Body Image

Are you struggling with an eating disorder and need support tailored to your unique needs and goals? We offer personalised recovery days that take place in the comfort of your own home with an eating disorder specialist by your side.

Here are five reasons to book a recovery day.

Intuitive exercise, also known as intuitive movement, is a way of moving your body that focuses on listening to your body’s needs and signals rather than following regimented rules or schedules.

If you are new to intuitive exercise, understanding some of the key principles to follow can be a helpful starting point.

The month of February means Valentine’s Day, bringing our focus to the topic of love. Love can be a difficult topic when you are struggling with your relationship with food and body image.

Here we explore how recovery supports love and helps to create healthier and more meaningful relationships for years to come.

Have you ever experienced feeling fat one day and not feeling comfortable in any of your clothes, then another day not having any of those feelings and fairly easily getting dressed? Maybe the way you feel about your body influences your eating behaviours, and you find yourself constantly yoyo-ing.

Here we unpack the common experience of ‘feeling fat’.

This month’s recovery focus is intuitive movement and body image, and our podcast is Train Happy by Tally Rye.

Tally is a personal trainer who helps people to create a healthy relationship with movement. In this post we share some highly recommended episodes and resources.

In recent years there has been a large increase in the popularity of bodybuilding, and studies are now exploring the link between bodybuilding and eating disorders.

“I lost my personality, my partner, and my purpose in life. It was just gym, eat, repeat. There was literally no time or energy for anything else.”

In today’s blog post, eating disorder recovery warrior Lydia discusses how she navigated her fears around body change and took powerful steps towards body acceptance. Sharing difficulties she faced and a recovery tool that she found particularly helpful throughout her recovery journey.

Using affirmations can be incredibly supportive of eating disorder recovery.

We asked our recovery group to share the affirmations that have supported them most through eating disorder recovery. Here are the top 20 they found most useful. We hope they inspire you too.

An insight into client Tara’s journey towards intuitive movement.

“My relationship with exercise hasn’t always been easy. I used to view exercise as a type of punishment during my eating disorder, but it has also been a huge source of joy in my life too, especially during my recovery.”

Body image issues affect around 1 in 3 adults in the UK, and studies suggest this number is growing. An important part of building a healthy relationship with food is looking beyond the exterior, including when we compliment one another.

In this article we discuss weight stigma and what health really is.

“Your healthy weight is whatever weight you reach when you are nourishing your body intuitively. When you are not restricting food in any way or compensating for food eaten. When you are neither strictly controlling food nor feeling out of control with food.”

This week’s post is written by one of our eating disorder recovery clients, who shares her journey to intuitive movement with us all.

An inspiring and supportive read for anyone who is working on improving their relationship with exercise.

At Natural Food Therapy, we support each individual with the recovery tools needed to make lasting change. Your learning styles, strengths, passions and character traits can all be used to support your recovery journey. And something we champion for those who respond well to reflective tools is letter writing.

Have you ever listened to the little voice inside you that reminds you of your younger self? Regardless of how much we grow, we carry our younger selves with us through each day. Perhaps it’s the unheard 10-year-old self that shows up when we feel someone isn’t listening to us, or maybe it’s the heartbroken teen who shows up when we feel a lack of attention or care.

Today we hear from Abby, who recovered with us here at Natural Food Therapy. Abby shares her inspirational story through eating disorder recovery. A journey of inner strength and self-discovery.

“At 29 years old, I found the strength to get help for my eating disorder. And I believe it has been the best thing I have possibly ever done.”

Most people will experience a grieving process on their journey towards body acceptance. A powerful and necessary step that allows you to let go and grieve unrealistic expectations of what your body ‘should’ look like. Here are the five stages of body grief and some thoughts on how to navigate them.

Diet culture can be tough to navigate when in recovery from an eating disorder. This week two of our recovery warriors have chosen to share their letters to diet culture with us all. As well as being thought-provoking and impactful, these are letters that deserve to be shared and celebrated.

Intuitive movement supports both body and mind. Instead of exercising to reach a certain body size or shape, intuitive movement is about choosing ways to move the body that will help us to feel better.

Body-editing apps are the newest trend fuelling body image issues in both men and women. Instead of supporting us to accept that we are all different and embrace our individuality, editing apps encourage us to conform to society’s pressures and only share a sculpted ‘version’ of ourselves.