If you have an eating disorder, or if you have a history of an eating disorder, cooking might be something you avoid. There may be times when allowing someone else to do your cooking and preparation is necessary, to ensure you are being nourished adequately and/or that your mental health is in a good place. Avoiding cooking forever, though, is not something we want you to aspire to. Instead, at some point on your recovery journey we want you to embrace cooking in spite of your eating disorder. Remember, recovery is messy, but doing regular tasks like cooking can remind you how food is so much more than food. Read on for 3 reasons to get back to cooking in your eating disorder recovery, plus 2 eating disorder friendly recipes at the end.

If your child or teenager is experiencing disordered eating, an eating disorder, or struggling with eating, body image, or their relationship to food, you might feel completely lost as to how to help them. Being a parent is not an easy job on a normal day, and when mealtimes and supporting their growing bodies and brains become a challenge, parenting can feel impossible. Please know that you are not alone, and that support is available.

Today, we want to talk about how a dietitian can help if your child or teen is showing signs of disordered eating, an eating disorder, or any challenges around food or body. We’ll go through how a dietitian can help, and what to expect as their parent and advocate.

Fiber is a nutrient worth having in your diet, but “fibermaxxing” turns a nutrition goal into a competition. For people who have lived with an eating disorder, that shift from “enough” to “max” can turn a nutrient into a rule and the rule into a score. Much of the trend is also less about fiber than about feeling full on less food, a pattern many people in recovery will recognize.

In this post, our team breaks down why fibermaxxing can work against recovery, how it can overlap with orthorexia, and what to know about adding fiber gently and gradually. We also share a few questions to help you check in with yourself when a trend starts to feel like pressure.

Fall is here, and with it comes apple cider, pumpkin bread, family recipes, and a calendar full of pumpkin patches, bake days, and Thanksgiving plans. Food is a big part of what makes this season feel special, but if you’re in eating disorder recovery, it can be hard to enjoy these traditions without food rules and worries getting in the way. Our hope, as eating disorder dietitians, is that you can make room for more joy and flexibility around the table this season. Read on for 3 gentle reminders to help you make room for more joy this fall.

Now that it’s October, Halloween season is in full swing. Stores have seasonal decorations and foods in almost every aisle, and if you have kids (or you are a kid), no doubt your calendar is packed full of parties, parades, trunk or treat events, and other happenings this month. It’s very likely that every event you go to this month will have one thing in common: candy. Our hope, as eating disorder dietitians, is that candy will someday be a food that you like or dislike, strictly for how it tastes. At Namaste Nourished, we are big fans of candy all year, but we love this time of year. Read on for 3 tips for navigating all the candy coming up this month.

Telehealth makes it easier to meet with your dietitian from the comfort of your own home, but virtual appointments can take a little preparation. From finding a private space and limiting distractions to making sure your technology works and giving yourself time to process your session, these simple telehealth tips can help you feel more comfortable, present, and prepared for your nutrition appointment.

Fall is a big season for sports, but with the excitement of competition can also come pressure around food, exercise, body size, and performance. In this blog, we explore the Athlete’s Plate, under fueling, and why athletes can be at increased risk for disordered eating and eating disorders. We’ll look at warning signs, how under fueling can affect athletic performance and overall health, and how athletes can support their bodies with enough food, rest, and recovery without turning nutrition into another set of strict rules.

If you’re on social media, you likely saw something about “Oreogate” recently. If you aren’t on social media, or missed this debate, the long story short is: a mom asked other moms not to send Oreos, chocolate, or candy in their children’s lunches, after her daughter came home upset at seeing her friends eating Oreos, a food restricted in this girl’s house. As eating disorder dietitians who work with both children and adults, we had some thoughts on this whole controversy. If you’ve been around our blog for a while, you can probably guess how we feel, but let’s dive into why we feel that way, and what we recommend for parents when feeding their kids.

This week was Weight Stigma Awareness Week, an initiative between Dr. Wendy Oliver-Pyatt, co-founder of Within Health and Chevese Turner, founder of the Body Equity Alliance. As eating disorder dietitians, we are so grateful for this event, as weight stigma’s roots lie in racism, shame, and discrimination. Weight stigma is often the catalyst for eating disorders, as people believe their body size or shape is the problem, or providers focus so much on weight that a person engages in disordered behaviors in order to get necessary medical care.

Eating healthy and choosing the best quality food available is a good thing, right? At first, our answer as a group of registered dietitians may surprise you – Not always. Orthorexia is an eating disorder where a person has a hyperfixation on extreme “healthy” or “clean” eating, to the point of causing mental and/or physical distress. It can be hard to identify, since it often looks like someone being careful about what they eat or choosing to focus on their health. However, the food restrictions can increase so much that people are omitting certain foods, and even food groups from their diet, which can have the same physical effects on the body as Anorexia Nervosa. 

Calories are everywhere. They’re listed on menus, displayed on food packaging, built into fitness watches, and tracked through apps on our phones. It can feel almost impossible to eat without knowing how many calories are in something.

As eating disorder dietitians, we see how easily calorie counting can take over someone's thoughts about food. Read on for why calorie tracking can hurt your relationship with food.

It’s hard to believe summer is over and back to school is here already! Transitions are especially difficult for someone in eating disorder recovery. As we prepare to transition from summer schedules and slower days into the schedule of school, fall sports, and after school activities, we have 4 tips to help you with the back to school transition, whether you’re a teacher, a student, or a parent of someone with an eating disorder.

Florida’s Second Chance Act mandates that all high school students who are playing an FHSAA sport must have at least one EKG screening completed and kept on file. If a student has an abnormal EKG result, they are prohibited from participating until they receive written medical clearance from a doctor. Florida is the first state to mandate EKG screenings for high school student-athletes. While all high school athletes are required to complete a sports physical prior to participation, the majority of heart conditions can be missed by the standard sports physical.

Peptides are one of the biggest wellness trends right now, but what are they really, and are the claims backed by science? In this blog, our registered dietitians explain what peptides are, how they differ from GLP-1 medications, and why they're being promoted for weight loss, muscle growth, and anti-aging. We also discuss the potential impact peptides may have on eating disorder recovery, body image, and your relationship with food, helping you separate evidence from social media hype.

The return of ultra-thin beauty standards and viral trends like SkinnyTok are changing the way many people view their bodies, often fueling comparison, body dissatisfaction, and eating disorder thoughts. This blog explores how celebrity weight loss conversations and social media algorithms can negatively affect mental health and how to protect your well-being by creating healthier boundaries with the content you consume.

Even though it’s still summer, back to school for college is right around the corner. Whether you’re going away to college for the first time, returning from summer break, or you’re a parent sending your kid to college, for students with an eating disorder, it can feel especially overwhelming. Read on for 5 ways to keep up with your eating disorder recovery while in college.

High protein products are everywhere, from protein coffee and matcha to protein water and snacks, making it seem like every food needs extra protein to be considered healthy. While protein is an important part of a balanced diet, the growing obsession with maximizing protein intake may be creating unnecessary food anxiety, especially for those struggling with disordered eating or eating disorders.

Disordered eating versus eating disorders - in so many ways, they are very similar, but there are also some key differences. Today, we’re digging deeper into the differences between disordered eating and eating disorders, how an eating disorder is diagnosed, and what the differences in care are. Read on for more.

Binge Eating Disorder, or BED for short, is more than binge eating or overeating. BED was first classified as an eating disorder in the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition) in 2013, but it is by no means a new eating disorder. In fact, it is the most common eating disorder, despite it being lesser known. Binge eating disorder is not a lack of willpower or a phase, and like any other eating disorder, it can impact people of any age, race, or gender. 

Many people assume eating disorders are easy to recognize, but disordered eating often develops quietly and can hide behind behaviors that are praised by society. A latent eating disorder may look like clean eating, dedication to fitness, or simply being "health conscious," while underneath the surface food anxiety, guilt, restriction, and body image concerns continue to grow.