The following links are listed to provide you with some additional eating disorder resources and support information.
Organizations & Associations
National Association of Anorexia Nervosa & Associated Disorders
ANAD is a non-profit (501 c 3) organization working in the areas of support, awareness, advocacy, referral, education, and prevention. ANAD is the oldest organization aimed at fighting eating disorders in the United States. ANAD assists people struggling with eating disorders and also provides resources for families, schools and the eating disorder community.
Families Empowered And Supporting Treatment for Eating Disorders (F.E.A.S.T.) is an International non-profit organization of and for caregivers of loved ones suffering from eating disorders. F.E.A.S.T.’s mission is to support caregivers by providing information and mutual support, promoting evidence-based treatment, and advocating for research and education to reduce the suffering associated with eating disorders.
NAMI Texas – National Alliance on Mental Illness
NAMI is the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americas affected by mental illness. NAMI advocates for access to services, treatment, supports and research and is steadfast in its commitment to raise awareness and build a community for hope for all of those in need.
National Eating Disorders Association
NEDA is the largest nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting individuals and families affected by eating disorders. Their mission is to support individuals and families affected by eating disorders, and serves as a catalyst for prevention, cures and access to quality care.
Call the NEDA Helpline at (800) 931-2237 for support, resources and treatment options for yourself or a loved one.
Project HEAL is America’s strongest voice that full recovery from an eating disorder is possible and should be accessible.
Check out their Communities of HEALing, Treatment Access Program , or maybe get involved with their Volunteer program
Books
I had been in therapy for many years prior to the diagnosis of my eating disorder. This list is a compilation of books that have helped me before, during, and after the treatment of my eating disorder diagnosis. I’ve gone back to re-read most of the self-help and spirituality books as I was more able to understand and implement their teachings once my mind and body were fully nourished through the eating disorder recovery process.
100 questions & Answers About Eating Disorders ~ Carolyn Costin, LMFT, MA, MEd
“When does disordered eating become an eating disorder, and is this caused by genetics or our culture? How do I choose a therapist or treatment program, and are there alternative treatments? How can I help a loved one who has an eating disorder? From broad topics such as these to specific questions on laxative abuse, exercise, dental erosion or medications, 100 Questions & Answers About Eating Disorders is a simple quick reference guide to give those who suffer and their loved ones the authoritative, practical information they need. As a clinician who recovered herself, author, Carolyn Costin, imparts critical information derived from her 30 years experience treating eating disorders. Readers will be given a basic understanding of the problem, as well as the tools and resources to get more help. Included in the text is additional “insider” information from others suffering from eating disorders. This book is an invaluable resource for family members, friends, or anyone struggling with the medical, psychological, or emotional turmoil of this frightening condition.”
8 Keys to Recovery from an Eating Disorder: Effective Strategies from Therapeutic Practice and Person Experience ~ Carolyn Costin & Gwen Schubert Grabb
“Readers take note: This is no ordinary book on how to overcome an eating disorder. The authors – one a former patient of the other – both have their own histories battling the disorder. Interweaving personal narrative with the perspective of their own therapist-client relationship, their insights bring an unparalleled depth of awareness into just what it takes to successfully beat this challenging and seemingly intractable clinical issue.”
8 Keys to Recovery from an Eating Disorder Workbook ~ Carolyn Costin & Gwen Schubert Grabb
“Clients of Costin and Grabb consistently tell them that knowing they are both recovered is one of the most helpful aspects of their treatment. With this experience as a foundation, the authors bring together years of clinical expertise and invaluable personal testimony, from themselves and others, to the strategies in this book. Readers will get a glimpse of what it’s like to be in therapy with with Carolyn or Gwen.
Filled with tried and true practical exercises, goal sheets, food journal forms, clinical anecdotes and stories, readers are guided in exploring their thoughts, feelings, and coping strategies while being encouraged to choose how they want to approach the material. This book is an important resource to anyone living with destructive or self-defeating eating behaviors.”
Anti-Diet: Reclaim Your Time, Money, Well-Being, and Happiness Through Intuitive Eating ~ Christy Harrison, MPH RD
“Reclaim your time, money, health, and happiness from our toxic diet culture with groundbreaking strategies from a registered dietitian, journalist, and host of the “Food Psych” podcast.
68 percent of Americans have dieted at some point in their lives. But upwards of 90% of people who intentionally lose weight gain it back within five years. And as many as 66% of people who embark on weight-loss efforts end up gaining more weight than they lost. If dieting is so clearly ineffective, why are we so obsessed with it?
The culprit is diet culture, a system of beliefs that equates thinness to health and moral virtue, promotes weight loss as a means of attaining higher status, and demonizes certain ways of eating while elevating others. It’s sexist, racist, and classist, yet this way of thinking about food and bodies is so embedded in the fabric of our society that it can be hard to recognize. It masquerades as health, wellness, and fitness, and for some, it is all-consuming.
In Anti-Diet, Christy Harrison takes on diet culture and the multi-billion-dollar industries that profit from it, exposing all the ways it robs people of their time, money, health, and happiness. It will turn what you think you know about health and wellness upside down, as Harrison explores the history of diet culture, how it’s infiltrated the health and wellness world, how to recognize it in all its sneaky forms, and how letting go of efforts to lose weight or eat “perfectly” actually helps to improve people’s health — no matter their size. Drawing on scientific research, personal experience, and stories from patients and colleagues, Anti-Diet provides a radical alternative to diet culture, and helps readers reclaim their bodies, minds, and lives so they can focus on the things that truly matter.”
Body Kindness: Transform your Health from the Inside Out – and Never Say Diet Again ~ Rebecca Scritchfield, RDN
“This practical, inspirational, and visually lively book shows you how to create a healthier and happier life by treating yourself with compassion rather than shame. It shows the way to a sense of well-being attained by understanding how to love, connect, and care for yourself – and that includes your mind as well as your body.”
Body Respect: What Conventional Health Books Get Wrong, Leave Out, and Just Plain Fail to Understand about Weight ~ Linda Bacon, PhD & Lucy Aphramor, PhD, RD
“Dr. Linda Bacon and Dr. Lucy Alphramor’s Body Respect debunks common myths about weight, including the misconceptions that BMI can accurately measure health, that fatness necessarily leads to disease, and that dieting will improve health. They also help make sense of how poverty and oppression – such as racism, homophobia, and classism – afffect life opportunity, self-worth, and even influence metabolism.
Body insecurity is rampant, and it doesn’t have to be. It’s time to overcome our culture’s shame and distress about weight, to get real about inequalities and health, and to show every body respect.”
Daring Greatly: How the Courage to be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead ~Brene’ Brown, PhD, LMSW
“Every day we experience the uncertainty, risks, and emotional exposure that define what it means to be vulnerable or to dare greatly. Based on twelve years of pioneering research, Brene’ Brown PhD, LMSW, dispels the cultural myth that vulnerability is weakness and argues that it is, in truth, our most accurate measure of courage.
Brown explains how vulnerability is both the core of difficult emotions like fear, grief, and disappointment, and the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, empathy, innovation, and creativity. She writes “When we shut ourselves off from vulnerability, we distance ourselves from the experiences that bring purpose and meaning to our lives.””
Decoding Anorexia – How Breakthroughs in Science Offer Hope for Eating Disorders ~ Carrie Arnold
“Decoding Anorexia is the first and only book to explain anorexia nervosa from a biological point of view. Its clear, user-friendly descriptions of the genetics and neuroscience behind the disorder is paired with first person descriptions and personal narratives of what biological differences mean to sufferers. Author Carrie Arnold, a trained scientist, science writer, and past sufferer of anorexia, speaks with clinicians, researchers, parents, other family members, and sufferers about the factors that make one vulnerable to anorexia, the neurochemistry behind the call of starvation, and why it’s so hard to leave anorexia behind. She also addresses:
• How environment is still important and influences behaviors
• The characteristics of people at high risk for developing anorexia nervosa
• Why anorexics find starvation “rewarding”
• Why denial is such a salient feature, and how sufferers can overcome it
Carrie also includes interviews with key figures in the field who explain their work and how it contributes to our understanding of anorexia. Long thought to be a psychosocial disease of fickle teens, this book alters the way anorexia is understood and treated and gives patients, their doctors, and their family members hope.”
Eating in the Light of the Moon – how women can transform their relationship with food through myths, metaphors & storytelling ~ Anita Johnston, PhD
“By weaving practical insights and exercises through a rich tapestry of multicultural myths, ancient legends, and folktales, Anita Johnston helps the millions of women preoccupied with their weight discover and address the issues behind their negative attitudes toward food.”
Goodbye Ed, Hello Me: Recovery from Your Eating Disorder and Fall in Love with Live ~ Jenni Schaefer
“Jenni Schaefer and Ed (eating disorder) are no longer on speaking terms, not even in her most difficult moments. In her bestseller, Life Without Ed, Jenni learned to treat her eating disorder as a relationship, not a condition-enabling her to break up with Ed once and for all.
In Goodbye Ed, Hello Me Jenni shows you that being fully recovered is not just about breaking free from destructive behaviors with food and having a healthy relationship with your body; it also means finding joy and peace in your life.”
Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight ~ Linda Bacon, PhD
“Fat isn’t the problem. Dieting is the problem. A society that rejects anyone whose body shape or size doesn’t match an impossible ideal is the problem. A medical establishment that equates “thin” with “healthy” is the problem. The solution? Health at Every Size.
Tune in to your body’s expert guidance. Find the joy in movement. Eat what you want, when you want, choosing pleasurable foods that help you to feel good. You too can feel great in your body right now—and Health at Every Size will show you how.
Health at Every Size has been scientifically proven to boost health and self-esteem. The program was evaluated in a government-funded academic study, its data published in well-respected scientific journals.
Updated with the latest scientific research and even more powerful messages, Health at Every Size is not a diet book, and after reading it, you will be convinced the best way to win the war against fat is to give up the fight.”
Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Program That Works ~ Evelyn Tribole, MS, RD & Elyse Resch, MS, RD, F.A.D.A., C.E.D.R.D.
“We’ve all been there―angry with ourselves for overeating, for our lack of willpower, for failing at yet another diet. But the problem is not us; it’s that dieting, with its emphasis on rules and regulations, has stopped us from listening to our bodies. Written by two prominent nutritionists, Intuitive Eating will teach you:
• How to reject diet mentality forever
• How our three Eating Personalities define our eating difficulties
• How to find satisfaction in your eating
• How to feel your feelings without using food
• How to honor hunger and feel fullness
• How to follow the ten principles of “Intuitive Eating”,
• How to achieve a new and safe relationship with food and, ultimately, your body
• How to raise an “intuitive eater”–NEW!
• The incredible science behind intuitive eating–NEW!”
JUST EAT IT – How Intuitive eating can help you get your shit together around food ~ Laura Thomas PhD
“Registered Nutritionist Laura Thomas PhD, presents this straight-talking guide to intuitive eating: the simple practice that will help you phase out diet tools like meal plans and calorie trackers and encourage a more peaceful attitude to food and your body.”
Life Without Ed: How One Woman Declared Independence from her Eating Disorder and How You Can Too ~ Jenni Schaefer
“Inspiring, compassionate, and filled with practical exercises to help you break up with your own personal E.D., Life Without Ed provides hope to the millions of people plagued by eating disorders. Beginning with Jenni’s “divorce” from Ed, this supportive, lifesaving book combines a patient’s insights and experiences with a therapist’s prescriptions for success to help you live a healthier, happier life without Ed.”
Love Warrior: A Memoir ~ Glennon Doyle
“A memoir of betrayal and self-discovery by bestselling author Glennon Doyle, Love Warrior is a gorgeous and inspiring account of how we are all born to be warriors: strong, powerful, and brave; able to confront the pain and claim the love that exists for us all. This chronicle of a beautiful, brutal journey speaks to anyone who yearns for deeper, truer relationships and a more abundant, authentic life.”
Loving What Is: Four Questions that can Change Your Life ~ Byron Katie with Stephen Mitchell
“…The Work is simply four questions that, when applied to a specific problem, enable you to see what is troubling you in an entirely different light. As Katie says, “It’s not the problem that causes our suffering; it’s our thinking about the problem.” Contrary to popular belief, trying to let go of a painful thought never works; instead, once we have done The Work, the thought lets go of us. At that point, we can truly love what is, just as it is.
Loving What Is will show you step-by-step, through clear and vivid examples, exactly how to use this revolutionary process for yourself. You’ll see people do The Work with Katie on a broad range of human problems, from a wife ready to leave her husband because he wants more sex, to a Manhattan worker paralyzed by fear of terrorism, to a woman suffering over a death in her family. Many people have discovered The Work’s power to solve problems; in addition, they say that through The Work they experience a sense of lasting peace and find the clarity and energy to act, even in situations that had previously seemed impossible.
If you continue to do The Work, you may discover, as many people have, that the questioning flows into every aspect of your life, effortlessly undoing the stressful thoughts that keep you from experiencing peace. Loving What Is.”
Rising Strong: How the Ability to Reset Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead ~Brene’ Brown, PhD, LMSW
“Social scientist Brené Brown has ignited a global conversation on courage, vulnerability, shame, and worthiness. Her pioneering work uncovered a profound truth: Vulnerability—the willingness to show up and be seen with no guarantee of outcome—is the only path to more love, belonging, creativity, and joy. But living a brave life is not always easy: We are, inevitably, going to stumble and fall.
It is the rise from falling that Brown takes as her subject in Rising Strong. As a grounded theory researcher, Brown has listened as a range of people—from leaders in Fortune 500 companies and the military to artists, couples in long-term relationships, teachers, and parents—shared their stories of being brave, falling, and getting back up. She asked herself, What do these people with strong and loving relationships, leaders nurturing creativity, artists pushing innovation, and clergy walking with people through faith and mystery have in common? The answer was clear: They recognize the power of emotion and they’re not afraid to lean in to discomfort.”
Sick Enough: A Guide to the Medical Complications of Eating Disorders ~ Jennifer L. Gaudiani MD, CEDS, FAED
“Patients with eating disorders frequently feel that they aren’t “sick enough” to merit treatment, despite medical problems that are both measurable and unmeasurable. They may struggle to accept rest, nutrition, and a team to help them move towards recovery. Sick Enough offers patients, their families, and clinicians a comprehensive, accessible review of the medical issues that arise from eating disorders by bringing relatable case presentations and a scientifically sound, engaging style to the topic. Using metaphor and patient-centered language, Dr. Gaudiani aims to improve medical diagnosis and treatment, motivate recovery, and validate the lived experiences of individuals of all body shapes and sizes, while firmly rejecting dieting culture.”
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma ~ Bessel Van Der Kolk, MD
“Trauma is a fact of life. Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one in four grew up with alcoholics; one in three couples have engaged in physical violence. Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, one of the world’s foremost experts on trauma, has spent over three decades working with survivors. In The Body Keeps the Score, he uses recent scientific advances to show how trauma literally reshapes both body and brain, compromising sufferers’ capacities for pleasure, engagement, self-control, and trust. He explores innovative treatments—from neurofeedback and meditation to sports, drama, and yoga—that offer new paths to recovery by activating the brain’s natural neuroplasticity. Based on Dr. van der Kolk’s own research and that of other leading specialists, The Body Keeps the Score exposes the tremendous power of our relationships both to hurt and to heal—and offers new hope for reclaiming lives.”
The Eating Disorders Sourcebook: A Comprehensive Guide to the Causes, Treatments, and Prevention of Eating Disorders ~ Carolyn Costin, MA, MED, MFCC
“Anorexia, bulimia, binge eating, exercise addictions . . . these disorders can be devastating, but they are in no way unbeatable. Therapist Carolyn Costin, herself recovered from anorexia, brings three decades of experience and the newest research in the field together, providing readers with the latest treatments, from medication and behavioral therapy to alternative remedies.
Whether you are living with an eating disorder or you are a loved one or professional helping someone who is, The Eating Disorder Sourcebook will help you:
- Recognize and identify eating disorders
- Discover and work with the underlying causes of an eating disorder
- Make the right choices when comparing treatment options
- Understand what is expected in individual, group, and family therapy
- Know when outpatient treatment is not enough and what else can be done”
The Five Levels of Attachment: Toltec Wisdom for the Modern World ~ Don Miguel Ruiz, Jr.
“This is a book that picks up where The Four Agreements left off. Building on the principles found in his father’s bestselling book, Ruiz, Jr. explores the ways in which we attach ourselves inappropriately to beliefs and the world.
Ruiz explores the five levels of attachment that cause suffering in our lives. The levels are:
- Authentic Self
- Preference
- Identification
- Internalization
- Fanaticism
Accessible and practical, Ruiz’s exploration invites us to look at our own lives and see how an unhealthy level of attachment can keep us trapped in a psychological and spiritual fog. He then invites us to reclaim our true freedom by cultivating awareness, detaching, and discovering our true selves.”
The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (A Toltec Wisdom Book) ~ Don Miguel Ruiz
“In The Four Agreements, bestselling author don Miguel Ruiz reveals the source of self-limiting beliefs that rob us of joy and create needless suffering. Based on ancient Toltec wisdom, The Four Agreements offer a powerful code of conduct that can rapidly transform our lives to a new experience of freedom, true happiness, and love.”
The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment ~ Eckhart Tolle
“It’s no wonder that The Power of Now has sold over 2 million copies worldwide and has been translated into over 30 foreign languages. Much more than simple principles and platitudes, the book takes readers on an inspiring spiritual journey to find their true and deepest self and reach the ultimate in personal growth and spirituality: the discovery of truth and light. ”
(214) 886-3513 | brandy@recoveryoullc.com