Author: frivvy89
Young blonde woman meditating in the parkgetty As a college student in Michigan, Anna Zaleski became so sick with anorexia that her local providers could no longer treat her; she needed round-the-clock care. She flew to Colorado to check into a residential eating disorder treatment program and begin a long process of recovery. Despite advocacy from the facility and her parents’ tireless efforts, her insurance only approved three out of nine weeks of her stay. Her parents—a high school teacher and a CPA—paid the rest, nearly $40,000 out-of-pocket, along with tens of thousands of dollars for years of subsequent outpatient…
Poems can be an excellent way to reflect on eating disorder recovery. They can help us tap into our feelings and thoughts about bodies, food, our identity, and our place in the world. Most of all, they can help us consider what healing and recovery means for us as individuals, since one size does not fit all!Reading poetry can be therapeutic. While poems are often brief, each word of a poem is chosen with care and artistry. Each word serves a purpose. In this way, poems can help us connect with our emotions in a way that is deeply personal…
Originally developed in the late 1970s and dubbed the Maudsley Method, FBT has demonstrated full remission rates of over 40% in adolescents with anorexia. The premise is simple, but execution can be challenging if not impossible without proper support: It involves the participation of a patient’s family in every aspect of recovery. That means parents, guardians, siblings, and/or any close contacts in the patient’s life are tasked with helping their loved one recover through planning, serving, and supervising meals. It means these caregivers have to constantly be on the lookout for potential setbacks, like after-meal bathroom trips that could indicate…
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a uniquely vulnerable time for many people struggling with eating difficulties. Add to that the regular seasonal toxic messaging—the post-holiday diet talk, or the pressure to “get in shape” for spring and summer—and you have a perfect storm for disordered thoughts and eating behaviors.Facing a gamut of triggers and unable to rely on their usual support mechanisms, many individuals may find themselves grappling with a sense of feeling out of control around food. For some, this might surface as a compulsion to overeat or eat emotionally; for others, it can be an urge to binge…
COVID-19 pandemic presents unique challenges to individuals with eating disorders Approximately 24 million people in the United States suffer from an eating disorder, according to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders. Moreover, eating disorders are among the deadliest mental illnesses, second only to opioid addiction, resulting in approximately 10,200 deaths each year. Published April 2019 in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (AJCN), “Prevalence of Eating Disorders over the 2000–2018 Period: A Systematic Literature Review” has reported a rise in eating disorders worldwide. According to Marie Galmiche et al., the prevalence of eating disorders “increased over the study period from 3.5% for the 2000–2006 period…
What is eating disorder recovery, and how do you know what it looks like? It’s a harder question than it may seem to be. Because the fact is that just as every eating disorder is unique, every recovery is unique, too.Defining recovery can be a tricky business, especially since one person’s recovery can look very different from another person’s. In the medical model, insurance providers often define recovery based on weight or an ability to control behavioral urges. Let’s look a little deeper … ⭐ Get ready for recovery and find out how you can prepare yourself for maximum success. ⭐…
Causes of emotional eating Emotional eating can be driven by our survival instincts. “Our bodies don’t recognise the difference between the stress of a lion chasing us and the stress of deadlines at work”, says medical doctor Aishah Muhammad. Dietitian Sophie Medlin explains, “when you’re stressed, you crave food that is easy to digest and releases energy quickly to help you fight or run away – sugar and carbohydrates”.Almost two-thirds of Brits in the BNF survey say boredom is the main cause of their unhealthy lockdown eating. Research links boredom with eating for escapism, but there’s good news: it also…
New analysis published in The Lancet Psychiatry has shown a lack of strong evidence to support current guidance on psychological therapies for treating anorexia nervosa over expert treatment as usual. The findings highlight a need for further research and support a call for individual trial data to be made available so the benefits of treatments in specific patient populations can be better understood. Conducted by an international team of clinical experts and researchers, the analysis included 13 randomised controlled trials and a total of 1049 patients. The studies compared psychological therapies to treatment as usual in adults receiving outpatient treatment…
Stress eating can ruin your weight loss goals – the key is to find ways to relieve stress without overeating There is much truth behind the phrase “stress eating.” Stress, the hormones it unleashes, and the effects of high-fat, sugary “comfort foods” push people toward overeating. Researchers have linked weight gain to stress, and according to an American Psychological Association survey, about one-fourth of Americans rate their stress level as 8 or more on a 10-point scale. In the short term, stress can shut down appetite. The nervous system sends messages to the adrenal glands atop the kidneys to pump out…
Facts And Real Confessions About Living With an Eating DisorderI asked hundreds of people who are in recovery or recovered from their eating disorders which facts about eating disorders they want to share with the world. Their answers might surprise you!Here they are … in their own words:1. My eating disorder is there for a reason, and it’s not what you think it is“I feel like everyone thinks the reason I had an eating disorder is that I’m just silly or ridiculous. But it really wasn’t about that. My eating disorder was really about how I felt about myself. It…