Recovery Starts with You

Everyone’s body has Different needs to fuel itself. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

❗️Let’s stop the chats about diets because you never know if what you’re saying could be harming someone’s relationship with food or their body. 💙🥰

❗️ instead let’s be honest about our journey and relationships with food. I’m not a dietitian, so I hope to spread awareness by sharing my own real life experience with disordered eating and how I switch my mentality to get on the other side of it.💗

❗️ Having a balanced diet and getting in your nutrient dense foods is not the same thing as being on a diet.

❗️The difference is your mentality. An eating disorder mentality is often based in restriction, when a health base mentality can be focused on adding in nutrients and making your body and mind feel the best.🤩
Graphic by Registered Dietitian .iu

I struggled with disordered eating for over 4 years and it wasn’t until I started recovery that I realized how much extra brain space I now have to use for other aspects of my life.🧠🥰💙💚

Graphic by

If I find myself having the urge to restrict my calorie intake or put off eating when I’m hungry, I remind myself that I was not happy at my lowest possible weight. 💙💚

💙If you have to go hungry or not eat for extended periods of time, then that body is not meant for you.👏🏻👏🏻

💚We all have different bone structure and trying to obtain a physique that is not physically possible without surgery or extreme long term restriction is not healthy for your physical or mental health.

💙We don’t want eating to be stressful. It should be enjoyable and if not that it is a way to fuel you’re body so you can get started on the other things you enjoy in life.

💚I can’t tell you how much extra brain space I have this year once I stopped counting calories and obsessing over at what times of day I ate.

Graphic by Registered Dietitian

Under fueling our bodies and going for extended periods of time without eating actually slows down your metabolism.🔥

🛑Dieting teaches our bodies to slow down out metabolism and utilize each calorie much efficiently.

🛑Meaning we would need to eat less calories to maintain our weight.

🛑Diets also teach our bodies to break down muscle tissue that is metabolically active which further slows down our metabolism.

🛑If you have specific dietary preferences you can still do do this while honor your hunger signals.

🛑Our bodies are smart and once we give ourselves the permission to eat when we’re hungry, then we can’t start the process of learning how to eat intuitively.
Graphic by Registered Dietitian

Even if you don’t feel hungry, your body needs fuel.🍳🥑🍎

🔷I’ve never been someone who likes to sit down to have a big breakfast.

🔷I usually eat a protein shake and yummy bars throughout the morning as I get a workout in and attempt to get to class *early.*😅

🔷But that’s just me. Try finding out what foods make you feel your best in the morning.

🔷Even if you don’t feel hungry, break your fast with something small.

🔷Maybe once you start eating you’ll receive you’re actually hungry for more

Photo by Registered Dietitian

Once I got out of the All or Nothing mindset, my whole perspective on health changed🤩

Photo by Registered Dietitian

Our body is very good at telling us when something is amiss.💙💚
Photo by Registered Dietitian

I used to deal with binge eating at night daily.

This is because I was under eating during the day and my body was trying to overcompensate in the evening once I got home.🍕🍕🍕🍨🍨🍨

Now I make sure to bring plenty of snacks with me to my classes and have lots of food is my cabinet.🍎

So that whenever I’m hungry I have fuel for my body and won’t get over hungry and binge.🥪
Photo by Registered Dietitian

Even if we all ate the exact same foods every day at the exact same time, we would still not be the same size!🧍🏼‍♀️

🌴We all know the people who seem like they can eat whatever they want and not work out and still stay thin.
🌳Then why can’t so many of us understand that there are those who exercise and eat a moderate diet but still aren’t considered thin.

🧬Genetics plays a huge part!

🏋🏼‍♀️Fitness has been a big part of my life for about 5 years now, but I was only considered thin when I was miserable and participating in disordered eating and working out 7 days a week.

🚴🏼‍♀️Now I work out 5 days a week because that feels right for my body and I eat when I’m hungry.

🤸🏾‍♀️I a muscular person and I’ve accepted that being naturally thin has never been in my genetics and there’s not point in obsessing over something that wasn’t meant for me.
Photo by Nutritionist

We can’t change our genetics👨‍👩‍👧‍👦

🧬I’ve spent so much wasted time in my life wishing I was had a smaller frame, a thigh gap, taller ect.

🧬These are aspects of myself that I will never be able to change because my bones just weren’t made that way.

🧬So why waste time obsessing on what I cannot change, and instead focus of living a mentally and physically happy life surrounded by people who value you for the Way You Are.☺️

Photo by Registered Dietitian

And just like that, the 2022 National Eating Disorders Week has come to a close!💙💚

🫂 Here are some ways to stay involved in the recovery community throughout the year.

🫂In a couple of months I will be taking part in my first ever in person NEDA walk!🤩

🫂I encourage others in the right headspace to do the same, or join a virtual walk and raise money in your hometown.

Even if your weekend hasn’t been incredibly exciting, I hope you had a peaceful Day 6 of NEDA Awareness week yesterday.

🧊When I was struggling with my disordered eating, I always wanted to fill every second of every day or else I knew I get bored, my body would realize I was hungry and I would start eating.

🧊This was especially true for the weekend, because I wasn’t natural busy all day with school.

🧊My disordered eating didn’t start out as orthorexia but it soon manifested into it, as I started to become obsessed with eating only “healthy” foods.

🧊Adults would compliment me on my willpower and I even remember telling friends that I was going to eat like this forger because “it’s the right thing to do.”

🧊But in truth, I was under eating and had formed an unhealthy relationship with food.
Graphic by Registered Dietitians

As the fifth day of National Eating Disorder Awareness week comes to a close, I wanted remind you all that a number on the scale does not change your value.
💙I used to weigh myself daily but last year I stopped because I realized that how I physically and mentally is worth a lot more than any number.
💚Everyone’s body was built different and height, weight, and genetics are all factors that play into someone’s weight.
💙This is why I encourage everyone to ditch their scales, and in time hopefully you will feel better for it.
Graphic by Phycologist .body.therapist

💪🏻As a women we are often to be small not strong. That we should workout but not get too buff. Too burn tons of calories but not eat to much food. These are all contradictory statements that I heard and seen on social media.
💙As the fourth day of NEDA Awareness week comes to a close, I wanted to talk about triggers.
💚I know some people don’t like this word, because they think that the individual is just being overly sensitive, but I’m here to let you know that it can completely happen.
💙Many times, like today, I get triggering posts in my “for you” page, showing me the exact number of calories someone eats in a day, or before and after pictures of already fit people telling us how they got motivated to get overly thin.
💚These posts aren’t just triggering to me because of my own past struggles, but because I fear of the unhealthy messages that they are putting out there for other impressionable young people to see.
❤️Think long and hard before you post a “fitness” post. Is it uplifting and motivating people to move their bodies? Or is it promoting unnecessary weight loss and eating disorder behaviors?

As the third day of NEDA Awareness week comes to a close, here are some important aspects to remember when supporting someone through recovery. 💙💚

For the Second day of National Eating Disorder Awareness week, I want to share with you all the ways you can help spread awareness in your state and community.

1️⃣Sign up for NEDA Action Alerts to stay up-to-date on the latest calls for legislative action.

2️⃣Share your story to help raise awareness about eating disorders.

3️⃣Contact your lawmakers to pass the Kids Online Saftey Act (KOSA) to create a safe environment online for kids and teenagers.

I hope everyone had good first day of !💙💚

When I was in high school, this used to be me.
☕️I would eat the same tiny breakfast every morning, but a good deal of my calories were coming from my drink so I thought I was eating enough.
☕️Then on the weekends I would go all out eating as many pancakes or waffles as I could get.
☕️This would often lead me to skipping lunch on the weekends and leave me going an extended period of time without food.
☕️ Last year, I started working out in the mornings and now I make sure I always fuel properly throughout with two snacks and a big smoothie afterwards.
☕️I work hard to not let myself go hungry, because I know if I do I will be more likely to binge and be left feeling sick.
Photo by Registered Dietitian .nutritionist

🍳I have always been someone who wakes up in the morning quite hungry.
🍇In the past, I’ve waited too long to eat breakfast and then I get so hungry that I skip making my smoothie bowl and just eat something quick instead, which never fills me up for very long.
🥞I know that a lot of people tell me that they are never hungry in the morning and that’s why they don’t eat breakfast.
🥣I myself may not have to deal with this, but no matter your situation, eating breakfast truly is the best way to start your day.
🥚It gives you fuel for all the other stuff you have to do in the morning.
Photo by Registered Dietitians

How many of you start thinking about your next meal before you’ve even finished the one your currently eating?
I know I have🖐🏻
💙Over the years, as I have myself more freedom around food and stopped counting calories, I didn’t find myself as hungry between meals.
💙I realized that I needed to be eating more and the realized I was always thinking about food was because my body was begging me to feed it.
💙I encourage you all to listen to your body today and honor want it wants.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone out to eat with someone and when looking at the menu they say, I’m going to eat x because
- I “earned it”
- I worked out today
- I ate completely clean today
- I was “good today”
Of course it is good to eat nutritious foods, but thinking that you need to eat “perfect” all day, to enjoy something like a nighttime snack can often make us see food as a reward other than something that provides us joy and fuel.
💓It can take years to heal your relationship with food, but I can tell you that in the end you will thank yourself for working towards it.

I used to have this rule every single day and it was exhausting!😪
🍇Making myself wait until the exact minute it had been x amount of hours since the last time I ate, made my develop a bad relationship with food.
🍇This also got me out of touch with my own hunger cues, as I know sometimes wouldn’t know when I was actually hungry or just bored.
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Photo by Registered Dietitian @

💓Being Anti-Diet is not the same thing as not eating nutritious foods.
💓It’s important to have a balance, as while making sure that you don’t feel restricted.
💓Don’t forget to check in with yourself, to see how your foods make feel mentally and physically.
Photo by Registered Dietitian .mindset.dietitian

We’re over a week into the New Year so here’s a little reminder that you don’t need to go on a diet to find happiness.
✨Instead make peace with food
✨Move your body in ways you enjoy
✨Find new activities that make you happy
Photo by Registered Dietitian .food.rules

It took me many years to stop weighing myself and counting calories, but now I don’t even think about it because I trust my body.🫂
💙I will continue to allow myself to eat whenever I’m hungry.
💚I will no longer force myself to workout when I know my body needs a break.
Photo by Dietitians

This can be one of the hardest parts of recovery, but choosing Self Compassion is the right path!💗✨
Photo by Dietitian

Even if you think you are perfectly “healthy”, not getting your period is a huge red flag🚩
As said by Registered Dietition .freedom.fertility

I know I haven’t been on here in a little bit. My life has changed significantly over the last few months and I took the time to make sure that my lifelong continued recovery would still be possible in this new environment.❤️
Throughout the last year and a half, there were multiple points where I felt like I had fully recovered. But as time went on, I realized that recovery is not a straight line, and some weeks will be better than others. What I can say is, that I am in a much better place with food now than I was this time last year. My goal is to support you all, as you go through your lifelong recovery as well💙💚

Photo by Registered Dietitian

💚When I finally decided I needed to break my disordered eating and obsessive exercise cycle, it was because I knew my life needed to change. It had kept me stuck for so many years, holding me back from being content in life.
💙That is why I choose the title because I thought back to how above all else, my recovery started with me wanting to get better, and yours can too.
💚I am very grateful to everyone who has helped me along the way, and I absolutely recommend getting professional care if it’s needed.
💙But at least for me, the first step in recovery came from me finally realizing that the life I was living wasn’t working and there was a better life out there for me.❤️
Photo by Registered Dietitians

Find the community of people who will help lift you up, and who respect their own bodies as well.👏🏻👏🏻❤️
I know that it can be easy to compare yourself to others especially with social media. If I find that I’m comparing myself with others, I’ll step back from the situation and remind myself that I deserve to be confident in my body even if it doesn’t look like someone else’s.💓

If you’re ever looking for a professional to talk to about this, I have found that many of the dietitians I get my photos from have programs that you’re able to join, in order to help you develop a healthy relationship with food. 💗
Photo by Registered Dietitian .more.guilt