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Eating Disorder Recovery Fear & Anxiety In Recovery Helping Family / Carers Understand Restriction & Fear Foods

Recovery Eating & Extreme Hunger

I have recently been asked if I would write about more of my experiences of eating when I had the intense ‘extreme hunger’ that we speak about in eating disorder recovery and that so many people going through recovery struggle with when it inevitably hits. Therefore, I have succumbed and written a post on my […]

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Eating Disorder Recovery Exercise / Compulsive Movement Helping Family / Carers Understand Other ED Behaviours Restriction & Fear Foods Weight Changes

The Metabolism And Eating Disorders

THE METABOLISM, HYPERMETABLOLISM AND IMPLICATIONS FOR RECOVERY FROM A RESTRICTIVE EATING DISORDER October 2022 – UPDATED AND REPOSTED DUE TO THE POPULARITY OF THE POST A question that arises regularly from people in recovery from an eating disorder (ED) is in respect to issues around body metabolism, in terms of what it is; what hypermetabolism […]

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Eating Disorder Recovery Exercise / Compulsive Movement Rewiring / Neuroplasticity Weight Changes

Exercise & Movement in Recovery – Is It Compulsive?

Compulsive movement or exercise is a key part of an eating disorder for many… and I can confirm, first hand, that it is a miserable and cruel thing to live with. Feeling compelled to keep moving your body, no matter what, and when not doing so feels overwhelmingly wrong and terrifying, makes the movement side […]

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Eating Disorder Recovery Emotions Helping Family / Carers Understand Neuroscience & Eating Disorders Rewiring / Neuroplasticity

The Brain Based Tug of War between your ‘Rational’ and ‘Emotional’ Brain in Recovery

In this ‘brain post’ I want to explain a little more about two important brain regions that play big parts in how we think and act and how these two different parts of the brain often work against one another, trying to take the driver’s seat in guiding our behaviours. The two parts of the […]

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Eating Disorder Recovery Fear & Anxiety In Recovery Other ED Behaviours Recovery Motivation

Go Wild & Free In Eating Disorder Recover-ee!

How many times have I written posts about how tough eating disorder recovery is? The answer to that is many, many times and you can find them in the hundreds of posts that are now on this website. Posts about the fact that eating disorder recovery is exhausting, emotional, draining, terrifying and very definitely all […]

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Eating Disorder Recovery Exercise / Compulsive Movement Neuroscience & Eating Disorders Restriction & Fear Foods Rewiring / Neuroplasticity

Ensure Your Environment Supports Rewiring In Eating Disorder Recovery

When in eating disorder recovery, there are a number of factors that can make a real difference to how much progress you make in terms of recovery changes and neural rewiring. I have written about some of these in a separate post but in this post, I wanted to highlight the importance of ensuring that […]

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Eating Disorder Recovery Exercise / Compulsive Movement Recovery Motivation Restriction & Fear Foods Weight Changes

‘All In’ For Eating Disorder Recovery… My Love-Hate Relationship With The Term

In eating disorder recovery communities, the term ‘all in’ has now been used for a few years to describe the eat all you can approach to recovery that many promote and have success with. I have written before about the concept of ‘all in’ on this site but I have never been a big fan […]

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Eating Disorder Recovery Exercise / Compulsive Movement Helping Family / Carers Understand Neuroscience & Eating Disorders Recovery Motivation Restriction & Fear Foods Rewiring / Neuroplasticity

Self Directed Brain Rewiring In Recovery

Every human brain (however old) has the ability to learn new skills, behaviours, thoughts and emotions. This is the concept of ‘neuroplasticity‘ or ‘brain rewiring’. Eating disorder recovery necessitates changing a lot of behaviours and thought patterns that in the years or decades of illness have become deeply wired into the brain, such that you […]

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Eating Disorder Recovery Exercise / Compulsive Movement Helping Family / Carers Understand Other ED Behaviours Restriction & Fear Foods

Tips For Loved Ones Supporting Adults With An Eating Disorder

In the UK, this week is Eating Disorder Awareness Week. I am always uncomfortable about these awareness weeks because of the amount of damaging, stereotypical information on eating disorders that still rears its ugly and harmful head every year, but I wanted to do something to acknowledge the week in my own small way. Therefore, […]

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Eating Disorder Recovery Exercise / Compulsive Movement Helping Family / Carers Understand Other ED Behaviours

Why Exercise Based Fundraising For Eating Disorder Charities Is Not Appropriate

Fundraising for charities or non-profit organisations is a challenge to say the least. It is hard work to raise money for organisations when you are up against so many charities now all competing for the public’s spare change. Eating disorder charities have the additional problem that eating disorders are considered by many in the general […]

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Eating Disorder Recovery Helping Family / Carers Understand Neuroscience & Eating Disorders Recovery Motivation Rewiring / Neuroplasticity

10 Tips To Help Rewire Your Brain In Eating Disorder Recovery

In earlier posts, I have written about what neuroplasticity is (the ability of the brain to rewire and change) and why it is important for eating disorder recovery. Therefore, if you want to know more about neuroplasticity generally, have a read of my last post on the topic (here). In this post, I want to […]

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Eating Disorder Recovery Exercise / Compulsive Movement Recovery Motivation

Feel Guilty For Resting? Time To Hibernate!

Today I have spent the whole afternoon and evening wrapped under a blanket, on my sofa with some reading, TV and music… And it has felt incredible. Perhaps, it has felt even more incredible because not so long ago, when I was still deep in the eating disorder that I experienced for over a decade, […]

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Eating Disorder Recovery Neuroscience & Eating Disorders Rewiring / Neuroplasticity

A Few Other Posts to Share with You…

As some of you loyal, wonderful and regular readers on here might know, I am now working as an eating disorder recovery coach and for that I have a separate website, which is hellybarnes.com. This post is not a marketing ploy though. I am just popping this post up to let you know that I […]

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Eating Disorder Recovery Exercise / Compulsive Movement Recovery Motivation Restriction & Fear Foods Rewiring / Neuroplasticity Weight Changes

Always Make the Weight Gain Choice to Rewire and Recover!

In this post, I am going to do something I have not done before… In my eating disorder recovery, I always found that writing a journal was incredibly useful to me as it helped me get out my frustrations, identify what was troubling me in that moment and then mentally process what I needed to […]

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Eating Disorder Recovery Fear & Anxiety In Recovery Recovery Motivation

Have yourself a Merry SUPER-SIZED Christmas! (despite the eating disorder)

If you are going into the start of this Christmas with increasing anxiety and fear as it is another year of having to get through the ‘festive’ season with an eating disorder as your main companion then please trust me, I do know your pain. I spent too many Christmases with an eating disorder that […]