Liv Label Free

Home
United States
San Diego, CA
Liv Label Free

Bridging the gap between neurodiversity and eating disorders through science and lived experience. Hey, I'm Livia!

But you can call me Liv :) I am a holistic life coach that helps individuals on the spectrum overcome their health struggles and embrace intuitive living. Liv Label Free is the idea that no one needs a label to live a life in which they feel fulfilled; everyone has their own specific needs and no label can ever house the complexity of what makes each person unique! My mission is to break the stigmas around mental health and inspire acceptance of the neurodivergent community. Be sure to follow me on Instagram , subscribe to my YouTube channel, and listen to my podcast! If you’re ready to embark on your own journey to freedom, schedule a consultation call with me for 1:1 coaching!

11/15/2025

The term “extreme hunger” has become quite a trendy one in the ED recovery community. It’s that terrifying phase of non-stop eating...

More specifically, non-stop eating of high-calorie foods (peanut butter, apple pie, and granola were my usual culprits).

When I was going through extreme hunger, I felt as if I had been swept up by a wave that wouldn’t put me down until I honored every gram (pun intended) of my extreme hunger’s desires!

Whether you’re neurodivergent or not, individuals going through extreme hunger after a restrictive ED experience common fears:

😱 I’m developing binge eating disorder!
😱 What if I never stop eating?
😱 Is it REALLY mental hunger, or is that just an excuse to emotionally eat?

While the biology behind extreme hunger is shared across the neurodiversity spectrum (it’s your body’s way of getting you out of energy deficit), the experience of extreme hunger tends to be different for autistic people.

Want to discover how to honor and overcome extreme hunger in a neurodiversity-affirming way? Grab a copy of my book How to Beat Extreme Hunger! livlabelfree.ccom/extremehungerbook (available in all formats and in all countries!) 🍩

11/11/2025

5 ways my autism manifested as an eating disorder👇

1. Sensory Sensitivities
I have always been a hypersensitive soul. When you experience the world on infinitely high volume, the isolation of an eating disorder becomes a way to “numb” from sensory overload.

2. Difficulty with Change
Unpredictability and change that is not initated by me has always been very challenging. Adhering to rules & routines around food and movement offered a way to feel safe in a world that’s constantly changing.

3. Existential Angst
Who am I? Why am I here? What does it even mean to exist? These were the questions keeping me up at night – and from my youngest years, I realized my “friends” were not asking these questions. The ED was a way in which I could channel my existential uncertainty into a clear purpose.

4. Literal Thinking
When I was 11 years old, I started learning about health & nutrition in school. We learned that sugar is “bad” and low-fat (or better yet: non-fat) dairy is “good.” My autistic mind took these recommendations literally. Paired with the existential angst of doing life “wrong,” my endeavor to become “the perfect healthy eater” was one of the first clear memories I have of when my ED started.

5. Fear of Growing Up
Although I was a very independent child, another part of me was terrified that I couldn’t handle the responsibilities of being healthy. Engaging in restrictive behaviors was a way to stay small – in every sense of the word.

🌈 WANT TO DIVE DEEPER? Read my full story about how my autism manifested as an eating disorder (and how I recovered) in my memoir Rainbow Girl! www.livlabelfree.com/rainbowgirl

11/10/2025

The mini life update no one asked for😅 But it’s on brand because we’re entering a new era of the Liv Label Free Podcast! New episode just dropped with the lovely Anna who found me through my book Rainbow Girl and participated in the Autistically ED-Free Academy 🎉

In the episode, we talk about how our evolving stories do NOT have “fairy tale endings,” why “discovery” is a much more powerful term than “recovery,” and why leaving conformity behind is the key to real freedom.

Watch the full video on the Liv Label Free YouTube channel or listen to the audio wherever you get your podcasts!

09/22/2025

If you’ve been traumatized by ED treatment, please fill out my survey to share your lived experience! SURVEY LINK 👉 https://forms.gle/NYAmZmXTFivz5bWu7

The goal of this survey is to get a comprehensive picture of how treatment fails neurodivergent folks so I can address these topics in the book I’m currently writing about Autism & Anorexia.

Whether you’re an individual in ED recovery or a caregiver supporting someone who is, your input is beyond valuable in helping me write this book that will literally save lives.

All information will be handled confidentially, and you can select in the survey whether you want to include your first name or remain anonymous.

Thank you for helping make this important resource a reality!

With gratitude,
XO Liv

P.S. Feel free to share this survey with others who might want to contribute their experiences!

09/02/2025

I started going to therapy a few months ago…for the first time in 8 years. Why now, after all this time? Well, let me backtrack a bit first👇

The truth is, therapy traumatized me. When you’re told over and over that your autistic traits are “your eating disorder talking,” when you’re forced to rest without giving your fight-or-flight energy anywhere to go, and when you’re threatened as soon as you don’t eat what’s put in front of you, you protect yourself. You close yourself off because vulnerability feels too dangerous.

I’ve worked a lot on myself over the years. I’ve read books, written books (which is very therapeutic in its own way!), had my experiences validated, and have validated others’ experiences. I’ve connected with the kinds of people that I didn’t even know existed, and my energy has coalesced with souls so similar to my own there’s no words to describe it.

And at the same time, there’s been a lot of trauma I’ve been too afraid to touch. A lot of family stuff, but also the fear of confronting my own consciousness.

If you’ve been reading my emails (livlabelfree.com/join) and listening to my podcast over the past half year or so, you’ve likely noticed I’ve been talking a lot about feeling trapped. More specifically, I’ve been experiencing what I call existential claustrophobia.

This sense of alienation in my own body has led me to operate in a constant state of escape. Constantly traveling. Constantly distracting myself. Constantly trying to not feel the constraints of this human body costume.

But then I read a quote that shook my soul: Wherever you go, there you are.

And there I was, exposed. Faced with the existential questions that have plagued me for life, with one question standing out like a tall sunflower in a barren field: Who am I beyond the identity I’ve come to define myself by?

I don’t know. So that’s what I’m currently exploring with my therapist – and I’ve shared some of my discoveries in my latest podcast episode on the Fear of Emptiness (available on all platforms!)

08/25/2025

I did all the “evidence-based” treatments: the FBT, the DBT, the CBT. I was sent to inpatient, outpatient, residential, and all the other “top” eating disorder programs.

But because no one respected – let alone recognized – my neurodivergence, I bounced around treatment centers like a pinball, receiving more labels each time, including:

Manipulative
Defiant
Non-compliant
Too complex
Hopeless

When I was 15, I was told “I just had to accept that fact that I was never going to get better.”

The mental healthcare system too often fails neurodivergent folks. Rather than seeing our traits as strengths to be harnessed, we are labeled as problems to be solved.

Within the mental healthcare system, eating disorder treatment specifically tends to be traumatizing not only the individual, but to the entire family.

I created the Autistically ED-Free Academy because no one deserves to stay stuck in an eating disorder. Neurodivergence is a gift, the key that the Academy teaches you how to use to break free from ED prison.

The Academy is open for a few more days, so don’t wait to secure your spot! 👉 www.livlabelfree.com/group

08/21/2025

For most neurodivergent folks, eating disorders are not about weight loss or body image. This is why I like to view eating challenges as an adaptive eating spectrum; I see behaviors that our society has labeled as “disorders” as ADAPTIVE ATTEMPTS to feel safe in a world that doesn’t accomodate (neuro)divergence.

If you’re ready to embark on a discovery journey with me and other autistic people committed to freedom from ED, come join us in the Autistically ED-Free Academy! Doors close August 29, so don’t wait to secure your spot 👉 www.livlabelfree.com/group

08/16/2025

Eating to stim isn’t talked about enough in the autism & eating disorders conversation! In this post, I explain why food can be used as a way to regulate your nervous system, and how this might lead to binge eating behaviors in autistic folks.

Want more support on your journey to food freedom? Join the Autistically ED-Free Academy! Open for a limited time only. Secure your spot at livlabelfree.com/group 🌈

08/13/2025

What if eating disorders aren’t the problem, but the solution? In the Autistically ED-Free Academy, you’ll learn how to use your neurodivergent traits as your greatest tools for creating your unique life of freedom 🌟 Early Bird Pricing ends soon, enroll today to get 50% OFF the entire program!

08/04/2025

Are you tired of feeling like your autism is making it harder to recover from your ED?

Well then the Autistically ED-Free Academy is for you! Inside, you’ll learn how to channel your autistic traits from obstacles in ED recovery to your greatest TOOLS for creating a life of freedom and meaning.

The eating disorder came into your life to serve a purpose. It protected you when you had no other way to cope…

And that’s where the Academy comes in. This is your complete guide to creating a life you don’t need to escape from. This is your opportunity to break free from the ED chains using your autistic traits as the keys 🔑

If you’re ready to discover who you are outside of the ED prison, save your seat in the Academy today at livlabelfree.com/group 🌈

07/14/2025

It’s Rainbow Girl’s 2-year anniversary! 🥳🌈

To celebrate, you can get ALL of my books for 50% off this week at at livlabelfreebooks.com!

So if you want to learn more about autism & eating disorders, this is your chance to grab all my books for a huge discount. This includes all eBooks and audiobooks (paperback printing costs make it impossible to discount those, sorry!).

Here’s what’s waiting for you:
✓ Neurodiversity-affirming strategies for ED recovery
✓ How to handle extreme hunger & weight gain as an autistic person
✓ Easy, sensory-friendly recipes that nourish your body & mind
✓ How to break free from quasi recovery and forge your unique path to freedom..and much more!

To claim your 50% off at livlabelfreebooks.com, use code RAINBOW at checkout 🌈

Sale ends Sunday, July 20th.

P.S. Enjoy this photo of me holding Rainbow Girl when I still had long hair!

07/05/2025

I CUT OFF ALL MY HAIR! ✂️ Here are some of my reflections on grief after an ED…

I dreamt about this haircut for months. I was so excited for the novelty and practicality of having short hair.

But once the hair was gone, I started grieving. Not the hair – but my past identity. The person I had presented to the world for the past 25 years.

The grief I felt about my hair was the same grief I felt when I recovered from my eating disorder.

I had spent YEARS planning for the day when I’d say “F it, I’m going to recover!” I was so excited by the prospect of freedom, so excited for the sweetness of infinite possibility. But, ironically, it was this possibility that prevented me from actually making a change.

Deep down, I knew the whole ED stuff would end one day. So if it was going to end anyways, why not continue a little longer?

Once I committed to the whole “recovery thing,” I realized I could never go back. I realized I could never go back to the person that was so immersed in the ED story that they were’t even aware of what was going on.

What makes quasi recovery so painful is that you can never go back to full-blown ED. It’s like when you learn to read, there’s no way for you to unlearn it. You see the truth, which, once you’ve seen it, can never again be unseen. The real suffering, even more than the eating disorder itself, begins here: when you’re torn between the possibility of discovering a better life and the impossibility of returning to your illness.

That same feeling – the awareness of not being able to put my long hair back – occurred when I first looked in the mirror.

In fact, I found myself asking the exact same questions as when I was stuck in quasi recovery! How will people perceive me? How will I handle this new body? What if I CAN’T handle this new body?

To be expected, I did a little coaching on myself! I reminded myself of why I had decided to cut off all my hair. I wanted a change, a new experience. And well, I definitely got both.

Do I miss my long hair? Yes. But, for now, that’s out of my control. So, for now, I choose to embrace all the benefits that the short hair life has to offer.

Address

San Diego, CA

Telephone

+16197072493

Website

https://livlabelfree.com/, https://pod.link/livlabelfree, https://www.livlabelfree.com/1-on-1-coaching

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Liv Label Free posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Practice

Send a message to Liv Label Free:

Want your practice to be the top-listed Clinic in San Diego?