There have been two commitments I have made in my life. The first was too recovery and the second was two my husband. Both were utterly terrifying but both have made me feel more secure than I ever dreamed possible. I have always been an anxious person and for many years used the avoidance behaviors of an eating disorder to …
Tips for supporting someone with an eating disorder
Family members and friends always wonder how to help their loved one who is suffering with an eating disorder. Here are a tips. Tip 1: Express love unconditionally. The impulses of a loved one is typically to express love and concern in the same breath. It’s natural and understandable. It’s also risky. Concern often comes across as controlling and directive. Instead, …
Open letter to Ke$ha
Dear Ke$ha, I just wanted to say thank you for publicly announcing your decision to go into treatment. Seeking treatment for an eating disorder is often the most difficult decision. It feels like there are so many things in the way: work, school, fear of people knowing your secret, not believing you are worthy of treatment, not believing recovery is …
New Year’s Resolution: Eat with a toddler’s intuition
It’s that time of year. We’re all making promises to ourselves that we really can’t keep. But what if we did something a little bit different. What if we based a New Year’s resolution on what our body is already telling us, but we’re not listening too. What if our New Year’s resolution is to listen to our bodies and …
Body Neutrality: When body love doesn’t seem real
Those of us who treat eating disorders, disordered eating, or just women in America would like see our clients have more positive self-talk, especially around body image. Unfortunately, body positivity may be a little ambitious…for all of us, not just our clients. Let’s face it. Our bodies do no always do what we want them to do. Sometimes, we …
Holiday reflections and gifts of recovery
Today is the day after Christmas and this one was particularly special. I gave birth to my second son 17 days ago. My dad and stepmom traveled all the way from Pensacola to be here. And we my parents, my new family, and my husband’s family all spent the day together. It really was a gift. When I was a …
Who am I without my eating disorder?- a Recovery activity
In recovery from an eating disorder, we often find that we have lost ourselves to the ED. We don’t know what we are good at. We haven’t been allowed to be good at anything. We do not know what we like. Liking things was an indulgence that was for weaker individuals. We become the eating disorder. It dictates how we …
What is self-talk?: The Reflection Exercise
**I got this exercise from the folks at Green Mountain at Fox Run. I’ve changed it a little bit but the core ideas remain. Thus, they should get the credit!! Self talk is a difficult thing to understand mostly because it tends to happen below the level of conscious awareness. I’d like to present an exercise that, in theory, …
Attitude of Gratititude
The phrase “Attitude of Gratitude” is one you hear used in the rooms of AA and other 12 step programs. Obviously, it refers to giving yourself an attitude adjustment when you get angry or resentful and remember all the good things you have in your life. Gratitude is also what the holidays are supposed to be all about! It seemed like …
The eating disorder voice explained…sort of
Over and over again, people with eating disorders and the clinicians who treat them refer to “the eating disorder voice.” You won’t find it described in the DSM or really anywhere but it is very real piece of the ED picture. There are two different ways that “the voice” clinically manifests. The first is simply in beliefs and the second …
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