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 […]
Author: recoveringnomad
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
As some of you loyal, wonderful and regular readers on here might know, I am now setting up 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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
It never ceases to amaze me how many layers of denial we can hide our truth under. How we can present to the world and ourselves a version of our lives that is shiny and wonderful and Instagramable, a version we really believe to be true, despite it being nothing of the sort. How we […]
It is the second birthday of this website. When I look back now to where I was when I started this website: back living with my parents and going through a few very intense recovery months, my life today is very different and better in so many ways. However, when I look back and think […]
RECOVERING NOMAD 