FOODEASE

If you or someone you love is struggling with disordered eating habits, it can be challenging to know if it's a temporary issue, or if it's a serious problem like an eating disorder. Eating disorders are complex mental health conditions that require professional attention to overcome. If you are concerned that you or someone you love may be dealing with an eating disorder, here are some signs and symptoms to look out for:

-A preoccupation with weight, food, and body image

-Skipping meals or fasting regularly

-Avoidance of social situations that involve food

-Obsessively counting calories or other macros

-Extreme weight fluctuations or changes in body shape

-Eating in secret or hiding food

-Feeling guilty or ashamed after eating

-Abnormal exercise habits or overexercising

-Self-esteem heavily reliant on body weight or shape

If these symptoms sound familiar, please reach out for help. Eating disorders have the potential to be life-threatening if left untreated. At Food Ease, we offer specialized nutritional counseling and guidance to support those who struggle with an eating disorder. Our team of experts can help you or your loved one establish healthy eating habits, improve body image, and work towards sustained recovery.








Frequently Asked Questions

  1. How do I know if I or someone I love has an eating disorder?

People often use the terms "eating disorder" and "disordered eating" interchangeably, but they are not the same thing. Disordered eating refers to a wide range of irregular eating behaviors that may cause an individual distress but do not meet the diagnostic criteria for an eating disorder.

Disordered eating may include inflexible dietary habits, chronic dieting, preoccupation with weight, body image disturbances, or obsessive calorie counting. While these behaviors might not directly impact a person's health, they could lead to the development of an eating disorder. It may also look like chronic dieting, intense exercise regimens with potential injuries, hormone imbalances, always fatigued, and/or high stress levels.

On the other hand, an eating disorder is a serious mental health condition characterized by persistent, detrimental eating behaviors that significantly impact an individual's life, including physical and mental health, social activities, and relationships. The most common types of eating disorders include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder.

It is worth seeking professional help if either are afflicting you or affecting your quality of life. 










2. Disordered eating vs. eating disorder?

Health at Every Size (HAES) is a holistic approach to health that focuses on well-being rather than weight loss. The HAES movement embraces the idea that every individual, regardless of body shape or size, can pursue better health outcomes through behaviors that prioritize self-care, respect, and self-acceptance.

The HAES approach promotes healthy behaviors such as intuitive eating, joyful movement, and mental health support to achieve optimal health outcomes, including reduced risk of chronic illnesses, better mental health, and improved body image.

The HAES movement also challenges societal constructs that equate thinness with health and beauty. It encourages the creation of an inclusive, accepting environment that values diversity and rejects weight discrimination.

The concept of HAES recognizes that health is not a one-size-fits-all definition and that body diversity is natural and needs to be celebrated. It emphasizes that individuals should respect their bodies and make health decisions based on their own unique individual needs rather than trying to reach an unrealistic societal standard of beauty.

HAES has 5 main principles:

Weight Inclusivity:
Accept and respect the inherent diversity of body shapes and sizes and reject the idealizing or pathologizing of specific weights.
Health Enhancement: Support health policies that improve and equalize access to information and services, and personal practices that improve human well-being, including attention to individual physical, economic, social, spiritual, emotional, and other needs.

Respectful Care:
Acknowledge our biases, and work to end weight discrimination, weight stigma, and weight bias. Provide information and services from an understanding that socio-economic status, race, gender, sexual orientation, age, and other identities impact weight stigma, and support environments that address these inequities.

Eating for Well-being:
Promote flexible, individualized eating based on hunger, satiety, nutritional needs, and pleasure, rather than any externally regulated eating plan focused on weight control.

Life-Enhancing Movement:
Support physical activities that allow people of all sizes, abilities, and interests to engage in enjoyable movement, to the degree that they choose. 

At Food Ease, we believe in the HAES philosophy and the promotion of health through behaviors that prioritize physical and mental well-being rather than weight loss. Our team of experts provides support and resources for individuals seeking to embrace a HAES approach to health and develop sustainable, healthy habits.










3. What is health at every size (haes)?

If you want to lose weight, it's important to approach your goals in a sustainable and healthy way. While traditional diets may promise rapid weight loss, they can often lead to harmful behaviors like restricted eating, binging, or even eating disorders. Instead of making weight loss the primary focus, it’s essential to shift the attention to cultivating healthy behaviors that promote overall health and wellbeing.

Focusing on health promoting behaviors, such as intuitive eating, physical activity, and stress management, can lead to significant health benefits such as improved sleep, increased energy, and better mental health. It can also improve your relationship with food, help you make better choices, and improve your metabolic health. These behavior changes tend to result in positive changes in body composition and improvements in overall health.

Focusing on weight loss exclusively may cause you to overlook critical areas that require attention, such as sleep hygiene, stress levels, mental health, and overall nutrition. Focusing on health-promoting behaviors allows for a more comprehensive approach to wellness, taking into account all areas of health necessary for long-term success.

At Food Ease, we believe in promoting health-promoting behaviors that help our clients achieve their health goals sustainably. We support our clients as they develop healthy habits that benefit their mind and body, and encourage a positive relationship with food and body.







4. What if i want to lose weight?

If you're wondering if it's time to see a dietitian, the answer is likely "yes" if you're experiencing any of the following:

You are struggling with disordered eating habits such as binge eating, restricting or purging.

You have a diagnosed medical condition such as diabetes, high blood pressure or food allergies that require specialized dietary management.

You have been trying to lose weight but have not seen results or are struggling to maintain weight after losing.

You want to improve your relationship with food or struggle with emotional eating or overeating.

You are an athlete looking to optimize your diet or training regimen to improve your performance.

You need guidance on how to incorporate healthy foods, vitamins and supplements into your diet.

You want to learn how to make healthy food choices when dining out, traveling, shopping or cooking at home.

Seeing a dietitian can be a great way to improve your overall health and quality of life. A registered dietitian can help you develop a personalized nutrition plan tailored to help you achieve your goals, whether that's improving physical health, reaching a healthy weight or managing a medical condition. They can also provide support and guidance along the way and empower you to make sustainable lifestyle changes.




5. How do I know it's time to see a dietitian?

Dietitians can work with clients on a range of medical conditions beyond eating disorders, including diabetes, heart disease, gastrointestinal issues, food allergies, and autoimmune diseases. Clinical expertise in eating disorders, in particular, provides a strong foundation for addressing many chronic illnesses and medical conditions.

Eating disorders are complex mental health conditions that require extensive and specialized nutritional counseling. As a result, eating disorder dietitians have extensive experience in developing individualized meal plans, assessing nutrient intake, and creating balanced meals based on their client’s preferences and unique health needs. This experience translates to the ability to support people struggling with a range of chronic illnesses and medical conditions, including those with unique or restrictive dietary needs.

Similarly, eating disorder dietitians often work with clients who experience digestive problems, food allergies or intolerances, and autoimmune diseases. These conditions can impact nutrient absorption and metabolism, leading to nutrient deficiencies or weight changes. Eating disorder dietitians have the clinical experience to assess the impacts of these conditions on an individual's dietary needs and approach nutrition as a critical component of illness management.

The clinical experience of eating disorder dietitians also lends itself to work with a range of medical conditions that may require a modified diet, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, thyroid diseases, and many more. By approaching nutrition holistically, eating disorder dietitians can help people understand the relationship between their dietary choices and their overall health, enabling them to implement sustainable, healthy changes.




6. What other medical conditions do dietitians see besides eating disorders? 

inquire now

book a discovery call