Podcast Summary: Intrusive Thoughts with Adam Rippon — "Hungry for Peace" with Kim Shapira
Date: October 9, 2025
Podcast: Intrusive Thoughts by Adam Rippon
Guest: Kim Shapira, Los Angeles-based dietitian, founder of the Kim Shapira Method, and author of This Is What You're Really Hungry For
Episode Overview
This episode features a lively yet deeply insightful conversation between Adam Rippon and Kim Shapira, exploring the complex relationships we have with food, our bodies, health, anxiety, and self-care. Drawing from Adam's personal experiences as a figure skater and Kim's expertise as a dietitian, the episode dismantles diet myths, addresses disordered eating, and introduces the listener to the six practical steps of the Kim Shapira Method—all with warmth, candid humor, and vulnerability.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. How Life Experiences Shape Food Relationships
- Kim’s Backstory: Kim describes her teen years spent with painful, isolating illness, surgeries, and hospitalizations, leading her to develop a shopping addiction as a coping mechanism ([03:56]).
- Coping Lessons: She learned early from a mentor that “food can make a person sick or healthy” ([05:47]), influencing her decision to pursue nutrition.
- Emotional Roots: Kim reveals, “We all pick careers and partners to master a trigger.” ([03:55])
2. Nutrition, Trauma, and Emotional Layers
- Client Stories: Kim shares a pivotal moment realizing how emotional trauma (such as sexual abuse) can drive disordered eating patterns ([09:01]).
- Addictions Parallel: She likens many clients’ relationships with eating to her own with shopping, connecting compulsion, avoidance, and discomfort ([10:07], [05:39]).
3. Adam’s Athletic Perspective
- Athlete Food Challenges: Adam reflects on pressure in figure skating to be lean for both appearance and technical reasons ([12:27]).
- Unhealthy Practices: He shares restrictive diets enforced by coaches, including eating only apples or tomatoes, and the normalization of harmful behaviors in elite sport ([13:05], [14:27]).
- Changing Mindsets: There’s a recognition that “being poor was the best diet I was ever on” ([12:54]), but also that his best performances correlated with healthier eating, not extreme restriction ([17:21]).
“I started to connect the feeling of hunger to working hard. It felt like if I could push it a little more, I was getting closer to the goal.” — Adam Rippon ([16:32])
4. Gender, Body Image, and Post-Sport Transition
- Men vs. Women: Adam notes men have more leeway post-sport (“I can bulk now”), while women often feel stuck in the “thin or nothing” box ([19:24]).
- Body Positivity: Both discuss the challenge and seeming radicalism of “actually loving your body” ([20:04]).
5. Weight, Numbers, and Wellbeing
- Obsession with Scales: Adam admits to tracking weight, not body composition. Kim urges: “That number doesn’t mean anything. You need to get a new scale or throw that one out!” ([21:25])
- Food as Anxiety Response: Adam describes his lack of emotional connection to food and confesses to “priding” himself on losing weight during holidays ([22:22]).
6. From Restriction to Peace
- Kim’s Philosophy: “We’re hungry for peace around our relationship with food and nutrition and our health, more importantly.” — Kim Shapira ([30:04], [31:00])
- GLP-1s & Diet Culture: Kim addresses the rise of GLP-1 drugs (Ozempic, etc.), clarifying they may affect appetite but don’t fix the root relationship with food ([42:44], [43:06]).
7. Diet Trends and Pseudoscience
- Maha Movement & Food Fads: Adam expresses concern over influencer-driven diet trends (“raw milk”) and the distrust of science ([33:12], [33:34]).
- Kim’s Take: All choices arise from “trust or fear.” She notes how people ignore obvious links between gut discomfort and behaviors like excessive gum-chewing ([34:19], [35:31]).
8. Myths: Metabolism, Hunger, & Fasting
- Metabolism Explained: Kim uses a stovetop analogy: all six burners are on for athletes. If you stop fueling/moving, they go off—easy to restart with regular eating and activity ([41:51]).
- Why Not to Skip Meals: Skipping meals signals the body to go into famine mode, slowing metabolism ([56:44]). Eating regularly (every ~3 hours) keeps systems running and supports weight loss ([57:04]).
9. The Six Simple Steps — The Kim Shapira Method
Full walkthrough at [60:08]—[75:55]:
- Eat when hungry; eat half, wait 15 min ([65:03]):
- Tune into true hunger. Take your normal portion, halve it, wait 15 minutes for satiety to register.
- “It takes 15 minutes for food to go from our mouth to our stomach to tell our mind that we’ve had enough.” — Kim Shapira ([67:03])
- Eat what you love, but it must love you back ([68:27]):
- No “good/bad/should/shouldn’t”; pay attention to how food really makes you feel.
- Eat without distraction ([69:46]):
- Focus on food, not TV or phones. We eat 30% more when not paying attention.
- Adam: “At home I joke like, you got me fat because I’m just eating what [partner] is eating.” ([68:15])
- 10,000 steps a day ([72:17]):
- Movement is crucial for maintaining metabolism and mood. Most people underestimate how little they move.
- 8 cups of water daily ([73:55]):
- Hydration is key for kidneys, metabolism, and avoiding fatigue/mood slumps.
- 7 hours of sleep per night ([75:08]):
- Continuous, regular sleep reduces inflammation and hormone imbalance.
10. Self-Love and Consistency Over Perfection
- Underlying Message: “You can follow the rules, but the reason you follow them is because you want to take care of the machine—or yourself—or whatever.” — Adam Rippon ([76:33])
- Progress Mindset: Both Adam and Kim stress that change is not about all-or-nothing “disorders,” but compassion, self-reflection, and returning to balance ([53:11]).
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
- Career and Triggers:
“We all pick careers and partners to master a trigger.” — Kim ([03:55]) - Peace, Not Perfection:
“We’re hungry for peace around our relationship with food and nutrition and our health, more importantly.” — Kim ([30:04]) - Food Rules:
“If you can’t get past that [feeling triggered by rules], then you’re never gonna succeed.” — Kim ([62:09]) - Adam on Skating & Food:
“I started to connect the feeling of hunger to working hard. If I could just push it a little more, I was getting closer to the goal.” — Adam ([16:32]) - Sleep’s Role:
“When you feel drowsy, put yourself to bed…melatonin turns into an antioxidant when you’re sleeping and it cleans all your cells so you wake up less inflamed.” — Kim ([75:44]) - Self-Love Insight:
“If I cared about myself…That’s quite interesting.” — Adam ([32:29–32:43]) - Humor in Vulnerability:
“I’ll sometimes wait…save my calories for the night. Oh, God. I’m hearing myself and I’m going, I don’t think so.” — Adam ([47:25]) - Holiday Food Mentality:
Kim: “Maybe that week you’re just choosing cookies and Thanksgiving dinner seven times in a row—what’s the big deal?” ([71:41])
Timestamps for Key Segments
- Kim’s Personal Story & Why She Chose Nutrition – [03:49] to [06:39]
- Adam’s Relationship with Food as an Athlete – [10:56] to [20:04]
- The Problem with Just “Numbers” & Male vs. Female Athletes – [21:25] to [20:04]
- Myth Busting: Metabolism & GLP-1s – [41:41] to [46:29]
- Six Simple Steps (Kim Shapira Method) – [60:08] to [75:57]
- Hydration, Sleep, and Caring for Your Body – [73:55] to [76:12]
Final Takeaways
- Our relationship with food is deeply entwined with emotions, habits, cultural messages, and self-worth—not just knowledge or discipline.
- Building peace with food begins with mindfulness, self-trust, and consistency, not perfection or punishment.
- True health is holistic: movement, sleep, water, emotional health, and joy in eating all matter.
- “Progress looks different,” and reframing setbacks or triggers is part of self-care—not evidence of failure.
For More from Kim Shapira:
- Instagram: @thekimshapiramethod
- Website: kimshapiramethod.com
- This Is What You're Really Hungry For book club (free)