531: Obesity And Hopelessness: A Teen’s Story Of Processed Food Addiction And Its Consequences With Helene Leeds & Penelope Popken

Wise Traditions

Weston A. Price Foundation

Wellness, Health & Fitness, Alternative Health, Nutrition, Diet, Health

4.7 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 16 June 2025

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Have you ever felt addicted to ultra-processed foods---like you knew they were bad for you, but you couldn't stop indulging? This happened to our guest today who at age 15 weighed over 300 lbs. And she didn’t know who she was anymore.

Today, Penelope Popken is 19 and she's overcome her addictive behavior.

During this revealing interview, mother and daughter discuss what led to Penelope’s struggles with weight, the drugs she took, the (mostly unhelpful) therapists’ recommendations and more. They go over how most weight loss drugs (including Ozempic) and other quick fixes (like gastric bypass surgeries) have dire consequences. And they cover what it took to turn things around for Penelope. By the way, her healing path included not just returning to real nourishing food but addressing dysfunctional family patterns that contributed to unhealthy behavior.

Since both Helene and Penelope have had to overcome their individual struggles with unhealthy eating and obesity, they have started the Step it UP program to help other women in just their position. After failed attempts at diets, injections, and pills, they are on a mission to help everyone learn how to nourish themselves more deeply and to thrive.

Visit Helene and Penelope's websites: Step it UP and Step It UP Accountability Group

Check out our sponsors: Optimal Carnivore and Alive Waters

Transcript

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0:00.0	I had body positivity on my phone telling me that it was beautiful to be obese and friends and
0:06.1	doctors and therapists telling me that it was healthy and beautiful. I didn't understand that I had a
0:12.0	problem because so many people and so much social media was telling me that it was okay in validating
0:17.2	my feelings and telling me that processed food was good food. And so I had to really come
0:21.8	to terms with, look, I know I'm unhealthy, I know I'm ugly, I don't recognize myself. I am overweight. I'm
0:27.8	really overweight. It's overweight that I can't even walk up the steps anymore. I've got, you know,
0:32.0	anxiety, depression, panic attacks every day. I can't function anymore. I'm sleeping until 12 p.m. I'm going to bed at 12
0:39.3	a.m. I was self-harming. There were points of my life and time where I didn't want to live anymore.
0:44.5	And I considered doing really, really bad things just because I didn't want to be here anymore, because I was so edited to food. And that was my outlet.
0:57.5	From the Weston A. Price Foundation, welcome to the Wise Traditions podcast for Wise Traditions in Food, Farming, and the Healing Arts.
1:05.3	We are your source for scientific knowledge and traditional wisdom to help you achieve optimal health.
1:14.5	And now here is our host and producer Hilda Labrata Gore.
1:20.0	Hey, Hilda here.
1:22.7	An addiction to ultra-processed foods had a teenage girl behaving like a drug addict, hiding food around her
1:29.4	house, getting her fix at school and the neighborhood 7-Eleven, and feeling miserable and lost.
1:35.8	She was 15 years old and weighed over 300 pounds, and she didn't know who she was anymore.
1:43.1	This is episode 531, and our guest today are Helene Leeds and Penelope Popkin.
1:50.9	Penelope and Helene are mother and daughter, and together they have had breakthroughs in healing
1:57.8	multi-generational compulsive eating disorders.
2:01.8	They both have overcome struggles with obesity
2:04.9	and are on a mission to end obesity
2:06.7	by resolving the underlying issues that cause the weight gain in the first place.
	...

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