The Balanced Mind Counseling, LLC

SOURCE: “Nine Truths” is based on Dr. Bulik’s 2014 “9 Eating Disorders Myths Busted” talk at the National Institute of Mental Health.***

Dr. Bulik said, “The single best way to fight stigma is with truths.

The more we know and understand about eating disorders the better we can support those we care and love.

Which one suprised you the most?

🌿 Want to provide support for a loved one suffering from an eating disorder? I offer family therapy in addition to individual therapy for eating disorders.

🌿 Not sure where to start? Click on the link in my bio for a free 15 minutes consultation

👉🏽Follow@balancemindcounseling for tips and information on mental health

You might be asking yourself :” If I give up my Ed, who will I be?”
“what will be special about me if I am no longer this ot that?”

Who will you be if you feel empty inside?

Who will you be outside of your eating disorder?

These questions are all valid

Enter “parts work” where you explore and pay attention to all the parts living inside you while finding your SELF.

🌿 Want to discover your true Self and break free from your Eating disorder? I help individuals heal from their eating disorder through therapy.

🌿 Not sure where to start? Click on the link in my bio for a free 15 minutes consultation

👉🏽Follow@balancemindcounseling for tips and information on mental health

Thank you for sending me signals for when we need to
😴 rest
🤸🏾‍♂️move
🛝play
🥗🍩 eat
🎶sing
and most importantly TAKE SPACE

You rock 💚

Have you thanked your body yet?

👉🏽Follow@balancemindcounseling for tips and information on eating disorders and disordered eating

Maybe you are restling with the idea that: you will be laughed at if you were to be vulnerable about your true relationship with food and your body

Maybe you are struggling to validate your struggle because we live in a culture that perpetuates the thin ideals and equates food with morality

If it was a friend would you have dismissed them?

Chances are you have perfectionistic traits and a part of you is supporting the idea that indeed your symptoms are not strong enough

I’m here to tell you right now hanging a symptom is enough

🌿 Want to break free from constantly thinking and obsessing over food and calories? I help deconstruct the societal ideals that are keeping you stick in the viscous cycle of yo yo dieting with evidence based interventions.

🌿 Not sure where to start? Click on the link in my bio for a free 15 minutes consultation

👉🏽Follow@balancemindcounseling for tips and information on mental health

Chances are when you decided you wanted to diet you also decided to move your body more, drink more water, hang out with your friends, relax, and plenty of other forms of self care.
They don’t have to get out of the window when dieting does.

💚

🌿 Want to break free from constantly thinking and obsessions over food and calories? I help deconstruct the societal ideals that are keeping you stuck in the viscous cycle of yo yo dieting with evidence based interventions.

🌿 Not sure where to start? Click on the link in my bio for a free 15 minutes consultation

👉🏽Follow@balancemindcounseling for tips and information on mental health

Thank you for keeping my heart beating and allowing me to witness a sunset this morning 💚

It’s easy to forget what our bodies do for us and focus on its imperfections.

🔎Objectifying our bodies increases negative body image.

🧘🏽‍♀️Body functionality increases body trust, respect and appreciation.

💚

🌿 Want to break free from poor body image.I help deconstruct the societal ideals that are keeping you stuck in the viscous cycle of yo yo dieting with evidence based interventions.

🌿 Not sure where to start? Click on the link in my bio for a free 15 minutes consultation

👉🏽Follow@balancemindcounseling for tips and information on mental health

You deserve to be free
You deserve to recover

You will stop responding to your brain’s rage against recovery
You will learn to trust your body again

🌿 Want to break free from the bo***ge of your ED? I offer counseling services for individuals struggling with body image eating disorders and disordered eating.

🌿 Not sure where to start? Click on the link in my bio for a free 15 minutes consultation

🌿Follow for tips and information on mental health

🤯Thinking about the past
🤯Stressing over the future will not change the task in front of you
🧘🏽‍♀️Pay attention to what you are doing ( feel the water on your hands, Watch the steam from the stove, smell your favortive fragrance ( if of course covid hasn’t taken that from you 😬)

What to do when your thoughts automatically come up
💭Notice them
🎈Imagibe them to be balloons floating
🦋 or butterflies floating

just notice them vs engaging with them

This will remain a practice over time , your body will thank you

I’m curious, Do you find yourself thinking about something completely different during a task to the point of forgetting the task at hand?

Lmk in the comments

Select Your Tags

Join me as we celebrate Nutrition all month.

I am so grateful to all the wonderful registered dietitians who’s collaboration are at the center of all of my clients recovering from eating disorders, disordered eating and negative body image.

Be careful who you trust with your nutrition counseling.

Registered dietitians are highly trained and are regulated to provide these services . According to their training include :
1. Bachelors degree from an accredited university in nutrition and dietetics
2. Year long clinical internship
3. Passing a rigorous board exam
4. Continuing education

I am constantly learning from their expertise and enjoying food ( all kinds of food) with them 💚

Thank you for carrying me through my pregnancies
Thank you for knowing what to do on the inside after delivery
Thank you for providing liquid gold for my babies
Thank you for allowing me to hug them and kiss them and discipline them
📷

I hope you take some time this week to thank your body 💚
It does so much for you!

🌿 Want to improve your relationship with your body?

🌿 Not sure where to start? Click on the link in my bio for a free 15 minutes consultation

🌿Follow for tips and information on mental health

Weight does not indicate whether someone is alive or dead. Dictionary.com defines weight as the force that gravitation exerts upon a body, equal to the mass of the body times the local acceleration of gravity.

Example of vitals are

* blood pressure 🩸🩺🫀
* heart rate ﮩ٨ـﮩﮩ٨ـ♡ﮩ٨ـﮩﮩ٨ـ
* temperature 🌡

Trying to separate your attachment to the scale? Those are some good arguments towards that part of you still attached to it.

**Want more? Link in bio for a free 15 min consultation **

Affirmation for today:

My body is an instrument, not an ornament.

After 5 years of internship, delivering babies, not sleeping and breastfeeding ( all things my wonderful body supported me through) I am making time for what I was made to do: singing & worshiping with my church.

What is one thing you believe you were made for?



I’m nervous and excited all at once but guess what I’m not thinking about how my body looks during the experience because

According to studies and stats on website there is great discrimination coming from health care providers around the stereotypes associated with eating disorders.

“When presented with IDENTICAL CASE STUDIES demonstrating disordered eating symptoms in white, Hispanic and Black woman, clinicians were asked to identify if the woman’s eating behavior was problematic.

-44% identified the white woman’s behavior as problematic
-44% identified the Hispanic woman’s behavior as problematic
-Only 17% identified the Black woman’s behavior as problematic.

🤯

Y’a un probléme

There is a problem !

The importance of representation is major here. Familiarity with different cultures is also imperative.

🌿 Want to break free from the bo***ge of your ED? I offer counseling services for individuals struggling with body image eating disorders and disordered eating.

🌿 Not sure where to start? Click on the link in my bio for a free 15 minutes consultation

🌿Follow for tips and information on mental health

How do you know if you’re ready to go out and socialize?

How can you ask for support?

What if you’re not ready?

I’m answering all these questions on my new blog post.

Click on the link in bio to read

💚Share with someone

📈According to research this concept is key in developing positive body image (Alleva, Martijn et al., 2015).

Body functionality refers to everything that the body is able to do: physically🏃🏾‍♀️internally 🌯🥙creatively 🎨,communicating 🗣 & sensory ✋🏾.

Drop a emoji representing what you are happy your body allows you to do.

For me it’s : 🎶🎵🎤 Singing and 🫂 hugging my babies 💚💚

📣 We can’t talk about mental health without social justice

Breathing exercise and therapeutic modalities are not the only answer if someone has no access to care, if someone is marginalized, a victim of racism, sexism and so on.

Having a passion for treating individuals with Eating Disorders Disordered Eating and mood disorders goes beyond the therapy room.

It’s present on my social media feed,
and in my conversations.

Celebrating today made me reflect on the privilege I have to be a therapist but also the right to be an advocate for mental health.

Just because your feed is loaded with messages about “new year new you” doesn’t mean that you have to follow.

🎉You can set your intentions for this year. by asking your self the following: what brings me joy, energy, love , grace , compassion?

🎉In what areas have you seen real growth this past year?

🎉How can you make space for this type of growth to continue?

🌿Follow for tips and information on mental health

Go ahead sis , add that bread to the sandwich or the pasta to the meatballs.
Carbs are not the enemy diet culture is.

4 tips to create the holiday experience YOU want. Keyword YOU.
Link🔗 in bio & stories 💚

🖋 Having a diagnosis can feel empowering because you can now call what you are with by name
🧬 We humans love to identify and name everything around and within us
💚A diagnosis can provide a sense of indentity

Once you start recovery letting go of that identity can be hard

🧅Peeling off the layers and finding who you truly are can help with letting ho of your old identity

🌿 Want to break free from the bo***ge of your ED? I offer counseling services for individuals struggling with body image eating disorders and disordered eating.

🌿 Not sure where to start? Click on the link in my bio for a free 15 minutes consultation

🌿Follow for tips and information on mental health

Remember you’re worth.

One mishap doesn’t dictate the whole outcome.

You are worthy of healing.

🌿 Want to break free from the bo***ge of your ED? I offer counseling services for individuals struggling with body image eating disorders and disordered eating.

🌿 Not sure where to start? Click on the link in my bio for a free 15 minutes consultation

🌿Follow for tips and information on mental health

Have you ever wondered how it can be so hard to change our beliefs about something even when the facts are right in front of us?

👀It’s because we also see with our brains and not only with our eyes.

We could argue all day about the color of the dress, remember the one from 2015? And some still see it blue some see it white and gold.

Changing the story we believe about ourselves or parts of ourselves is key to healing.

❤️‍🩹 follow & share

**This toxic workplace **

Walk the other way.

I’ve been there. I am a therapist and yet during my internship I worked in certain environments that were toxic.

I would have panic attacks at night , poor self care due to the expectations and pressure I placed on myself to meet them.

Thank God I decided to leave. I’ve also worked in environments with co-workers who provided a space for me to feel heard and seen you know who you are!

These were my red flags. I hope you can recognize yours and be bold enough to make the right decision for you.

Cheers!

🚩

🌿Follow for tips and information on mental health

One does not to invalidate the other.

When the invalidation persists always ask:

What belief is this supporting?

What would be different?

Maybe there would be no room for comparison? Envy? Jealousy? Secrets?

According to research perfectionism play a critical role in the development and maintenance of eating disorders.

Letting go of perfectionism is a key step in helping you recover from your eating disorder.

Perfectionism tend to support the idea that your worth is tied to your performance.

🌿 Not sure where to start? Click on the link in my bio for a free 15 minutes consultation

🌿Follow for tips and information on mental health

Self disclosure : in honor of world mental health day, your therapist is revealing 4 ways she is taking of her mental well being.

I realize how different this might look like for a lot of us based on our ressources, needs and abilities.

I am glad that the world is recognizing more and more the necessity for mental health, I am also saddened that some communities are still lacking the proper care, advocacy and ressources.

Using this platform is one way I that I chose to advocate for better mental health care reforms and
conversations about Mental health.

🌿 Not sure where to start? Click on the link in my bio for a free 15 minutes consultation

🌿Follow for tips and information on mental health

When I tell someone I work with Eating Disorders their response varies from :”first world problem to white people problem”.

To say that I get furious is an understatement. My experience alone has taught me otherwise.

I grew up in a country considered to be a “third world country” and watched girls struggle with their body image, chronic dieting & exercising , develop eating disorders as a result of food insecurities ,trauma or yo-yo dieting.

The media has constantly portrayed the image of someone with an Eating Disorder as white, female in a particular body type.

Yet research has shown that eating disorders don’t discriminate and that Black teenagers are 50% more likely to engage in bulimic behaviors such as binging and purging.

The same research goes on to show that when hispanics and black females come forward with their symptoms providers are less likely to believe that they are sick.

This is mind boggling and reinforces the narrative that one must look a certain in order to be considered .

🌿 Want to break free from the bo***ge of your ED? I offer counseling services for individuals residing in Florida , struggling with body image eating disorders and disordered eating.

🌿 Ready to start healing? Click on the link in my bio to book a free 15 minutes consultation

🌿Follow for tips and information on mental health

Fill the blank: hairdresser, manicurist, best friend, cousin , sister , friend.
If you had a broken bone you would be heading to the ER or the nearest Dr. If you are stuck with a mental illness call a therapist.
They will know how to will know what to do to help you figure out why you are stuck.

🌿 Tired of being stuck ? I offer counseling services for women of color struggling with body image issues , eating disorders and disordered eating (aka yo-yo dieting)

🌿 Not sure where to start? Click on the link in my bio for a free 15 minutes consultation

🌿Follow for tips and information on mental health