Changing what you’re doing with food is not about applying willpower or self-discipline, sometimes there are complex biological issues underlying food behaviors.
When People Are the Triggers
You don’t have to be afraid of triggers. You can learn to understand them and deal with them—not eat, restrict, or purge over them.
Are Your Over-identifying With Your Eating Disorder?
When the eating disorder becomes an identity, you’ll look to it for direction. You may think it’s the only unique thing about you, but it’s not.
Tools for the Recovery Stage of Life
A major part of your recovery will be gaining comfort and acceptance of your body. Whether or not your body size has changed in recovery, you can learn to love and be grateful for who you see in the mirror. A distorted body image can be deeply embedded in people who are recovering from an […]
What Does it Mean to Surrender?
Twelve step programs have many recovery tools that can be beneficial to those who are struggling with food addiction, emotional eating, anorexia, compulsive eating or bulimia. One of these valuable concepts is surrender.
A List of 12 Step Groups and Websites
AA – Alcoholics Anonymous ABA – Anorexics and Bulimics Anonymous ACA – Adult Children of Alcoholics Al-Anon/Alateen, for friends and family members of alcoholics CLA – Clutterers Anonymous CoDA – Co-Dependents Anonymous, for people working to end patterns of dysfunctional relationships and develop functional and healthy relationships DA – Debtors Anonymous EA – Emotions Anonymous, […]
Make Amends to Make Your Guilt Disappear
12-step programs such as Overeaters Anonymous and Eating Disorders Anonymous contain many useful tools that any of us can use. When it comes to healing guilt, one of the best methods is found in steps 8 and 9. Step 8 reads, “Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make […]
Guilt is a Four-Letter Word
Be honest. How many of your actions and decisions today were driven by guilt? Were you trying to relieve guilt that you already felt, or trying to avoid feeling guilty later? Using guilt as a motivator starts a chain reaction that can very self-destructive. This is true for everyone, but for someone in recovery from […]
Five Things That Get in the Way of Your Spiritual Connection
This month we’ve been discussing the spiritual piece of the recovery puzzle. For some, spirituality is an untapped resource. Once you learn about ways of accessing your own spiritual connection and make a conscious effort to do that, a whole new world is opened for you. Sometimes, though, the path to spiritual awareness can be […]
Use a Pen to Fight Your Triggers
One of the most helpful tools in 12-step recovery programs is the daily written inventory of what you did well that day, where you could improve, and if there is anything you need to set right with an apology or other action. This practice can be extremely useful when you're learning how to cope with […]