Find Balance With Food and Exercise

Does your relationship with food, exercise, or your body feel out of control? Does it seem as if thoughts about food or your appearance consume you? Do you find yourself sacrificing your time, your relationships, your health, or your sanity to try and ‘fix’ your body?

If any of these sound like you, then you may have an eating disorder. 

What Are The Signs of An Eating Disorder?

While it’s unfortunately somewhat normal in our society to feel preoccupied from time to time with your appearance, eating disorders go beyond mere dieting. They are serious health conditions that can wreck lives.

Symptoms can include:

• Obsessions with food and weight: Fixation on weights, sizes, workouts, or dietary standards are common.
• Unhealthy eating habits: This can include restricting the amount or types of food, eating past the point of fullness to soothe emotional pains, or trying to ‘make up for’ what you’ve eaten by fasting, exercising, or making yourself vomit.
• Body image issues: Usually people with eating disorders experience great distress about all or part of their appearance.
• Emotional distress: Eating disorders can feel like a rollercoaster of fear, anger, panic, and dread.
• Social isolation: Adhering to rigid food, exercise or appearance standards can take up a lot of time. People with eating disorders often end up feeling lonely and disconnected.
• Physical health problems: Eating disorders can lead to malnutrition, electrolyte imbalances, gastrointestinal problems, weak bones, and cardiac issues.

Left untreated and unchecked, eating disorders can be incredibly dangerous. They can have serious emotional, physical, and relational consequences, and while the road to recovery can be difficult, healing is possible. Eating disorders are very treatable.

My Treatment Approach

The process starts with an initial clinical assessment. During this first meeting, we talk through your history, your concerns, your goals, and your strengths. We confirm your diagnosis and work together to make a treatment plan, which would include determining the best research-backed therapy for you and your situation.

I use several research-backed therapies when helping clients deal with disordered eating and image-related distress:

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): Identify and change negative thought and behavior patterns regarding food, exercise and appearance.
• Exposure Response Prevention Therapy (ERP): Gradual exposure to feared foods or upsetting situations can help you gain more flexibility and freedom over time.
• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): With mindfulness and acceptance, learn to pursue what matters most to you while learning to gradually de-prioritize weight, food, and appearance.
• Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT): Teaches mindful self-awareness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal skills. DBT’s focus on relationships and on emotion regulation can be particularly helpful for those recovering from an eating disorder.
• I also take a team-based approach when treating someone with an eating disorder, working closely with their dietitian, physician, and psychiatrist in order to ensure that the treatment plan is wholistic and comprehensive.

What Will I Talk About In An Eating Disorder Therapy Session?

In a typical session, we may focus on:

• Identifying the underlying causes: Eating disorders can be caused by a combination of things, including genetics, stressful or pro-dieting environments, and unresolved traumas. Exploring the root causes of your eating disorder is important because it helps us determine the right treatment approach.
• Developing healthy eating habits: Establishing a balanced and sustainable approach to eating is key.
• Challenging negative body image: Improving your self-esteem and body image means that you won’t need the disordered behaviors as much in the long run.
• Improve relationships: Strengthening your connections with loved ones can help reduce the isolation of an eating disorder.

Get The Help You Deserve

If you’re struggling with an eating disorder or body image distress, it’s important to know that there is help out there. You don’t have to go through this alone. Professional counseling can help.

Ready For Next Steps?

Contact me today to get started. We can schedule a free, confidential consultation to go over any questions or concerns you have about counseling.