In my experience, recovery from an eating disorder involves more than ‘just eating’. Although eating is essential to recovery, challenging unhelpful thoughts and behaviours, developing healthier strategies for coping with life stressors, establishing healthy practices around self-care and sleep, and building strong and healthy relationships are perhaps equally important. Resources that have helped me in each of these areas are included within the various categories of this menu. Below is a link to each one along with a brief explanation of that which it contains.

♥ Understanding Eating Issues – a brief introduction with links to further information.
♥ Understanding Recovery and Change – an overview of definitions and phases of eating disorder recovery; various stages of readiness for change; accepting recovery is a non-linear process; understanding lapses and relapses; and tips and tricks to support recovery.
♥ The Sisterhood of Recovery – a collection of humorous, reflective, and personally experienced quotes and letters from your recovery sisters.
♥ Eating – because food cannot be avoided when talking about recovery, this section includes definitions of normal eating; meal and menu planning strategies; an overview of RAVES; top tips for meal completion and eating; and meal support (including a preview of the Meal Support book which is designed to promote collaboration and communication between those who would like practical and emotional support and those who are supporting them, to ensure the most effective meal support possible).
♥ Coping Strategies and Well-Being – the importance of identifying needs and recognising feelings and discovering healthier ways of meeting and expressing these; identifying the underlying beliefs and thoughts that impact feelings; tools for dealing with unpleasant feelings and intrusive and distressing thoughts, images and self-talk; the importance of sleep; the benefits of journaling; strategies for self-nurture; alternatives to self-harm; and the value of Goal Setting.
♥ Inspo – the importance of retraining your brain by replacing the old ‘thinspo/thinspiration’ images and quotes that fuel the eating disorder with positive, healthy messages that encourage and motivate you towards recovery-oriented thinking and action.

Recovery IS possible and IS worth it! It is a holistic, transformational process that brings life…a life worth living. I wish you all the best in your journey and really hope that some of the resources I have developed throughout my journey will support you in yours.