Nana’s Poundcake, Food, and Cultural Connection

Nana's Poundcake, Food and Cultural Connection [Image description: photo of Nana's poundcake on a white plate] Eating Disorder Therapy LA

Cultural Connection–Through Food Cultural Connection happens through food. Food for us comes from our relatives, whether they have wings or fins or roots. That is how we consider food. Food has a culture. It has a history. It has a story. It has relationships. –– Winona Laduke Food is about more than sustenance. It is …

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When Your Teen With an Eating Disorder is Sick….

When your teen with an eating disorder is sick during recovery [Image description: drawing of a daughter in bed and appears ill and her mother is holding her head and a thermometer] Represents a parent caring for a teen with an eating disorder in Los Angeles, California

Guest post by Dr. Jennifer Johnson What if Your Teen With an Eating Disorder is Sick? One of the most common questions that arise when parents are renourishing a teen with an eating disorder is what to do when they get sick. Parents are sometimes totally overwhelmed when that happens. Some families may back off …

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Weight Gain in Bulimia Recovery

Weight gain in bulimia recovery in Los Angeles, California [Image description: purple scrabble tiles spelling "Weight gain in bulimia recovery"]

by Elisha Carcieri, Ph.D., therapist at EDTLA One of the hallmark features of eating disorders is placing a high value on body weight and shape in determining one’s self-worth. In addition, people with eating disorders often believe that diet, exercise, or–in the case of bulimia nervosa–purging, can control body shape and weight. Individuals with bulimia …

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Say Cheese! How to Be in And Celebrate Photos

Body Avoidance and Photos in eating disorder recovery in California [Image description: photo of 4 diverse people in "volunteer" shirts taking a selfie] represents a potential client with an eating disorder in Los Angeles, California staying in the photo

Body Avoidance and Photos In today’s digital age, photos of ourselves are everywhere. For many people with eating disorders and body image issues, photos can be a source of distress. Do you normally avoid photos? Do you refuse to let people take or post photos of you? Do you hide in the back when asked …

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Breaking The Myth: Men and Eating Disorders

They myth of male eating disorders [Image description: drawing of a male baseball player wearing a purple shirt and white pants] Represents a potential male client with an eating disorder in Los Angeles, California or in Sacramento, Bakersfield, or San Diego

by Carolyn Comas, LCSW, CEDS-S, Clinical Supervisor at EDTLA In the spring of 2018 major league baseball player, Mike Marjama abruptly retired from the sport to focus on being an ambassador for the National Eating Disorders Association. He struggled with an eating disorder growing up and his move to working with NEDA was only to …

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Eating Disorder Recovery When Grieving

Grief and Eating Disorder Recovery

by Carolyn Comas, LCSW, CEDS-S, Clinical Supervisor at EDTLA On May 8th, 2017 my mother died due to complications from cancer. It was an unexpected death. I still cannot believe she died. My mom was diagnosed in January and passed away in May. She had gone to the hospital for trouble breathing and never left. …

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This Halloween, Serve Candy to Your Teen in Recovery

Halloween Candy

A Family-Based Treatment (FBT)-approach Halloween can be scary for teens with eating disorders for the wrong reason: the candy! Most teens with eating disorders are only willing to eat a restricted range of foods. Expanding this range is an important goal of treatment, with the reintroduction of fear foods being a key step. Candy tends …

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On Buying Bigger Clothes: The Tale of Nana and Her New Shoes

buying bigger clothes in eating disorder recovery [Image description: photo of the author's 103 year old grandmother walking with her walker

Nana’s New Shoes–And the Metaphor of Buying Bigger Clothes Recently, I went to visit my grandmother, who is almost 103 years old.  She was complaining of leg pain. She asked me to help her put on her shoes.  I tried really hard.  But in her sweltering apartment (she can’t stand any temperature below 80), I …

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Are We Setting Recovery Weights Too Low?

Recovery Weight

Defining Eating Disorder Recovery Plenary on Defining Recovery At the 2018 International Conference on Eating Disorders (ICED) in Chicago, I attended a plenary, Recovery from an Eating Disorder: How Do We Define It? What Does It Look Like? And Should It Always be the Focus? During this plenary, Anna Bardone-Cone, Ph.D. spoke about the essential …

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