Beyond Diet and Exercise: Redefining Health and Reducing Risk

Dieting is among the most significant risk factors for eating disorder development, particularly during adolescence, but across all life stages, while excessive exercise often emerges as a maintaining behavior within the disorder. Yet “diet and exercise” are synonymous with health across almost the entire spectrum of medicine, wellness, and cultural discourse. When the very behaviors […]

Supporting Someone with an Eating Disorder: A Guide

Eating disorders are complex mental illnesses that require professional treatment, but the support of family and friends plays a crucial role in recovery. The challenge is that many well-intentioned attempts to help can inadvertently cause harm or push someone further away. Whether you're a parent, partner, friend, or play another part in someone’s life, understanding […]

Understanding Hunger Cues: How to Notice, Trust, & Respond

Many of us have become disconnected from our body's hunger signals. Years of dieting, ignoring our needs to meet a busy schedule, or simply eating on autopilot have disrupted the natural communication between our body and mind. This disconnection can stem from intentional restriction, but it can also happen gradually through distraction and inattention. Understanding […]

5 Ways to Improve Your Relationship with Food

For many people, eating has become stressful. Diet culture teaches us to count every calorie and follow rigid rules about what, when, and how much we should eat. Over time, this creates fear and anxiety around food rather than the natural, nourishing relationship our bodies are designed to have with eating. Improving your relationship with […]

When Exercise Becomes Obsessive

Exercise is often praised without question. It’s positioned as a universal good and a sign of dedication, but movement can take on a far more complicated role when it becomes rigid or excessive. Obsessive exercise isn’t always obvious, but it often follows an unyielding pattern that’s difficult to interrupt. What looks like commitment from the […]

Who Are the Food Police? Understanding Internal and External Food Policing in Eating Disorder Recovery

The phrase “food police” is often used in recovery spaces to describe judgmental, rule-driven thinking about eating. It can mean the internal voice that moralizes food choices and punishes deviation from a plan, or it can point to family, friends, or cultural forces that try to dictate what someone should or shouldn’t eat. The term […]

Blog