Cutting Down on Food and Fitness Tracking

Cutting Down on Food and Fitness Tracking in Los Angeles, California [Image description: photo of a person looking at their wearable smart watch] Represents a person in counseling for an eating disorder in Los Angeles, California

Have you been tracking your food via a calorie-counting app? Maybe you’ve been tracking your exercise through a wearable or other system. Did you know such tracking: May encourage a disordered relationship with food and your body? May actually be jeopardizing your health rather than helping you to monitor it? If you’ve noticed that you’re …

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Do I Need to Quit X to Stay in Recovery?

Do I need to quit X to stay in recovery in Los Angeles, California [Image description: photo of a girl in a swimsuit looking away from the pool during a swim meet] Represents a potential teen in eating disorder recovery wrestling with whether she can continue her sport.

By Carolyn Hersh, LCSW, CEDS-S Clinical Supervisor A difficult decision in recovery is knowing when to let go of an activity–or even a job–that could potentially re-ignite the eating disorder. As a therapist I find myself guiding my clients through exploration of their values. Some come to realize that the sport or career path they …

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When You Have Adapted a Health At Every Size Approach and Your Family is Still Stuck in Diet Culture

When You Have Adapted a Health At Every Size Approach and Your Family is Still Stuck in Diet Culture [Image description: photo of a crack] Represents a potential chasm between a patient in California receiving HAES eating disorder therapy and their family still stuck in diet culture

For many of my patients who have firmly joined the anti-diet camp and embraced a Health at Every Size® (HAES) approach to health, dealing with family members entrenched in diet culture can be a minefield that is tough to navigate. Let me say that I get it! I also have friends and family members who …

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Seven Reasons You Should Eat When You’re Not Hungry

Joyful Eating in Los Angeles, California [Image description: drawing of 2 females joyfully eating ice cream] Represents potential eating disorder counseling clients in Los Angeles, California challenging diet rules and eating even when not hungry

In my work with clients with eating disorders and disordered eating, I often find that the fear of eating when not hungry is one of the most difficult bits of dogma to overcome. One of the cardinal rules of dieting is “Eat only when you’re hungry.” People with eating disorders and good dieters everywhere have …

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FBT Treatment Team Members

FBT Treatment Team Including Therapist, Dietitian, and Medical Doctor in Los Angeles, California [Image description: Purple scrabble tiles spelling "FBT Treatment Team"]

Family-based treatment (FBT) is the leading evidence-based treatment for teens with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. In an ideal world, every person with an eating disorder would have access to a full treatment team. This team could include a therapist, a dietitian, a medical doctor, and a psychiatrist. However, manualized FBT calls only for a …

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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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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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Is the (Eating Disorder) Treatment Your Child is Getting FBT?

How Do You Know Your Teen Really Received Family-Based Treatment? [Image description: purple scrabble tiles spelling "How you you know the treatment is really FBT?'] in California

Family-Based Treatment:  How Do You Know Whether Your Child Got The Real Thing? When I speak to new families about Family-Based Treatment (FBT), I often find that they are confused about what it is and what it isn’t. What is FBT? Family-Based Treatment (FBT) is a type of evidence-based treatment for child and teen eating …

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To the Family Member Who Worries I Am Not Helping Your Loved One’s “Weight Problem”

Learn About Our HAES Approach Dear Family Member, I understand your fears. I get it. You want the best for your loved one. You want him or her to have the best and healthiest and fullest life possible. I do too. You believe that helping your loved one to lose weight will help achieve these …

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