Archive for the ‘Families’ Category

The most important thing you can do when assisting someone with an eating disorder is to prepare by educating yourself as much as possible about eating disorders. You will need to constantly remind yourself that behind this illness is the..

To eat and be placed in a holding yard is neither helpful, effective nor holistic when trying to recover from an eating disorder (ED). While hospital is useful and often necessary, our health system is like a bucket full of..

Jessica turned 38 years old on the day that her story was posted on The Diary Healer.  After reading her insightful account and seeing the photo of her carefully cradling her newborn child, flanked by her two daughters, I asked..

I saw anorexia nervosa (AN) coming. It did not strike me suddenly. I had developed AN as a girl, and the thing I feared most about becoming a mother was that it could return in my life, harming one of..

I sit here, at almost 38 years old, reflecting on the years that have shaped who I am. Have you read Steven Levonkron’s book, The Best Little Girl in the World? That was me. Parts of me still have that..

When anorexia nervosa (AN) dominated my mind, I behaved in some really crazy and sometimes dangerous ways. I would not dream of behaving like that today, because AN no longer bullies or manipulates my thoughts. But during my most vulnerable moments,..

By Juliana Winik When I was 14, I was admitted to the paediatric ward at our local hospital with the eating disorder, Anorexia Nervosa. My body had begun shutting down. My physical decline from well to severely ill happened rapidly...

“Life is not fair,” my psychiatrist said rather bluntly some years ago, when I was bemoaning relationship losses. The losses – my parents, sister and extended family members – were ongoing casualties of my eating disorder and I was feeling..

Immersion in the skewed messages of diet culture makes children vulnerable to eating disorders. From childhood, for more than 44 years, Ruth did “what Dad did”. She fasted, and severely restricted some foods. The cost was great. Read Ruth’s story...

If we as professionals and parents do not start changing and protecting our youngsters, who will do it? Dr. Eva Trujillo explains why we (the world) cannot afford to wait in addressing eating disorders. When my friend June Alexander asked..