Using it was a morning ritual: wake up, use the restroom, remove my clothing to be as light as possible, step on the scale, and anxiously wait for a number to appear. I did this without fail, every day. Since I found my self worth in how much I weighed, I panicked when I was traveling and didn’t have access to my scale. This habit extended far past my weight restoration and “recovery” from anorexia. Although my relationship with food and my body was, by comparison, much healthier at this point, it was nowhere near where it should have been. I still relied on numbers to dictate how much I could eat and how far I needed to run. Doesn’t sound quite “recovered”, does it?
Read MoreRoughly 65 percent of dieters regain 100% of their lost weight within three years, according to Gary Foster, Ph.D. (clinical director of the Weight and Eating Disorders Program at the University of Pennsylvania). Diets aren’t new, of course, and they’ll likely never go away. There’s plenty to choose from, too: the Atkins Diet, the Paleo Diet, the Zone Diet, the Keto Diet, Weight Watchers, South Beach, the list goes on and on. The differences between these diet types are immeasurable, but they all have one thing in common: they require the dieter to put their own intuition in the back seat. If following one of these diets correctly, you must let go of your hunger cues and stop listening to what your body is trying to tell you. Instead, you’re obligated to stick to the strict set of rules that probably promise to “not be strict”. That doesn’t sound very instinctive, does it?
Read MoreMaking the decision to seek help for your eating disorder can feel like the most confusing, frustrating, and isolating thing in the world. When chronic dieting and the pressures to constantly change ourselves is the cultural norm, it can be difficult to decipher if what you’re struggling with is a true, diagnosable eating disorder or some other underlying issue. Regardless of whether your eating patterns are diagnosable as an eating disorder or not, an unhealthy relationship with food is never good. If you find yourself restricting your intake, constantly thinking about food, and feel like the number on the scale or the calorie count on the package controls your life, it’s time to make a change. An unhealthy relationship with food, even without the “official” label of an eating disorder, should be addressed and healed (ideally with the support of a professional). If interested, you can use the National Eating Disorder Associations screening tool by clicking here.
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