There are a multitude of aspects, behaviours and attitudes that are helpful to adopt when supporting someone through either living with, or recovering from an eating disorder, however, there is also one vital factor to not forget – and that is to try and live your life as normally and fully as you can with… Read More You Got Me, Yeah?: 10. Don’t Forget To Live

There have been times of confusion within myself in regards to understanding what recovery from an eating disorder is, and is not. It is important here to be realistic. Recovery is definitely possible, if you have a realistic expectation and acceptance of what that means for you. For me, it meant not having a dire… Read More You Got My Back, Yeah?: 9. What Recovery Is, and Is Not.

When suffering from an eating disorder, even facts can form the twisted distortions of reality. Especially as there is an over-abundance of food and healthy eating myths plaguing the Internet and mass media. Some of them can be taken out of proportion and extenuated to facilitate and justify eating disordered behaviours. Others are entirely false… Read More You Got My Back, Yeah?: 8. You Still Need to Eat: Leading By Healthy Example

I hated myself. I hated the way I looked, the way I spoke, the way I thought, the way I felt. Everything, if there was something about yourself that could be hated, I hated it about myself. I wasn’t good enough, I was too much, too annoying, fat, idiotic. I wasn’t talented and all my… Read More You Got My Back, Yeah?: 7. Affirming Truths and Healing

I wasn’t spoken about as if I wasn’t there. I didn’t have decisions made for me, on my behalf without being informed. I was consulted about my care plans with the healthcare workers that helped the most, and who I ultimately trusted the most. I was respected, treated as a whole because yes, I had… Read More You Got My Back, Yeah?: 6. Being Treated Wholly

Eating disorders are secretive illnesses. They thrive in secrecy and breed behind the closed doors of silence. However, secrecy and privacy are separated by a fine line, which was respected. I had diaries within which my thoughts, calculations, graphs – whatever I was using to document, chart and fulfil my obsession with food and weight… Read More You Got My Back, Yeah?: 5. Privacy Vs Secrecy

I wasn’t allowed to binge and purge in front of her. I wasn’t allowed to purge when she was in the house if I could help it (sometimes this didn’t work so well in practice). I wasn’t allowed to not eat all day. I wasn’t allowed to work out too strenuously or often. I wasn’t… Read More You Got My Back, Yeah?: 4. Boundary Control