Tag Archives: Eating Disorders

Health at Every Size is Possible

In this newsletter edition, I will attempt to challenge your view of fat as being equal to unhealthy. It wasn’t until recently that I realized that all the information I had been fed about weight research was only one side of the coin. I didn’t even recognize that the coin fell on the side of […]

Will your New Year’s Resolution help you lose weight?

Happy New Year! Ah, the time of year for a New Year’s resolution. This year, I really will lose weight and get fit! I promise, I swear! This year is the year – for real this time. How many times have I said that be The new year seems to give us a sense of […]

Size is Not the Enemy

A colleague, Tina Gilbertson, and I were talking about the support groups we have been attempting to start. My group is a process group for those struggling with food and body image and Tina is working on a group called “Women of Size,” intended to help women feel good in their bodies, no matter what […]

Tips for eating Thanksgiving Dinner, not your feelings

For this month’s newsletter, I am borrowing from my last year’s newsletter, “Thanksgiving, i.e. National Overeater’s Day”. It seems appropriate to talk once again about this day of thanks and the day that overeating is the accepted principle. Before I started to deal with my own food issues, I treated Thanksgiving Day as an excuse […]

The Eater’s Agreement

As men and women with food and body image challenges, we may learn to deny several parts of ourselves, including the part that eats. I think this is what diets teach us to do. Therefore, in order to heal your relationship to food and your body, you may need to reclaim your eater. The below […]

Resistance is not just a form of Exercise

Do you enjoy exercising? Do you have a physical activity that you just love and can’t wait to do? Or, do you wish you wanted to exercise – after all it will help you lose weight – but you can’t seem to get yourself to do it? Or, perhaps you yo-yo exercise – you exercise […]

What If It’s Not About Food

I often ask those who I work with: “If it’s not about food, what is it about?” Unless you are eating to fuel your body when you are hungry, you may be using food as a way to cope with your emotions. In other words, it isn’t about food, it is about something else. If […]

Reduce the chance of eating disorders in children

I’m sure many of you could tell me at least one story about your mother, father or siblings doing or saying something that contributed to your poor relationship with food and your body. My mother used to buy food that only she could eat. For example, she bought green, seedless grapes for herself only. My […]

Normal Eating, What is that?

Normal eating is being able to eat when you are hungry and continue eating until you are satisfied. It is being able to choose food you like and eat it and truly get enough of it… not just stopping eating because you think you should. Normal eating is being able to use some moderate constraint […]

Rules of the Dinner Table

I remember when sugar was the worst food you could eat. Then, fat was making all the “bad food” headlines. Now, it seems carbohydrates are the culprit for all the weight gain in the world. Thinking of food as good and bad makes feeling positive about eating difficult; so do other food rules on how […]

Lose Weight: Problem Solved?

There is a promise in our society that if you lose weight, you will be happy. A client said to me once, “I’m thin, but I’m not happy” and I think she is right. Happiness doesn’t come from how you look on the outside, it comes from how you feel on the inside. I know […]

Put Your Hunger on the Scale

Lately, I find myself saying to people, “Your weight isn’t about what you eat, it is about how much you eat.” It is easy to find people talking about not eating certain “bad” foods to help them lose weight but rarely do people talk about how much to eat. What I find in my work […]

If You are Going to Eat It, Enjoy It

If you are a compulsive overeater, you may tend to shovel food down without even tasting it. Have you ever eaten an entire meal and still felt hungry afterwards? This is because you didn’t eat what you really wanted or didn’t take the time to taste what you ate. How often do you read, watch […]

Food is Not the Enemy, Shame is the Enemy

I am big on emotions. Sadness, Joy, Anger, Fear, Hurt, Happiness, and Shame are all important to recognize and express. An important part of my job is to help people learn to feel. For those who work with me, they know I talk about feelings a lot. Shame (aka guilt, bad) is the emotion I […]

Understanding Your Family

As the holidays approach, you may feel excited and/or anxious about seeing your family. Or, perhaps you avoid your family and feel relief at not spending time with them. Family holds a certain space in our lives. Whether you talk to your family members every day or not at all, family has a way of […]

Culture Plays a Role

Ever notice how many television ads you see tell you 1) how to lose weight and be happy on this diet or that diet, 2) why you should eat this food because it is healthy and will help you lose weight or lower your cholesterol, 3) that “bad” foods seductively portrayed as delicious, smooth, velvety, […]

Why Diets Don’t Work

I love peanut butter. As a kid, I used to eat it out of the jar, spoon first. Although I grew out of the spoon phase, I still love it with bread and honey, with chocolate and in nearly any candy bar. What I never did know about my love for peanut butter, is that […]