Three Essential Steps to My Recovery from Disordered Eating

(Adapted from an article originally published August 2020 on the Eating Disorders Resource Catalogue website)

Recovery from disordered eating is an individual journey. I know this because I have witnessed many on this path over the 25 years I worked in the eating disorders field. For this article, the Eating Disorders Resource Catalogue asked me to discuss “three essential steps” of my recovery, which occurred decades ago.

Because I aim to decrease the stigma surrounding recovered clinicians in the eating disorders field, I have openly written about my personal journey in articles and books, keeping the focus in my practice office on my clients and their stories. Putting the spotlight on my own recovery here has felt both vulnerable and enlightening. I hope that some of it resonates and supports your or a loved one’s healing and blossoming.

It is hard to narrow down the process of recovering from disordered eating into just “three essential steps.” In my book Nourish: How to Heal Your Relationship with Food, Body, and Self, I wrote about ten non-linear steps. My discussion to follow shares three steps that were key for me — and for many of the others I have had the privilege to assist on their journeys.