binge eat·ing (noun) = the consumption of large quantities of food in a short period of time, typically as part of an eating disorder. I have openly shared my experience with binge eating and extreme hunger before, because I always get asked how I stopped binge eating. In this article, I want to give you my Top 3 Tips on how I ended the cycle of binge eating and found freedom and peace with food, so you can understand: …why your body drives you to eat large quantities of food …th[...]
For me, stress is the number one reason I feel overwhelmed, foggy and in a state of “funk”. Not only does it hold me back from being creative, it also causes a lot of anxiety and panic on bad days. If you have ever struggled with anxiety before, you know that stress can trigger anxiety episodes big time. I can see my anxiety from miles away: My mind starts spinning and I feel as if I am unable to stop thinking the same thoughts over an over and over again. It can be crippling. Over[...]
Have you ever woken up and immediately felt icky in your skin? You felt just fine the day before, but today you feel bloated, puffy and generally “off”. Looking in the mirror becomes a pain and you just want to put your pajamas back on and crawl under the covers. Been there? I sure have. I used to have these kinds of days all the time. The funny part is that I had them even more so when I was about 40 pounds lighter than I am now. Coincidence? I don’t think so. 2 years ago,[...]
Sometimes I wonder… what came first for me? Was it my anxiety or my eating disorder? I dove deep into researching the connection between mental health and disordered eating behaviors and it brought me a lot of clarity. I want to pass my knowledge on to you, so you can understand: How my anxiety caused me to self-sabotage with food as a coping mechanism Why certain coping mechanisms can help us survive How to cope with mental health concerns in recovery[...]
Binge eating (or extreme hunger in response to food deprivation) is one of the most isolating behaviors, because of the shame and guilt we experience afterwards. The most memorable experience for me was a Wednesday-evening in October 2016. It was about a month after my wedding – for which I had dieted harder than ever - and my husband was supposed to be gone for work. However, he came home early to surprise me and walked in on me sitting on the kitchen floor, surrounded by candy wrappe[...]
Out of sheer curiosity, I googled the title of my article before publishing it. All that came up was "how to stop counting calories and still lose weight". The intention of weight loss is the whole problem our society is so obsessed with calories and macronutrients. It is weight loss or an innocent "healthy eating journey" that usually gets us into this mess. The recipe for a food and body obsession The recipe for this obsession is this. Take a society that is obsessed with small bodies, t[...]
Is it allowed to set health goals while trying to recover from an eating disorder, disordered eating and/or chronic dieting? How do you know if your goal setting is coming from a place of self-care and self-acceptance? How do you know it isn’t the old eating disorder voice, telling you to shrink yourself in the name of health? It truly is a fine line to balance out health and well-being and to separate goal setting from rigid rules, developing compulsive behaviours or damaging our ment[...]
We all have that inner voice that tells us we aren’t good enough. Some people call it the inner bully, some people call it the “ED voice”, some people give that voice a name. I like to call this voice the inner mean girl. She likes to chit chat our ear off and tell us why we shouldn’t ask for a promotion at work, why we shouldn’t go on a second date with the hot guy from the other night or why we shouldn’t eat dessert. Calming the inner mean girl and starting to get along wit[...]
[Disclaimer: This article is for informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice, mental health care or eating disorder treatment.] You finally made the choice to pursue recovery from your eating disorder or disordered eating behaviors. Maybe you hit rock bottom or something happened that you took as a sign to finally embark on this journey. You have fought your demons and the old voices that tell you to keep shrinking your body. You have had enough[...]
[Disclaimer: The content of this article is for informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice, health care or eating disorder treatment.] Recovering from an eating disorder or disordered eating is one of the hardest challenges I ever put myself through. The daily struggle, especially at the beginning, the shame about giving up a piece of your identity... There is so many challenges that come with recovery, but I absolutely believe that a full reco[...]