By: Gabrielle A. Morreale M.A. LPC C-DBT. New year new you..right? WRONG!!! Your body is not a project under construction. It is inherently good, just as it is and YOU are inherently good just as you are!! When it comes to eating disorder recovery, body image is a complex issue. As people who have been through it, we know this is a tender topic; we know that and we promise you don’t have to hate your body forever. Healing is possible! What is Body Image? Body image very simpl

By: Gabrielle Morreale M.A. LPC. C-DBT. Progress over perfection! It’s a phrase we say when it comes to many things, especially in recovery! Now don’t get us wrong we wholeheartedly stand by this statement. Any steps you are taking toward recovery are amazing! Eating disorder therapy is a long, hard road full of twists and turns so whatever it takes we believe in you ! This saying, however, got us thinking about what else should be over perfection. Well …everything really, pe

By: Rachel Dodson RD, LDN As the weather gets warmer, it’s a perfect time to have a conversation about set point theory. Sadly this time...

Hey there! I hope you are staying as safe as you can during this challenging time. It’s been a minute since my last blog post, and while...

By: Abby Emmert M.A. A large and challenging step of recovery is making peace with exercise. A question I get very often in sessions is,...

By: Rachel Dodson RD, LDN & Gabby Morreale M.A. LPC. What is Intuitive Eating? Intuitive Eating was developed by two Registered Dietitians, Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch, in the 1990’s in an effort to combat what we’re sold in diet culture. The authors define Intuitive Eating as, “a personal process of honoring health by listening and responding to the direct messages of the body in order to get your needs met.” Intuitive Eating is an anti-diet and weight-neutral approach to

By: Gabby Morreale M.A. LPC. DBT-C. With the Christmas Holiday fast approaching, stress and anxiety about family interactions are often at an all-time high. I know that interacting with family can be fun and exciting but also challenging and difficult. It is a true example at dialectics at its best!! Sometimes these difficult interactions make us want to engage with our eating disorder behaviors. Gentle reminder: not now- not ever, is your eating disorder the answer. Remember

By: Breanna Potts, Clinical Intern DBT is a therapy that helps people understand and navigate their uncomfortable feelings in a way that...

By: Rachel Dodson RD, LDN Fighting diet culture and all of the noise surrounding food can be tough all throughout the year, but especially during the holiday season. Now, I LOVE THE HOLIDAYS. The movies, the activities, giving (and getting lol) gifts, seeing people who you don’t get to see regularly and all the flavors of the seasons. This time of year is magical but can be a stressful time filled with tension and anxiety surrounding your relationship with food during recover

By: Gabrielle Morreale LPC When we hear the word safety behavior we often think that this is some type of coping skill, something that will keep us safe. Right?!! Nope…wrong although at times a safety behavior is a coping skill they oftentimes do not keep us safe but stuck. Safety behaviors provide short-term relief in an attempt to prevent some type of uncomfortable feelings or a feared catastrophe or anxiety producing event. For people with eating disorders this can range f

By: Abby Emmert M.A. & Gabrielle Morreale LPC A lot of times we see those that struggle with eating disorders also struggle with their relationship with exercise. Exercise can be weaponized as a way to control how our bodies look and feel. It can also be used to compensate and “make up for” the food we eat. It can often come with feelings and emotions such as guilt and shame. It can also come with, what we call in the counseling words, musturbations. These are words like “mus

By Abbey Emmert M.A. and Gabrielle Morreale M.A. LPC. If you have struggled with an eating disorder, or know someone who has, the topic of values may have come up. Just like living with an abusive partner, after a certain amount of time of living with this opposite force, it can be hard not to start adopting the other’s values and replacing your own with them. You can be months into the relationship before you realize it's caused you to lose friendships, family members, and

By: Hannah de Groot, MEd. With the 2021 Olympics starting this week, it seems like a perfect time to talk SPORTS! As a lifelong athlete and lover of competition, sports are one of my passions and an important part of my identity. While sports can facilitate meaningful friendships, teach discipline and hard work, and be a beautiful form of self expression, it is no secret that sports are not all fun and games (pun intended). Eating disorders run rampant in the sports world, a

By: Abby Emmert, M.A. When I was recovering from my eating disorder, I saw relapse and slips as the same thing, and they both meant this:...

By: Hannah de Groot MEd. June is one of the best months of the year - the weather is warming up, school is out, and most importantly, it is PRIDE MONTH! Pride is a time to highlight and celebrate self-affirmation, equality, and visibility of our LGBTQIA+ community members. It is also time for heterosexual, cisgender people to celebrate our friends, family members and neighbors in the LGBTQIA+ community by advocating for their equal rights and protection. At Recovered and Rest

By: Abby Emmert & Gabby Morreale No matter what kind of eating disorder you have, you probably know that buying clothes, trying on clothes, going through your clothes that you currently own in recovery is so frustrating. Mostly because you know that your body is going to be different, but we promise that's ok!! Also knowing you may have outgrown or may need to outgrow some of these clothes in the future can feel stressful. This unknown or unpredictability can be really frust

By Hannah de Groot MEd. & Gabrielle Morreale M.A. LPC. We’ve officially entered May and the end of the semester is right around the corner! Whether you’re graduating high school (yay!) or gearing up for another semester in college, it’s time to talk about eating disorder culture on college campuses. More importantly, how seemingly normalized disordered eating habits are. So normalized that comments about food, diets, bodies and weight pass by ordinarily in everyday conversati

By: Abby Emmert & Gabby Morreale I want to challenge you with this question. What DO you know about eating disorders? Is it what you know from movies you have seen about the emaciated teen girl? Is it from your best friend’s little sister who got sent away that one summer? The diet culture ads glamorizing it? Or is it more than that? One problem with eating disorders is that they have been displayed a certain way, with a certain look, and specific characteristics that make i

By: Abby Emmert & Gabrielle Morreale We get asked often from family and friends who have a loved one struggling with an eating disorder ...

By: Abby Emmert & Gabrielle Morreale This week, a common topic of discussion was weight as it relates to health. If you are not aware of...