Disordered Eating and Diet Recovery Therapy in Tampa and throughout FL
Ditch the Rules. Make Peace with Food. Reclaim Your Life.
Do food rules literally rule your life?
It’s finally hit you just how much your relationship with food is having an impact on your life. For a while you weren’t sure if this was an “issue” because all of the rules just seem so damn “normal” - everyone does it right? You might have been on diets for the majority of your life, restrict certain foods, or find yourself not being able to bring certain foods into your home for fear you are “out of control.”
With each new diet or plan comes new hope - hope that your body will be “fixed” and that you will be “healthier”. What also comes along with each new diet or restrictive plan is yet another sense of failure. A sense that you didn’t do it right or didn’t have enough willpower. You never blame the diet of course, only yourself.
You might find yourself acknowledging that you don’t want to diet anymore and want to work on your relationship with food, but have absolutely no idea where to start. This can feel so stressful that you end up not reaching out for help (especially when you aren’t sure what type of help is out there) and staying stuck in the pattern you are in - simply because it feels like the safer route. It can be scary to find another way of living when diet culture is constantly telling you to “watch what you eat” and get on the next diet bandwagon. It can feel incredibly vulnerable to think about stepping outside the diet and food box you have been in your entire life.
The impacts of disordered eating and chronic dieting go far beyond just what you eat (or don’t eat).
Does this sound like you?
“I feel obsessed with the number on the scale and it impacts my mood”
“I feel terrible about my body” (and notice a lot of blame and shame)
“I avoid social situations because I won’t know how to navigate food choices there”
“I don’t think I will ever be able to feel less anxious around food”
“I’m worried what my family and friends will think if my body changes”
“I have difficulty focusing at school/at work”
“I want to be in a relationship but don’t know how to put myself out there”
“I feel like I’m constantly in my own head”
“I’m so scared of gaining weight - it rules my entire life”
“I’m anxious/depressed and can’t figure out what’s going on”
“I stop myself from doing things I enjoy because of how I feel about myself”
“I feel empty/numb and don’t know where to start”
What to expect when you heal from disordered eating and ditch dieting
Imagine a life where:
You feel confident and less stressed about making food choices
You can figure out a way of eating that works for your body
You learn how to get back in touch with your inner intuitive eater
Your mood is no longer dictated by the scale
You learn to live life in the body you are in and stop feeling like you need to change it
You allow yourself access to all foods without anxiety
You get to figure out what you actually like to eat
You understand why it was so hard to navigate diet culture and have a solid plan for how to move forward
You have the mental space to focus on the things that truly matter
Together we will work on:
Insight & Understanding
You didn’t decide that your body wasn’t good enough or that you needed to follow food rules. You were likely taught this by a mix of diet culture, well-meaning adults in your life, and mainstream beauty ideals that tell you that you aren’t good enough as you are. Together we can help you understand that this is not your fault. Diet culture has failed you, not the other way around. It is important to be able to understand that your coping up until this point has been rooted in deep wisdom, and feeeling like it was the only way for you to survive. We will take a non-judgmental stance so that you can drop the blame, shame, and guilt.
Once we understand the “why” of what brought you here, we can work on taking meaningful, values-led action and learn skills and tools to move forward. This could include getting to know the parts of yourself who feel that you need to engage in disordered eating or dieting in order to not get hurt in life, diving into Intuitive Eating and learning to make peace with food, your body and movement, and getting to know what your values are in life and how to stay true to them. You might want to do some deeper mindfulness processing where you can really connect with your core beliefs and start to develop new beliefs about yourself and the world.
Action + Skills
Disordered Eating & Diet Recovery Therapy Can Help You:
Gain insight and learn to trust yourself
Improve your relationship with food and your body
Prioritize your health without focusing on weight
Reconnect with (or get to know for the first time) your inner food wisdom
Identify the things that will bring value and meaning to your life
Heal from diet culture and know what to do when you encounter it
Set healthy boundaries with people in your life around food and body
It’s possible to recover from dieting and disordered eating
Frequently Asked Questions about Disordered Eating & Diet Recovery
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Disordered eating can refer to a range of behaviors/experiences, some of those being: a preoccupation with food or weight, inflexible eating patterns, restriction or compulsive eating, dieting behaviors, and more. Think about it this way – if you are spending a significant portion of your day worrying about food, you may be experiencing disordered eating. Don’t let this scare you – there is help!
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Disordered eating can be a sign of an eating disorder, but many folks will struggle from disordered eating and either not receive a diagnosis or be told that their symptoms don’t qualify them for one. We live in a culture that constantly tells us to shrink our bodies and “focus on health”, while also glorifying behaviors that leave people struggling with their relationship with food and their bodies. You deserve help and support around your relationship with food, even if you have not been diagnosed with an eating disorder. Treatment will actually look quite the same in many cases! You do NOT need a diagnosis to be worthy of getting help and support.
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A few good questions to ask yourself are - How much of your energy is being taken up by worrying about food and your body? Is this stopping you from doing things that you feel are important in your life? Is it causing stress and anxiety? Leaning into the questions around just how much dieting or disordered eating is impacting your life can be an important place to start. Everyone will be impacted differently, but if you have any sense that this IS having an impact on your life, you deserve to access help and support. text goes here
You might benefit from Disordered Eating & Diet Recovery Therapy if you:
Have dieted for years (ie: chronic dieting)
Have only been on 1 diet and feel like it has totally thrown you off
You have been diagnosed with an eating disorder in the past
You have never been diagnosed with an eating disorder but struggle with food
Are not sure if your struggle is “severe enough”
Your behavior around food seems “normal” but you have lots of negative thoughts about it
Some of the Ways that I Treat Disordered Eating & Diet Recovery
Intuitive Eating
Intuitive Eating is a self-care framework that can help you to become more in tune with your body and its needs. IE is not another rigid plan, and should be adapted to your unique wants and needs.
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
Utilizing parts work can be a game changer when it comes to our relationship with food. IFS can help you understand the parts of you that feel connected to diet culture (and the ones that don’t). It is a gentle, judgment-free way to get to the root of why you might be struggling.
Brainspotting
Most of us have experienced trauma around diet culture, especially when it comes to food and body. Brainspotting can help you mindfully process experiences that you have around food and help you understand core beliefs in a gentle way.