Eating Disorders & Body Image

What if food didn't have to be so complicated?

You spend a lot of time thinking about what you should eat, how much you should eat, or what you need to do to make up for something you've eaten.

You have rules about which foods are okay, when you're allowed to eat, or how your body is supposed to look. And even when you follow those rules, you don't necessarily feel any better.

Eating can feel out of control. Or you spend so much energy trying to stay in control that there's little room left to enjoy food.

What would it be like if food could take up less space in your mind?

If eating could be something you enjoy rather than something you fear? If your body could be one part of who you are, rather than the thing that determines how you feel about yourself?

Whose rules are you following?

We learn a lot about food and bodies long before we get to decide what we actually believe.

From our families, our partners, our communities, and the culture around us, we absorb messages about what we should eat, how we should look, and what those choices supposedly say about us.

Some of those messages become rules we rarely think to question.

You've learned that certain foods are bad, that hunger is something to ignore, or that your body needs to look a particular way before you can feel good about yourself.

Over time, it can become difficult to tell the difference between what you actually want and what you've learned you're supposed to want.

I'm interested in helping you get curious about those rules.

Where did they come from? What purpose have they served? Are they helping you live the way you want to live, or are you spending much of your life trying to satisfy expectations that were never really yours?

Having structure around food isn't necessarily a problem. The question is whether that structure serves you.

Making room for a different relationship with food

Food can be a source of pleasure, comfort, connection, and enjoyment.

But when eating becomes tangled up with shame, anxiety, or a constant effort to control yourself, those experiences can be difficult to access.

Your relationship with food can become complicated in all kinds of ways.

You find yourself caught between restriction and eating more than you intended. You feel anxious about eating with other people, disconnected from hunger or fullness, or preoccupied with what eating might mean for your body.

Food becomes something you have to manage rather than something you can enjoy.

Rather than treating these experiences as evidence that you're doing something wrong, I want to understand what's happening.

What feelings come up around eating? What happens when you break a rule? What does food offer you in a difficult moment? What are you afraid might happen if you loosen your grip?

These questions aren't about finding another way to control your behavior. They're about understanding your experience with more curiosity and less judgment.

Your body is part of you. It isn't all of you.

You've spent years thinking about your weight, appearance, or body shape, and it can be difficult to imagine relating to yourself differently.

You know intellectually that your worth isn't determined by your body, but still find that how you feel about yourself changes depending on what you see in the mirror.

I don't think you need to love the way your body looks every day.

I'd rather help you make room for a relationship with your body that doesn't require it to be the most important thing about you.

You're a person with relationships, interests, values, experiences, and a life that extends far beyond your appearance.

Therapy can be a place to explore what it would mean to give those other parts of yourself more room.

How I approach eating disorder therapy

I work with people experiencing a range of eating disorders, disordered eating patterns, and body image concerns. You don't need a formal diagnosis to talk with me about your relationship with food.

My approach begins with curiosity and compassion.

I'm interested in understanding how your relationship with food and your body developed, what you've learned about yourself along the way, and what happens when those beliefs are challenged.

That can involve noticing how harshly you speak to yourself, making room for grief or anger about experiences that shaped your relationship with food, or questioning assumptions you've lived with for years.

I don't expect you to arrive knowing exactly what needs to change. We can take time to understand what's happening before deciding what you want to do differently.

When appropriate, I also collaborate with dietitians and other providers involved in your care. Our work may overlap, and that's okay. We can bring different perspectives to understanding your experience while supporting the goals that matter to you.

I'm not here to tell you what your relationship with food and your body is supposed to look like.

I want to help you develop one that feels more like your own.

Interested in working together?

Whether you're experiencing an eating disorder, struggling with body image, or feeling exhausted by your relationship with food, you're welcome to reach out.

We can talk about what you're experiencing, what you're hoping for, and whether working together might be a good fit.