In today’s digital world, there’s an app for nearly everything—including recovery from eating disorders. From meal tracking to mindfulness, emotion regulation to peer support, eating disorder recovery apps are increasingly used as complements to professional care or tools for self-guided healing.

But do they help? Are they safe? And how do you choose the right one?

Resilience is often misunderstood as toughness or the ability to "bounce back" quickly from adversity. But true resilience is more complex, nuanced, and deeply human. It's not about being unaffected by hardship—it's about being changed by it in meaningful, life-affirming ways.

Whether navigating eating disorder recovery, trauma, loss, or the everyday challenges of life, resilience is the internal capacity that allows individuals to endure pain, adapt, and grow. The good news? Resilience is not an inborn trait—it is a skill set that can be developed and strengthened over time.

Eating disorders are complex, life-threatening illnesses that affect people of all ages, genders, races, body sizes, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Yet despite increasing awareness, many individuals with eating disorders go undiagnosed, misdiagnosed, or are not taken seriously until symptoms become severe.

Early detection is one of the most important factors in a successful recovery—so why are eating disorders still so often misidentified or overlooked?

In this post, we explore the reasons behind misidentification, the populations most affected, and what clinicians, families, and communities can do to improve recognition and response.

One of the most defining—yet often misunderstood—features of eating disorders is secretiveness. Whether it's hiding food, lying about eating, exercising in private, or avoiding conversations about distress, secrecy becomes a powerful force that keeps the eating disorder alive.

But secrecy in eating disorders is not simply about deception or denial. It is often about protection—of identity, safety, control, and shame. Understanding the psychological roots of secretiveness is key to both compassionate treatment and lasting recovery.

This post explores why secrecy develops in eating disorders, the consequences it brings, and how individuals can begin to shift from secrecy to truth, from hiding to connection.

Eating disorders are not just about food or body image—they are deeply rooted in emotional pain, often fueled by three powerful and overlapping emotions: shame, guilt, and self-blame. These emotions are not only common among individuals with eating disorders—they can be central to how the illness begins, persists, and resists treatment.

For many, shame whispers, “I am not enough.”
Guilt says, “I did something wrong.”
Self-blame reinforces, “It’s all my fault.”

Without understanding and addressing these emotional undercurrents, recovery can feel like a physical battle with no emotional anchor. This post explores how shame, guilt, and self-blame operate in eating disorders—and how to begin loosening their grip.

While eating disorders are most commonly associated with adolescence and young adulthood, signs of disordered eating can emerge much earlier—even in children under the age of 10. These early signs are often missed or misunderstood, as parents and caregivers may attribute them to "picky eating," "growth phases," or general emotional sensitivity.

Understanding the factors that contribute to the development of eating disorders in young children is critical for early identification, prevention, and support. These factors are multifactorial and complex, involving a combination of biological, psychological, familial, social, and cultural influences.

Exploring Meaning, Connection, and the Sacred in the Journey Toward Wholeness

Recovery from an eating disorder is often framed around food, weight, medical stability, and mental health. These are essential components. But for many individuals, healing also involves something deeper—a return to meaning, purpose, and connection that transcends the physical body.

This is where spirituality can play a powerful and restorative role.

Whether grounded in religion, nature, mindfulness, ancestral wisdom, or personal belief systems, spirituality offers individuals a way to reconnect with their core self, cultivate hope, and find meaning amid suffering. It’s not about bypassing pain or replacing treatment—but about deepening the recovery process through connection to something greater.

Eating disorders are often called illnesses of disconnection. They thrive in secrecy, isolation, and self-reliance. Many individuals who struggle with disordered eating find themselves pulling away from friends, family, and community—not because they want to, but because their illness convinces them that they are unworthy, misunderstood, or safer alone.

Recovery, then, is not just about food, weight, or behaviors—it is also about reconnection. Reconnection with others. Reconnection with the self. And learning, sometimes for the first time, what it means to be seen and supported without judgment or condition.

This post explores why eating disorders drive isolation, how that impacts relationships, and what it looks like to rebuild meaningful connection in recovery.

Understanding the Overlap Between Substance Use and Eating Disorders in Young Adults

“Drunkorexia” is not a formal medical diagnosis, but it is a term that increasingly surfaces in both clinical settings and college campuses alike. It refers to the combination of disordered eating behaviors and alcohol misuse, most commonly seen in adolescents and young adults. While the word may sound casual or even humorous, the reality is serious: drunkorexia is a dangerous and potentially life-threatening behavior pattern that places individuals at risk for both medical and psychological harm.

This blog post explores what drunkorexia is, why it occurs, who is at risk, and what can be done to address it—clinically and culturally.

Family-Based Treatment (FBT), also known as the Maudsley Approach, is a leading, evidence-based treatment for children and adolescents with eating disorders — especially anorexia nervosa, and increasingly for bulimia nervosa and ARFID.