Blog 5 - Binge Eating Therapy

What to Do About All the Halloween Candy

Leora Fulvio October 31, 2016

So all of you living in the United States are undoubtedly being bombarded by Halloween candy. There are giant, larger than life displays at every store you walk into, and most likely, it’s sitting in giant bowls in your house as you get ready to pass it out to little ghouls and goblins and witches and Batmans and Wonderwomans and Elsas and likely little Hillarys and Donalds. And, if you have kids, you will have bags and bags of candy

Friday Q&A – I Can’t Stop Eating at Night

Leora Fulvio September 1, 2016

Today’s question is a pretty common one: Question: Dear Leora, My problem is that I do awesome all day, I don’t binge at all and I eat three solid meals and I exercise moderately, I’m not restricting, I’m not dieting… none of that. Night times suck though. I’ve finished eating, I’m not hungry at all, I sit down and put on Netflix and before I know it, I’m at the refrigerator. First it’s a piece of cake or some ice cream

Q & A Friday- I’ve Stopped Binge Eating but I Haven’t Lost Weight- Help!

Leora Fulvio August 18, 2016

Today’s question comes to us from Pamela in New Jersey. This is a super common and difficult question that comes quite often in ED recovery. Question – Hi Leora, I have an ED therapist and ED nutritionist and I’ve been seeing them for over a year. I’m also in a weekly ED recovery group. I think I’m doing good with recovery but I’m not losing weight. I think it’s because I’m still eating to take the edge off. Not in

21 NON Weight Loss Benefits of Exercise

Leora Fulvio August 10, 2016

As mental health professionals, one of the things that we are always encouraged to prescribe our clients is exercise. Exercise is fantastic! In fact, one of my dear friends who happens to be a Psychiatrist told me that she believes that if everyone exercised – the drug companies would be out of business. However, as a professional treating eating disorders, discussing exercise tends to be tricky… my clients tend to feel shame over not exercising enough, the belief that they

Thunder Thighs and Other “Problem Areas”

Leora Fulvio July 27, 2016

*PHOTO CREDITS TO MODELS FLUVIA LACERA AND TARA LYNN Many years ago, when my cousin had her first baby, her husband, as he held this gorgeous nine month old baby, squeezed on of her plump little thighs and said, “I can already see that this is going to be a problem area for her, we’re going to have to watch that…” (don’t worry, my cousin divorced him). Problem area. I asked him what he meant by “problem area,” he said, “her thighs

10 Things Not to Say to Your Partner with Binge Eating Disorder

Leora Fulvio July 6, 2016

Do you have a husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, son, daughter, best friend, or roommate who has some difficult food issues? Maybe they don’t eat all day – or you never see them eat, but then a whole jar of peanut butter seems to disappear. Maybe they often tell you that they’ve just started a diet – but then you find them alone in the kitchen decimating a birthday cake. Maybe you’ve been saving a special dessert for yourself in the refrigerator

How Not To Binge Eat on The 4th of July

Leora Fulvio July 2, 2016

There are certain holidays that I call Binge Holidays. Oh yeah, there are all the typical ones, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years Eve… But then – there are those sneaky Binge holidays that come up to bite you in the ass.. like Memorial Day, Superbowl Sunday, Labor Day, 4th of July, Superbowl Sunday… Those holidays where people start drinking beer and eating potato chips and hotdogs at 11am and then pass out at 8pm and wake up the next morning for

Round Up of ICED 2016

Leora Fulvio May 16, 2016

It’s been more than a week since I’ve returned from the International Academy of Eating Disorders annual conference (though returned is really a silly word as it was only 12 miles from my house this year), and I’m finally able to sit down and gather my thoughts about it. If you’ve never been, even if you’re not a clinician, I highly recommend. There is a lot of advocacy and research there and many things to learn. Next year it’s going

When Somebody Promises You Weight Loss, They’re Totally Lying

Leora Fulvio April 21, 2016

(Trigger warning- weight, BMI and numbers discussed here) When someone over the Internet promises you that they can help you lose weight, click away. Click FAR, FAR AWAY! There is not one person who can guarantee you weight loss. Do you know why? Because they don’t know you and they’ve never seen you and they have no idea what is going on with your body. Here’s the thing- I’m putting this blog post right out there to the billions of people

How to Stop Worrying about What People Think of Your Body

Leora Fulvio April 8, 2016

Have you been in that place before – that place where you have a wedding, or a reunion, or a birthday party, or any big event coming up and the first thing that comes up for you is, “Okay, I’ve got about 72 days to lose about 20 pounds. I can do that… cakewalk…” but then things become rough. 72 days becomes 60 days, becomes 40 days, becomes 2 weeks. The big diets come out- the no carb, no fat,

Recovery is a Choice

Leora Fulvio March 16, 2016

A really amazing woman shared this with me. She wrote it on her wrist to remind her that it was within her power to decide her next move. I love it.

Top Ten Stupidest Diets

Leora Fulvio March 11, 2016

I went on my first diet roughly at age 10. I loved dieting… it made me feel powerful, it made me feel in control and it made me feel like I was starting out fresh, like anything was possible if I could just stick to my diet. Each new diet opened a door of new possibilities. I loved to eliminate, to cleanse, to fast, to restrict, to feel pious and mighty because I could abstain like a mofo. For me,

How To Shut Down Without Food

Leora Fulvio March 3, 2016

There is a theme in my practice this week. All of my clients came in telling me that one of their biggest problems in healing from binge eating is that they feel like they NEED food to just…shut…down. Sheila, an extremely busy attorney explained to me that in the evenings, after working a 12-14 hour day, she looks forward to coming home, sitting in front of the television and being able to eat, it’s the way she shuts down after a crazy

How to Stop Night Eating

Leora Fulvio January 12, 2016

Do you ever feel like you can’t go to sleep unless you eat a ton of food even if you’ve had a balance dinner? Do you lie awake thinking about food, unable to relax until your belly is so full that you pass out into a food coma? Do you find yourself up late at night grazing through cupboards, or even waking up in the middle of the night and finding that you can’t go back to sleep without

How to Get Through December Without Bingeing

Leora Fulvio December 2, 2015

As we know, December is primo binge time. We roll off of Thanksgiving into several weeks of parties, gift baskets, bowls full of candy at the office, guests dropping in, egg nog, and those are just the food triggers. Holidays trigger all sorts of emotional crises, like being around family, or not being around family, feeling single and sad, missing friends, relatives, or being forced to spend time with people who feel toxic to you. So, let’s try to make

Eating Disorders and Black and White thinking

Leora Fulvio October 22, 2015

Last month, my husband, kids and I went to the beach to get our last days of summer in. When we got there, I realized that I packed my sons’ suits and my husband’s suits but failed to pack my own. I was super disappointed-to say the least, there’s nothing better than swimming in Tomales Bay on a hot day. But I made the best of it and rolled up my cutoffs and waded in the water with my two year old. At

Q & A Friday- Why Can’t I Get Back on My Diet?

Leora Fulvio October 15, 2015

Yay! We’re back to Q & A Fridays. I’ve got a huge backlog of them – so if you send me a question, please don’t worry- I will get to it! If you don’t hear from me, it’s okay to send me a reminder. This one comes from Jessica in New York. Dear Leora, Thank you for the great blog and newsletters. I really appreciate them. I am struggling really badly right now. I have been overweight my whole life- on my

How to Get through the Halloween Season without Bingeing

Leora Fulvio October 15, 2015

I walked into Target last week and was blasted by the obscene display of mini candy bars up and down the aisles, everywhere I looked. I don’t even like candy bars- that has never been my jam, but still, I found myself thinking, “gosh, an almond joy would be pretty good about now…” It’s October. Which means that all of a sudden all the comfort foods are making their way into your hearts and bellies. The leaves are falling, the apple orchards

Overeaters Anonymous- The Good, The Bad & The Crazy

Leora Fulvio October 2, 2015

“I don’t eat no matter what… “ or IDENMW as they say in certain OA and FA circles. I have an extremely complicated history and relationship with both Food Addict Anonymous and Overeaters Anonymous, both as a clinician who treats eating disorders and as a past member. A lot of people ask me “Does Overeaters Anonymous work?” It’s definitely not black and white. It “works” for some but not for others- but you have to define what “works” means. I

What “I Feel Fat!” Really Means.

Leora Fulvio September 25, 2015

Do you ever wake up “feeling fat?” You just feel gross. Your body feels like it has too many layers, you’re uncomfortable in your skin, you feel bloated, your clothes don’t fit, you just want to go back under the covers and go to sleep for a year… and then you hear the words, “Fat is Not a Feeling…” in your head and you think, “yes, it is because I feel fat right now, whoever says that fat is not

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