Eating disorders cover a range of eating-related difficulties and can include restricting the amount of food you eat, maintaining a low bodyweight, eating very large quantities at once or using unhealthy means of ridding yourself of calories such as self-induced vomiting, laxative misuse, fasting or excessive exercise. You may identify with one or a number of the following eating disorder descriptions and their symptoms, which illustrates how each individual’s eating disorder can be quite unique. In addition, losing or gaining significant amounts of weight may further compound the difficulties associated with having an eating disorder and lead to challenges such as pain, reduced mobility and other health complications. Informed by evidence-based treatment protocols, I subsequently tailor my approach to you and follow a weight inclusive rather than weight normative approach to well-being. With your consent, I will work as a team with you, your GP and, where appropriate, a registered dietician to help you develop a more peaceful relationship with both your body and food, thus enabling you to feel more in control of your health, your wellbeing, and your life.
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I am a Health at Every Size advocate, which means that I celebrate body diversity and honour differences in size as well as all other differences in human attributes.
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Binge Eating Behaviours
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A binge can be described as eating a very large amount of food in a short space of time, usually in an impulsive manner and with a sense of being out of control of one’s behaviour. During a binge, a person may eat very rapidly to the point of feeling extremely uncomfortable, and this is often followed by feelings of shame, guilt, remorse and embarrassment because of the overeating.
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Binge eating behaviours cover a range of eating patterns including emotional eating and binge eating disorder (or compulsive overeating). Emotional eating tends to occur in response to stressful situations to help people manage emotionally. Binge eating disorder tends to be more embedded in the sufferer’s life, with more frequently occurring binge episodes and a greater sense of being out of control of eating behaviour. Some sufferers will notice a feeling of being distanced from their body during a binge, and anxiety, depression and profound struggles with body image are often associated.
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Having worked in an NHS Tier 3 weight management service for the past three years, and with a decade of experience in the health and fitness industry prior to that, I have a particular passion for working with people who struggle with their weight and eating behaviour. I will help you to explore how the cultural and scientific assumptions have shaped your relationship with food and your body, so that you can start to develop a more attuned and peaceful experience of both.
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Bulimia
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People with bulimia often find themselves caught in a vicious cycle of eating large quantities of food and then trying to compensate for that overeating by vomiting, taking laxatives or diuretics, fasting or exercising excessively. It is common for sufferers to experience feelings of guilt and shame as well as having an extremely critical self-view, particularly with regards to their weight and shape. Therapy can help you to step out of the vicious cycle of bingeing and purging and reconnect with the things that are most important to you in life.
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