The new year is upon us and so are the incessant ads, social media posts and commercials encouraging you to claim this year as the year you finally change your body or lose the weight.

I’m here to say that yes, it’s a new year… but, we don’t need a “new” you.

Current you is more than enough.

People who struggle with binge eating frequently don’t realize that it is an eating disorder, characterizing themselves as “bad, out of control or flawed.”

Despite the fact that 2.8% of people will suffer from binge eating disorder in their lifetime and that BED is three times more prevalent than other eating disorders, the general population most commonly hears stories about anorexia and bulimia.

Despite being the most prevalent eating disorder, the misunderstandings about causes and effective treatment of binge eating disorder, many people who are struggling don’t seek help.

Because of this lack of understanding, it can be difficult to find evidence based, effective treatment. Many of our clients here at Reclaim have shared experiences in previous treatment attempts that only drove them deeper into binge eating behaviors, leaving them feeling broken and alone.

Because of this (and many other factors) binging is often steeped in such intense shame, it can be hidden away for years, leaving people suffering in silence.

So often when folks start working with us here at Reclaim they want tools to manage body image distress, urges to engage in eating disorder behaviors, and ways to cope with anxiety and depression.

We know firsthand that having coping tools at the ready is an important part of this work. And, because we’re humans too, we have our go-to coping tools to use in times of distress and overwhelm.

To help you get some ideas of how to cope when you’re having a tough day, tough moment, tough week, each of the Reclaim therapists wanted to share our favorite tools to use in our own lives.

For most people, one of the hardest parts of recovery from an eating disorder and disordered eating is anticipating and experiencing weight gain. Yes, eating disorders and disordered eating behaviors can be tied to so much more than the image and appearance of the body, but fixation on maintaining and achieving a thin, lean, athletic, ‘healthy’, strong (insert latest #bodygoals here) is a common and painful experience for so many.

When you decide to start or re-engage in recovery from disordered eating or body image issues, it can feel like you’re losing a lot.

→ Behaviors (restriction, over-exercise, purging body-checking, bingeing) that really seemed to make you feel safe and contained.

→ An image of yourself that you believed you would achieve through the use of these behaviors.

→ A buffer or distraction from feeling difficult (and oftentimes overwhelming) feelings that your eating disorder or hypervigilance around your body provided.

→ The dream; for dieting to “work”. To be able to control the size of your body without feeling so itchy around food and hateful about your body.

When starting the *very* hard work of normalizing your relationship with food, being curious about how restriction is playing a role in your eating behaviors is one of the most helpful places to start.

Most people don’t equate restriction with all of the eating disorders, but the truth is that restriction is at the foundation of disordered eating, anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder and orthorexia (along with many other things!).

In the Dieter’s Rebellion Group for women struggling with food and body image, we take a hard look at cycles of behavior around food. And, for most people once they get curious about their own cycle, it’s relatively predictable. Restriction of some sort eventually leads to the “problem” behavior of binge eating.

Let’s flip things on their head for a moment. Let’s shift the lens of the problem off of bingeing. Let’s get curious about how restriction is contributing to your own cyclical behavior around food and your body.

to be seen, like really seen, after going so long without, is enough to bring on a whirlwind of body image attacks. Between the cultural expectations for bodies to be thin and static, unchanging entities, our own personal body stories and histories with disordered eating, the current climate is the perfect temp for skyrocketing anxiety about your body.

The therapists of Reclaim want to give you some tips on how to navigate this time and hopefully relieve some of the distress you’re feeling as you continue to re-enter your world.

There are endless amounts of memes floating around IG and FB encouraging witty or sassy responses when faced with these comments. I consider this a fight response- when feeling challenged or threatened, some people shift into fight mode.

I simply don’t relate to in-the-moment-sass. I shift to more of a flight response...how can I relieve this discomfort? Can I escape it?! No matter how much I wish it could, my system doesn’t operate in sass or fight. I’m one of those wake up at 3am thinking, “shit!! I should’ve said….”

And I know others feel the same.

Struggling with body image is something that most people can relate to. Bad body image days can be enough to knock you on your butt. The intensity of the thoughts, the self-beratement, the never-ending-changing-of-outfits, the endless body checking wondering where in the world *that* came from… and, the strong desire to crawl back into bed so that you can’t/won’t be seen.

New Years Eve 2020 is finally here.

A breath of relief for some who are ready to say BYEEE! to arguably one of the hardest years of many of our lives.

And, for others, just another day, another midnight, another new day to come tomorrow.

Wherever you are on the spectrum, I hope you that it’s valid as hell to be there.

Thanksgiving is definitely going to be different this year! For me, it will be the first Thanksgiving in 10 years that I haven’t hosted.

I honestly have mixed feelings!

Some relief that I’m not going to spend the week shopping, prepping, cleaning, hosting, cleaning, dodging family dynamics, cleaning, cooking and cleaning some more.

And, I’m sad that 2020 has looked the way it has, leading us to this point. The burnout, the collective exhale of grief and the ever cyclical question... wtf is actually happening?!

Something that's pretty clear for most of us suffering with food and body concerns is that the dieting mentality is something (a force really!) that permeates throughout our lives.

The dieting mentality is a mindset that is planted and driven by our dieting-obsessed culture. Diet-culture operates in black and white, good or bad, focused on numbers, measurements, rules, judgement, guilt and shame.

The dieting mentality is how we’ve internalized those messages and how they influence our relationship with food, our food and movement choices, and our bodies.

The dieting mentality erodes trust in our bodies and replaces it with rules and shoulds that we feel like we have to follow.

In times that we feel completely out of control- times when fear, anxiety, grief, trauma and the unknown are heavy and pulsing through our bodies, it's easy to find ourselves turning to old ways of coping.

Hoping, grasping, for a semblance of control in ways that feel contained. Nostalgic. Safe.

In this time of collective trauma, I encourage you to notice.