For many people recovering from eating disorders, meal plans offer structure, balance, and a pathway toward physical and emotional healing. But the reality is not everyone can easily afford their meal plan. 

Food insecurity is a real issue affecting many people. Factors like income, access to affordable food options, and the high cost of living significantly influence someone’s ability to meet nutritional needs in recovery. 

Oftentimes, “wellness” culture can add even more stress. Wellness influencers promote organic, specialty, or “clean” foods that appeal to those with eating disorders (especially for individuals whose ED stems from an obsession with “healthy” eating). These items are usually expensive and add little real value in terms of recovery or overall health (and at their core, are just more processed products..!). Worse, pressure to buy into these trends can lead to feelings of guilt, while the stigma against processed foods adds another layer of shame for people working to embrace balanced eating. 

Sleep is a cornerstone of overall health, impacting everything from metabolic function to mental clarity. One of the clearest examples is the role sleep plays in regulating hunger hormones, like ghrelin and leptin. Sleep deprivation throws these hormones out of balance, often leading to increased appetite and cravings. It’s not just about feeling groggy or sluggish after a bad night’s sleep; sleep disruptions can alter your metabolism and affect overall health.

Weekends tend to be very chaotic for people when it comes to eating. Do you struggle with overeating? Let me guess when you overeat you beat yourself up for it? Feeling extra full or even just a little full has the ability to ruin your mood and maybe your day? I am hoping what I have to say about overeating with ease your mind a bit and offer you a better understanding of why you are overeating. Here are 5 things you need to know about “over” eating.

What contributes to the development of an eating disorder? As mental health awareness becomes more prominent and ED research is on the rise, we are finding that many factors are responsible for the development of eating disorders. Some may argue that eating disorders are a lifestyle choice. This is not true at all! Understanding how eating disorders develop is a crucial part to identifying the contributing cause, and is helpful for navigating individualized treatment and recovery.

It’s Friday night—maybe even Thursday—and you're getting ready to head out with friends. You haven’t eaten since lunch, maybe skipped dinner on purpose, and squeezed in a quick workout before hitting the bars. It’s just another night out, right?

It might feel like that, but this pattern of behavior is actually known as "drunkorexia," a term used to describe the practice of restricting food, over-exercising, or purging to compensate for the calories in alcohol. Although not an official diagnosis, it’s a form of disordered eating that essentially prioritizes alcohol over nutrition. It’s become so common, especially in college, that it can be easy to overlook how harmful it really is.

Is this a burning question in your mind; does everyone feel like they have to work out? Why does exercise feel like such a chore? What will happen if I don’t exercise on a regular basis? 

Here are a few things that a positive relationship with movement IS...

What’s diabulimia? This is a term you may not be familiar with, but it’s a dangerous issue that affects individuals with diabetes. People with diabetes are already at higher risk for developing eating disorders (up to 20% of type 1 diabetics will develop an eating disorder in their lifetime). So, what is diabulimia and why is it a problem? 

You might have heard that restriction is the number one driving force behind feeling out of control with food. Feeling out of control with food can play out in various ways such as binge eating until you feel physically uncomfortable, feeling like you can't keep certain foods in the house because you will eat it ALL (GASP), and/or thinking about food all day. Not to mention did you know that restiction of food mimics addiction? Yes, read that again. So generally the people that have rules around food and/or are micromanaging food feel addicted to food. But what does it mean to “restrict”?

Here at Collaborative Counseling and Nutrition we are passionate about helping others create a positive relationship with food and body. We talk a lot about what an unhealthy relationship with food looks like but do you know what a healthy/positive relationship with food looks like?

It has been all the buzz lately with eating disorder treatment research; if you can and how much you should allow exercise while engaging in eating disorder treatment. We have come a long way in understanding the impact of engaging in exercise + eating disorder treatment simultaneously. The biggest thing that stood out to me from the get go is if we are going to intentionally work on our relationship and beliefs around food and body image, why can’t we also do the same thing with our relationship to exercise?

Today, we are sharing an introduction post to eating disorders in marginalized, minoritized, and underrepresented communities. We will cover statistics, stereotypes, and barriers to diagnosis and treatment. Keep an eye out for upcoming posts covering eating disorders in these groups (ie. EDs in the Black Community; EDs in the LGBTQIA2+ Community, etc.).

The Body Mass Index (BMI) is a number that must tell us a great deal about our health, right? After all, it’s printed at the top of the page, right next to your name and DOB on most medical records, so it must be important!

But what does it really tell us? At its core, BMI only reflects two things: a person’s weight relative to their height. Yet, for reasons that are more historical than scientific, this simplistic metric is widely used by healthcare systems to define health.

Today’s post is inspired by my Intuitive Eating coaching clients. While the Intuitive Eating principles can appear pretty straightforward in the books, in practice, it’s not always smooth sailing. Grab 6 of my favorite practical tips for making your intuitive eating journey just a little easier.

Athletes are not immune from the impact of diet culture. In fact, athletes are 2-3 times more likely to develop an eating disorder compared to non-athletes. Up to 45% of female athletes and 19% of male athletes struggle with disordered eating. Additionally, 84% of female college athletes report having disordered patterns of eating or have engaged in unhealthy weight control practices at one time.

Today, we are talking about different ways of rigid thinking that can show up in our relationship with food and ways to shift to more flexible and fluid ways of thinking.

Does it ever feel like you have several voices in your head telling you what you should and shouldn’t be doing when it comes to your food choices? When practicing Intuitive Eating, it can be really difficult to make sense of the different voices that pop up and whether they are helpful or hurtful. Today, we are diving into some common voices that you might encounter and whether they are helpful or hurtful.

What foods do you enjoy? Are you a fan of salty and sweet things? Perhaps you adore a soft, fluffy croissant with a black, slightly bitter coffee. Or, maybe a warm, velvety soup paired with crispy crackers and a crunchy, but delicate salad is your idea of the perfect lunch. Today, we are discussing the hub of the Intuitive Eating wheel, Discovering the Satisfaction Factor. Let’s dive in.

What does it mean to be healthy? Is it the absence of disease? Can it be summarized with a number?

Unfortunately, we’re still pretty behind when it comes to fully understanding what it means to be healthy, and that is partly because our healthcare systems still rely on outdated measures to determine health status.

Ob*sity is described as a complex medical condition, brought on by many factors, that leads to excessive body fat. In recent years, we’ve even heard more and more about obesity being a disease, one that is complicated and still quite misunderstood. For such a complicated medical condition, we sure have a pretty naive way of defining and diagnosing it.  

Parenting doesn’t come without its challenges, and raising kids to be healthy eaters is of course something parents strive for. A lot of the time, unfortunately, teaching kids to eat “healthy” can easily get intermixed with messages from diet culture. This well-meaning approach may not only make kids start to distrust their internal signals but can also hurt their ability to be an Intuitive Eater as an adult. This especially can become a problem as foods are labeled “good” vs “bad”, kids are forced to finish a certain “healthy” food to earn dessert, or when they get rewarded for clean plates. So how exactly do we raise our kids to be intuitive eaters, while encouraging eating habits that promote good health? Let’s unpack that today!

Interoceptive awareness is the process of receiving, accessing, and evaluating internal bodily signals (1). This includes signals related to mood changes, hunger, thirst, temperature, and aches or pains. 

It integrates motivations, emotions, internal organ sensations, and associated thought patterns and reactions. This is complicated stuff that our body is always doing, but you may not be aware of it.