constantly gonna be there. And I don't think that's very motivating. I agree. Like the answer is right in front of you for eating disorders. You just have to ask the well people how'd they do it. And uh, I think the shocking thing is I I I wish that there was more of that. I wish there was more people with lived experience being asked, like, how did how how did you get better?

SPEAKER_00 26:06

Yeah. Well, there's got what I was just literally thinking about that. What about like really like trusted Facebook groups where you know, you know, you're not gonna go and get spam? Like it's like maybe it's closed, or you, you know, uh, do you know of anything like I mean, I'm sure it's out there. I just don't know, you know. It's but you are on social media and you're sharing these resources information.

SPEAKER_01 26:27

Yeah, I am Morgan. Yes. Yeah. Um, I am another person that I really like who shares her story is uh Maria Hornbacker. She said something that I'm like, I'm like, it's right up there with the Gettysburg address for me. Um she was like, you know, when I'm struggling or I'm sad, I don't think to call my thinnest friend. It just really puts things into perspective.

SPEAKER_00 26:53

You know, like I mean, I you know, maybe from from your perspective, like you're like, that just that resonates, you know. But to me, I'm like, that is I I think about it. I'm like, hmm. Yeah. I'm the funny friend though. I'm the one you want to call.

SPEAKER_01 27:08

So but I I just I don't know. I like that she shares her story, that she is recovered, period. The end. Um, a lot of people, you know, say I say recovery, some people say recovered. Um, you know, Carolyn Costins, another great example. Um, so I think there's a lot of people out there that are doing really or have done really great work and are better. And I think that they need to be amplified as well.

SPEAKER_00 27:36

That's great. So shout out to Morgan Hornback, you said Mary Hornback? Yeah, Hornbacker, yeah. Awesome. Okay, well, um, and we are obviously gonna share the links too.

SPEAKER_01 27:47

Morgan, people can find you on Instagram, um Instagram, TikTok, and Substaff.

SPEAKER_00 27:53

Awesome. Great. Um, thank you for your time today. Um, is there anything else you want to share or shed light to that we didn't get a chance to talk about today? I appreciate your time.

SPEAKER_01 28:05

Yeah, I will just say that if you think a lot of the times people don't get help right away from an eating disorder because they think that they're not sick enough or they're not bad enough yet. If you're struggling, you're bad enough, uh, you're like sick enough. Um, you don't need to live like that or struggle. So I would just say the sooner you get help, the better. And it actually makes recovery a little bit more easier than the longer you stay in the illness.

SPEAKER_00 28:30

Yeah, absolutely. No, I I think that's an important call out. So, like what at the first thought of thinking, like maybe hmm, I shouldn't be doing this. Like ask somebody, talk to somebody, anybody. Um, it doesn't even have to be a specific group, I guess, really. Just people need people at the end of the day. For sure. Yeah. So this has been this has been so wonderful. Again, Morgan Um Maxwell De Primo, or did I did I say it backwards? Yeah, that works. But is that your is that your maiden and then combined with your married?

SPEAKER_01 29:04

Yeah, my maiden is Maxwell, and then DiPrimo is my married, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:08

It's it's a beautiful name because I love um I love alliteration. So you got the the two M's in there. So that's cool. Um, but yeah, thank you for your time again. We are the Pulse Beat sponsored by Cardio Miracle. Thank you for joining us uh today. And you can tune in um on our YouTube channel. We'll have many more amazing experts and interviews for you. So stay tuned and God bless everyone. Um, again, if you are looking for resources and help, we're gonna put that slide up again here. Um and we'll go ahead and um we'll end this podcast. But thank you so much, everyone. Have a great night.