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PODCAST

GAG | eating life - The Podcast

Rebuilding confidence with food, identity, and life after treatment.

GAG | eating life is a podcast about rebuilding confidence with food and life after treatment. Hosted by Yvonne McClaren, author of GULP: Taking a seat back at the table after head and neck cancer, this podcast shares lived experience, practical insight, and honest reflections on navigating dysphagia, eating challenges, and recovery. This is not just about nutrition. It’s about identity, social connection, and finding a way forward when eating becomes difficult and life changes unexpectedly. For

education how to

All Episodes

3:50

Food is culture. Swallowing is science. Healing needs...

GAG | eating life - The Podcast ·

2026/02/04

Everything I want and need to say is here. What I am not sure about is how to get the message out about this book to those that need it. I’ll be honest, I don’t know who needs it more - it might be other patients like me, their care givers, their clinicians - friends, family all of the above. I feel so deeply and strongly attuned to this information getting the air play it needs. There is so little out there to help people “Running the Gauntlet” of head and neck cancer treatment. I use that term to

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1:44

Book Update, Me Update & Shortbread ...

GAG | eating life - The Podcast ·

2025/12/05

Book Summary – GULP.The book will be available on my website and Amazon - likely (realistically) just before or just after Christmas - I will let you know. 🍾Here’s what it is ALL about …GULP. is a practical and insightful guide designed to help people navigate the physical, emotional, and social challenges of eating after dysphagia or related feeding difficulties. The book’s core purpose is to provide both patients and caregivers with structured guidance, actionable strategies, and

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2:24

Exit Tube Stage Left.

GAG | eating life - The Podcast ·

2025/11/08

House Keeping: This is a repeat performance without the PEG tube lesson (see previous post / email) I have repeated this because what’s important is the story that often goes with PEG tube feeding - see below, and why having a reason and motivation to transition is so, so important. The image below sums up my motivation to transition off my PEG tube. This is a new through hike I am exploring and I mention it here as it was and is the one joy in my life that keeps me eating orally. I learn food

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2:30

Exit Tube Stage Left.

GAG | eating life - The Podcast ·

2025/11/06

Circa 2019.I know many of you reading here are not HNC patients or recipients of treatment. I created these PEG tube videos because I knew at some point they would help someone else with their journey. I had no idea what to do nor how to live with my PEG tube. Small things like tucking it in my bra, what to do when the end broke off and was told and I quote “that’s because you are using it too much” …I mean really? - I’ll omit the expletive I used after I left the clinic. Do you think they were

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2:24

A Little Taste Of My Presentation

GAG | eating life - The Podcast ·

2025/10/21

I flew up to Brisbane to present at the inaugural Australian IDDSI conference as a guest speaker. IDDSI stands for International Dysphagia Diet Standardisation Initiative and it refers to texture modified food for people with swallowing difficulties. I asked one the members of our reference committee to nurse my iPhone tripod and just ensure it captured me presenting - mostly because I wanted to hear how many um’s i said .. quite a few. Just a bit of housekeeping to put this in context. The woman

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2:39

Hiking Snack Dilemma

GAG | eating life - The Podcast ·

2025/10/10

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit yvonnemcclaren.substack.com/subscribe

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Playbook to eating whilst hiking & travelling

GAG | eating life - The Podcast ·

2025/09/23

Proof is in the pudding and I’ll show you what I managed food wise on the near “perfect pilgrim day” in the next 24 hours. Eat Well. 🥣 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit yvonnemcclaren.substack.com/subscribe

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2:30

What's my next book about?

GAG | eating life - The Podcast ·

2025/08/12

You can find the book launch details by signing up here - it will be available on Amazon and my Payhip Store - by October 2025.At the heart of GULP is the Mind Food Body System - the practical framework designed to help individuals eat safely and live socially after head and neck cancer. But behind the system lies a deeper philosophy: the Commensality Comeback. This model represents the emotional and social restoration that occurs when eating becomes more than nutrition-it becomes connection. GULP

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15:00

The Missing Piece in Radiated Dysphagia Care.

GAG | eating life - The Podcast ·

2025/07/08

This post is not for eveyone, it’s for the Speechies, Dietitians and those wanting a pathway to transition off their PEG back to oral eating (and beyond) - it is the system I created that enabled me to hike internationally from unfamiliar menus in foreign countries. It’s how I did it and what I did to reduce the overwhelm of the process. House Keeping: I have been having quite a few one on one SLP meetings and Podcast interviews of late. It prompted this more “organised” process, aka - Book a call

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5:21

Welcome to GAG.| eating life

GAG | eating life - The Podcast ·

2025/02/04

If cancer gave me anything it was a hot cup of tea and a good talking to.I wanted to read stories from people who had a clue.I wanted to get some sort of idea about what it was I was going through and what others had experienced.I didn’t want to get unsolicited advice from a thousand people on social media about the dodgy looking ulcer on their tongue.Not helpful, non of it.…and so GAG.| eating life was born.This is a documented life journal told in story format of my setbacks and comebacks after

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4:42

Survivorship is a big battle too.

GAG | eating life - The Podcast ·

2025/01/22

Wow survivorship. The second battle - I didn’t see it coming. There are people who actually do their PhD’s in this so I’ll leave the details to them. I guess the nuance of what I write is now based on “survivorship” and as I have documented my journey from day 1 - it’s becomes a useful resource, for not only me but those that unfortunately are coming up the rear of which there are many. This next stage is where I need your help. Your thoughts, comments and ideas publicly written if possible, that

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6:41

For the love of all things spicy.

GAG | eating life - The Podcast ·

2024/12/23

I still, very occasionally, get gifts from unsuspecting givers. Two such items arrived this past week via a flustered delivery driver.I know both givers, one quite well the other I have spoken only via the telephone and only ever on a professional footing. The trouble I face is I look as though not much has happened to me, although if you peer closely you can see the tell tale signs of radiotherapy, the neck dissection, that ever so slightly drawn look only head and neck cancer patients have, that

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0:11

Adapting to Spain's culinary landscape with dysphagia.

GAG | eating life - The Podcast ·

2024/09/12

My Google Translated Elevator Pitch … Side effects of head and neck cancer treatment means I have trouble swallowing food & drink.It’s happening.I am about to navigate 6 weeks of eating on the hoof, away from my kitchen and most importantly, away from my country of origin. I am travelling half way around the world to walk across the Pyrenees and Spain. The Camino Frances I have experience of course, two previous Caminos under my belt, my very first Camino hand selected based on the food alone. The

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5:44

Reclaiming my life.

GAG | eating life - The Podcast ·

2024/08/23

House Keeping: Some of the content I share here is really early days for me - literally weeks after treatment so you will notice hair changes, skin changes, speech changes and likely weight changes. I am going to take you on my healing journey and provide some insight into what I have learnt along the way. It will hopefully help those at the beginning and those (like me) a little way down the healing track. I just found this video clip I did for Facebook back in 2019. Not my best recording, the

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1:11

Grace.

GAG | eating life - The Podcast ·

2024/08/10

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit yvonnemcclaren.substack.com/subscribe

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0:53

Eating in public.

GAG | eating life - The Podcast ·

2024/07/24

I don’t often eat ice cream anymore, I find the melt point a little bit difficult to manage, back when I first had treatment for Oropharyngeal stage four cancer, the ice cream use to burn my throat, it felt gritty and as a result, unless it’s top shelf (high fat content) and expensive, I don’t enjoy it. I started making my own “ice cream” with just frozen bananas and that with some seeded strawberry puree is the bomb. You’d think this would be relatively easy to eat in public and it was, except I

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1:54

Training for food confidence with dysphagia after HNC...

GAG | eating life - The Podcast ·

2024/06/21

For those of you who have been here with me for a while, know that I hike, and when I say hike, I mean hundreds of kilometres. It saved my sanity, my life whilst healing from Stage 4 Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma. This will be my third hike in Europe in as many years. This will be the longest one yet. The Camino Frances which will test my food confidence and my early ORN just enough to make it really annoying. I have a fundraiser with Head and Neck Cancer Australia so If you can afford to,

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0:29

When beans ain't soups.

GAG | eating life - The Podcast ·

2024/05/06

Housekeeping: Hello there, if you are new here be sure to check out the podcast too, link on the GAG.| eating life homepage. Soup. It’s a noun but one I use as a verb and an adjective. Rightly or wrongly. I am working on improving my gut biome. There’s nothing glamorous about gut biome for most people, but for me it’s a fascinating and challenging view on food we don’t often consider, and now for me one that requires extra special attention given my inability to eat most fresh fruit, berries, salad,

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13:59

Ep 59 From Feeding Tubes to Fresh Food

GAG | eating life - The Podcast ·

2023/05/25

In this episode of "The No Feeding Tube Show," I discuss the importance of nutrition for patients undergoing head and neck cancer treatment. I share my personal experience of having a peg tube for 15 months and transitioning back to oral eating, highlighting the challenges of interpreting medical advice about high protein, high energy, and nutrient-dense food when dealing with changes in the mouth, tongue, and teeth. I stress the need for patients to understand basic nutrition and food groups, and

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13:10

Ep 56 Idiosyncrasies of swallowing

GAG | eating life - The Podcast ·

2023/05/04

If you or a loved one has gone through head and neck cancer treatment, you know firsthand the challenges of managing eating and swallowing difficulties. As someone who has personally experienced these idiosyncrasies, I want to share my story and offer advice for coping with them.One of the most important things I've learned is the impact of external factors on swallowing. Changes in weather, exercise, and mental health can all affect our ability to swallow. By being mindful of these factors, we can

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