Body Image & Disordered Eating Therapy
Are you ready to be done with dieting?
Done with hunger and shame. Done with feeling like your body isn’t good enough. Done with thinking about food all the time.
It doesn’t have to feel this hard! It’s possible to find peace with food.
In my practice, I offer individual therapy where we focus specifically on improving your relationship with food and your body image. In our work together we will help you find joy in food, and end the cycle of restricting and binging that has you trapped. We will work to lift the shame around food and your body, cultivate self-compassion, and help you find joy in moving your body in a way that feels good to you.
What you won’t get from me is judgment about your body or a plan that tells you what to eat. My therapeutic approach is informed by Intuitive Eating and Health at Every Size. I’m anti-diet and accepting of all bodies.
“Loving your body isn’t thinking your body looks good. It is knowing your body is good, regardless of how it looks.”
— Lindsay Kite, PhD
What is Intuitive Eating?
In my practice, I work with body image and disordered eating by helping my clients become more intuitive eaters. Intuitive Eating is an anti-diet approach to building a good relationship with food. It was created by dietitians Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch in 1995 and is an evidence-based model with over 100 research studies supporting its effectiveness. Folks who are intuitive eaters have more stable body weights, lower rates of disordered eating, and better self-esteem and body image.
How many times have you been “good” all day - only to eat everything in sight after dinner? Most of us know deep down that dieting, “eating clean” or “watching what we eat” only backfires in overeating and uncomfortable binging. That often leads to feelings of shame, and harmful behaviors like undereating and overexercise that leave us exhausted and at war with our bodies. Research supports what we already know in our bones - that restriction keeps us trapped in a binge/restrict cycle that destroys our ability to tune into what our bodies really want and need.
Instead of relying on external cues to decide what to eat, like diets or restrictive food plans, Intuitive Eating teaches us how to trust ourselves and rely on our internal sense of hunger, fullness and satisfaction.
Learning intuitive eating is a very personal process of discovery. In our work together we will make our way through the ten principles:
Reject the Diet Mentality
Honor Your Hunger
Make Peace with Food
Challenge the Food Police
Respect Your Fullness
Discover the Satisfaction Factor
Honor Your Feelings without Using Food
Respect Your Body
Exercise—Feel the Difference
Honor Your Health with Gentle Nutrition
Recent Blog Posts
How I work
I believe that the therapist/client relationship is all about collaboration. You know yourself best. My first priority is to get to know you. I want to hear your story- all about your journey toward wanting to quit dieting and find more peace with food and your body. I’ll make sure I understand what your goals are. We’ll collaborate on where we want to start - whether it’s giving yourself permission to eat previously forbidden foods, working to unlearn the diet mentality, or offering yourself more self-compassion. I’ll get your feedback on how our sessions are going and talk openly about how we can make our work together more successful.
Find out more about Intuitive Eating and the organization where I received my training here.
Intuitive Eating FAQs
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Intuitive Eating is way of eating that’s in tune with our bodies; it’s something we were born with, and that we can rediscover. It’s an anti-diet approach to making peace with food and your body. When I worked with her in supervision, Evelyn Tribole, one of the founders of Intuitive Eating, called it “an evidence-based self care framework.” So yes, it’s about food, but it’s more than that. It’s about tuning into what our body needs, likes, and dislikes in order to promote peace and health.
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The short answer is, there’s no way to know. Intuitive Eating is a weight-neutral approach, which means that weight outcomes aren’t on the list of goals we know we can control. When practicing intuitive eating, some folks stay the same size, some gain weight, and some happen to lose weight. This can be a really scary reality, especially when we are used to products and people (including coaches & therapists perhaps) that promise weight loss and control over our bodies. I can help you work through those fears and find peace with your body, wherever you end up.
Weight is not a behavior. This means that we can work together to help you feel more in-control around food, reduce binge eating and feel healthier. But healthy doesn’t always mean smaller. As many of us know too well, we don’t really have that much control over our body size. What I can help you with is working toward feeling good in your body at whatever weight you land.
“It sometimes is as simple as reminding myself that my body is a good body, that all bodies are good bodies.”
—Amanda Levitt