Jess Sepel on Ocd, Healing from Disordered Eating, Grief and Building Jshealth with Heart

Listen to the full episode here

Almost ten years ago, I interviewed a young nutritionist at the very start of her journey. This time, I sat down with Jess Sepel in her Los Angeles home, now a best-selling author, clinical nutritionist and the founder of a global wellness brand. What I love about Jess is that the bigger she has grown, the more honest she has become.

This is one of the most open conversations we've had on Beautiful Inside. We go far beyond green powders and supplements, into the harder chapters, and the long, brave work of healing.

The Day She Let Go of the Scales

Jess is candid about the years she spent at war with food and her own reflection. The turning point she describes is quietly powerful. Her husband Dean taking the scales from the bathroom, telling her enough, and walking beside her to let them go for good.

"I was addicted to thinking that a number could determine my self-worth."

It wasn't a cure. It was the moment she chose herself, and the beginning of a slow road back through study, therapy and self-compassion.

Naming It: OCD and Anxiety

For years Jess lived with anxiety and intrusive thoughts she couldn't explain. An OCD diagnosis finally gave her suffering a name, and she is generous in demystifying it.

"OCD is not just the washing of the hands. It's OCD of the mind."

She is honest that it was offset by profound loss. She lost her best friend, her bridesmaid, the sister figure of her life, and the grief and trauma that followed reshaped her. What she has chosen to do with that pain is speak.

"If I can just help one person feel less alone through her story, I feel good about that."

Her message on mental health is one of the most hopeful things I've heard.

"Any mental health issue that anyone struggles with, don't wish it away. It's going to give you everything you need."

On Pressure

Jess names something so many high-achieving women feel and rarely admit.

"Pressure is one of the most underrated emotions. We don't talk about pressure enough."

Her answer to it is boundaries, fiercely kept. Phone and email off well before bed, apps deleted at night, magnesium baths, yin yoga, early nights, and a walk with Dean almost every day. Therapy, she says, is the non-negotiable she never misses.

Building JSHealth

JSHealth began almost by accident. While studying nutrition, Jess kept a blog privately for nine months, documenting her shift from fad dieting to a balanced, whole-food life. Dean read it one night and told her she had to share it. The next morning it had travelled further than she could believe, and the community that gathered around it became everything she has built since. A brand, in her words, designed to help women heal their relationship with food and themselves.

On Vulnerability and Connection

What makes Jess so easy to trust is that she refuses to perform perfection.

"We've never been more connected to people, but we've actually never felt more alone with our struggles."

She is living proof of something she said that stayed with me long after we stopped recording.

"You can be so successful and so strong, and struggle in certain areas."

Why It Stayed With Me

Jess is honest about her pain in a way that gives other people permission to be honest about theirs. Watching her grow over a decade, from that first interview to this one, the throughline isn't the success. It's the courage to keep doing the work, and to talk about it so no one feels alone.

Interview by Sigourney Cantelo.

---

This episode touches on disordered eating and grief. If anything here resonates with you, please reach out for support. In Australia, the Butterfly Foundation offers free, confidential help for eating disorders and body image on 1800 33 4673, and Lifeline is available any time on 13 11 14.