Helpful ways parents can improve girls’ body image
“My body image has been terrible my whole life, and now I see the same thing happening with my girls,” says Liz. “I want to improve my daughters’ body image, but it feels impossible sometimes.” Liz isn’t alone. Negative body image is a major issue, particularly for girls. One survey…
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Real world stories of hormones and eating disorders
Elizabeth, Mireia, Lisette, Chelsey, and many others believe there is a link between their hormones and eating disorders. With the chemical changes throughout the menstrual cycle and the weight gain that often accompanies puberty and other hormone-related conditions, there’s a lot to unpack when it comes to body image, disordered…
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How to supercharge eating disorder recovery with embodiment
Embodiment is the sensation of being in your own body and trusting the body’s signals, desires, and demands, and it’s very helpful in eating disorder recovery. An embodied person has a respectful, trusting, and kind relationship with their body. For centuries, Western culture has promoted the separation of mind and…
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A remarkable book about a boy, body image, and disordered eating
Following is an interview with Jarrett Lerner, author of A Work in Progress. This book poignantly illustrates the painful childhood experiences of a boy with negative body image and disordered eating. It shares what it feels like to be singled out and body shamed in elementary school, and how…
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ARFID: expert advice to help parents support recovery
Avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) is an eating disorder that features highly selective eating patterns. The major risk for kids with ARFID is not getting enough nutrients and becoming weight suppressed, which can interfere with growth and overall health. Getting expert advice when a child has ARFID can help parents…
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A helpful strengths-based approach to eating disorder recovery
Gloria has been in recovery from an eating disorder for years, but she feels hopeless. “It’s just that I have all these personality traits that doom me to a life with this problem,” she says. “I don’t see how I can possibly escape from my eating disorder because I’m such…
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True (and painful) stories of complex trauma and eating disorders
Complex trauma is trauma that happens over a long period of time, often beginning in early childhood, and it’s strongly associated with eating disorders. Traumatic experiences range from physical and verbal abuse to less-obvious but still deeply damaging behavior like criticism, emotional neglect, weight teasing, food insecurity, and food shaming. …
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More than food: hidden secrets of the Mediterranean Diet and eating disorders
Many studies have found tremendous benefits in the Mediterranean Diet, but it may surprise you to know that it’s about so much more than food, and its social aspects can help with eating disorders. The word diet literally means the food we eat. But none of us eat food without…
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Parent’s guide to neurodivergence and eating disorders
There are many different pathways to eating disorders that we’re still learning about, especially when it comes to neurodivergence. In these cases the symptoms may not fit what we consider to be a “typical” eating disorder. They may not begin by dieting to lose weight or include body image issues.…
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Insider stories about EMDR for eating disorders
Gita has tried everything to help her daughter recover from an eating disorder. “I feel like there are so many options, and so little evidence of anything that is the magic bullet for eating disorders,” she says. But a few weeks ago her daughter’s therapist recommended trying EMDR, so Gita…
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How to use punishment, rewards, and boundaries for an eating disorder
Bridget and Tom are struggling to figure out how to support their child Lex without enabling her. “We’ve tried punishment, rewards, and boundaries,” says Bridget. “But nothing seems to be working. The eating disorder isn’t budging. In fact it’s getting worse, and we’re getting so burned out. What can we…
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How to help your child with ADHD gain weight
Dan reached out to me for some help with his son Braden, who has ADHD and needs to gain weight. “I’m not sure when it started, but suddenly Braden lost weight and his doctor tells us that we have to do something about it right away,” says Dan. “We’re really…
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How to help with emotional dysregulation and an eating disorder
Whether your child is refusing to eat, binge eating, purging, or using other eating disorder behaviors, emotional dysregulation may be at the heart of it. And the good news is that emotional regulation skills can be built. These skills are key to reducing stress and anxiety at the table and…
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Parental attachment and eating disorder recovery
Parental attachment impacts eating disorder recovery, and luckily there is a lot you can do to improve it. I’ll outline the steps to improve your parent-child attachment, but first let’s review attachment theory. Attachment theory is a well-established and deeply-researched psychological concept. All children develop an attachment style with their…
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Habits of a happy family with an eating disorder
Cara was feeling anything but happy when she called me. “It just feels like no matter what we do, everything is hard and dark,” she said. “I feel like this eating disorder has sucked the joy out of my family, and I want it back!” I get it. An eating…
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My child is too young to have an eating disorder
Colleen called me in tears because her daughter Raleigh is eight years old and Colleen says “She’s too young to have an eating disorder! I can’t believe it.” I totally understand. It’s hard to believe that young kids can have an eating disorder, but in fact disordered eating can start…
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Depression and your child’s eating disorder
Your child’s eating disorder and depression are likely linked. Depression is both a risk factor and maintaining factor of an eating disorder. This is important, because both eating disorders and depression are common and increasing among all populations, particularly children and teens. As with anxiety, your child’s treatment for depression…
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Anxiety and your child’s eating disorder
Anxiety disorders, which very often show up with an eating disorder, are both the most common and the most treatable mental disorders. And parents who have been trained in how to respond to kids’ anxiety are the most powerful treatment providers. The biggest barrier to recovering from an anxiety disorder…
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Almond moms and eating disorders
The recent TikTok trend of calling out mothers for being “almond moms” brings up the obvious question: are almond moms related to eating disorders? The answer is nuanced. The almond mom trend blew up on TikTok in late 2022. It’s primarily driven by teens and young women posting videos that…
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Am I enabling my child’s eating disorder?
We are often afraid to talk about how parents may enable an eating disorder. One reason is because we unconsciously believe that if a parent is “enabling,” they are therefore at fault or responsible for the eating disorder. So I need to start by clearly stating that parents are not…
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