Standing at the Door of Recovery
I recently signed up for a four-hour song-writing workshop. I would not consider myself to be a musical person. Growing up, I did choir in elementary school and played guitar for a few years in the middle school days. The last time I wrote a song was when I was in...
My Body is Perfect
What is the purpose of your body? Do you have a body simply to dress up and look good? Do you have a body to run that extra mile and burn extra calories? Do you have a body so you can be tan and adorn your wrists with jewelry? I’ve recently been reading More Than A...
Intuitive Eating 101: Make Peace with Food
“Call a truce, stop the food fight! Give yourself unconditional permission to eat. If you tell yourself that you can’t or shouldn’t have a particular food, it can lead to intense feelings of deprivation that build into uncontrollable craving and often, bingeing. When...
The Power of Curiosity
My four-year-old son is one of the most inquisitive human beings I have ever met. As his mom, I often find myself exhausted by his never-ending stream of questions. I keep a running list of some of his most intriguing (and hilarious) questions because I’m constantly...
The Week of Chocolate Cake
One Sunday afternoon a few weeks ago, I was planning and preparing a scrumptious meal for some friends who would be coming over to share a Sunday dinner with us. I put a lot of thought, time, and effort into making my meal absolutely delicious! I cooked my specialty...
Sick Enough
I could retire from my career if I had a dollar for every time a client said some rendition of, “I’m not sick enough to recover.” Variations on this include, “I’m weight stable so I’m fine.” “My labs came back normal, so I’m not that sick.” “My EKG has a slight...
Starting Where You Are
So much of eating disorder recovery is about replacing behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, etc. that are destructive with those that are more realistic, helpful, and truth-centered. This is a difficult and arduous process as you learn new ways of thinking and...
The Generosity of Bodies
Last summer, I spent the first week of July with a bandage on my thumb. I accidentally sliced my left thumb twice in one week--once while cutting a watermelon, and once while slicing a bagel. (As you may have gathered, this blog is probably not the place to look for...
Intuitive Eating Basics: Honor Your Hunger
Have you seen the meme floating around social media that states something along the lines of, “Forgive me for what I said when I was hungry”? Extreme hunger can set the scene for impulsive behaviors. Whether it’s wreaking havoc on your personal lives or setting the...
Looking Back with Self-Compassion
I am currently in a history of psychology class (sounds riveting doesn’t it?) where we have been learning about how we tend to look back on the past with a presentist point of view. Meaning, we use our present-day lens with our present-day values and ideals to judge...
Mirror, Mirror
We live in a world of mirrors. We live in a world of selfies. We live in a world of social media. We live in a world that encourages us to evaluate and monitor how our bodies show up in the world. Monitoring, evaluating, critiquing, and controlling our bodies is just...
Moving Toward Belonging
I recently made a move to a new home. Although it is only 35 minutes away from where I previously lived, it has felt like a whole new world. I have only lived in two cities in my entire life. Moving away from where I’ve made a life for nearly the past decade was...