Eating Disorders

What Every Teen Should Know About Body Image and Eating Disorders

Author By Tamara Stevens, Contributor
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Friends jumping in the air

Few times in life feel more awkward in our own bodies than during our teen years. With all the changes your body goes through from middle school through college, it’s no surprise you might have doubts about your appearance or feel weird in your own skin.

Unfortunately, research suggests that feeling not so great about the way you look or a negative body image can have a big impact on our mental health — it can even lead to eating disorders. It’s hard for all of us to figure out what’s normal and what’s not, but especially during these years when we’re changing so rapidly. Maybe even more importantly, what can you do about poor body image? Continue reading What Every Teen Should Know About Body Image and Eating Disorders

How Therapy Helps With Eating Disorders

Author By Bethany Biron, Contributor
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Spoon in a grapefruit

In middle school, one of my best friends stopped eating. Though she was a notoriously picky eater, suddenly her penchant for munching on trail mix for every meal became less quirky and more concerning as the ziplock baggies of nuts grew smaller and smaller.

Exacerbating the issue, she competed in an image-based performance sport, in which size and appearance were paramount. One day, we were sitting in my living watching the movie Center Stage for the millionth time, when we reached a scene in which an aspiring ballerina battling bulimia throws up a meal in a bathroom stall. I tensed up, wanting to pause the movie and say something, anything, but I didn’t know how. Continue reading How Therapy Helps With Eating Disorders

Understanding Eating Disorders: From Control to Dysfunction

Author By Tamara Stevens, Contributor
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A woman with her head on her knees covered in a black sheet

February 25th starts National Eating Disorders Awareness Week. According to the National Eating Disorders Association, 30 million Americans suffer from issues with disordered eating (ED).

If you’re familiar with EDs, you know they can result in chaotic outcomes for the individual: drastic weight loss, binge eating, or obsessive exercising are just a few possibilities. What you might not know is this chaos often has a very different starting place — control. Continue reading Understanding Eating Disorders: From Control to Dysfunction

Orthorexia: When Healthy Eating Gets Unhealthy

Author By Tamara Stevens, Contributor
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Plain bowl of lettuce

Often, it feels like every time we turn around, there’s a new diet fad, exercise craze, or best-selling book proclaiming itself to be the key to health.

Unfortunately, as Western society increasingly prioritizes clean eating, physical exercise, and other forms of “healthy living,” clinicians have seen another trend: orthorexia.

A relatively new term, orthorexia is still taking shape as a concept, and is not yet mentioned in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The original definition by doctor Steven Bratman and writer David Knight described orthorexia as an obsession with proper nutrition, dietary restrictions, and specific food preparation methods.

Continue reading Orthorexia: When Healthy Eating Gets Unhealthy

What Body Dysmorphia Actually Feels Like

Author By Charlotte Lieberman, Contributor
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female doll in glass jar

Before high school, I rarely felt insecure about my appearance. Other than the typical adolescent female itch to look more like a Barbie doll (smoother skin, whiter teeth, blonder hair, a smaller nose), I was, surprisingly, at peace with my body. I was much taller than most of my classmates (5’9” since age 11), but my parents and their friends reassured me that soon, I would be thankful for my height, and that my friends might even be jealous.

Expectedly, I soon became a lanky 13-year-old with an insatiable appetite for pizza, and had no qualms about eating half a pepperoni pie every day after school as a snack. My friends complained about their “flabby” stomachs while they did crunches together on playdates. I hate exercise, I told them. Continue reading What Body Dysmorphia Actually Feels Like

My Holiday Anxiety Around Eating and Body Issues

Author By Renee Fabian, Contributor
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thanksgiving feast family passing plates

The spread is incredible — juicy dark meat turkey, homemade stuffing, mashed potatoes, those brussel sprouts my brother prepares that make them actually taste delicious, candied sweet potatoes — and we haven’t even gotten to dessert, my favorite part of every meal, especially when seasonal pies are involved.

My eyes feast on the meal, but inside my anxiety starts to edge its way into my mind. How much can I put on my plate this Thanksgiving and still feel like I won’t be judged for how much or what I am eating? Can I afford to eat two slices of pie, or do I need to stick with just one to keep up appearances? Am I making enough of a show of restraint in comparison to my BMI for the extended family members at the table so I won’t feel judged? Continue reading My Holiday Anxiety Around Eating and Body Issues

5 Ways To Improve Your Body Image, Confidence, and Mental Health

Author By Ashley Laderer, Contributor
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woman in red sweater looking at small square mirror

Imagine what life would be like if we stood in front of the mirror and focused on what we love about ourselves instead of what we wish we could change?

It seems instead that a majority of us veer toward thinking negatively, giving attention to our so-called flaws. We are bombarded with images of beautiful celebrities and models on television, in magazines, and on billboards. Even our own cell phones — Instagram, I’m looking at you — can be culprits, inundating us with photographs of people who have likely slapped on a filter and Facetuned themselves to “perfection.” What’s the result? A never ending supply of edited images and a load of viewers feeling inadequate and uncomfortable in their own skin.

All of this leads to unrealistic expectations of what we should look like, dress like, and act like. As technology advances and we’re more connected than ever, it seems that self esteem — especially of millennials — declines. Recent studies show a definite link between social media usage and low self esteem. It’s way too easy to fall down a rabbit hole on Facebook or Instagram. You can be on your feed and next thing you know you’re on your ex-boyfriend’s sister’s best friend’s page wishing you had abs as great as hers. Continue reading 5 Ways To Improve Your Body Image, Confidence, and Mental Health

Hunger: My Battle With Anorexia

Author By Penelope Garrett, Contributor
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empty plate with note I'M NOT HUNGRY

This piece is part of our Darkest Day series, a collection of stories from people who’ve made it through the worst of their illness and now light the way for others.

It’s 7am and I’ve already burned 1,000 calories on the elliptical. I’m packing up my food for the day. Breakfast is 113 calories for 3 egg whites and 1 cup of grapes. Lunch will be 131 calories for turkey, mustard, lettuce, and baby carrots. I’ve also packed 1 pack of Parliament Lights, 4 Diet Cokes, 1 gallon of water, and 1 brand new pack of bubblemint gum. I’ll have dance class in the afternoon, which takes care of another 300 or so calories. Dinner is always a wild card –– it depends on who’s around and how carefully I’m being watched. I have food saved in my room for later just in case. I am 16 years old and 70 pounds; I am a human calorie counter and numbers genius who, ironically, is also struggling in Pre-Calculus.

Looking back, it’s hard to pinpoint a clear start for all of this. Unlike an alcoholic who can often describe their first drink, there was no concrete “first.” My eating disorder was a physical manifestation of a longtime underlying condition. It was some combination of perfectionism, extreme sensitivity, fear, and ironically enough a hunger –– a hunger for love, acceptance, validation. A hunger for everything. That hunger felt unmanageable so instead of learning how to experience it, I taught myself how to stop it, to cut it off, to starve it out. If you don’t want anything, you can never get hurt, right? Continue reading Hunger: My Battle With Anorexia

How Therapy Subtly Reveals Whether You Have an Eating Disorder

Author By Renee Avis, Therapist
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woman client on couch with therapist

As a therapist who specializes in eating disorders and body image issues, I have worked with clients who begin therapy and — as they make progress — show signs of having an eating disorder. This doesn’t happen in an obvious way, though. To make the diagnosis, I analyze what they’re saying and look for subtle signs.

To illustrate this point, I am going to share two different client scenarios below. Each of them may seem like a typical case of anxiety, mild depression and struggles with self-confidence and lack of happiness. With a closer look through the lens of an eating disorder therapist, these two stories take on different meanings. Continue reading How Therapy Subtly Reveals Whether You Have an Eating Disorder