Emily Kwong

They are the neurobiological consequences of an illness that touches all areas of your life.

Pediatrician Eva Trujillo is the president of the International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals.

She's also the co-founder of Comenzar de Nuevo, a leading treatment facility in Latin America where patients from all ages and walks of life learn skills and find a way out.

Today on the show, going it not alone with your eating disorder with pediatrician Eva Trujillo.

We talk about how eating disorders affect the brain and the body and answer a question from Maria about how to sustain recovery in a world steeped in diet culture.

I'm Emily Kwong, and you're listening to Shortwave from NPR.

Okay, so Dr. Trujillo, you worked with the Academy for Eating Disorders on a list called the nine truths about eating disorders.

It's a great list, and one of those truths is about who has an eating disorder.

Who does this affect?

Let's talk about the physical impacts more.

And I want to move from the top down, from your head to your toes.

How do eating disorders change people?

And how does that feel in the mind of the person who has an eating disorder?

And, you know, thinking about the impacts, it's just so totalizing.

You're saying it affects every part of the brain.

Every.

But, you know, that should come as no surprise because how cells work is they need nutrients to sustain energy.

So what happens to the rest of your body over time if a person is malnourished through an eating disorder?

Yeah.

Let's talk about recovery.