EATING DISORDER Therapy in Minneapolis / Saint Paul and across Minnesota

Eating Disorder Therapist in Minnesota

The eating disorder convinces you you’re in control, but — right now — it’s the one in charge.

The thoughts never stop…..

Thoughts of food, body, weight, shape, never-ending food rules, emptiness, fullness, and health are always there. You feel at war with your body. You wake up hoping today will be different, only to find yourself counting calories, obsessing over body checks, planning your life around food – or the avoidance of it. Every mirror becomes a battleground. Manipulating everything to maintain or achieve the ideal body, the ideal you. And if something interrupts your carefully laid out plan you feel angry and / or anxious.

Or you….

Feel completely out of control with food. You tell yourself you won’t overeat or binge today. But at some point, you begin to eat and before you know it, you have eaten a large amount of food within a short amount of time. You begin to feel immense guilt and shame and for some of you the only option is to get rid of it somehow….the next day you may try to make up for it by restricting all day but by evening find yourself searching for food and before you know it you eat beyond fullness again.

It’s an endless cycle of…..

  • Calorie counting

  • Planning your whole day around food or the absence of it

  • Excessively exercising

  • Endless body checking

  • Restrict / Binge / Purge / Repeat

You want to stop but have no idea how.

Your thoughts quickly turn to obsessions and the thought of gaining weight is terrifying as is the idea of relinquishing your felt sense of control.

Maybe you’ve been to treatment or therapy with no change. You feel totally ashamed and think, “This is just me. I must not have any willpower or self-discipline.”

This is not the life you wanted but are not sure how to change.

Does this sound familiar?

Your relationships suffer, your work fades into the background, and isolation and secrecy become your only comfort.

Your life is not your own and your preoccupation with food and body, weight, and shape are in charge.

Everything feels out of control, and you don’t know what to do or how to stop.

What people don’t understand is if it were simple to “just stop” you would have done that a long time ago. 

What I can tell you from my years working with people who have struggled with eating disorders….. 

IT IS NEVER ABOUT THE FOOD.

People turn to food for comfort, to manage difficult emotions, or to have a felt sense of control in their life.

It is not about the food but about something underneath driving these behaviors. Often it can be traced back to trauma, big T or little T, that has left us feeling broken, disconnected, powerless, and out of control.

Therapy can help you get off this hamster wheel and into a new life of wellness and recovery.

Claim your freedom and make peace with your body.

Life in eating disorder recovery is…..

  • Not defining your self-worth by the number on your scale or the size in your closet.

  • Learning to trust yourself and your choices around food, body, weight, and shape.

  • Increased self-confidence.

  • Experiencing fun and enjoyment with your friends and family.

  • Developing a relationship with your body that is based in acceptance.

It may feel impossible for things to be different. For the preoccupation with food, body, weight, and shape to end; for the shame and hopelessness to fade. But with eating disorder therapy you can begin to know your true worth, and create space for love, kindness, and respect towards yourself. 

In eating disorder therapy, you can…

  • Be seen, heard, and understood.

  • Learn how to slow down, pause and breathe…

  • Realize you do not have to fit into some socially prescribed standard that has been created by diet culture to be accepted… because here is the secret they don’t want you to know… you’ve always been accepted. 

  • Feel more at ease with who you are, and the inner war can finally begin to calm.

  • Begin to feel joy in relationships and notice that the fear and anxiety you once felt in social situations with friends and family is no longer in control.

You can learn to trust your body and your relationship with food and be exactly who you were meant to be.

Therapy for eating disorders can help you….

  • Reduce unwanted behaviors.

  • Decrease shame and rebuild confidence.

  • Reconnect with your body and trust its cues.

  • Set boundaries with self-compassion.

  • Restore relationships and joy.

You don’t have to live with the chaos and shame.

You can heal – and thrive!

Change is possible.

Change is possible.

Questions?

FAQs

  • Anorexia Nervosa; Bulimia; Binge Eating Disorder; Chronic dieting; Orthorexia.

  • If you find yourself having a preoccupation with food — eating as well as body, weight and shape — and this preoccupation impacts how you see yourself, how you use food, and how you navigate your daily life, its important to be assessed by a trained professional who will be able to clarify if you have an eating disorder that is impacting your physical and mental health.

  •  Nine percent of the U.S. population or 28.8 million Americans, will have an eating disorder in their lifetime. Less than 6 percent of people with eating disorders are medically diagnosed as, “underweight.” They are serious, chronic health conditions with a high mortality rate. It is important to seek professional help if you suspect you have an eating disorder or an unhealthy relationship with food.

    (National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, 2023, ANAD.  12.4.23. <ANAD.org.>)