The Eating Disorder Therapist

In this episode, I offer an alternative approach to getting beach body ready, which focuses on mental health and wellbeing. I hope that you find it helpful.   Harriet's Substack: https://substack.com/@theeatingdisordertherapist   Harriet Frew's current offers: - Online 10 Steps to Intuitive Eating Course https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/online-courses.html Online Breaking Free from Bulimia  https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/bulimia-nervosa-online-course.html Eating Disorders Training for Professionals https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/eating-disorders-training-with-harriet-frew.html Body Image Training for Professionals https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/body-image-training-with-harriet-frew.html  

If you’re recovering from an eating disorder, you might well desire to eat all the foods that you have been depriving yourself of, as a rebellion against the restriction or dieting fatigue. You may have an all or nothing relationship with food. You’re either being super-healthy and good, or chaotic and devouring everything in sight. Maybe you binge on ‘bad foods’ that you would normally forbid yourself. In recovery, it’s helpful to move towards permitting all these foods into your eating plan. This doesn’t mean eating donuts for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Or throwing health goals out of the window. It’s about embracing food neutrality and taking food off the pedestal of maximal pleasure. It’s possible to achieve healthy eating (not orthorexic eating!), whilst honouring taste, satisfaction and pleasure. Understandably, you might not know where to start. This podcast episode will give your practical steps to make this possible. I hope that you find it helpful.   Harriet's Substack: https://substack.com/@theeatingdisordertherapist   Harriet Frew's current offers: - Online 10 Steps to Intuitive Eating Course https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/online-courses.html Online Breaking Free from Bulimia  https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/bulimia-nervosa-online-course.html Eating Disorders Training for Professionals https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/eating-disorders-training-with-harriet-frew.html Body Image Training for Professionals https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/body-image-training-with-harriet-frew.html  

Binge eating is not simply scoffing an extra biscuit, with your morning coffee break. Instead, it involves eating fast, an extremely large amount of food (more than you would eat for lunch or dinner), and usually in secret. It can feel like a dissociative or ‘out of body’ experience. You are fully present and grounded on earth, but it feels as if demon has swept over you and taken all rational decision making away. Binge eating can fleetingly be euphoric and pleasurable. This is short-lived before guilt, shame and self-loathing descend like a dark cloud. Plus, the physical consequences of feeling over-full are deeply unpleasant and sometimes painful. Binge eating can happen across the different eating disorders and within disordered eating. You might have anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder or OSFED (Other Specified Feeding and Eating Disorder). Or you may not fit neatly into a diagnostic box. Fundamentally, if you are bingeing and your symptoms are causing you distress, you are worthy of support and help. In this episode, I discuss 5 emotions that drive binge eating and how to cope differently.   Harriet's Substack: https://substack.com/@theeatingdisordertherapist   Harriet Frew's current offers: - Online 10 Steps to Intuitive Eating Course https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/online-courses.html Online Breaking Free from Bulimia  https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/bulimia-nervosa-online-course.html Eating Disorders Training for Professionals https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/eating-disorders-training-with-harriet-frew.html Body Image Training for Professionals https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/body-image-training-with-harriet-frew.html    

Therapy has the potential to transform your life in immeasurable ways. It can offer a wonderful container for much change and personal growth. Your therapist’s competency and skills are a hugely important part in this process. But therapy is not a passive process. You can influence your experience and outcomes greatly. By taking responsibility and being an active participant in the journey, you have much to gain. Here I share some thoughts about how to squeeze the maximum juice and value from your therapy experience.   Harriet's Substack: https://substack.com/@theeatingdisordertherapist   Harriet Frew's current offers: - Online 10 Steps to Intuitive Eating Course https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/online-courses.html Online Breaking Free from Bulimia  https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/bulimia-nervosa-online-course.html Eating Disorders Training for Professionals https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/eating-disorders-training-with-harriet-frew.html Body Image Training for Professionals https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/body-image-training-with-harriet-frew.html  

In this episode, I explore embodying the inspiration of role models in recovery. I hope that you enjoy it.   Harriet's Substack: https://substack.com/@theeatingdisordertherapist   Harriet Frew's current offers: - Online 10 Steps to Intuitive Eating Course https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/online-courses.html Online Breaking Free from Bulimia  https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/bulimia-nervosa-online-course.html Eating Disorders Training for Professionals https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/eating-disorders-training-with-harriet-frew.html Body Image Training for Professionals https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/body-image-training-with-harriet-frew.html  

In this episode, I share my experiences of working as a therapist in an NHS adult eating disorder inpatient service for anorexia nervosa. I hope that you find it helpful.   Harriet's Substack: https://substack.com/@theeatingdisordertherapist   Harriet Frew's current offers: - Online 10 Steps to Intuitive Eating Course https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/online-courses.html Online Breaking Free from Bulimia  https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/bulimia-nervosa-online-course.html Eating Disorders Training for Professionals https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/eating-disorders-training-with-harriet-frew.html Body Image Training for Professionals https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/body-image-training-with-harriet-frew.html    

How to actually love yourself? If you’re on the body image healing road, you’ve probably been told multiple times, by multiple people that you simply need to love yourself. That your desire for thinness is a marker of not feeling good enough and that you’re seeking scraps of worthiness through conforming towards the ‘body ideal’. When I was in the dreary depths of bulimia, wise people would often dispense this advice to me with noble intentions. I would placatingly nod my head, whilst secretly rolling my eyes and having zero understanding of how to do this. It felt like some ephemeral, nice-to-have fluffy concept. Self-love is sadly not a quick fix pill, rather a life-long journey that needs regular cultivation and attention. And it’s an important journey to take. Otherwise, the miserable alternative is neurotic self-preoccupation and judgement. It can’t be firmly rooted with a luxury bubble bath or spa visit, although these delights might be sprinkles on the top, of a cup filled fully. A truly self-loving relationship offers an internal fortitude of peace and contentment. It vastly improves your relationships, romantic and otherwise. It allows the possible fulfilment and deep appreciation of work and hobbies. It allows you to form a haven inside of yourself. In this episode, I explore how to navigate this self-love process with some practical steps for change. If you’re stuck in the dreary depths of self-loathing and compare-and-despair, then this podcast might be just what you need.   Harriet's Substack: https://substack.com/@theeatingdisordertherapist   Harriet Frew's current offers: - Online 10 Steps to Intuitive Eating Course https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/online-courses.html Online Breaking Free from Bulimia  https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/bulimia-nervosa-online-course.html Eating Disorders Training for Professionals https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/eating-disorders-training-with-harriet-frew.html Body Image Training for Professionals https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/body-image-training-with-harriet-frew.html  

Compulsive exercise is not joyful. It has become a weary, punishing ‘should’ to endure despite injury and bone-weary exhaustion. You cannot stop. Your sanity depends on completing the next workout and achieving your step count. It’s rigid and time robbing of precious life moments. You rely on exercise to earn your meals and to give you permission to eat. It is a distraction from difficult emotions. It’s intricately linked to weight control and body image. It’s more than psychological. When you are restricting your food intake, the brain chemical, leptin is significantly reduced. This drives the urge to be active and move. It’s a survival mechanism in human beings which would have kept us alive in scarce times gone by. Activity can be happening in different forms. You may be openly and deliberately engaging in activities such as gym sessions or swimming. Or you may have become secretive in increasing your exercise through additional pacing around the house, when no-one is there. Or standing for long periods rather than comfortably sitting down. Or you may have joined more than one gym so you can do extra sessions without prompting concern from staff. You may feel confused about the healthiness of your exercise. In a world that praises constant movement and screams forcefully about the fear of eating too much, you may well be validated for your extreme regime, viewed as ‘the fit person’, as others do not understand your internal torture and compulsion. In this episode, I explore signs that your relationship with movement may be unhealthy with practical steps for change. I hope that you find it helpful.   Harriet's Substack: https://substack.com/@theeatingdisordertherapist   Harriet Frew's current offers: - Online 10 Steps to Intuitive Eating Course https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/online-courses.html Online Breaking Free from Bulimia  https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/bulimia-nervosa-online-course.html Eating Disorders Training for Professionals https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/eating-disorders-training-with-harriet-frew.html Body Image Training for Professionals https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/body-image-training-with-harriet-frew.html  

An episode all about learning to self-soothe and developing self-compassion. I hope that you find it helpful.   Harriet's Substack: https://substack.com/@theeatingdisordertherapist   Harriet Frew's current offers: - Online 10 Steps to Intuitive Eating Course https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/online-courses.html Online Breaking Free from Bulimia  https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/bulimia-nervosa-online-course.html Eating Disorders Training for Professionals https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/eating-disorders-training-with-harriet-frew.html Body Image Training for Professionals https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/body-image-training-with-harriet-frew.html  

An eating disorder can become an integral part of your identity and this can leave you feeling stuck and powerless. In this episode, I share my own experiences of recovery and detachment from the ed identity. I explore how identity can be challenging to shift but how there are practical ways to do this. I hope that you enjoy the episode. Harriet's Substack: https://substack.com/@theeatingdisordertherapist   Harriet Frew's current offers: - Online 10 Steps to Intuitive Eating Course https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/online-courses.html Online Breaking Free from Bulimia  https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/bulimia-nervosa-online-course.html Eating Disorders Training for Professionals https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/eating-disorders-training-with-harriet-frew.html Body Image Training for Professionals https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/body-image-training-with-harriet-frew.html