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Imagine a perfectly still lake. The water is calm and clear enough to reflect everything around it—the trees along the shore, the clouds moving across the sky, the moon and stars at night. The lake doesn’t have to work at reflecting the world. It simply does. Now imagine that someone throws a rock into the water. The surface ripples. The trees become distorted. The reflection of the moon breaks apart. For a moment, it may be impossible to see the world clearly. But here’s the

If you struggle with body image or disordered eating, the mirror can be a difficult place to be. You catch your reflection—and almost immediately, your eyes might go to the part or parts you like the least. You zoom in. You inspect. You judge. And suddenly, those parts can feel like the whole picture. But here’s something worth noticing: you aren’t actually seeing yourself as a whole in that moment. You’re seeing yourself through a very narrow lens. When we look in the mirror

If you are recovering from an eating disorder or struggling with disordered eating and body image, you may be finding the current cultural conversation around weight-loss medications really, really hard. If you are, you’re not alone. The pressure to lose weight—and the idealization of weight loss—is intense right now. Appetite-suppressing medications are widely available, discussed on social media, advertised in our feeds, promoted online, and increasingly common in our socia

We are surrounded by messages telling us how to be healthier. Eat more protein. Cut back on sugar. Exercise more. Track your food. Don’t eat late at night. Avoid processed foods. Lose weight. Optimize your health. Take weight loss drugs. And many of these things can benefit your health. But there is an important question we don’t ask often enough: When does "taking care" of your health stop being healthy? The answer isn’t always found in what we’re doing. Sometimes it’s found

Imagine waking up tomorrow morning. You’re still half asleep, the day just beginning. You walk into the bathroom, catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror… and almost automatically your mind starts its familiar routine. My stomach. My thighs. My arms. My face. I wish this looked different. In those early moments of the day, does your mind start judging your body before you’ve even fully woken up? And if so, would you like a little relief from that? For many people, those tho

Many of us spend a lot of energy trying to follow rigid rules about food, exercise, and how we’re “supposed” to live, leaving us disconnected from the wisdom of our own bodies. Healing begins when we replace those external rules with curiosity. A simple practice—asking, “Was that too little, too much, or just right?”—helps us slow down, tune into our body’s signals, and rebuild trust in the intuition we were born with.

Stress, anxiety, and depression don’t just affect our thoughts—they can also change our appetite and eating behaviors. Instead of viewing these changes as a lack of willpower, we can begin to understand them as normal nervous system responses to emotional distress. This blog explores how developing awareness and responding with curiosity rather than self-criticism can help us better understand what our body truly needs.

Many of the harsh beliefs we hold about our bodies, eating, and worth didn't begin with us. Over time, repeated messages from family, culture, media, and diet culture can become so familiar that they start to sound like our own thoughts. This process, known as internalized weight bias, can shape we see ourselves and care for our bodies.

Just like trying not to picture a pink elephant only makes it more vivid, telling yourself a food is off-limits often gives it more power over your mind, not less. This blog post gently explores how dividing foods into "good" and "bad" can backfire, turning ordinary foods into sources of guilt, fear, and constant mental chatter.

Recovery from disordered eating involves more than changing behaviors—it also means learning to work with the thoughts that fuel shame, body dissatisfaction, and food struggles. In this blog, you’ll learn a simple tool for recognizing when a thought is pulling you “upstream” toward self-criticism and getting stuck, versus “downstream” toward self-compassion, self-respect, and care. Through a brief body-based exercise, you’ll discover how to notice and shift the impact of your

What if your appetite isn't broken? What if you've just become disconnected from it? This post explores how our natural, body-attuned relationship with food often gets disrupted by stressful lifestyles, restrictive dieting, emotional eating patterns, and high-reward food. It offers a step toward naturalizing the relationship with food by reconnecting with your body's hunger and fullness cues.

Eating disorder specialist Alison Ross normalizes setbacks in recovery, reframing them as vital opportunities for growth. She empowers individuals to use these challenges to deepen their insight, build practical skills, enhance self-care, and confidently take the next steps on their healing journey.

Eating disorders affect the whole family, not just the individual. Through family systems theory, we can uncover the deeper patterns at play and create space for healing—not blame. Our latest blog by Lindsay Hall, AMFT, dives into how one person's struggle affects the entire family system and how understanding your family's connections can lead to lasting recovery.

"I’m not here to shame anyone for using appetite suppressants like Ozempic or Wegovy. Your body is your business. For some people, these...

Eating disorder therapist Lindsay Hall writes about how to create a body-positive home environment for teens.

Neurofeedback brainwave training helps Clara recover from disordered eating and body image stress.

By: Alison Ross, LMFT, CEDS When my son was just five years old, he came home from school one day and asked, "Mom, are calories bad?" It...

By: Alison Ross, LMFT, CEDS Selena Gomez just bravely opened up about the pressure of living in the spotlight, constantly being judged...

Navigating the Ozempic Craze in Eating Disorder Recovery By: Alison Ross, LMFT, CEDS As an eating disorder specialist, I'm navigating the...

Navigating the Ozempic Craze in Eating Disorder Recovery By: Alison Ross, LMFT, CEDS If you or someone you care about is in recovery from...