Hey everyone, Here in the UK, Summer has finally arrived, and it’s got me thinking about seasonal changes in our eating habits and how this can be triggering to someone in recovery from an Eating Disorder. When it’s hot outside we can tend to feel more lethargic and even agitated, and this can result in our appetite decreasing. The thought of expelling energy to prepare and eat food, and the idea of feeling bloated afterwards can be massively unappealing. As a result of this we may not feel as hungry as usual and so we have to actively make recovery decisions as we may not be able to fully tru ..read more

Hey everyone, Today I wanted to hop on and talk a bit about exercise in Eating Disorder Recovery. Every person's relationship with exercise is different, and depending on it’s role in your Eating Disorder it may be something you have had to cut out or reduce during your recovery. This is because exercise addiction can go hand in hand with an Eating Disorder, and we can easily fall into disordered attitudes of working out to change our bodies or to compensate for what we eat. In my recovery I stopped exercising all together despite my long standing love for Netball. This is because I knew that ..read more

Repeat after me: “My body is not the problem.” Your body isn’t the problem and it never has been. Diet culture may have convinced you otherwise but I promise you, it’s done nothing wrong. It is so normalised within our society to hate your body, to believe that food is the enemy and that the answer to feeling down about your appearance is restriction or excessive exercise. We are taught for our entire lives that loving your own skin is only attainable by changing x, y and z, and that we aren’t enough on our own. That’s how dieting companies make their money, they survive solely on our self loa ..read more

Hey everyone, Today I wanted to talk a bit about feeling full! Fullness is a sensation which your Eating Disorder may fear due to the false belief that it is the result of over-eating. It can be uncomfortable and feel unnatural, especially in early recovery or following a period of restriction. This is because you are out of sync with your body and not used to properly nourishing it. As a result, fullness can become something you feel the need to avoid, making it incredibly difficult to honour all of your hunger. It may also be the case that during your Eating Disorder or it’s development, you ..read more

Hey everyone, Today I wanted to talk a bit about how to manage Eating Disorder Recovery when you’re living with people who engage in dieting or disordered exercise behaviours. These can be hard to ignore and incredibly triggering, however I hope I can share with you some tips to help you stay on your own path and minimise the impact that others have on your own habits. Recovering in a disordered society is something I’ve discussed previously on the blog (I’ll pop the post at the bottom of the page if you fancy giving it a read), but when the diet talk is in your own home, it can be harder to e ..read more

Hey everyone, Over the last few weeks I have really started to enjoy baking and as a result, I have been in the kitchen lots! My relationship with baking has been challenging since developing my Eating Disorder, and this has continued through my recovery which I’m sure is something a lot of people can relate too. In this post I therefore want to discuss some of the warning signs that suggest you might be baking for disordered reasons, as well as talking about how to overcome this and how to use baking to your advantage in committed recovery. So why is baking tricky? Baking typically involves a ..read more

Hey everyone, In this post I want to discuss body image - the different variables that affect it, and how to manage on the days when it isn’t so good. Bad body image is something many people struggle with, not just those with diagnosed Eating Disorders, and so I’m hopeful this post can help everyone learn to be kinder to themselves and stop placing their worth on their appearance. There are several factors that can trigger poor body image, from feeling guilt around food or lack of exercise, to comparing yourself to others you know or to posed/ photoshopped influencers on Instagram. Both guilt ..read more

Hey everyone, Today I wanted to talk a bit about Reactive Hunger in Eating Disorder recovery. Reactive hunger is when an individual experiences higher levels of hunger following eating. For example, prior to lunch they may not feel hungry at all, but then suddenly, half way through their meal they become ravenous and are not satisfied once finished. This is something I experienced in my own recovery, and to a certain extent still deal with today. In fact I think a lot of people, even those who have never struggled with disordered eating, experience reactive hunger, especially if they haven’t b ..read more

Hey everyone, Today I wanted to talk about comparison, both in Eating Disorder recovery and society in general. It is something that affects a lot of us and can result in us falling into the trap of basing our own worth and value on what other people are doing. In recovery I have learnt mostly to overcome this using different mantras that I repeat when I feel these urges creep in... “Different bodies, different paths” - You are your own person with your own health legacy. For example, perhaps some other people can afford to skip a meal, but that is not the case for you and that is okay. This ..read more

Hey everyone, I’ve been a bit quiet on the blog over the last few weeks as I took some time out to celebrate Christmas and the New Year with my family. It’s been lovely to finally join in on festive activities and food, although I have definitely identified some areas where I still need to challenge my eating disorder further. Due to this, I will be continuing to document my journey here as well as sharing advice to help you no matter what stage you’re at in your recovery. The New Year can bring the perceived pressure to feel hope, set goals, and better yourself. Diet Culture tends to hit us e ..read more