On Empowering Parents—Not Pathologizing Them

Empowering Parents

I often write about the importance of including parents in the treatment of adolescents and young adults. My work is informed by my training in Family-based Treatment (FBT). A central component of this treatment is empowering parents to help their ailing children with eating disorders return to health. When asked why families should be the …

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How To Choose A Supplemental Nutrition Shake

Nutritional Supplements for Eating Disorder Recovery - Katie Grubiak, RDN in Los Angeles, California [Image description: Photo of a smiling, red-headed, white woman, Katie Grubiak, RDN, eating lunch and surrounded by all the nutritional supplements we tasted]

By Katie Grubiak, RDN at Side by Side Nutrition (formerly at EDTLA) Choosing a nutrition shake to support eating disorder recovery can be a daunting process. In a previous post, we discussed the role of supplemental nutritional shakes in eating disorder recovery. Sometimes, patients in recovery will be unable to restore their nutrition entirely with …

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Who Gets Treated for Eating Disorders in Los Angeles?

low cost eating disorder treatment Los Angeles County

Affordable Eating Disorder Therapy Update June 2021: We are so excited to have our own in-house option for low-fee eating disorder therapy for people in California with our graduate externs. Eating Disorders Affect People at All Income Levels This NEDAwareness week (2018), I’ve been thinking a lot about the theme of “Let’s Get Real.” One …

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How to Communicate With Your Psychiatrist About Medication

How to Communicate with Your Psychiatrist

In my work with patients who have anxiety and/or depression, I often recommend a consultation with a psychiatrist regarding medication. I believe in the value of psychotherapy; that’s why I became a (non-prescribing) psychologist. However, I find the careful use of psychiatric medications as a helpful aid to psychotherapy. For best results, you must communicate …

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Checking Our Own Weight Biases as Parents

  Weight bias is a preference for thinness. In the words of psychologist Ashley Solomon, Psy.D., CEDS, “Weight bias is insidiously interwoven into the fabric of our culture.” Like many of us, I grew up in a family that possesses a great deal of weight bias. When I gained weight just before puberty my mother …

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Raising the Bar: Competence in Outpatient Eating Disorder Treatment

Authors of Scope of Competence for Eating Disorder Treatment with reviewer, Dr. Portney [Image description: Alli, Dr. Portney, and Dr. Muhlheim at ICED 2016]

Is Your Therapist Competent to Treat Your Eating Disorder? When my friend and colleague, Alli Spotts-De Lazzer, M.A., MFT, LPCC, CEDS, asked me to join her in writing an article on competence for therapists treating eating disorders, I jumped at the opportunity. Psychotherapists are ethically bound to treat within their scope of competence. Yet how …

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Male Eating Disorders

                  Despite being widely thought of as a disorder primarily affecting females, we know that people of all genders experience eating disorders. The experiences of males with eating disorders may be different so read on to learn more. Prevalence rates It is difficult to know exactly how …

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My work in Shanghai with clients from all over the world

Eight years ago this month, I moved to Shanghai for a 2.5 year assignment.  I have been meaning to share my reflections.  Here they are: I had been working at Los Angeles County Jail for nearly 10 years when my husband’s business plan for a site-based English Language Learning Children’s business in China got funded …

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For Teens With Bulimia, Family Based Treatment is Recommended

Teens With Bulimia Family Based Treatment

My original eating disorder training began in 1991 with learning Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for bulimia nervosa (BN) under G. Terence Wilson, the co-author with Dr. Christopher G. Fairburn, of the treatment approach that preceded CBT-E. In 2010 I underwent training in Family Based Treatment (FBT) for Adolescent Anorexia Nervosa (AN) and became certified in …

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I’m not the villain! My side of the story… by Starch

Starch- My Side of The Story- The Importance of Starch in Eating Disorder Recovery [Image description: drawing of a slice of bread with feet and a pirate hat and eye patch] Represents the misaligned food group

On Dietary Starch in Eating Disorder Recovery Guest Post By Katie Grubiak, RDN Hey, I have something to say! Don’t forget my importance! Although maligned by Atkins and many others, I’m not really the bad guy. I am Starch This is why, I, Starch, Am Good And Necessary: I contain the falsely feared primary energy …

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