In today’s post, I’m sharing a collection of some of my favorite posts for all things eating disorder recovery. 💫

Whether you are thinking about recovery or are in the midst of your recovery, I hope the following posts can serve as your go-to guide for all things related to practical strategies for eating disorder recovery.

Eating disorder recovery is a tough journey. But it is so worth it!

Before we dive in, I would love to hear from you –> how are you feeling about recovery today?

What’s been tough and what’s going well in your relationship with food? ✨

Practical Strategies for Eating Disorder Recovery

How to Structure Meals & Snacks

Starting off very practical with… the food aspect! 🌮

We can’t recover without addressing the practical nature of our actual eating patterns and behaviors. 

In this post, I share my basic “meal framework” for creating a balanced meal.

Making sure my meals have at least one source of protein, fat, and complex carb is how I structure my meals to this day. It’s how I recommend anyone create a balanced meal, eating disorder or not.

Working with an eating disorder dietitian can be especially helpful if you are struggling with serving sizes, restoring your weight, and/or regulating your hunger and fullness cues.

6 Snack Strategies for Eating Disorder Recovery

If you have been a blog reader for a while, you likely know that I am all about regular + intentional + balanced snacks!

A “balanced snack” generally has at least two macronutrients. 🧀🍇

For example, instead of just some chips or just some grapes (both pretty much all carbohydrate), a more balanced and nutritious snack would be chips and guac (carb + fat) or grapes and a couple of hard-boiled eggs (carb + fat + protein).

Consistent and intentional snacks help with:

• Meeting your macro & micronutrient needs for the day –> no matter your body size
• Feeling more calm and centered around food
• Preventing binge spirals
• Not getting overly hangry
• Having a healthy digestive system, metabolism, and hormones

All good reasons to have anywhere from around 2-4 snacks per day, depending on what works for you as well as your nutrition needs.

Typical snack times might be early morning, mid-morning, mid-afternoon, or evening.

Boost Your Food Intake in Anorexia Recovery: Practical Tips for Weight Restoration

As someone who has gone through weight restoration in the context of anorexia recovery myself, I know how tough this process can be.

Beyond the mental and emotional challenges, the practical aspects of eating quite a bit of food can be challenging in and of themselves, particularly when your stomach and digestive system aren’t used to this quantity of food.

In this post, I share some of my favorite recommendations for boosting your food intake in anorexia recovery. 💫

Strategies include: ideas for piling on toppings, drinking caloric beverages, consuming what I refer to as a “supplemental spoonful” of healthy / calorically-dense fat each day, eating a daily dessert, and more.

Be sure to bookmark this page for ideas and motivation if you are walking through anorexia recovery!

How Do I Cope with Needing to Gain Weight?

If anorexia recovery were as simple as “eat more food,” I’m guessing you would have already done that. 😑

If you’re needing to gain weight for any number of health reasons, it can feel so difficult and isolating. You’re essentially doing the exact opposite of what you see as “healthy” on social media or hear in conversations amongst friends and family.

Head to this post for some of my thoughts on how to cope with needing to gain weight. Thankfully (😑😑) I have plenty of personal experience with that!

One thought from the post –>

Take some time alone and really consider why reaching a healthy body size (and therefore gaining weight) matters to you!

Seek to shift your thoughts from “gaining weight” to all that you are gaining in general — a healthy body, greater mental clarity, the ability to be more present with others, and so much more.

What to Do After a Binge: A Therapist and Dietitian’s Perspective

Teaming up with my friend and colleague, Alexis, we collectively share practical tips and strategies for what to do after a binge, addressing both practical and emotional dynamics.

If you’ve ever felt hopeless, overwhelmed, and full of guilt following an eating episode, then this post is for you!

If you are currently relating to food in a chaotic and out-of-control way, know that you are not alone and that the challenges you are facing are not a reflection of your character or lack of willpower! Oftentimes, how we experience food is more of an outworking of what’s going on beneath the surface – for instance, our thoughts and feelings about food, ourselves, and our bodies. 

Benefits of Virtual Nutrition Counseling for Eating Disorders

One very practical aspect of eating disorder recovery is getting a quality team in place — typically a therapist, dietitian, and physician.

Some of the benefits of a virtual approach to nutrition counseling for disordered eating can include:

• Better continuity of care
• Dramatically increased convenience
• Use of technology to enhance sessions
• Increased options for better care

Interested in exploring if working together would be a good fit?

Currently I am licensed to see clients in Michigan, Idaho, Texas, Arizona, and Colorado. You can read more about my counseling style and the clients I work with by heading here.

You are also welcome to book a free consultation call where we can discuss the possibility of working together one-on-one. I’d love to chat more and hear what’s been going on in your relationship with food, and how I might be able to support you!

Two Main Drivers of Chaotic / Compulsive Eating

Do you ever find yourself feeling chaotic and compulsive around food, whether that occurs once in a while or on a routine basis?

I think many of us likely answer “yes!” to that question (at least to some degree!).

If you’re like many of the clients who I work with, more often that not, you find yourself feeling “out of the driver’s seat” when it comes to your food decisions. 😫

How do we go from feeling out-of-control and chaotic around food to a calmer and more centered place?

One place to start is by thinking about two of the main drivers of chaotic and compulsive eating:

(1) Physical food restriction and (2) Mental food restriction

In this post we will explore examples of what physical and mental food restriction can look like, and how these dynamics might be sabotaging your desire to feel more centered around food!

Healthy Food Boundaries vs. Unhealthy Restriction

If you’ve been working on increasing permission (without guilt!) around food, you may be wondering what it might look like to say “no” to a food without it coming from a place of restriction.

This post addresses that very question!

Unhealthy restriction…

• Comes from a place of fear, worry, control, and/or anxiety
• Does not take into account mental/emotional health
• Does not take into account joy, pleasure, taste, and fun

Healthy food boundaries…

• Are curious, asking questions like “how might I feel if I eat this food?” or “do I want to enjoy this food in this moment?”
• Know that to eat or not eat the food is perceived as a morally equivalent option and the decision is not overly charged with emotion
• Come from an overall place of self-care and self-kindness

I love exploring these types of dynamics in client sessions. We dive into and explore your motivations behind your food choices, all of which can be so multi-faceted and complex! ✨

Exploring Reactionary Gaps in Compulsive Eating

Reactionary gaps are a practical tool to help bring an element of mindfulness and intentionality to our eating choices.

They can also aid in our exploration of healthy food boundaries and unhealthy restriction (see above).

A reactionary gap is NOT an unhealthfully restrictive, diet-mentality-in-disguise tool designed to place strict “no’s” on your eating. **Do not miss this point!!!** In fact, as we have mentioned, a reactionary gap is not even about whether you say yes or no to the food at all! 

A reactionary gap is about creating a bit of mindful space so that you are able to tune inward and make a “yes” or “no” decision with your healthy more present self in the “driver’s seat” of your eating choices… ideally operating less and less over time with the Compulsive Autopilot in charge.

Ways to Increase Motivation in Anorexia Recovery

It is totally normal for motivation to wax and wane through anorexia (or eating disorder) recovery.

This post shares practical strategies and action steps for increasing motivation for recovery. 🌟

Focus on ONE snack, ONE meal, and ONE day at a time.

How does one eat an elephant?? One bite at a time! The same thing is true for recovery.

The more you focus on the “all the work you have left to do,” and “how much more time all of this might take,” the more discouraged you are likely to be. When we are able to “micro-down” our mindset, by focusing on JUST TODAY, it is amazing the progress that will accumulate over time.

How to Create an Exercise Routine You Actually Enjoy

Curious about how to go about creating an exercise routine that is rooted in both physical health and a healthy relationship with exercise?

This post walks you through various things to consider, such as exploring what activities you truly enjoy and how to balance structure with spontaneity.

A healthy exercise routine is one that you generally look forward to. Not one that you feel compelled to do, are doing out of fear/guilt, or feel anxious about if you don’t do it!

Yoga is another practical tool I love for eating disorder recovery. Read here for more on yoga’s benefits for disordered eating recovery.

How to Rebuild Your Relationship with Food After Disordered Eating

Lastly, this post provides a high-level summary of what it looks like to heal your relationship with food after months, years, or even decades of disordered eating.

A crucial step to rebuild your relationship with food is releasing rigid and unnecessary food rules.

What counts as a rigid or arbitrary rule varies, but examples might include:

• Avoiding food after 7pm
• Labeling foods “good” (such as a salad) versus “bad” (such as a cupcake)
• Restricting portions (e.g., only 1/2 cup of oats) regardless of hunger

While nutrient-dense foods and consistent eating times have benefits, overly rigid rules — especially those tied to morality (e.g., “I’m bad for eating a brownie”) or with arbitrary limits can harm more than help. 

Read the rest of my tips for rebuilding your relationship with food here.

Final thoughts

The above blog posts are full of both practical strategies to experiment with and questions to explore.

✨ Some final questions to consider as you ponder your recovery journey: ✨

• Do I have resources and strategies to help keep my motivation high?
  • While there are many ways to go about this, ideas include recovery books and podcasts, following recovery-supportive blogs and social media accounts, staying engaged with dietitian and therapy appointments, keeping your reasons for recovery top-of-mind, and connecting with someone who has recovered.
• Do I have the support I need when it comes to the practicals of food + nutrition?
  • This includes things like eating enough, eating balanced meals, and working toward feeling calm + centered when eating.
• What are my biggest barriers right now and how can I address them?
  • Barriers can be external / practical as well as internal (thoughts, feelings, limiting beliefs).
  • No barrier cannot be overcome when it comes to recovery — we need only increased creativity, motivation, a growth-orientated mindset, and resourcefulness!

Let me know in the comments if there are other resources and thoughts that would be helpful to you in your recovery! 💜

Explore More

5 Strategies to Help Prevent Binge Eating Trade-Offs in the Pursuit of “Perfect” Food Choices Navigating Food & Body Image at the Holidays Question to Challenge Your Disordered Eating: What Would Make This Better?