Book Review: Binge Eating Disorder: The Journey to Recovery and Beyond is a Must Read

Posted on January 8, 2025January 8, 2025 by Alison Pelz, LD, RD, CDE, LCSW

Binge Eating Disorder: The Journey to Recovery and Beyond by Amy Pershing with Chevese, seamlessly blends clinical knowledge with the lived experiences of those affected by BED, making it an invaluable guide for individuals experiencing BED and their families. Divided into three parts: understanding BED, addressing its root causes, and finding sustainable recovery strategies, this book is a must read for anyone looking for an insightful and compassionate resource on binge eating disorder (BED).

Understanding Binge Eating Disorder

Binge eating disorder (BED) is the most common eating disorder, it can develop at any age, often in childhood, and can impact people across diverse identities and backgrounds. It is characterized by recurrent episodes of eating unusually large amounts of food in a short period, accompanied by feelings of loss of control.

BED affects an estimated 2.8 million individuals, making it the most prevalent eating disorder in the United States. Despite its high prevalence, BED often goes undiagnosed or misunderstood, in part due to societal weight bias and outdated treatment paradigms.

Understanding Binge Eating Disorder Symptoms

BED is not a one size fits all diagnosis, and can often affect people in unique ways, but there are some hallmark symptoms that are commonly observed, which include:

Frequent Episodes of Binge Eating:
- Consuming more food than most people would in a similar time frame and situation.
- Feeling unable to stop eating during a binge episode.
Emotional Distress Around Eating:
- Intense feelings of shame, guilt, or embarrassment during or after binge episodes.
- Experiencing disgust or self-loathing related to eating habits.
Behavioral Indicators:
- Eating rapidly or at an unusually fast pace.
- Eating until uncomfortably full.
- Consuming large amounts of food even when not physically hungry.
- Preferring to eat alone to hide the behavior from others.
Physical Symptoms:
- Fluctuating weight due to consistent overeating and undereating.
- Gastrointestinal discomfort or other health issues linked to excessive eating.

If these symptoms occur at least once a week for three months, it could indicate BED, and you should talk to a trusted care provider.

Who experiences Binge Eating Disorder?

BED doesn’t discriminate—it can affect people of any age, gender, race, or socioeconomic background. Please note that people of all body sizes can experience binge eating disorders.

Why is Binge Eating Disorder: The Journey to Recovery and Beyond by Amy Pershing with Chevese such a powerful resource?

It Addresses the Root Causes:
Chevese and Amy Pershing provide a thorough explanation of how the diet industry, weight bias, and weight stigma all work together to contribute to the development and persistence of eating disorders. Many individuals with BED have endured significant weight stigma and bullying, which often begin in childhood. Tragically, these experiences are pervasive in peer groups, families, and even healthcare settings. In an attempt to avoid further stigma, many people turn to dieting as a way to change their bodies, but this often worsens their relationship with food and deepens the cycle of disordered eating. It is estimated that up to 70% of those experiencing binge eating pursue weight loss services often making the eating disorder worse. They also delve into systemic oppression and its role in fostering BED.
The book also makes it clear that effective treatment for BED lies in psychological support and nutritional rehabilitation—not weight loss interventions.
It Makes Sense of Binge Eating:
Within the chapter “How BED Happens and Why It Makes Sense” Pershing and Chevese offer a groundbreaking discussion of the nervous system and its stress response. They explain how binge eating functions as a coping mechanism, helping individuals feel safe during times of stress or overwhelm, which helps to make sense of binge eating as an adaptive (though ultimately unhelpful) response, which in turn can foster self-compassion and reduce the shame often associated with this behavior.
It Offers Inspiring Personal Narratives:
Chevese Turner courageously shares her story of binge eating, starting from her childhood experiences with food. Amy Pershing complements this narrative with her years of clinical expertise, sharing lessons from her work with clients in recovery. These interwoven stories remind readers that they are not alone in their struggles. By reducing isolation and shame, the authors create a sense of solidarity and hope.
It Provides A Roadmap to Recovery:
Binge Eating Disorder: The Journey to Recovery and Beyond offers a framework for improving readers’ relationships with both food and their bodies. Rather than prescribing rigid meal plans, it focuses on reclaiming a sense of self. Chevese and Amy Pershing introduce concepts from Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy, such as “parts work,” to help readers understand their binge eating behaviors and work toward recovery. They also address body shame and body image distress, reframing the body as a home—not an object to be judged, but a vessel for experiencing life, joy, and even pain.

The authors critique diet culture and thin privilege, empowering readers to navigate these societal pressures while staying true to themselves.
It Expands Perspectives:
One of the book’s greatest strengths is its ability to broaden readers’ understanding of binge eating. Binge Eating Disorder: The Journey to Recovery and Beyond explores how societal and systemic factors influence BED, and help to shift the focus away from individual blame and toward a more compassionate, holistic view.

I wish I had discovered it earlier—it would have allowed me to recommend it to more clients sooner. Those I’ve shared it with have found it incredibly helpful and affirming. If you are experiencing binge eating please consider reaching out for support.

Whether you’re a generalist clinician seeking to understand better binge eating disorder or an experienced eating disorder specialist, this book deserves a place in your professional library. Once you read it, you’ll feel confident recommending it to clients with BED—and they’ll thank you.

2024 Eating Disorder Recovery Resource Roundup

Posted on December 20, 2024December 20, 2024 by Crowncreatives

As we close the chapter on 2024, we have the opportunity to take a few moments to reflect on the last year of eating disorder recovery & treatment and make note of resources available to us for continuing care in 2025.

As awareness of eating disorders and recovery options continue to grow, families, clinicians, and communities are searching for tools and knowledge that prioritize compassion and effective care. Whether you’re considering levels of care for recovery or exploring family based therapy for eating disorder treatments, these conversations have helped shape a community of care we’re excited to take with us into 2025.

Whether you’re a parent, caregiver, or someone in recovery yourself, there’s so much to be aware of and as we learn more together, we strengthen our communities and our possibility for a thriving recovery.

As we move into 2025, these insights can guide us to approach eating disorder recovery with greater intention. They challenge us to prioritize early intervention, understand diverse diagnoses, and advocate for inclusive and accessible care. Whether you’re navigating recovery personally or supporting a loved one, the lessons of 2024 can serve as a foundation for a hopeful and informed new year.

Stay tuned as we build on this momentum in 2025, continuing to explore the complexities of eating disorders and the paths to healing. Let’s enter the new year with renewed purpose and compassion.

Here’s what I wrote about this year:

When Your Loved One Doesn’t Want to Get Better: Understanding Anosognosia in Anorexia Nervosa

“Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by severe food restriction, an intense fear of weight gain, and body image disturbance. Anorexia nervosa affects many individuals of all genders, ages, and identities worldwide.

The consequences of anorexia nervosa can be devastating, both physically and psychologically. However, one of the most challenging aspects of this disorder, particularly for family members and caregivers (and even clinicians!), is the phenomenon known as anosognosia.

What is Anosognosia?

Anosognosia, stemming from the Greek words “nosos” (disease) and “gnosis” (knowledge), refers to a lack of awareness of one’s illness. Anosognosia often can feel and look like denial.

Denial is a defense mechanism and psychological response to avoid dealing with anxiety or other uncomfortable feelings. In contrast, anosognosia in mental health conditions is better described as a lack of awareness of their own condition.”

Understanding ARFID: More Than Picky Eating

“Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder is not just a simple case of picky eating; it is a complex psychological condition that can cause significant nutritional and reduced quality of life, particularly if it endures into adulthood.

Unlike other eating disorders that are often driven by concerns about weight and body image, ARFID is characterized by an avoidance of food based on sensory sensitivity, lack of interest in eating, depressed appetite, and/or fear of adverse consequences such as choking, throwing-up, or an allergic reaction.

Individuals grappling with ARFID may face a persistent difficulty when it comes to eating sufficient quantities or varieties of food. This can stem from deep-seated anxiety, gastrointestinal discomfort, or past negative associations with food.”

Book Review: When Your Teen Has an Eating Disorder is a Must-Read

“If you think your child or teen has an eating disorder this is a must read.

Eating disorders can perplex many parents and clinicians alike. Your teen may not be acting like their usual self, and it’s hard to know if this is just normal teenage angst or something more serious. If your teen has an eating disorder, they may have changed greatly right before your eyes: refusing food, feeling anxious around eating, or experiencing changes in mood and energy.

You may have tried several times to talk with them about the importance of eating and try to reassure them that they are not gaining weight. (In fact, they are likely losing weight.) But, your child’s struggles seem to be getting worse not better.

If your teen has not seen a doctor yet about their eating disorder this is the first step to make sure they are medically stable.”

Levels of Care in Eating Disorder Treatment: How to Choose the Right Option

“Levels of care refer to how much support is needed to reduce eating disorder behaviors during treatment. Several levels of care may be utilized throughout treatment for an eating disorder, based on what is necessary for the person in recovery.

Treatment choices can be overwhelming if you or your teen are newly diagnosed with an eating disorder. Residential, day treatment, or outpatient care – what does this all mean?

Levels of care in eating disorder treatment are selected based on many factors including:

Medical: This often is the driving factor in selecting the level of care. If you or your teen are medically compromised more care may be needed.
Severity of malnutrition: Different levels of care offer varied amounts of support for nutrition rehabilitation.
Co-occurring conditions: Often those with eating disorders have other medical or psychological conditions that also need to be treated.
Social support: Social support improves mental and physical health. The different levels of care offer varying levels of social support.
“Motivation”: Most of us want to feel better and be healthy. However, change can feel scary, overwhelming and downright impossible at times. Those who feel more stuck in their eating disorder may need more support to feel like change is possible.
Access to care: Proximity to treatment, insurance, and specialty care are all considerations. Virtual treatment by clinicians and treatment programs are being utilized to increase access to care.”

Treating Anorexia Nervosa in Teens: The 5 Tenets of FBT

“Looking at all of the treatment options for anorexia nervosa in teens may feel daunting.

In this article, the focus is on family-based treatment (FBT), one type of treatment for eating disorders that is used for treating anorexia nervosa in teens. In particular, this article discusses the nuances of family-based treatment, which are referred to as the “Tenets of FBT”.

The focus of FBT is to empower you, the parent, to provide nutrition rehabilitation and restore your child back to health with the guidance of a treatment team. FBT is an outpatient treatment that can be used in place of residential treatment or partial hospitalization if your teen is medically stable. That means your teen can stay at home during treatment.

The tenets of Family-Based Therapy guide me as a clinician, and you as a parent, during eating disorder treatment and recovery. When working with families and teens throughout treatment I refer to these guiding principles frequently.”

Can Family-Based Treatment Help My Child Recover from an Eating Disorder?

“If you are a parent or caregiver, desperate to help your child who is struggling with an eating disorder, family-based treatment may be the solution you are searching for.

Often, families come into my office worried sick about their child.

Their child might have lost a lot of weight or been acting “sneaky” around food. Maybe their child has been over-exercising, using laxatives, or throwing up after eating.

Or, they might be worried because their child only eats a small number of foods, or eats a lot of food at once.

Or maybe your child has become an extremely “picky eater”.

On top of that, parents are often terrified because they have heard doctors mention hospitalization and many therapists have turned them away. When they do research online, things look bleak.

No matter their child’s symptoms, when families first come in they are often frantic, frustrated, and feeling powerless. They don’t know what to do.

If you find yourself in a similar boat today, you’re not alone. I have worked with countless families who walk into my office feeling this way. Sadly, there’s a lot of blame put on the parents. All they want for their child is to get better and live a happy life without the constant obsession with food.”

I’ll be back in 2025, writing more about eating disorder recovery, food peace, and weight bias. If there are any topics you want me to cover next year, let me know. You can send me a message here, and you can also follow me on Facebook. Every week, I share resources from myself + other eating disorder experts, so follow if you’re looking for more information.

Understanding ARFID: More Than Picky Eating

Posted on July 16, 2024July 11, 2024 by Alison Pelz, LD, RD, CDE, LCSW

Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) often remains underrecognized and misunderstood.

Adults who have struggled with Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder for most of their life may feel it is impossible for things to be different. Parents who have a child struggling with ARFID have, more often than not, literally tried everything to help their kiddo eat, but nothing seems to be working. ARFID is often equated with picky eating, but it’s actually much more complex than that.

Although ARFID is a newer diagnosis, there is really nothing new about it.

Prior to being added to the DSM-5, it was included in a broader category called “Feeding Disorder.” It was added to the DSM-5 in order to develop better ways to treat it.

Parenting a Child with ARFID

If you are a parent, well meaning doctors may have minimized your child’s selective eating. This can be particularly true if your child is on track with growth. This can be frustrating for a number of reasons. You spend significant time to figure out how to feed your child – and it takes a lot of mental energy and often can feel very limiting to keep dealing with this challenge day after day.

If it’s left unaddressed, ARFID can lead to nutritional deficits, which can impact both physical health and emotional well-being. Early detection of ARFID is important so it doesn’t turn into a life-long struggle. Understanding ARFID is crucial for effective intervention, and a comprehensive treatment strategy tailored to the individual’s specific needs is necessary.

Understanding ARFID

Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder is not just a simple case of picky eating; it is a complex psychological condition that can cause significant nutritional and reduced quality of life, particularly if it endures into adulthood.

Recognizing Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder Symptoms

Persistent avoidance of specific foods or food groups or low food intake are characteristic of ARFID. Physical responses such as gagging may coincide with this avoidance of certain foods.

The eating patterns of individuals with ARFID reveal a restrictive intake that fails to meet their physiological needs. Without treatment, ARFID can lead to potential nutritional deficiencies, weight loss, or developmental delays, irrespective of age, gender, or body weight.

Behavioral signs and changes in eating that may indicate ARFID include:

Poor appetite
Getting full quickly
Avoiding eating due to fear of choking
Picky eating that often gets worse over time

Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) is often misinterpreted as a phase among children or as mere pickiness in adults; however, it represents a significant feeding or eating disorder that hinders one’s capacity to consume an adequate variety and volume of food.

Impact of ARFID on Everyday Life

ARFID’s restrictive eating patterns in children can lead to low energy, isolation, and anxiety around meal times. For caregivers, it can be a struggle to know how to feed your child, or it can take lots of effort to prepare foods that you know they will eat in order to support growth.

For older children and adolescents, ARFID can make socializing, which often happens around food (such as parties, sleep overs, family events or team dinners), anxiety provoking for both the child and parents. The disorder’s consequences radiate outward, often simmering into familial tensions and social rifts, as loved ones grapple with the complexities of ARFID.

Adults with ARFID tend to have a decrease in quality of life. Moreover, the fear of eating outside one’s comfort zone can hinder personal and professional growth, particularly when mealtime activities are involved.

Ultimately, the disorder’s grasp can dampen overall quality of life, exerting a significant emotional toll.

Approaches to Treating ARFID

The main goal of treatment for ARFID is supporting the sufferer with eating enough (and enough variety) to keep their body nourished. For children, treatment works to support growth. Treatment for children, adolescents, and adults can help to improve overall quality of life.

Improved quality of life looks different depending on the individual with ARFID. For some, that may mean eating most food. For others, it may mean expanding the variety of food in order to support quality of life and being nourished.

Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder treatment usually focuses on making eating or feeding a priority.

That is, for most folks, increasing the number of times each day they eat meals and snacks. Due to the nature of ARFID, eating often gets put off because it is uncomfortable for the person to eat, or they simply aren’t hungry.

Structured meal planning can be an effective strategy for managing ARFID, as it introduces routine and predictability into the dining experience. By brainstorming menus in advance, individuals and families gain clarity and a sense of control over their food choices.

Having structure and making eating a priority can help make sure people are getting adequate nutrition and reduce meal time stress.

In addressing the dietary concerns that stem from Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder, we take a gradual approach to food exposure. Food exposures are designed in collaboration with the client and/or the family in order to personalize care.

Incremental exposure to food means starting with foods that are less anxiety-provoking, building up to a more diverse diet over time. Food-related anxieties are meticulously deconstructed, facilitating the individual’s encounters with previously feared foods in a safe and controlled environment.

Efforts are channeled into ensuring balanced nutritional intake while concurrently addressing emotional and cognitive barriers. Over time, the individual learns to associate eating with safety rather than distress, thus gradually dismantling the cycle of avoidance that characterizes ARFID.

My Approach to ARFID Treatment

When I am working with children with ARFID I work closely with their caregivers. I have learned from my training in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for ARFID that I can bring the expertise in eating disorders, and the parents & kiddo bring the expertise on their family, food beliefs, culture, and abilities (to name a few).

With adults with ARFID I use a similar mindset. I bring skills to the table to treat the eating disorder and they bring their expert knowledge of themselves.

Are you concerned that you or your child are dealing with Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder? Sign up for a free consultation to learn more about how I can help you and your family.

Book Review: More than a Body

Posted on September 21, 2022August 5, 2022 by Alison Pelz, LD, RD, CDE, LCSW

Book Review: More than a Body: Your Body is an Instrument, not an Ornament

More than a Body is an important read for those suffering from a negative body image.

Authors Dr. Lexie Kite and Dr. Lindsay Kite (not only sisters, but also identical twins!) are well versed in body image research. Not only do the authors provide a great discussion of what body image is, and how it developed, they deliver an extensive discussion on the influence of society on our body image.

What is this book about?

Lexie and Lindsay provide a framework of body image disturbance and postulate that objectification, both historically and current, of women (and with increasing frequency, boys’ and men’s bodies) is one of the main causes of body image disturbance.

That is, we are trained to focus on how our bodies are seen by others versus what our bodies can do.

In turn, we internalize this message and begin to self-objectify our own bodies. This self-objectification shifts our attention to how our bodies look instead of how we feel in our bodies.

As you can imagine, self-objectification can lead to being preoccupied with the way our bodies look, including increased body comparison and body checking in mirrors.

This shift of our energy and awareness from how our bodies feel to how our bodies look takes up a lot of time and energy, and just leads to feeling badly about yourself and your body.

It often starts from a young age, because a lot of media promotes cultural standards of beauty, even still in 2022. The message has always been that it doesn’t matter how you feel in your body, it matters how the world around you sees your body.

The authors of More Than a Body put forth that women are conditioned to first define themselves by how their body looks and second that they are people with inherent worth.

In a way, the messaging is getting more troubling. Slowly but surely, companies are starting to get the message that appealing to old-school body insecurities doesn’t create as much of a profit as it used to. Instead of being loud about weight loss or fat shaming, companies now try to appeal to people by using language taken from the body positivity movement.

We’ve seen brands like Weight Watchers change their name to WW in an attempt to move their image away from weight loss to “lifestyle change”, while still promoting intentional weight loss and a disordered approach to eating. Everything is still reduced down to the way people look, and not their inherent value as humans.

In order to heal from negative body image, the authors urge us to internalize that we are people first. And our bodies know that we are inherently good.

What did I like about this book?

Importantly, the authors do acknowledge that most body image research is done on cis, white, and often straight-sized bodies. They also discuss weight bias and its harmful effects in addition to discussion on historically marginalized bodies.

The authors’ discussion of the body positivity movement is especially insightful.

They acknowledge that the body positivity movement has expanded the types of bodies (read: size) that are deemed socially acceptable. However, the body positivity movement is flawed because it still focuses on the objectification of women’s bodies.

The idea itself that bodies are to be looked at and objectified is problematic, because who we are as people goes so far beyond what our bodies look like. Having more bodies that we decide as a society are acceptable to look at does nothing to solve the problem of objectifying bodies in the first place, it just adds to the objectification taking place.

The Drs. Kite propose that the only way to improve body image is to eliminate self-objectification and connect with our bodies for what they do for us over how they look. This can be pretty tough to do in the age of social media advertising and diet culture.

The tagline of this book, “Your body is an instrument, not an ornament,” resonates with me as a woman, and in my work with clients.

It is a great mantra to keep at the top of your mind to shift your focus from how your body looks to what your body does for you.

The book is lengthy and provides more of a framework of why we are fraught with negative body image rather than provide solutions for body image problems. I appreciated that the authors used vignettes to explain their work, and they often cite research to back up what they’re saying.

If you’re looking into the background of where negative body image comes from and want to learn more, this book will be an interesting read for you. If you’re looking for actionable solutions for body-image problems, this book might not be what you’re looking for.

Who should read this book?

I would recommend this book to:

clinicians who treat people with body image disturbance
parents & caregivers who want to learn more about how to raise children with healthy body image
those who suffer from body image disturbance
folks who are in the later stages of eating disorder treatment

Although this book is better than some at expanding the body image discussion past cis, white, straight size, abled bodies, the fact that it is more than likely aimed at this audience (rather than the marginalized bodies it briefly focuses on) it is one of the limitations of the book.

The authors have developed an online course (which I have not taken) as another body image resource. But, I also hope that they consider developing a workbook to accompany this book to help guide folks through the difficult process of connecting with our bodies for what they do over how they look.

Are you curious to learn more about the authors of this book and their perspective on body image?

Here is a link where you can hear Dr. Linsday Kite speak on body image – this video also gives a solid introduction to the book.

Understanding your body image and where it comes from is key in eating disorder recovery. If you’re looking for more support in changing your body image, please click here to schedule a free 15-minute phone consultation with me.

5 Ways Journaling Can Help in Eating Disorder Recovery

Posted on February 16, 2022February 15, 2022 by Alison Pelz, LD, RD, CDE, LCSW

What do Oprah Winfrey, Freda Kahlo, Marie Curie, and Anne Frank all have in common? (Besides being exceptional women, that is.)

They all journaled.

When you read about why these incredible women kept a diary, building a strong connection with one’s emotions and thoughts is the theme that comes up.

People who suffer from eating disorders often really struggle to identify and cope with their emotions and thoughts. (And not just people with eating disorders, lots of people struggle to connect with what they’re feeling and why!) Often the eating disorder then becomes the way to cope with those emotions, unhealthy as it may be.

Having a strong journaling practice doesn’t mean that your eating disorder will just evaporate on its own. But keeping a journal is a tool that can help you in your journey in recovery, and support your work in therapy. If you don’t have a therapist or treatment team click here to learn more.

Journaling can help:

Rid unhelpful, repetitive thoughts swarming around in your head.

Simply writing thoughts down sometimes can provide a reduction of these thoughts. The more we hold onto or try to bury our feelings, the stronger they usually become–and the more it feels like they can start to control us. When you take time to get the thoughts out in some way, your mind is able to release them, instead of clinging onto them.

Identify your fears and worries.

Many people who have eating disorders often experience high levels of anxiety. Journaling can assist in identifying those fears and worries in order to evaluate if they are actually reflective of the truth. Learning to identify when our fear those fears are “real” can help both your problem solving skills and your ability to tolerate some levels of anxiety.

Increase a sense of control by reflecting and processing thoughts and feelings.

Giving yourself a space to review and reflect on what you’re feeling without judgement can help take the power out of those strong feelings. Instead of feeling like they are controlling you, learning to reflect & process them helps to teach you that your feelings are trying to communicate something to you, but they don’t have to dictate your life.

Explore and sort out your emotions.

Identifying, understanding and communicating emotions can be hard, especially for those with eating disorders. Often people with eating disorders use eating disorder behaviors to cope with their emotions. Journaling is a tool that can instead help you to navigate your emotions, so you don’t have to rely on your eating disorder to manage them.

Reduce avoidance of problems & stress.

While avoiding problems and stress may seem helpful particularly in the short-term, in the long-term it actually increases feelings of stress, discomfort, and fear. For example, if you are anticipating a tough conversation with someone the longer you put the conversation off the more stressful it becomes. Usually, once the conversation is completed there is a sense of relief. Merely writing about the anticipated conversation is a great first step to reducing avoidance. Eating disorder behaviors often serve as a way to avoid stress and discomfort, so developing a healthy practice to manage stress can help reduce reliance on those behaviors, as well as strengthen your stress management skills in the long term.

Tips to Get Your Journaling Practice Started

Journaling can be downright daunting–especially if you are not used to talking about emotions. But think of journaling as a practice, something that you may feel “not good at” at the beginning, but over time you will become more confident.

Make it part of your daily routine like brushing your teeth. Perhaps journal at around the same time or point in your day. Maybe start off with journaling five minutes a day and increase the length of time as needed or as your confidence builds around journaling.

What to Journal About:

There is no “right way or wrong way” to journal. The point of the journal is to get your thoughts and feelings out on paper. No need for perfect grammar, spelling, or handwriting.

You may start by writing about your day (what you did, thought, and any feelings that came up), or a particular situation that you felt strongly about–whether it was a good or bad feeling.

It may be handy to keep a list of feeling such as this one next to your journal. This can be a good tool to increase your emotional vocabulary, strengthen your ability to identify what you’re feeling, and really understand your emotions.

If you don’t know where to get started with your journaling practice, try one of these journal prompts:

3-5 things you are most grateful and why.
One thing you felt proud about today.
Something you recently did that was hard and how you manage it.
A stressful situation and how you can cope with it.
A letter to a future self.
What do you feel most worried about and why.
What others would say to you about why they care for you.
Eating disorder-specific:
Name 5 ways your eating disorder is helpful and 5 ways that your eating disorder is unhelpful.
If I didn’t have my eating disorder then I would be doing these five things.
If I didn’t have my eating disorder then I would feel these 5 things.
I would want my friends and/or family to know about my eating disorder ar these things.

If you are looking for more ways to support yourself in your journey of eating disorder recovery, talking to a therapist may help. Please call for a free 15-minute phone consultation to learn how I work with clients with eating disorders and loved ones.

4 Tips for Anyone Who Loves an Adult in Eating Disorder Recovery

Posted on November 10, 2021November 9, 2021 by Alison Pelz, LD, RD, CDE, LCSW

When you hear the words “eating disorder” what comes to mind? More often than not, eating disorders are associated with teenage girls. While it is true eating disorders often develop in adolescence, adults can have eating disorders, too.

It’s possible for eating disorders to initially develop later in life, not just during adolescence. It’s also possible that adults suffering from an eating disorder developed it during adolescence and never fully recovered. Life stressors (like a pandemic, for example!) later in life can also cause a relapse of eating disorders.

Eating disorders develop for a variety of reasons including genetics, temperament, gender, and dieting history to name a few.

It is less important why and how the eating disorder developed, and more important to focus on supporting your loved one in their eating disorder recovery.

If you love someone in eating disorder recovery, here are four ways to show your support:

1. Think about an eating disorder like a physical illness.

An eating disorder, like cancer, is not a choice. This is often misunderstood. If it was as simple as just choosing to eat more food, far fewer people would suffer with eating disorders.

If your loved one was going through treatment for cancer you may do some of the following: learn about their diagnosis, take them to treatment appointments, provide support, and check-in with them more frequently.

You can do the same with eating disorders. Eating disorders are dangerous and can cause long-term health effects and even death, and they should be taken seriously. See what you can do to understand that eating disorders (EDs) are a physical as well as mental illness.

2. Get educated on eating disorders.

Learning as much as you can about eating disorders is another way to support a loved one in recovery. Eating disorders on the surface appear to be about food. But, make no mistake, while food issues are part of the eating disorder, eating disorders are psychiatric illnesses that must be treated by experienced clinicians. Here are some resources to learn more about eating disorders:

The National Association of Eating Disorders
The Eating Disorder Sourcebook by Carolyn Costin
Eight Keys to Recovery from an Eating Disorder by Carolyn Costin and Gwen Schubert Grabb
Skills-based Learning for Caring for a Loved One with an Eating Disorder by Janet Treasure, Grainne Smith and Anna Crane

You can also ask your loved one if they would like for you to attend treatment appointments with them so you can get a better understanding of their treatment plan and goals.

There are also resources on social media sites like Instagram that offer helpful information about eating disorders, diet culture, and recovery. Make sure to check that the information you’re getting is coming from a reliable source – there are lots of folks out there who borrow language from body positive and anti-diet circles but who are still pushing intentional weight loss or food restriction. It can be really eye-opening to learn about the root causes of eating disorders, in addition to being a great way to support someone you love with an eating disorder.

3. Learn how to communicate with your loved one in a supportive way.

As with most things, supporting someone in eating disorder recovery requires communication. The best way to find out how to support them is to ask! Ask them directly what would make them feel supported or what they’re struggling with. Find out what they would find helpful or for ways you can provide support (or adjust your support if necessary).

It can be tricky to communicate about such emotionally charged topics. Statements such as these can feel supportive to your loved one.

“I know this is hard.”
“You can do hard things.”
“I am here if you would like to talk about it.”

There are a lot of ways to be supportive, but some statements aren’t helpful for folks in ED recovery. Unhelpful statements that you may be tempted to say (remember the ED is not only about the food)

“Just eat.”
“I don’t know why this is so hard…do what I do [insert advice about food, exercise].”

Remember, eating disorders are not just about the food. Everyone’s body is different, and most of us aren’t qualified to give out medical or nutritional advice anyway – we can leave that to the folks on the treatment team.

Another thing to keep in mind is that mealtime can be particularly stressful for those with eating disorders. Some meals and foods may be easier or harder for your loved one to eat. If you eat with your loved one at mealtime it may be helpful to focus on light conversations that have nothing to do with their eating disorder.

4. Be patient.

Eating disorder recovery is a marathon, not a sprint. Recovery is not linear, in fact, it can get quite messy. It requires lots of learning and unlearning, as well as patience and self-compassion.

Don’t give up, and keep checking in with your loved one. Get support for yourself if you need a space where you can process the emotions of supporting someone through recovery. It’s okay to recognize that supporting someone sometimes means asking for help yourself. The National Alliance for Eating Disorders has free support groups for loved ones.

If you are looking for more ways to support your loved one in eating disorder recovery, talking to a therapist may help. Please call for a free 15-minute phone consultation to learn how I work with clients with eating disorders and loved ones.