I just did an interview with Allen Standish of Quit Binge Eating— We discussed using mindfulness and meditation to heal from binge eating. Take a listen!
As some of my readers might remember, I previously had a support forum up. Sadly that was an epic fail. It became overrun with spammers and was impossible to manage, so I had to shut it down. I’ve recently opened up a facebook page for the blog. I am hoping that it can also serve as sort of a support group so that folks can get help and support from each other. I also want to use it to post
Okay. It’s Thanksgiving again. The hardest holiday for those with binge eating issues. Don’t panic. It’s only one day out of the year and it doesn’t have to start off a mult-week binge that continues for the rest of the year. 1. Start off by telling yourself that you can eat whatever it is that you want. However, only give yourself full servings of the things you really want, and give yourself very small (read 1-2 bites worth) of the
So lots of people have been sending me this clip and asking me to comment on it. This is a great clip, if a little sensationalized. First off, I want to comment on the “Ednos is the deadliest eating disorder, even more deadly than anorexia, even more deadly than bulimia.” So I want to clarify here, EDNOS stands for “Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified,” and really, it’s main purpose is for coding and billing. Anorexia and bulimia have a very
A friend sent this over to me today. Oh so true!
I wish that I could tell you that if you popped a vitamin every day that you’d never have any issues with food or body image, but of course that’s not true. However, there are certain supplements – vitamins, minerals, and amino acids that can be helpful in your journey toward recovery from binge eating. These supplements can help with anxiety, sleep, stress related eating, sugar cravings and to balance blood sugar. Definitely check with your physician before starting a
I came across this post which explains how a news station in Wisconsin received a scathing email about Jennifer Livingston, one of their anchors who happens to be a woman of size. I’m so impressed by her response. In the media, it seems to me that women often send the message that being plus sized is not okay, something they have to change about themselves, (Jennifer Hudson, Oprah, Kirstie Alley, Jessica Simpson). It bothers me a lot, because it sends
Before I had my son last fall I was petite but also strong and healthy. I ate my three healthy meals a day, I ran 3-4 miles 3-4 times a week, I meditated daily, had a pretty good Vinyasa Yoga practice going, I ate ice cream, drank wine, and ate chocolate in moderate amounts. I had a… solid psychotherapy practice, a solid marriage and was enjoying a pleasant rhythm of life. I liked my body, I liked my routine and
Question: Hi I am Sam. I have been suffering through a binging disorder for over 5 years now. I made a lot of progress over the years; I could go without binging for over a week, or sometimes when I would binge I could catch myself in the middle and be able to stop. But since the last two weeks I have been binging every single day, feeling uncontrollably helpless! My weight is just piling on and on. What do
Goodtherapy shared this photo on facebook today. Wow. It’s so true isn’t it? That feeling that you get about yourself when you start to compare yourself to someone else… it’s just painful. There’s so much that we’re not — but what we are– when we focus on that– it can be pretty amazing. Exercise for the minute: Quick 5 things that you are that are great. Some adjectives for help– compassionate, kind, helpful, smart, interested, cuddly, stylish, well read, funny,
I’ve been a therapist treating eating disorders since 2005 and I’ve been keeping this blog since 2007, and I continue to get emails from people, almost daily asking how to stop binge eating. All I can say is that I have so much compassion and empathy for you. And I share in your frustration. I wish I had a magic wand that I could wave at you that would cure you from your binge eating. I wish I had a
Lucy (not her real name) came into my office telling me that she really just didn’t like herself and she never had. No matter what she did, she couldn’t find any sort of compassion or fondness for who she was. She worked really hard all through school, she was an excellent employee, she was the best party hostess and the best friend, but no matter what she did, she still felt that she wasn’t good enough. She had an overwhelming
Question: I think I have a binge eating addiction I don’t know who to talk to about this I currently suffer from depression and anxiety I don’t think I am worth anything at all I hate looking at myself in the mirror I am living in a Women’s recovery program for almost a year I’ve been clean from alcohol and opiates for over 15months, praise god!! I struggle with smoking cigarettes and I go from one compulsive act to another
Andrea Wachter, author of my all time favorite recovery book wrote a great article on Beating the Body Image Blues. In it she states: People in our culture are hypnotized and possessed. We have had a spell cast upon us — from our first fairy tale to the current magazine on the checkout aisle. It says this: If you are thin and pretty, you will feel happy and special. Your body is nothing more than a vessel to hold what
This question comes from Poppy in the UK Question: I stumbled across your website today, and saw that you were giving advice to people with eating disorders so I hope you don’t mind me asking for some advice and a fresh perspective. I’ll try and keep it short! My story goes like this: I developed anorexia around 14/15, which then turned to bulimia. There was never any huge event as a trigger, rather a small accumulation of things. Ive always had low self
This amazing and intense recovery story was submitted by April via email. My name is April and when I was 8 I started having serious body issues. I started my period and didn’t really know why or what it was. My mother was not a very nurturing mother always competing with me about weight and clothes and she would take over my friends so they liked her better. I hated my body. I remember praying to die at 8. I
Positive Body Affirmations Affirmations are statements that you repeat over and over in attempt to change your unconscious beliefs. Pick a few that you like and look in the mirror and repeat several times each day! If you can find some of these positive body affirmations that resonate for you and really allow yourself to see them, hear them and feel them, you might find some shifts in the way you think about yourself and your body. 1.
If you are suffering with an eating disorder, you might feel disembodied. Lots of people tend to be in their heads, but those who suffer with eating disorders really avoid being in their bodies and spend lots of time up in their heads. Many try and avoid the feelings that they have in their body and even avoid the fact that they have a body because it’s so fraught. My clients with eating disorders are often very intelligent, intellectual, and
What if instead of being afraid of food or trying to control food or yourself, what if you made friends with food? What if he who was once the enemy became your friend? If you have an eating disorder, you probably notice that a lot of what you deal with is fear. Fear of food, fear of parties with food, fear of being out in the world, fear of what people think of you, fear of how you look or
I’ve been seeing *Emily in therapy for four years. She has written her recovery story and agreed to have it posted. I actually remember the first time I binged and purged. I was in eighth grade and we were at Thanksgiving dinner at my grandparents’ house. My grandma used to make these huge elaborate meals, with like 5 or 6 different pies and all sorts of mashed potatoes and stuffing. My cousin Jenny, who is a year older than me,