Check out my September SOUL in your inbox newsletter!

Want to stop feeling crazy around food?

For over half of my life, I felt crazy around food!

As a 5 year old child, I used to stand next to the ‘fat’ kid at school so I wouldn’t look so fat (I wasn’t!). At 8, I started wearing a t-shirt in the backyard swimming pool so no-one would see how fat I was (I wasn’t!). By 13, I was suffering with bulimia. I was at war with my body and stuck in my eating disorder until I was 26. After passing out on a London tube platform from lack of eating, I knew it was time to get help – I found myself an amazing soul-centred psychotherapist and started my adventurous journey to recovery and beyond.

The dominant disease and illness model touts eating disorders as a disease/mental disorder/mental illness. I have never suffered with a disease, mental disorder or a mental illness and I have never worked with anyone suffering with these medically orientated labels. If I am completely honest, I don’t like the term ‘eating disorder’; it’s pathologising to our soul’s suffering and the symptoms that carry important messages which can potentially bring us value, meaning and purpose in life. I do however, work with the most courageous and creative women, who have had to, for whatever reason, develop extreme measures with food and body as a way of managing biographical, existential and/or spiritual trauma and crisis (Gale 2008, 2010). I’d love to hear your thoughts about this, please comment in the comments section below!

It is possible to fully recover and truly blossom in life, even after many years of suffering. Women looking for recovery from body image problems, yoyo dieting, chronic dieting and eating disorders are drawn to my non-pathologising approach – often after many failed attempts to heal – because it provides a holistic, forward thinking and soulful perspective for transformation and growth.

Earlier this year, I qualified as one of the first psychotherapists in Australia to be certified in Eating Psychology, a truly soul-centred approach! I am so excited to bring this work to Australia. In the next few months, I will be spending much of my free time preparing my first online course and a weekend workshop.  In conjunction with this, I will be running a 12 week coaching program to help women stop feeling crazy around food. This is based on my 40+ years of personal experience/recovery as well as my training in soul-centred psychotherapy, Dynamic Eating Psychology™ and Mind Body Nutrition™ .

Dynamic Eating Psychology™ and Mind Body Nutrition™  are for anyone who struggles with food, body, health and well-being concerns including:

• Yoyo, fad or chronic dieting
• Obsession with counting points, calories, fats or proteins
• Body image and body shame
• Fat shaming and fat talking to self and others
• Using food
  • to sooth, numb or squash intolerable feelings
  • in search of transpersonal qualities such as love
  • to punish oneself for not being good enough, thin enough, successful enough…
• Eating disorders including anorexia, binge eating, bulimia, obesity, orthorexia and EDNOS
• Splitting and black and white thinking around notions of good or bad, healthy or unhealthy, clean or unclean, lazy or fit and fat or thin
• A myriad of health and well-being concerns related to the body and diet such as digestion, cancer, fatigue, illnesses and immunity etc

Want to stop feeling crazy around food? ***Sign up here*** to be notified of my upcoming eating psychology workshops.

********************************************************************************************************

Love your body week

September 7- 11 is the Butterfly Foundation’s Love Your Body Week .

“Eating disorders and body image concerns present a huge problem for both males and females across Australia, however there continues to be an enormous lack of knowledge in Australia surrounding these issues. The reality is that they are extremely common, affecting an increasing number of people each year. Research indicates that poor body image can play a significant role in the development of eating disorders, as it can often lead to risky dieting and exercise behaviours. As one of the most modifiable socio-cultural risk factors for eating disorders it is important that every Australian works toward developing their body confidence. Building positive body image is a good way of promoting protective factors, making a person more resilient.”

For more information on how to join and celebrate your body, click here!

********************************************************************************************************

How do you feel about your body?

Most people believe they can change the way they feel about their body by losing weight or changing the way their body looks. We think by hating ourselves enough, it will motivate us to change.

“Body hate

It crushes the soul.

It robs us of our power.

I t drains our energy.

It has us wasting our time in over-exercising.

It has us wasting our time in foolish diet strategies.

It stops us from being more intimate with others.

It inhibits the flow of love. It weakens us.

It slows our personal development.

It attracts to us the kind of relationships that often wound us.

And it’s a damaging legacy to pass on to our children.”

(Marc David, Institute for the Psychology of Eating)

Find out in this short video what it is that really needs to change.