In the spirit of cross training for recovery from eating disorders, I will be sharing seven formulas that you can mix and match in a variety of situations. They are personal favorites that I’ve used myself, taught to clients, and passed along to other professionals. Try It On When we’re not happy with how something […]
Living With Uncertainty
For many young adults, including my daughter, this is a time of great uncertainty, as they wait for letters from schools they applied to for the fall. When you’re recovering from an eating disorder, many situations can cause feelings of uncertainty – with food and with other parts of life. For example, going to an […]
Managing Difficult Eating Situations
For people with an eating disorder or food addiction, eating can be an emotionally charged event. There are certain eating situations that amplify this discomfort, because other people are involved. There may be relationship issues like co-dependency, or unhealthy patterns like mind reading, or fear and anxiety of eating out in the open. Some people […]
Feedback and Self-Esteem
Author and speaker Brene Brown talks about how shame stops us from speaking up for ourselves. Shame can also trigger overeating, undereating, body image obsession, and feeling like you’re worth less than other people. These harmful behaviors then create more shame, and a devastating spiral can quickly occur. On the other hand, you can set […]
The Trouble With Not Speaking Up
I once heard of an eating disorder recovery group called “Say It or Stuff It.” So many people who have issues with food also have difficulty communicating what their needs are, and they’re not speaking up for themselves. The trouble likely stems from what we were taught as children – spoken or unspoken messages such […]
Accepting Compassion is Not Always Easy
For people who are recovering from an eating disorder, compassionate support from others can be unsettling. You may not know how to receive that support, and you may not feel like you deserve it. Have you ever heard the expression that “we teach people how to treat us”? What happens in this case is that […]
Choosing the Words to Share
Find a way to speak your truth to others in a kind way that feels honorable to you and aligned with your values.
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 […]
Pause, Listen, Respond, Let Go
Saying yes when we want to say no is a sure sign that guilt is making that decision for us. Whether we're trying to lessen guilt we already feel, or avoid guilt we're afraid of feeling, we've now set aside our own desires, goals and needs. To avoid the self-destructive cycle of guilt and resentment , […]