We often think of dieting as a good thing—eat less, be healthier, right? In reality, cutting calories lower than what we need leads to malnutrition. It's unfortunate that in our society, a mildly to moderately malnourished body is equated with health and attractiveness. Even worse, it's often seen as a sign of personal strength and power. Let's demystify the topic of energy requirements. Many of you have heard of these acronyms: BMR, RMR, BEE, REE, AF, TEF, etc. But what do these terms actually mean?

We want to share how telling your patients that they are overweight causes harm. Internalized weight bias and fear of higher weights can lead to harmful conclusions. This approach often results in patients developing serious eating disorders. Here are some alternative suggestions to having weight-centric discussions.

In Part Two of this series, we discuss how to strengthen our inner protective and nurturing mechanisms so that we can respond appropriately to diet culture messaging AND honor our health on our terms.

In Part One of this series, we discuss the nuance of “healthy” in the eating disorder recovery community, and ponder if diet culture rebellion may lead some astray in their own recovery and interoception.

Watch Dietetic Intern Brian breaks down the relationship between ADHD and dietary habits— the two are more interconnected than you may think!

We have all heard of “health kicks gone awry” where eating becomes more restrictive and exercise more compulsive. But we don’t hear as much about the day-to-day struggle to eat for people with significant mental health challenges. In this blog, Tanner takes a closer look at “Eating Disorders, Unspecified”.

Tonight, my sweet, adorable, beloved child called me fat. Yep. When I asked him why he said that now, while I was sitting in the hot tub in my bathing suit, he replied: “because your body looks fat everywhere”. Very matter-of-factly. No judgment. Just five-year-old observation. Luckily, my first impulse was to use this as a teaching moment.

As a dietitian I am frequently asked how to lose weight and which foods are “fattening”. I am far less often asked how to eat in order to meet nutritional needs. In this blog we explore how to actually do this.

We must be aware of the parts our psyche that may or may not serve us positively but developed as ways to cope. These can be thought of as sub-personalities. For simplicity’s sake, here we will only focus on ED’s usual suspects, the binger, restrictor, and critic. Though not “sub-personalities” we also have to consider the body and the Real Self.

I stopped by KCBX to chat once again with our friend Elizabeth Barrett, the Reluctant Therapist. In this interview, we uncover the complexities around “Atypical” Anorexia, and embrace unconditional self-care.

Even those who do not struggle with eating issues can get entangled in guilt-ridden overeating, a loss of control, and body shame during the Holiday season. In this blog, I discuss digging deeper into what we are really looking for in the food and how to create a new pattern of behavior this holiday season.

Thanksgiving is over, and the next holiday wave is about to hit. “How do I break my exercise rules?” “How do I stop using exercise to compensate for food I have eaten or use exercise as permission to eat?”  Intuitive exercise is the answer to compulsive exercise and exercise resistance.

In honor of National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, I address how parents can recognize the early signs of a possible developing eating disorder. Included are tips on how to help your kids if they stop eating normally but insist that they are “fine” 

It has been seven years since the 5th edition of the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM) was published. Yet, the diagnosis of ARFID remains widely unknown, and often remains undiagnosed.

Maybe you have done therapy for years. Maybe you have been to treatment, perhaps even more than once. And yet, you continue to struggle with Anorexia Nervosa. The missing piece is likely adequate nutrition. We know that food quite literally becomes your medicine in recovery from an eating disorder. Learn more about what foods to add to recover from a restrictive eating disorder in this blog.

From the mouths of recovered clients: “Asking "why recover?" is kind of like asking "why would you want someone to stop beating you with a baseball bat?"  The suffering involved, and the desire to end it, should be pretty self-explanatory.  And yet, the delusion of desirability can be profound.”  

With meal plan in hand, the question remains how in the world you are going to follow this, day after day? It can often feel like you are going against every grain in your body in doing so. Here I share some of the many reminders I have given my clients over the years. Perhaps one will resonate with you and give you that added push to eat adequately today.

My recovery didn’t come quickly. In fact, finding help—especially for my eating disorder once I wanted help—proved to be difficult. This is a tale from my recovery journey.

I used to binge. And then I ate compulsively. I hid food. I hoarded it. I threw food out the window of my car. It felt like the compulsion to “keep eating” would never be lifted.  Boy, was I wrong. Here’s what I’ve learned over the years.

I knew almost immediately after posting my Most Popular Diets of 2019 blog that I had missed perhaps the most talked-about diet besides Keto. Intermittent Fasting. Of course, it will lead to weight loss at first.