Holidays can be both a time of joy and a time of stress. My clients often begin to worry about the holidays for the food that they will be faced with. Here I will share what has helped me and my clients over the years to have successful Thanksgivings.

Body Mass Index or BMI can be just one more lens through which we judge our bodies.  With eating disorders one often feels that they must be at the very low end, or better yet, below the healthy range. But what really is a healthy range?

In many ways I have had at least two lives within this one lifetime. Pre-recovery and recovery. New York and California, where I moved exactly one year after 9-11. For a number of years I lost myself. I veered down an entirely different road, on which I was not myself. I was an alcoholic and I was struggling with an eating disorder.

My clients sometimes ask me tentatively what I eat in a day. I’ve found it useful at times to share this, not because I’m in any way superior in my eating, but because it can be reassuring and freeing. I don’t eat “perfectly.” I eat everything I like and follow my body’s cues to the best of my ability. How I eat is not how you need to eat. This is simply what works for me and I’ll tell you why.

Eating disorders affect at least 30 million Americans while other food and body image issues affect millions more. Today, I’m sharing 8 common myths about this often-misunderstood disease.