The 1200 Calorie Myth
Have you ever searched online for how many calories you should eat to lose weight, only to be told something like, “You need to eat 1200 calories per day to lose 10 pounds by next month”? It’s a common message—and a dangerous one. The idea behind the 1200-calorie diet is that it’s the minimum your […]
How to Cope with Hurt Feelings
Do you ever eat when you have hurt feelings? Do you find yourself in the middle of a binge or emotionally eating? Do you ever come home or get off the phone with someone, and feeling sad and lonely, stressed or anxious, angry or overwhelmed, walk over to the refrigerator and unconsciously start eating […]
Taking Care of Your Inner Child
Your eating disorder might feel like a tyrannical dictator, telling you what to eat, what not to eat, pushing you to give in to obsessive cravings, pushing you to purge, pushing you to starve or restrict, but for many people, that voice is actually a scared little girl (or boy) living inside of you, […]
What Does a Binge Look Like?
A binge can look very different to many different people. Some people believe that eating two cookies is a binge. That’s definitely not a binge, however, it can feel like a binge to someone who exerts strict control over their eating. Although objectively, two cookies is not a binge, in that personality type, it can […]
Do The Next Right Thing
“Do The Next Right Thing,” a phrase borrowed from 12 step programs is an invaluable piece of advice. We can’t always do the right thing, but we can sit down, take stock of where we are, and do the next right thing. It might have been a terrible night. You might have drank a liter […]
What’s on Your Plate?
Fritz Perls, who developed Gestalt Therapy, encouraged us to understand the way we eat as a metaphor for the way we live. At your next meal, watch yourself eat. Do it without judgment and without trying to change anything, just watch. It can be enlightening to draw some parallels around how you eat and […]
How to beat stress eating– 50 ways to cope with stress without food
If you give a normal person a list of five things to do, they will get started with the first thing on their list. If you give a stress eater a list with five things to do, they will get started by running to the refrigerator. Eating becomes a way to deal with procrastination, fatigue, […]
When food is the third person in your relationship
Some couples are drinking buddies. That is, they spend a lot of time going to bars together, or drinking at home together and alcohol becomes a big part of their relationship. Often these couples aren’t exactly sure what they’d do together if alcohol wasn’t accessible. Other couples are eating buddies. Their relationship revolves around food […]
Sex, Love, and Food
Geneen Roth wrote a book almost 20 years ago called When Food Is Love. Of course, this is using food when what you are really craving is love. A common theme that I’ve noticed in women with eating disorders is this sense of unworthiness or a belief that they are not loveable. It’s incredible to […]
The Grief Of Recovery
Saying goodbye to an eating disorder isn’t easy– that’s an understatement. There is a giant grieving process that goes along with it. When you decide to let go of binge eating, you are letting go of something that you feel has been a best friend, a lover, an ally, always there when you need it, […]