It may seem odd that an eating disorder could teach you something, but that's exactly what happens in recovery. Remember, an eating disorder is a constellation of symptoms or behaviors that reflect how you learned to manage the ups and downs of life. Through no fault of your own, you became fixated on food and weight in your best effort to take care of yourself and, therefore, missed out on acquiring essential life skills.
Autonomy, the ability to stand confidently on your own two feet, is one life skill that gets compromised. Sometimes it's because you depend on food or a weight obsession to make yourself feel better, rather than cultivating your own abilities. Other times, frightened of independence, you use your condition as a way to get people to take care of you. You may even believe you're not capable of leaving the nest and hold on to your dysfunction to prove it. Still, other times a parent (or partner) ends up playing out your internal struggle, treating you like a child when you try to be responsible... Read More >>
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Helpful Reading
Life Without Ed
by Jenni Schaefer, with Thom Rutledge
Price: $16.95
By thinking of her eating disorder as a unique personality separate from her own, Jenni Schaefer is able to break up with Ed once and for all...<more info>
Self-Esteem Tools for Recovery
by Lindsey Hall, Leigh Cohn, M.A.T.
Price: $12.95 $10.36
Gain confidence in making decisions, make peace with the past, overcome destructive thoughts and behavior, and live in a state of love and compassion...<more info>
Finding Your Voice
Finding Your Voice through Creativity
by Mindy Jacobson-Levy, Maureen Foy-Tornay
Price: $18.95 $15.16
This is a creative workbook for individuals who want to explore their relationship with food and their bodies in a new way...<more info>
Eating in the Light of the Moon
by Anita Johnson, PhD
Price: $16.95 $13.56
Reading this book is an enlightening experience! Weaving a rich tapestry of multicultural myths, ancient legends, and simple folktales, Anita Johnston teaches women how to free themselves from disordered eating...<more info>
Goodbye Ed, Hello Me
by Jenni Schaefer
Price: $16.95
This much anticipated follow-up to Life Without Ed explains what it is like to be "fully recovered" from an eating disorder...<more info>
The Food & Feelings Workbook
by Karen R. Koenig, LCSW, M.Ed
Price: $18.95 $15.16
In this workbook, Koenig interweaves discussion with mindful, reflective exercises to show readers how to identify, experience, and learn from feelings...<more info>
Beating Ana
by Shannon Cutts
Price: $14.95
This book presents this familiar concept as a new and valid one for enhancing the treatment of eating disorders, by highlighting how the same approach cured the author of her fifteen-year battle with anorexia and bulimia...<more info>
Telling ED No!
Cheryl Kerrigan
Price: $15.95
This unique, accessible guide has more than 100 practical recovery tools for facing and conquering your eating disorder. It's perfect for those times when you need immediate support, ideas, or just plain encouragement...<more info>
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