Home for the Holidays: Does Your College Student Have an Eating Disorder?

College student with eating disorder home for the holidays [Image description; photo of mother and daughter sitting on her bed] Represents a potential college student with an eating disorder in California

Could Your College Student Have an Eating Disorder? The return home for the holidays after the first semester at college is often the first time you’ve spent significant time with your young adult since they moved away. Maybe your college student looks a little thinner to you. Or maybe they are not eating the foods …

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Lactose, Dairy, and Eating Disorder Recovery

Dairy and Eating Disorder Recovery in Los Angeles, California [Image description: a person driving a bottle of milk through a straw] Illustrating a potential person in eating disorder recovery incorporating milk

The Milky Way: Why We Encourage Inclusion of Dairy in Eating Disorder Recovery by Shelly Bar, MD, KatieGrubiak, RDN, and Lauren Muhlheim, Psy.D. Dairy is tasty and good for you. Despite this, there are a lot of folks who are scared of it. You may have eliminated dairy from your diet in pursuit of better …

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Supporting a Loved One with Emetophobia

Supporting Someone with an Eating Disorder or Emetophobia in Los Angeles, California

What is Emetophobia–Fear of Vomiting? Emetophobia is an extreme fear—or phobia—of vomiting that significantly impacts a person’s life. People with emetophobia may be afraid of vomiting, or seeing or hearing another person vomit, or seeing vomit. In an attempt to avoid vomiting, these people often end up avoiding many situations, activities, and even people they …

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Eating Disorder College Contracts

Eating Disorder College Contract in Los Angeles, CA [Image description: photo of a hand signing a contract] representing a potential college contract for a hopeful college student with an eating disorder in California

What is an eating disorder college contract? And do you need one? If you are sending a young adult with a history of an eating disorder to college (or seminary or another away program), it is a good idea to have a college contract in place. This is our recommendation for young adults with anorexia, …

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How a Health at Every Size(R) (HAES) Approach Can Help With Eating Disorder Recovery

Health at Every Size and Eating Disorder [Image description: black larger bodied woman eating a donut] represents a potential client receiving Health at Every Size Counseling at Eating Disorder Therapy in Los Angeles, California

Eating disorders are not only about body image. Nor have they only recently arisen in response to societal pressures to be thin. In fact, eating disorders date back to at least the 13th and 14th centuries, when it was observed that women were fasting to demonstrate religious devotion. However, today eating disorders do occur in …

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Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID)

Child with ARFID - Therapy for Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) in Los Angeles, California [Image description: drawing of a boy with a plate of food looking anxiously at the food on his fork] Represents a potential child client receiving treatment for ARFID in California

Treatment for Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) Are you looking for treatment for ARFID in California? Are you or is someone you love a picky eater? Maybe you have been a picky eater since early childhood and have a very narrow list of foods you are comfortable eating. Are you very sensitive to different …

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Instagram to make Diet Ads viewable for ages 18 and over—Why They should Remove Them Altogether

Instagram to make Diet Ads viewable for ages 18 and over—Why They should Remove Them Altogether - Dangerous of Diet Products on Instagram and Other social media [Image description: photo of a mobile phone with instagram app open]

by Carolyn Comas, LCSW, CEDS-S On September 18th, 2019 Instagram instituted an official policy that all ads promoting diet and weight loss products would only be able to be viewed by users 18 and over. Under this policy, once reported they can remove false ads. This is a huge victory in the world of challenging …

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Parents, Don’t Let Your Kids Diet!

Just say no to kids' diets in Los Angeles, California [Image description: purple scrabble tiles spelling "Just say no to kids diets']

Updated July 2023. Previously published in 2019 as a response to the Weight Watchers Kurbo app for kids. In January 2023, the American Academy of Pediatrics released guidelines for treating children and teens in larger bodies with “intensive health behavior and lifestyle treatment”–what I call a diet. In case you are tempted to go down …

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Swallowing, Choking, and Vomiting Phobias

Treatment for Swallowing, Choking, and Vomiting Photos [Image description: a drawing of an older woman sitting in front of a meal and she appears anxious about eating] Represents a possible person seeking treatment for a swallowing, vomiting, or choking phobia in Los Angeles, California

Fear of Food (That is NOT an Eating Disorder) Are you afraid of eating? Are you fearful of choking or throwing up? Fear of Eating Phobias Where phobias and eating collide, we can help you. As specialists trained in both eating disorders and cognitive-behavioral therapy—the treatment of choice for anxiety and phobias— we are uniquely …

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When You Have Adapted a Health At Every Size Approach and Your Family is Still Stuck in Diet Culture

When You Have Adapted a Health At Every Size Approach and Your Family is Still Stuck in Diet Culture [Image description: photo of a crack] Represents a potential chasm between a patient in California receiving HAES eating disorder therapy and their family still stuck in diet culture

For many of my patients who have firmly joined the anti-diet camp and embraced a Health at Every Size® (HAES) approach to health, dealing with family members entrenched in diet culture can be a minefield that is tough to navigate. Let me say that I get it! I also have friends and family members who …

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