by Libby

Everyday Eats {April 2024}

Hello and Happy Wednesday! How is your week going so far?

I love being well into spring and have been enjoying the sunnier days and brighter early mornings! It seems like the flowers on the trees have bloomed early this year — so beautiful lately!

We’ve had a full April so far, with various weekend plans, an eating disorder-related conference I attended, and celebrating my 30th birthday this past weekend. Crazy to be out of my 20s and into a new decade! 🙂

Lettuce get to some delightful springtime eats!

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by Libby

The Compulsive Eating Triangle

One of the main reasons many of my clients reach out to me is because they are feeling chaotic and out-of-control around food. Feeling like it’s hard or impossible to stop eating at a comfortable level of fullness, feeling like they constantly bounce between not eating enough and eating way too much, binge eating and feeling extreme physical distress…

Maybe you relate on some level?

Whether you resonate with full-blown binge eating or occasionally feel like you spiral “out-of-control” with food, I’m sure most or all of us can relate on some level to this dynamic, myself included!

While feeling calm and centered around food is something healthy to strive for most of the time (and a key goal we might have in client work together), it’s also not realistic to be “perfectly centered” around food all the time.

How does one get to a more calm and centered place with food? What are some of the key factors to consider?

I’m always thinking of ways to conceptualize these ideas, and one tool I have started using in sessions is what I’m calling the “Compulsive Eating Triangle.”

This tool helps us form a big picture outlook as far as what may be driving your chaotic/compulsive eating. While experiencing greater calmness with food is generally a long-term process that takes lots of untangling and healing, having a framework for thinking about this can be helpful.

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by Libby

Everyday Eats {March 2024}

Hello and Happy Wednesday!

I hope you are having a good week so far. I am looking forward to Easter weekend this week! Although it is throwing me off a bit how early Easter is this year!

Alec’s mom is coming in town this weekend and then we are doing lunch out after church in AA with my side the of the family as well. Avalon Cafe — which I’ve enjoyed in the past but haven’t been to in quite a while!

The past week or so it has gone from dark when I head out running to finally light again! So happy for this shift and to be able to go on my preferred route (which I avoid when it is dark out since there are little to no street lights…).

Hooray for spring and brighter mornings! I am into “spring cooking mode” and have on my mind to make my favorite spring asparagus pasta next week, as well as a spring veggie curry.

Recent March eats from the past several weeks! 

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by Libby

Spring Garden Salad

This easily customizable spring garden salad is packed with any and all fresh veggies of your choosing, and is topped with salty + flavorful pistachios plus a protein of your choice. Top with my go-to dark balsamic vinaigrette, and enjoy throughout the spring as an easy lunch option! 

Happy Spring!

Although, if you live in SE Michigan like me, winter seemed to take a pass on this year. No tears of sorrow coming from this household!

The sun is shining (slightly) more often, the birds are chirping, Easter is coming… and, of course, spring salads are abounding!

While today’s blog post features a loose “recipe” for my spring garden salad, this salad can be easily adjusted to whatever your specific taste preferences may be, and/or whatever you have in your fridge right now!

Reading on, we will also chat about tempeh (what even is that??), the health benefits of beets and pistachios, AND my pro salad-making tips. 

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by Libby

My Journey with Exercise

I’ve shared bits and pieces throughout various blog posts of my story experiencing an eating disorder and exercise addiction, and wanted to share a post today with more details regarding aspects of my story from the exercise angle. I know many of you reading the blog and many of the clients who I work with in my private practice also have experience with a disordered relationship with exercise. This can look so different for everyone, but my hope is that this blog post can provide some inspiration that healing your relationship with exercise IS possible, and that you can experience exercise and moving your body from a place of JOY and FREEDOM.

This post is a bit lengthy compared to usual… so bookmark for whenever is a good time and grab a favorite beverage to sip on!

When I think about my anorexia experience, it was in a lot of ways more of an EXERCISE problem. Obsessive exercise, exercise addiction, compulsive exercise – all of the above and whatever you want to call it. Addictions can happen with various “behaviors/processes” (such as exercise) — not only with substances.

My eating disorder was not primarily food or body image driven, like many of the anorexia stereotypes might lead you to believe. Exercise / athletic performance was the gateway to my spiral into anorexia. My “main issue” was and has been obsessive compulsive personality disorder (different from OCD), which led to an exercise obsession, and from there to an unintentional “free fall off a cliff” into anorexia.

But, let’s back up, and start with what is initially a positive story! 🙂

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by Libby

Some Thoughts on Gut Health (& a new exciting tool for my practice!)

Hi everyone! I hope your week is going well so far. Happy you are here! 🙂

How great has the sunshine / warmer weather been for those of you who live in Michigan?? Such an instant upgrade to the week!

I wanted to do a post today sharing some of my general thoughts on gut health AND share about a tool that I’ve been excited to be incorporating more in my practice over the past few months.

First things first! Some random gut health and candid dietetics processing:

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by Libby

Everyday Eats {February 2024}

Hello, everyone! How is your week going so far?

I have been loving the sunnier days lately and am looking forward to a couple of days in the 50s and 60s coming up!

We went to my grandparents’ house for a quick overnight weekend trip which was nice. A change of scenery can be so refreshing!

During our stay we went on the toboggan run at Pokagon State Park in Indiana. It was quite the thrill ride with the weight of me, Alec, and my parents all on one sled! I was somewhat paranoid we were going to go flying off the edge.

I feel like the winter is flying by and soon we will already be into spring!

What have you been up to lately for fun on the weekends (or whenever your time off is)??

Recent February meals & snacks for your own eating inspiration! 
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by Libby

Berry Cacao Smoothie

This antioxidant-rich berry cacao smoothie is a delicious and nourishing treat for any time of day! Featuring cacao powder, chia seeds, avocado, and organic frozen berries, this creamy and delectable smoothie is full of nutrients to keep both your immune system and tastebuds happy. 

Happy Valentine’s Day!

On today’s chocolate-loving holiday, we are starting things off with my favorite berry cacao smoothie!

We have already covered some of my other favorite “chocolate-centric” recipes including my mocha almond joy smoothie, chocolate raspberry avocado pudding (the perfect Valentine’s Day dessert!), and – today’s recipe’s cousin – the best chocolate strawberry smoothie. You are on the Everyday Chocolate blog after all!

I don’t praise the cocoa bean just for its amazing taste potential… although that alone is reason to rejoice. Cocoa bean “products” in their purer forms, such as organic cacao powder (featured in today’s smoothie) and high-quality dark chocolate have the potential to ALSO add a hefty nutrition punch to your daily diet. Depending on the specific brand, we are talking quite possibly an excellent source of magnesium, iron, and antioxidants.

Winning on multiple fronts!

As your trusted nutrition AND flavor connoisseur, I would not lead you astray, especially on a holiday of all days. Let’s read on for the details!

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by Libby

Understanding Anorexia: The Highly Sensitive Personality Trait

I recently read Elaine Aron’s book, The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You and found it incredibly helpful. As someone who often feels frazzled, overwhelmed, overstimulated, and in need of a great quantity of alone time, understanding this more and how I can “help myself out more” in managing this trait through various daily life choices has been quite useful.

I have known for years that I fall into the 15-20% of the population who would be classified as “highly sensitive,” but learning more in-depth about this is helping me to reframe some of my past experiences as well as move forward in making helpful changes in my life and business so as to not feel so overwhelmed, frazzled, and exhausted.

Thinking more about about the high sensitivity trait in general also has had me thinking more about how COMMON I think this trait is among people who end up developing anorexia nervosa at some point in their lives.

While I haven’t been able to find any stats that directly measure this, my personal experience with anorexia, my experience counseling people with anorexia, and what I know of anorexia from years of study leads me to believe that the vast majority of people with anorexia (past or present) are likely HSPs (highly sensitive persons).

Are you a highly sensitive person?

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by Libby

6 Tips for Managing Anorexia Recovery in College

For many people, college can be a time of increased stress and anxiety. If you are a college student who is ALSO walking through anorexia recovery, it can certainly be a lot to manage.

In today’s blog post, I’m sharing 6 tips for managing anorexia recovery in college. College can be a time of GROWTH and HEALING in your anorexia recovery journey. With some additional intentionality and the right support in place, heading away for school doesn’t have to be a setback in your relationship with food and your body.

While a difficult stat to accurately quantify, according to this website, the average age of anorexia onset is 18.9 years — exactly the age of most college freshmen! While the vast majority of college students won’t ever end up meeting the strict diagnostic criteria for anorexia nervosa, it is still a population at increased risk for the development of an eating disorder. And, formal eating disorders aside, many/most college women do wrestle with at least some degree of disordered eating. You can read more about what I mean by an eating disorder versus disordered eating here.

6 Tips for Managing Anorexia Recovery in College:

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