Category: midlife eating disorders

advocacy Goodbye calories! Hello, energy!

Goodbye calories! Hello, energy!

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Calorie is a word laden with myriad connotations imposed by diet culture, a word that can be so insidious that I’ve hesitated to write about it. From the impressionable age of 11, I became aware of my body in a new, mysterious way. In tandem with entering that confusing and...

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advocacy My body wanted me to be its friend

My body wanted me to be its friend

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Sometimes, I dislike my body even though I consider myself in recovery from an eating disorder. If I were to wait until I felt at peace with every part of my body before calling myself recovered, recovery would never happen. I don’t say that to be pessimistic; I say that...

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advocacy Exploring the roots of fear that feed an eating disorder

Exploring the roots of fear that feed an eating disorder

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Tanya declares she and anorexia are irrevocably entwined. Fear is ever-present. Here, Tanya explores the roots of her fears.                                   Editor, June Alexander I have physical fears, emotional and psychological fears, and spiritual fears...

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advocacy Listen to us: women with lived experience of severe and enduring anorexia nervosa

Listen to us: women with lived experience of severe and enduring anorexia nervosa

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Improved outcomes for adults with eating disorders are possible! Karen, Tanya and Anne could be forgiven for feeling down-hearted after struggling for decades with Severe and Enduring Anorexia Nervosa (SEAN). However, they live in HOPE. This article is a collaboration by three Australian women in their fifties. Between them, they...

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advocacy Facing the fear of losing ‘control’

Facing the fear of losing ‘control’

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I hate admitting this, but I’m a fearful person. The list of what I’m afraid of is long and detailed. Some fears are fairly typical and global, like the COVID-19 pandemic, which affected many people. Before the pandemic, I was not much of a germaphobe, but that’s near the top...

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advocacy Eating disorders are no match for memoirist Betsy Brenner

Eating disorders are no match for memoirist Betsy Brenner

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A silver lining of the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020-2021, was the gift of time to embark on the incredible journey of writing my memoir The Longest Match: Rallying to Defeat an Eating Disorder in Midlife. A project of this magnitude always seemed daunting but as soon as I began pouring through...

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