If you’re reading this, you, or someone you love, probably has a complicated relationship with food, and likely for a long time.

Eating disorders are complex mental health conditions that involve disturbances in eating behaviours and thoughts related to food, weight, and/or body image. At any given time, about 840,000 to 1,750,000 people in Canada have enough symptoms to qualify for an eating disorder. Compared to other mental health disorders, eating disorders are under-researched and not very well understood by people in general. There’s a lot of stigma that prevents individuals from seeking care (like thinking it’s a disorder of young teenage girls or thinking that you have to be skinny to have an eating disorder). Eating disorders are serious health conditions and can affect anyone, regardless of age, gender, race, ability, or weight. Because of harmful misconceptions about eating disorders, too many people are told that they either do not have an eating disorder or aren’t sick enough despite having the signs and symptoms of an eating disorder. 

My approach to disordered eating is to focus on why this has happened and continues to happen, work towards preventing dangerous health consequences, and address any underlying issues that may be contributing to or aggravating behaviours, like nutritional deficiencies, eating patterns, difficulty sleeping, or even symptoms of another health issue that could be making an eating disorder worse, like anxiety, IBS, or menopause.

Disordered eating patterns are incredibly complex and often involve a history of feeling guilt or shame about eating and body image starting from a very early age. I recognize that no magic pill, superfood, or supplement will take it away. Whether you think about food all the time, binge, restrict, or purge to cope with your emotions, or if what you eat or your weight affects your feelings of self-worth, reach out to see if I’m a good fit to be a part of your team and address your health concerns whether they are related to your eating disorder or not.