I have been learning and caring about eating disorders for more than half of my life. At the age of 15, I started learning about eating disorders and realized they impacted people around me. I’m 36 years old now, and the passion and fire to help women escape their eating disorders just get stronger. I’m never going to get tired of helping people see that life is so much better without their eating disorders, and it’s truly life-changing. If you are struggling with an eating disorder and you’re unsure if recovery is worth it, I want you to know it is. I also want to tell you what you can escape and why it’s life-changing. It doesn’t matter what type of eating disorder you have, eating disorder therapy will make a difference.
How Eating Disorder Therapy is Life-changing
Eating disorder therapy is hard work. It may be the hardest thing you’ll ever do but it is incredible. I want you to know why it’s worth it and what to keep in mind when you want to give up.
You’ll trust your body
I know you don’t trust your body right now. I know you think your body is something that needs to be controlled and managed. You believe that without your help your body will gain weight, you’ll never stop eating, and life will spiral out of control. You don’t trust your body’s cravings and hunger, and you don’t trust your emotions. You try to numb and keep things manageable. You might have episodes of binges and it reinforces to yourself that you can’t be trusted. You fail to see how your restriction plays a big part. Eating disorder therapy can and will help you have trust in your body. Your body is not the enemy. It never has been but you don’t know that yet. You will be able to recognize your body’s hunger and fullness cues. You will be able to know that eating doesn’t have to spiral out of control. Eating disorder therapy will help you trust yourself in more ways than just with food.
You’ll have more self-compassion
You are not very nice to yourself right now. People around you have pointed that out. You don’t see a point in being kind to yourself because you believe it’ll make you lazy and unmotivated. You also don’t believe you deserve self-compassion. If anything you think you deserve to be punished for not being good enough. That could not be further from the truth. People who are compassionate with themselves are more motivated and able to achieve their goals long term. Eating disorder therapy will help you see that you don’t deserve punishment and you are good enough where you are. Working with an eating disorder therapist will help you develop kindness for yourself, and you’ll learn how important it is to be gentle. You deserve tenderness and kindness and eating disorder therapy will help you learn to also give that to yourself.
You won’t feel panicked about eating
You find excuses not to go out with friends or skip family gatherings because you know there will be food there. You also know you will have to eat in front of other people. This all sends you into a tailspin of panic. You probably try anything you can to avoid situations like this. You would rather eat at home alone with your safe foods. Eating disorder therapy will help you enjoy food again. It will help you learn to enjoy the experiences of eating foods outside of what your eating disorder has decided is safe and permissible. You will not have to put so much thought or energy into what you eat. You won’t have to think about excuses to get you out of dinner with friends. You’re going to be able to enjoy food and your life again.
Eating disorder therapy is the next step to healing
Eating disorder therapy is going to give you the freedom you desperately seek right now. You feel trapped and scared when you think about how to ditch your eating disorder. You can overcome your body image issues. I promise you you don’t have to keep feeling this way. Those feelings of anxiousness and fear won’t go away right away but eating disorder therapy is going to help you do it. You deserve so much more than what you are struggling with now. You can move on from your eating disorder, and eating disorder therapy is going to be able to help you take those steps.
Begin working with an eating disorder therapist in St. George, Utah
You can find freedom with food and your body. You can enjoy your life again. Eating Disorder Therapy can help. This Utah Counseling Center has an eating disorder therapist specializing in treating eating disorders. To begin counseling follow the steps below:
Meet with a therapist for eating disorders
Begin eating disorder recovery
Online Eating Disorder Therapy in Utah
When you are starting eating disorder recovery, it’s important that you work with a therapist specializing in eating disorders. Not every city in Utah has an eating disorder therapist close by. This is why I provide online therapy in Utah. You can access an eating disorder therapist without having to travel or commute to a therapy session.
Online Eating Disorder Therapy also means I work with clients all over the state of Utah including St. George, Cedar City, Provo, Heber City, Salt Lake City, Logan, and more.
Other Mental Health Services at Maple Canyon Therapy
Eating disorder therapy isn’t the only counseling service offered at this Utah Counseling Practice. Other mental health services provided by Maple Canyon Therapy include EMDR therapy, binge eating disorder treatment, anxiety therapy, counseling for college students, body image therapy, and birth trauma therapy.
About the Author
Ashlee Hunt is an eating disorder therapist and founder of Maple Canyon Therapy, an online counseling practice located in Utah. Ashlee has been treating eating disorders since 2013 and has long been passionate about them long before that. Ashlee loves helping women escape the grasp of their eating disorders and create a happy and fulfilling life outside of their eating disorders. She uses a health-at-every-size approach to eating disorder recovery. Ashlee has two bachelor’s degrees from Southern Utah University in psychology and family life and human development. She received her masters in social work from Utah State University in Logan, Utah.