Episode 56: Understanding Eating Disorders with Savannah Buik

If you've been around climbing long enough, you know someone who has struggled with an eating disorder.  While it's not a secret, it's certainly a topic that is generally shamed and then ignored.  As a coach, friend, and partner, I wanted to know more about it, how to recognize it, and what to do when confronted with it. 

Savannah Buik reached out to me a little over a year ago to tell me that she had started a blog, partly inspired by my willingness to call people out, that focused on her own struggles with eating disorders.  Since then, she's had more struggles, and in this episode we talk about those tough times.

Savannah offers us an easy way to understand these disorders, a way to recognize when it's a problem, and a way to think about it while approaching a friend in need.  This is a conversation I'm so glad that I sat down for, no matter how uncomfortable the subject is.

You can (and should) find Savannah's blog, Crimpin and Biscuits, at: www.savannahbuik.com

We don't tweet.  We scream like eagles.

The climbing community tragically lost Savannah to a climbing accident in March 2018.  Her kindness, openness, and passion for helping others suffering from eating disorders made her an inspiration to many.  If you'd like to support Savannah's passion, consider a donation to Project HEAL, an organization she was proudly involved with, that seeks to provide prevention, treatment, and recovery support to those suffering from eating disorders.  Savannah will be greatly missed.

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FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:

Kris Hampton  00:33

What's up everybody? I'm your host, Kris Hampton. Welcome to Episode 56 of the Power Company Podcast brought to you by Powercompanyclimbing.com. You guys, I'm tired. We are finishing up our tour of Missouri. So a special thanks to the folks over at Zenith and to ROKC, and especially to our friends over at Climb So iLL. We always fill up every workshop over there and we love that community. And I love meeting with the owners, and talking ideas and talking business and and they're just inspired people over there, so, so huge thanks. We love being part of that community. Thank you guys, and thanks to everyone else that came out and took a workshop and talked with us and bought journals and bought shirts. And we appreciate everybody, so thank you. We are wrapping up in Missouri today, which is the day of the total eclipse, so everyone in America is going a little bit crazy right now, which is kind of fun to watch. And we're headed to Boise, Idaho. We will be there from the 25th to the 27th of August, from 6-9pm at Asana climbing. We're doing a group session, a Boulder Better session and our new Body Tension Workshop. And if you haven't seen it yet, we just released the Applied Body Tension ebook. This ebook just details our rooting drills and our body tension drills. If you've heard us talk about rooting, this the way to learn more about it. We've developed this system of progressions and drills that can really do amazing things for your body tension and I think that's one of the the core concepts of climbing, no pun intended there. So if you haven't checked that out, Powercompanyclimbing.com. Today, we're going to jump into this thing today. I'm talking with a friend of mine, Savannah Buik, and Savannah has had some struggles with eating disorders that started before climbing and then she found climbing and and as we all know, there have been there's a history of eating disorders and climbing and not a lot of people want to talk about it. And Savannah started a blog, Crimpin' & Biscuits, at Savannahbuik.com. And she she started this blog to talk about her eating disorders and and her struggle with them, how she's worked her way through it and what she's dealing with at the moment. And I think it's really important, if you are a friend if you're a coach, if you're a parent, to read what Savannah has to say and to listen to this podcast and to be a little more sensitive, and understanding of how to approach this. And obviously, it's something that I'm still learning. You know, this was a selfish thing for me because I wanted to know, as a coach, as a partner, as a friend,  how do I deal with it when I come across it? Because I have and I most certainly will again. So big thanks to Savannah for sitting down with me and having this tough conversation. And you're definitely going to want to stick around for the very end of this conversation because we talk donuts and who doesn't love donuts? 

Savannah Buik  03:59

That's like most of the time why eating disorders really like start from a loss of control or if something traumatic happens, dealing with all these emotions. So you go to what you know you for sure always can control, which is like food.

Savannah Buik  04:11

No kidding hahaha. Yeah, it's just like, "I thought I placed that like #5 like 20 minutes ago " and I'm like only

Kris Hampton  04:34

And it is still at your waist haha.

Savannah Buik  04:36

Yeah exactly. Its been great. It's been great, but the one nice thing is like you have so much big gear on you and so you... I always feel safe. Like I'm not fiddling with like tiny little cams

Kris Hampton  04:49

Right

Savannah Buik  04:49

Like I do like stuff like that, but it's been nice, just like, "Oh, this tipped out #6? No big deal. It'll hold me regardless.

Kris Hampton  04:57

Yeah, it's interesting what we can convince our minds to be okay with you know.

Savannah Buik  05:01

Yeah

Kris Hampton  05:02

 It's it's such an interesting sport and offwidth is this weird little side shoot of the sport that's really strange. 

Savannah Buik  05:10

Yeah, no kidding. No kidding. 

Kris Hampton  05:13

So I'm super stoked that you're here.

Savannah Buik  05:15

 Yeah, thanks, 

Kris Hampton  05:16

And that you're willing to sit down and talk about this, because, you know, we're gonna dig into something that's, I think, is a really important topic that's not talked about enough and I don't have a ton of personal experience with it and I have even less knowledge of it, so you're going to be walking me through all of this. And and essentially, that's why I do this podcast anyways, because I want to learn. And this is a, an area I really don't know a lot about, so talk me through, you know, we all we're all aware that, especially in the 90s, there was this....there were a lot of climbers, especially female climbers, but quite a few male climbers too, who had eating disorders and, and it wasn't really talked about a lot, and still really isn't just kind of gets swept under the rug a little bit. Occasionally someone speaks up. Was it something that started for you through climbing, or was it earlier than that?

Savannah Buik  06:26

So I started climbing about six years ago, and my eating disorder started around eight years ago. I was playing soccer at the time. And like growing up, I never was really like... I was overweight. I was actually like overweight growing up and going through like grade school, you know, people are always trying to, like pick on other people based off of their own insecurities, so I was constantly bullied.

Savannah Buik  06:52

  Oh, no kidding. And I like never let that really affect me until like, one day at soccer practice, I had worked so hard to get to this, like, top level, like nationally ranked team and I like finally made it there and it's not like, you know, I did anything drastic. I just like, you know, practiced like non stop and I like finally got there. And the first day of practice, they decided, like, during the middle of a little like game, they pulled my shirt up to make fun of how I looked in comparison to them.

Kris Hampton  06:52

Sure. Yeah. It's a rough time, grade school

Kris Hampton  07:20

 Who did?

Savannah Buik  07:21

 A player on the team that I was like, joining for practice. And that was like, super devastating and I was very embarrassed and that's kind of like when everything happened. So I had like, built up so much like, all the bullying I never like talked about, and my parents didn't even know until like, not so long ago. That's when I told them all about it and I let that build up to a point where I like couldn't take it anymore. So I was like, you know, I feel like my life's kind of out of control right now, so I'm going to control what I think I know how to and that's food.

Kris Hampton  07:56

And so that became the thing that you were able to take control of, take charge of?

Savannah Buik  08:01

Yeah, absolutely.

Kris Hampton  08:02

That was your thing.

Savannah Buik  08:03

Absolutely. And that's like most of the time what eating disorders really like start from it's like feeling like loss of control or if something traumatic happens. It's something that like you can't control. You're dealing with all these emotions that you don't know what to do, so you go to what you know, you for sure, always can control, which is like food.

Kris Hampton  08:21

Yeah, I guess that makes total sense. You know, I hadn't really thought about it. 

Kris Hampton  08:26

You know, how it starts or why it starts. I'd always just assumed, because I'm a male and I'm logical by nature, I go straight to like, you know, if someone has an eating disorder for the sake of climbing because they want to get lighter, well just convince them that they just need to get stronger, it's not that they need to be lighter, and that'll fix it. But that's not really the case. 

Savannah Buik  08:26

Yeah,

Savannah Buik  08:52

No, and it's actually kind of crazy, because a lot of people do like get eating disorders, like through climbing, like, because they have this like mentality of like, "I just need to like lose weight to send harder" and like, I've noticed that and like a lot of people that I've talked to or other people have come up to me and told me like about their friends. And it's not like some people sure, like, do that. I don't, I obviously don't support people like losing weight to just send something harder but it there are some people that just have like the propensity to become like obsessed about it to a point where they just like can't let it go. 

Kris Hampton  09:27

Do you think it has... you think it still comes down to that control issue? Like, you know, all these things that we do to try to get better at climbing are really nebulous. They're really tough to latch on to and see any, any real measurable gain from anything. 

Savannah Buik  09:47

Yeah. 

Kris Hampton  09:48

And like you just said, food became this thing that you could control. 

Savannah Buik  09:52

Yeah.

Kris Hampton  09:53

It's it's something that people can control and see pretty immediate, you know, within a few days, results from and, and you just want to control it more and more and more when you start to see those results.

Savannah Buik  10:06

And that's the exact thing. Like people start saying, like, oh man, I'm like, they'll get really they'll get strong. And then to capitalize on that, they'll also lose weight, which is kind of like counterintuitive. But then, so when you get into this, like a lot of people, when they get in that mindset, they just continue to, it's like instant gratification. You see that it's working, so you continue to like, go forward. And what I like have talked to like, I actually talked to Angie Payne about this, and we were like trying to figure out like, how we got through the times where we were like eating so very little, like, during, during the day, and still being able to train and it's just like really interesting how well our bodies adapt for being so like, unhealthy at the time. 

Kris Hampton  10:52

Sure.

Savannah Buik  10:53

 But you do get to a point where your body is just like I've had enough and you like, for example, I shattered my wrist because your bones become really fragile. A lot of times when you like, restrict your diet, you're not getting enough nutrients, or there's a lot of like, almost permanent damage that can be like, created from just something that you think is so like, short term, just like going on a diet to send my new project.

Kris Hampton  11:15

 Sure, sure. Physically, mentally, emotionally.

Savannah Buik  11:18

 Absolutely. Absolutely. 

Kris Hampton  11:20

And let's let's back up just a little bit. And I really want to understand how it manifested for you, how climbing got involved in that and and what those dangers were when you saw the climbing community and then where..how you know, how the community has reacted to you being a little outspoken about it and being open with it? 

Savannah Buik  11:46

Yeah. 

Kris Hampton  11:47

So you know, after you were being bullied and you, you took control of food, you know, where did it go from there? How long did that go on before you decided you needed to do something about it?

Savannah Buik  12:06

So this was when I was.... that started when I was 12. Like that whole incident was when I was 12. 

Kris Hampton  12:11

And how were you controlling the food at that point, was it just a, less food or...?

Savannah Buik  12:14

 I was just restricting my intake, like completely. I was just getting to the point, I like went down to where I was eating only like a very few amount of calories per day, but it was like over time. And it first like manifested as "Oh, I'm just like going on a diet to like be healthier for soccer", like "I want to get really fit" kind of thing. And like, that's what I disguised it as and like, I was 13 and I like 12 or 13 at the time, and I like still can't believe like, those things were going through my mind being so young. And so that's kind of when it all started. And it was fine at first and like people noticed like that I was eating a little bit healthier and that like never, you know, caused them to say anything. But then they also noticed that I was like losing a lot of weight. And at first like my parents didn't realize like what exactly was going on. They didn't really equate like, I was also like dealing with like an immense amount of like depression and sadness at the time and 

Kris Hampton  12:18

Was that from the bullying? 

Savannah Buik  12:23

Um...

Kris Hampton  12:23

 Or from other things?

Savannah Buik  12:27

 It's like really hard to tell. Like we, we kind of think it's actually from the fact that I just like, a lot of times with eating disorders, you're you're so depriving yourself of like nutrition that leads you.... like without carbohydrates, anyone is unhappy.

Kris Hampton  13:36

 Sure.

Savannah Buik  13:36

 Like, that's kind of the same thing. And so like, that's something that we kind of are thinking like, caused the depression kind of episode just then.

Kris Hampton  13:45

It makes sense. 

Savannah Buik  13:46

Yeah. And then so that kind of.... that's how it really spiraled downward until two days before my birthday, this was February 15 2010. I was put into a mental facility and mental hospital for a week and I spent a week, I spent my birthday there. I turned 14 there.

Kris Hampton  14:04

Wow, it's such a catch 22. It's such a, this cycle that seems impossible to break. That you're you're controlling the intake of your food because of these external factors and then because of lack of proper nutrition, you end up depressed and that causes you to want to control your food intake even more.

Savannah Buik  14:31

Yeah exactly

Kris Hampton  14:32

Which makes you more depressed.

Savannah Buik  14:33

It's this like awful downward spiral. I always think of it that way or like a snowball like a downward snowball effect and it just like keeps getting worse as you keep moving further along. And so I spent like a week there and that's when they found out that I did have an eating disorder.

Kris Hampton  14:49

Right.

Savannah Buik  14:50

 That like obviously when I wasn't eating during like meal group times, or like wasn't eating like... I was only eating a salad and I'd take like everything off of it 

Kris Hampton  14:58

Right

Savannah Buik  14:59

 Like it was pretty obvious that something was wrong. And so that was when I was 14 then, once I turned it in the hospital, and from that point on, I still played...do I had to like gain all the weight back. I physically got better, but never emotionally accepted it

Kris Hampton  15:16

Right.

Savannah Buik  15:16

 And kind of lied about it honestly, to my parents and to like my care team. I was just like, "Yeah, yeah, whatever, it'll go away on its own". Or, you know, it's kind of comforting to know that, like, my eating disorder is still back there. I can use it whenever I want to. 

Savannah Buik  15:29

Which is like, so evil, but it's how I that's how it was. And so I went back to playing soccer. This was late 2010. And that's when I like, like, really broke my wrist. I broke my ulna and my radius and like a few different places, in a soccer game and I was out for a while and then I came back again to.... for... this was early 2011.

Kris Hampton  15:29

Right right.

Kris Hampton  15:52

And when you were out, like after you broke your ulna in your wrist, that didn't cause you to go back into this depression?

Savannah Buik  16:01

So at that point people were watching?

Savannah Buik  16:01

No, believe it or not. Well, I like was I had still dealt with like, depression and I was going to therapy often. I was on medication.

Savannah Buik  16:10

Yeah, exactly, exactly. And so it wasn't it really didn't affect me, which was kind of surprising at the time. But what really got me was what happened next was what happened next. March 23 of 2011, I was playing my like one of my first like high school soccer games and I got my like, third and worst concussion I've ever had. And I was I went to the doctor, and I went to a neurologist, and I was basically told I couldn't play contact sports ever again.

Kris Hampton  16:40

Right, right. 

Savannah Buik  16:41

And I defined my life

Kris Hampton  16:42

They took something away from you.

Savannah Buik  16:44

Oh my gosh, yeah. The biggest void was created in my life. I played soccer all my life. That's how I defined myself. Like, everything I did was like circling around soccer and like my end goal of playing like soccer in college and so that was extremely devastating to hear that. It was, that was when, like, my eating disorder, like was like, "Yeah, this is the time I'm really gonna make my presence known". 

Kris Hampton  16:47

Right, right. They just took my identity away. Let me control this thing that I can control.

Savannah Buik  17:15

Exactly, exactly. So that's when I like relapsed again. And I was doiing treatment at the Atlanta Center For Eating Disorders for four months. Doing like, intensive outpatient, so like, between 15 and 20 hours of therapy a week, balancing like being in high school, which is kind of crazy. 

Kris Hampton  17:34

Right. Right.

Savannah Buik  17:35

And like, even then I got physically back, like, back to where I needed to be. I was like weight restored. But I never emotionally or mentally decided I was ready to heal.

Kris Hampton  17:45

Right. They're they're treating the physical response. 

Savannah Buik  17:50

Exactly.

Kris Hampton  17:50

And they're not they're treating the, the symptoms, but not the cause.

Savannah Buik  17:56

Exactly, exactly. And so that's kind of like, that's when I started climbing, though, was during the time that I was in treatment. So like my climbing started out, like one day a week, I was allowed to go and train at the local gym in Atlanta, and...well, train as in like, learn to climb.

Kris Hampton  18:12

 Right, right,

Savannah Buik  18:13

And like, get some technique. And that was like, really inspiring, because it's so cliche and cheesy....like, it's so how climbing like is so relatable to life and you're like kind of moving up and like, 

Kris Hampton  18:28

Sure, sure, yeah yeah. 

Savannah Buik  18:29

But it was it was very much like needed in my life at this at this moment, because I was really struggling at that time to kind of like, find who I was. And just like everyone else that goes to the gym for the first time, they become hooked. Well most people catch the climbing bug.

Kris Hampton  18:45

Right

Savannah Buik  18:46

 And so that's when I like really, really started to like, think of myself as like a different, like name or label. Like I was a climber.

Kris Hampton  18:56

Right, right. You had a new identity,

Savannah Buik  18:59

Which was kind of...it was kind of cool. And I really, really liked that for once. And I'd go to therapy and like go to the group sessions at the Atlanta Center for Eating Disorders and I'd talk about climbing. I'd read my like climbing shirts from Stone Summit and just stuff like that. I was so stoked on it, even though I could only climb like one day a week. And that's kind of where it took off and so I continued to climb until I relapsed again, like mid 2012.

Kris Hampton  19:25

What caused that relapse? Was  it climbing related?

Savannah Buik  19:28

Oh it was climbing related. This was definitely climbing related because like everyone, when they first start climbing, they hit this like, awesome, awesome, like they just go really fast and get it.

Kris Hampton  19:38

 Yeah, you get really good really quick.

Savannah Buik  19:41

Absolutely. And then you hit that plateau. 

Kris Hampton  19:43

Yep. 

Savannah Buik  19:43

And I hit that plateau. 

Kris Hampton  19:45

Yeah. 

Savannah Buik  19:45

And I was like, you know what, I think I can do something about this. I think I know what's going to help me. And so like, I went back to food.

Kris Hampton  19:52

Right. Yeah.

Savannah Buik  19:52

 And so I relapsed. And that time though, it was my decision to go to treatment.

Savannah Buik  19:59

 Yeah, yeah, that was like the first time that it was actually my decision. So I went to treatment and then I did a lot of like, like after treatment kind of therapy, group therapy, that I was like pretty religious about. And I like, finally felt like I started to get a grip on like my eating disorder. 

Kris Hampton  19:59

Good for you.

Kris Hampton  20:02

Right. 

Savannah Buik  20:06

And then 

Kris Hampton  20:21

Were you telling friends about it at this point, like, did any of your climber friends know? 

Savannah Buik  20:26

Absolutely not. No one knew.

Kris Hampton  20:28

 Right.

Savannah Buik  20:29

 Like maybe like one or two of my climber friends, but usually I just like tried to hide my time away from climbing as being related to something else like I was injured or was busy with school, something related to that.

Kris Hampton  20:42

So you making this decision to go get treatment was was literally step number one for you?

Savannah Buik  20:49

 Oh, absolutely.

Kris Hampton  20:50

The first step you had initiated.

Savannah Buik  20:52

Yep. In the time that I've been dealing with, like my eating disorder so far, that was the first time I decided I wanted to, like take action.

Kris Hampton  20:59

 Right. 

Savannah Buik  21:00

And so that... fast forward through high school, I was doing fine. I had my first got my first boyfriend, ended up graduating high school, and then come around my freshman year of college, my mom and dad moved to Chicago. But I was still living in Atlanta, going to school. And so I was fine, like the beginning of my freshman year, and everything was going great. But I noticed that like, it was getting really hard for me because it was the first time I was living on my own and like away from my family and then my, my boyfriend and I broke up, so like all of this stuff was

Kris Hampton  21:36

Lots of things out of your control.

Savannah Buik  21:38

Exactly. And so what did I do? Unfortunately, like I laugh about it, because I just find it amusing today, that I like would use something so self destructive to make myself feel like whole, when in reality, it was pushing me in the opposite direction. But yeah, I like relapsed. And I decided, so I came up to Chicago for a Memorial Day weekend in 2015 and that's literally on the plane ride back to Atlanta, I decided that I wanted to move to Chicago to like, restart my life completely. And so that I moved a week later and that's kind of where like, my latest like, recovery, like, latest chapter in recovery, I guess started. And I kind of took a different approach. This time, instead of like going the traditional route of treatment, I decided to like, have a care team of my own. Like I had a doctor that I had to see weekly for like blood tests and stuff and then I had like a dietician and a therapist and a psychiatrist and they're all like, inter intertwined. And

Kris Hampton  22:46

Did it feel different this time because it was your choice?

Savannah Buik  22:50

Yeah, it felt completely different. And it also felt different because I like, moved to a different city. I moved away from like.... I restarted my life completely. 

Kris Hampton  23:00

Yea and I think sometimes that's really important. You know, I went through something similar in a self destructive sort of way and I had to do the exact same thing. 

Savannah Buik  23:10

Yeah

Kris Hampton  23:11

Totally restart my life and get rid of all of my past and try to become someone else. Someone I wanted to be and not what I was becoming.

Savannah Buik  23:22

Yeah, exactly. And that's kind of what it was for me. And so like just opening myself up to a completely different community and then like, immersing myself in a new gym, trying new things, being in the big city compared to being like, in like a suburb of Atlanta, there's so much like going on for me in Chicago that I really felt was going to be beneficial for me in the long run. And that's when I felt like it was appropriate for me, in the time that I had been dealing with my eating disorder, to start a blog to talk about it all.

Kris Hampton  23:56

Right. What's the blog address?

Savannah Buik  23:58

It's Savannahbuik.com. So it's just...yeah, my first name and last name, which is great.

Kris Hampton  24:03

Yeah. And I remember you reached out to me when you first started it, and, you know, said that you had been reading my blog and you appreciated it and wanted me to read yours. And, and honestly, I get quite a few people who say, "I want to write a blog. This is what I've got." And and when I first got the message, I was like, "Probably just another one of those." I read it and I was like, wow, this is really brave. It's it's raw, and it's brave. 

Savannah Buik  24:40

It's hard. 

Kris Hampton  24:41

There's not a lot of people talking about it, you know,

Savannah Buik  24:44

Yeah, there, there's not a lot of people talking about it, especially like within sports, in the climbing community. 

Kris Hampton  24:51

Yeah. 

Savannah Buik  24:51

And I felt like this was my time to really like have a voice and have a say about like, what I was going through because I felt like I could be the voice for a lot of other people who weren't ready to talk yet, because I felt like in a strong enough place to finally feel like I had that voice. And so that's when I like opened up about my like, whole struggle that I've been dealing with since like, seventh grade. And it's as much as like, I've wanted to update it often, I've updated as often as I can, but it's kind of just been like, my, my path of recovery. It's not to recovery. It's of recovery. Recovery is such a lifestyle, and it's such a lifelong journey and that's like, what I tried to like articulate within my, like blog post is, what recovery actually looks like, what eating disorders actually look like, and what they aren't, and stuff like that.

Kris Hampton  25:40

So yeah, and I think, you know, I think something important that you're doing is that your blog, at this point, needs to be something for you to use as a recovery tool, and you need to be able to work your way through it and figure yourself out really well before you can help people. 

Savannah Buik  26:05

Yeah, 

Kris Hampton  26:06

And and it's, and it's started to catch on, like I see people sharing it, and I see that there are conversations happening and so I know that's the direction it's going, which, which is really exciting to me. 

Savannah Buik  26:21

So exciting!

Kris Hampton  26:22

 How, since since you moved to Chicago, and you started taking steps to you know, make these changes yourself, have you relapsed since then?

Savannah Buik  26:36

Nope, I haven't. And I think that a lot of it does have to do with my, the fact that I've been so open about it. It's like, everyone kind of serves as like an accountability for me, 

Kris Hampton  26:46

You've got a lot of people now to answer to.

Savannah Buik  26:47

Exactly, exactly. And so it's been, it's been really, really nice to kind of have such like, I feel like I just have a really strong backbone. I've a really strong community that like stands behind me and like is there for me when I need it. But I also have so many people that look up to me, too, that have like, sent me emails saying like, I'm really inspired by your story. But at the same time, I like have to show myself some like compassion and let myself know that it is okay to kind of like slip up every now and then because recovery is totally not perfect. 

Kris Hampton  26:48

Right

Savannah Buik  26:50

And that goes with like anything. I think like eating disorders have a lot.... I've been to like, a couple like AA meetings and eating disorders have a lot to do with, like, they are very similar to alcoholic, like being an alcoholic or being a drug addict. From, from people that I've like talked to, it's all about this, like addiction to something 

Kris Hampton  27:37

Right. 

Savannah Buik  27:38

And it kind of it's kind of the same thing. 

Kris Hampton  27:40

Like you said, This is what I can control. Like, this is the thing in my life, that no matter what sort of chaos is going on around me, whether it's my family, or I'm being bullied or I can't send any of my projects or whatever that chaos is for you, that's something you can grab a hold of and being 100% control of. 

Savannah Buik  28:04

Yeah. 

Kris Hampton  28:05

And and even though it might look to, to the people outside looking in, that you're out of control, you still feel like you're totally in control of it.

Savannah Buik  28:16

 Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. 

Kris Hampton  28:18

That feeling is addicting in itself.

Savannah Buik  28:20

 Uh huh. Totally. It's been it's been a little it's just been a little crazy with, like having a blog and knowing that I do have so many people that like, look up to me, it almost gets to be like, sometimes superficial and I never like tried to let it get that way.

Kris Hampton  28:38

 Right. 

Savannah Buik  28:39

But it's been, like I said before, it's been probably the most helpful thing I've ever done like for recovery so far, like compared to any treatment I've gone through. Just being so open about it has been just extremely helpful for me.

Kris Hampton  28:53

Do you think that sort of addiction, so to speak to something you can control has carried over to other things that you've had to be careful with or has it always just remained with food?

Savannah Buik  29:07

It's really just remained with like food, but actually I take that back. I mean, exercise is also really easy to control. 

Kris Hampton  29:14

Yeah, that's why I was asking, because I remember you writing a little about you were following some of our training plans and you were really into it and then it seemed like maybe you caught yourself maybe taking it too seriously and being you know, you felt like you needed to step back and have fun again.

Savannah Buik  29:36

Absolutely. And I think that it's funny, like every time I try, like training for something, this happens, and I told myself, this is like... this last time that I tried, and it's nothing to do with your plan, I swear. 

Kris Hampton  29:47

No,no, no, I think it's just, a, you know, I think it's something that if we were to come up with a plan just for you, yeah, we would try and work that in. 

Savannah Buik  29:58

Yeah

Kris Hampton  29:58

But I can see, if you're using one of the ebooks, that it could be really easy to take that addiction and apply it,

Savannah Buik  30:08

Definitely. And that's like, with any training plan, I feel like that's what's happened to me in the past. I realized that the last time around. I was like, you know what, I'm not going to train for anything like this until I know that I'm in like, the best possible place I can be with my head.

Kris Hampton  30:24

Right

Savannah Buik  30:24

 And until I feel that, I'm just gonna go out and have fun. And like, that's what climbing should be about in the first place anyways,

Kris Hampton  30:30

Yeah, and by having fun, you're progressing.

Savannah Buik  30:32

Oh, absolutely. I'm like growing mentally. I'm like getting physically stronger. It's been like really inspiring just to like, go out, have fun and also, like, see results that you didn't even really like, expect to or necessarily, like, seek out. But I've also like, changed a lot of my goals, too, which has been cool. And I don't have any like super concrete goals right now, but I started trad climbing last year. 

Kris Hampton  30:55

Yeah. 

Savannah Buik  30:55

And so that's kind of like when everything switched over because I got I didn't get .....obsessed with it, but I definitely, I definitely like, fell in love with it. 

Kris Hampton  31:06

Yeah

Savannah Buik  31:06

So that's what I've been pretty stoked on now, becoming like a more competent trad climber and eventually would like to do like bigger things out west, so.

Kris Hampton  31:15

Yeah, awesome. 

Savannah Buik  31:16

Yeah. 

Kris Hampton  31:16

So as a coach, and the people listening as parents, as friends, as coaches....a couple of things a, how do we recognize that there's something going on? And then b, what's our role there? What can we do about it?

Savannah Buik  31:40

Yeah, I feel like it's, it can be a little tricky because not all eating disorders look the same.

Kris Hampton  31:46

Right. Sure. 

Savannah Buik  31:46

And especially with like, adults, it's easy to notice that, like, maybe they're just going on a diet for something and not exactly equating it with being an eating disorder. 

Kris Hampton  31:56

Yep

Savannah Buik  31:57

So it's something that you have to like, kind of, like tread carefully with. But I think the biggest thing is like educating both like as a coach yourself, the parents, and also having like some sort of some sort of communication with like the athlete or the kid, like having some sort of like, you know, presentation, whatever it may be, just so they can be more aware of like potential consequences that would come with like dieting, or like that could become an eating disorder over time. 

Kris Hampton  32:28

Right. Right.

Savannah Buik  32:28

So that's like, the only tricky part is there's a lot of things that look like eating disorders, but they're not. And so it's something that you just really like, need to educate yourself on in advance and it's something that I'm actually looking into. I would love this to be implemented into USA Climbing, having like all the coaches have to go through some sort of education and awareness, so we can like stop this problem in its tracks while we can. But it is tricky. Like, I'm sure, you may have seen it in your like, the people that you coach,

Kris Hampton  32:59

Uh huh, I have. A couple of times, I've been positive that that's what's going on. And it's tricky to approach that person, because oftentimes it's going to be, there's going to be denial, you know. They don't know they're doing it necessarily. Like you said before, this is just something I can control. I'm, you know, I'm giving myself the reasons why I'm doing it and it makes perfect sense. But so when I go to these people and say, "Hey, I think there's something going on that we should maybe look a little closer at.", they arre like, "Nothing's going on. What do you mean?".

Savannah Buik  33:39

Exactly. So that's, that's where it becomes really tricky. Because when you do approach someone that potentially has an eating disorder, they're going to deny it pretty much every time.

Kris Hampton  33:49

 Yeah, yeah.

Savannah Buik  33:50

 And why, I mean, why would...why would someone confess to something about that when it's like, it's their comfort? You know, if something's super comforting to you, it's really hard to like, let that go. 

Savannah Buik  34:01

And so I guess that's, it's like I said, it's really tricky. But I think that again, education and awareness are like super, super important, going forward. And as the like climbing community grows, as the climbing is in the Olympics, the problem will only continue to get bigger, unless we really start implementing like education and like awareness stuff now.

Kris Hampton  34:01

Yeah,

Kris Hampton  34:23

Is there... are there any resources you know, of off the top of your head that people can look at or go to?

Savannah Buik  34:31

So the National Eating Disorders Association, just their website, has so many great resources. They have like a list of treatment facilities in every state. They have a hotline that you can call. They have just a bunch of resources for parents and people that think that someone that they love has an eating disorder and how to like approach that. I like really send everyone to that website if they think someone has an eating disorder. But just like also seeking out like potential like eating disorder treatment facilities in your area, and talking to people that work there to kind of see how you can move forward. Because it's tricky when you're really close to someone, and they're going through something like that, and trying to intervene, because you don't want to lose your friendship. 

Kris Hampton  35:16

Right. Exactly. 

Savannah Buik  35:17

But also you don't want to lose your friend.

Kris Hampton  35:19

Yeah. And it's, you know, I'm not even sure where my role is in that. That's the tough part, like, "Is it my place?" . Am I, you know, if it's my significant other or my best friend, then I understand that, that I have a place. I have a right to speak up. But if it's just someone I know sort of on the periphery, I don't know if it's my place or not. So so I do think having a resource like that to go to and, you know, a hotline to call or someone to get advice from who understands the situation is a big thing.

Savannah Buik  35:58

Yeah, absolutely. Because it is hard. Like you don't want to, you don't want to feel like you're intervening in someone's life and getting in their personal business.

Kris Hampton  36:08

Right. 

Savannah Buik  36:08

But at the same time, if you're like friends with someone, or like you're, you know, someone, you don't want to see them go through something so like, challenging and something that can be so like detrimental, like for them for the rest of their life. So really, it's just, it comes down to the decision you want to make, like how much you care about the friendship, but also recognizing that, like, once they do decide to like get better, that friendship can rekindle and rekindle in a different way that is a lot closer. And I've like noticed that with friends that I'm close with now, is that sure, I've intervened, and like they've had to go to treatment, but at the same time, they recognize that I like saved their life in the long run. 

Kris Hampton  36:50

Right.

Savannah Buik  36:50

So it's just like, it's your choice, honestly. And it depends also on how, like, on how far along someone is on like, in their path, like destructive ways with their eating disorder?

Kris Hampton  37:02

Yeah. So since most of the people who listen to this are climbers, how has the climbing community reacted to, to you being so open about this and I mean, a, have you seen any pushback? Have there been people who are like, "Oh, no, this isn't a real thing?"

Savannah Buik  37:26

Um, I haven't really seen any pushback, because I feel like, I don't know, it seems like people wouldn't, or they're not, I don't know if they're afraid or I don't know if there's like people that are like that opinionated in that way.

Kris Hampton  37:38

 Right.

Savannah Buik  37:39

 For... if anything, I've only received just like, the utmost the greatest support that I've ever had from climbers. They all, a lot of people recognize it's a problem, but it's not something that people are willing to speak out about.

Kris Hampton  37:53

Right.

Savannah Buik  37:54

 But it's something that, like, if we begin to have this conversation, it'll only get easier to talk about, and it becomes a lot less like of a problem. Especially like as big as it is now. So I don't think I've really received any, like negative commentary.

Kris Hampton  38:12

That's really good. I'm glad. 

Savannah Buik  38:13

Yeah

Kris Hampton  38:13

Because the internet can be a pretty rough place sometimes. 

Savannah Buik  38:17

Oh, gosh, yeah. 

Kris Hampton  38:18

And it makes it extra scary to put yourself out there in the kind of exposing way that you are.

Savannah Buik  38:27

Yeah, hitting the submit button the first time I like put my blog post out there was like the most nerve wracking time of my life. 

Kris Hampton  38:33

Yeah. 

Savannah Buik  38:33

And then like, it only got better from there.

Kris Hampton  38:35

 Yeah. 

Savannah Buik  38:36

So you continue to have this discussion. Like, usually when I talk about like, my past, my eating disorder, I'll just get like super emotional and now it's just like, such an easy conversation to have, because I like actually like talking about it, because it's something I care so deeply about. And I've talked about it so much that it's a lot easier to talk about.

Kris Hampton  38:53

And it's gonna help people.

Savannah Buik  38:54

Oh, absolutely. And I hope it does. That's like, not only is it helping myself, but I also hope it like helps other people in the long run.

Kris Hampton  39:01

Sure, sure. And I know you mentioned earlier that you and our mutual friend Angie Payne had a conversation recently and Angie just  collaborated on an article that I think was pretty revealing. I've known Angie for a long time and she's not necessarily always been that open with her, you know, her personal life and and I think it was pretty important that she put that out there. Did you reach out to Angie after reading that article?

Savannah Buik  39:37

 Immediately after. I reached out to Angie and Emily just like thanking them for being so vulnerable and like beginning this conversation, especially because they do have such like a presence in the climbing community and the climbing industry that it was super powerful for them to like, speak speak about their past, regardless of how detailed they went. It was very inspiring for me to read and I know many others felt the same way. And so I had reached out to Angie and then we kind of went from there and hoping to, like collaborate with her in the future on, like trying to solve this really big issue that we're dealing with right now.

Kris Hampton  40:13

Yeah, I think that's a good connection because she's a, she's a strong, positive force. And I think that's, you know, you're, you're definitely still feeling your way and it's, and it's growing, and I can, I can see it growing like, even in just in this conversation. And since you've gotten here tonight, I've watched it grow, you know, and I'm really excited about that. So I'm, I'm really happy that you're reaching out to people who are also starting to become willing to speak up and and I believe that part of that, you know, this wave of people starting to speak up is in no small part because of us speaking up to begin with. You know, someone has to start the conversation. Someone has to keep the conversation going. And you fit in there somewhere, for sure.

Savannah Buik  41:10

Yeah, it's, it's been really powerful to see that like, just from the last post, that I was grateful to get Michaela to like, contribute on, how like my blog just kind of like blew up. And it really, really did get...I got so much positive feedback. And a lot of people didn't recognize how how big of a problem it is, especially like amongst like youth climbers that are coming up and have all this pressure, like put on them to like send harder things. And it was really great to have that kind of like leverage so I could get the word out there and really get it spread, like across not just like my personal community, but like, across, you know, the nation, if not the world. Just like looking at my statistics, I was completely like amazed with, you know, 40,000 views. We just need to like continue to have this conversation.

Kris Hampton  42:00

And what's even more remarkable is 40,000 views without any negative feedback.

Savannah Buik  42:05

Hahaha. I don't get it. How did it even make it on the internet?

Kris Hampton  42:10

That never happens. 

Savannah Buik  42:11

No kidding.

Kris Hampton  42:12

 So you're doing something right. And I'm really happy for that. And thanks for being willing to sit down and talk about it. And, you know, as this goes, I'd love to sit down again and see where you're at with it and see, you know, what you think in the future is going to be, the way forward for helping other young girls young climbers, you know, figure this thing out for themselves. 

Savannah Buik  42:41

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. I really appreciate you having me on. 

Kris Hampton  42:44

Yeah, no problem Savannah.

Savannah Buik  42:45

 Cool.

Kris Hampton  42:47

 Can I ask you one more question on the record?

Savannah Buik  42:49

 Yeah. 

Kris Hampton  42:49

Good. What are the best donuts in Chicago?

Savannah Buik  42:54

Oh my gosh. Okay. Um, so the Doughnut Vault is definitely my favorite. So they have like a tiny store in The Loop and they sell out every day, so you have to get there early 

Savannah Buik  43:04

The Doughnut Bowl, 

Savannah Buik  43:05

The Doughnut Vault

Kris Hampton  43:06

Oh "vault". 

Savannah Buik  43:07

The Doughnut Vault

Kris Hampton  43:08

It makes it sound even cooler. 

Savannah Buik  43:10

Oh yeah, it's the best and then you can go to like, they have a truck, like a really old fashioned truck, that if you follow their social media feed, they'll post where they're going to be that day. And yeah, the donuts there are like, definitely like the best. But if I had to choose a second favorite it's definitely Stan's Doughnuts

Kris Hampton  43:27

Stan's Doughnuts

Savannah Buik  43:27

Stan's Doughnuts, yeah.

Kris Hampton  43:28

 I already liked Stan's Doughnuts better just because Stan sounds cool. 

Savannah Buik  43:32

Yeah, it sounds pretty cool, right? 

Kris Hampton  43:34

What's your favorite, like your single favorite donut? 

Savannah Buik  43:38

Blueberry old fashioned or anything old fashioned.

Kris Hampton  43:41

Hahahaha

Savannah Buik  43:41

 I really like hahaha

Kris Hampton  43:43

This is something you're passionate about, I can tell.

Savannah Buik  43:45

Clearly, I like 

Kris Hampton  43:46

We should have just had a whole podcast about donuts.

Savannah Buik  43:48

Yeah, I like old fashioned donuts like chocolate, orange, orange-chocolate, blueberry, pistachio, like anything. I'm all about it.

Kris Hampton  43:56

Awesome. Awesome. I'm going straight to Doughnut Vault and to Stan's Donuts next time I'm in Chicago.

Savannah Buik  44:02

 Perfect. Perfect. Make sure to hit me up. I'll come with you. 

Kris Hampton  44:04

I will. I'll buy you a donut.

Savannah Buik  44:05

 There you go. I like that.

Kris Hampton  44:07

 All right, thank you. I kinda feel like I need a doughnut right now. Yeah, definitely. I think that's my next stop. In all seriousness, thanks Savannah for sitting down with me and having this conversation and being so open and so honest. You know, I think this is a really great way to learn and it's better than waiting until you're confronted with the situation and you're just gonna fumble through it. I would much rather spend some time with someone like Savannah, talking it over and trying to understand it, so that I can be better prepared as a coach and as a friend and as a partner or a mentor, whatever the situation might be. I think it's important for us so so thanks again for sitting down with me. And if you're if you guys want to check out Savannah's blog,  Crimpin' & Biscuits, at Savannahbuik.com. That's savannahbuik.com. And you guys should check that out and spread the word. And special thanks to all the folks out in Missouri. We are finishing up the tour today and then we are headed to Boise. If you're in Boise or around Idaho, we'll be at Asana Climbing Gym the 25th through the 27th, from 6 to 9pm. Come out and see us. If you have not yet, which many of you have and I appreciate that, if you have not checked out our new Applied Body Tension ebook, it is on the website now. Powercompanyclimbing.com. Along with our Process Journals, those two make a great pairing. So please go check those out. Help support the podcast. You can also do that at patreon.com/powercompanypodcast and you can offer some support there. We appreciate that hugely. You guys have turned out in droves. Not quite the droves that the eclipse is getting today but droves nonetheless. So thank you a ton. And we will see you on the interwebs in the interim. We'll see you at Powercompanyclimbing.com. We'll see you at the Facebooks. We'll see you on the Instagrams. I won't see you at Pinterest even if you're at Pinterest, but still visit us there. I will not ever see you on the Twitters because we don't tweet. We scream like eagles.