Feck It, Fun, Fabulous & Free Eating Disorder Recovery

Hunger can manifest in many different ways, particularly when you are in eating disorder recovery, your physical hunger cues are unreliable and you have lost the ability to recognise what is hunger and what isn't in the way 'normal' people do. In this episode I talk about all the different ways hunger can manifest physically, mentally, emotionally and in the way you behave. www.hellybarnes.com

Christmas* when you have an eating disorder and you are in recovery can be hard, as I spoke about in the last episode. In this episode, I provide some tips on how you might make this Christmas better, despite the eating disorder and despite a brain screaming at you to restrict or to compensate for eating! (**feel free to replace the word Christmas here with Thanksgiving, Hanukah, Diwali, Ramadan o...

In this episode I begin to talk a bit about Christmas (although you can apply this to Thanksgiving or Hanukah or any other celebrations you are due to attend).   Here I read a blog post I wrote when I was in recovery and about to experience my first Christmas as a recovering but not yet fully recovered person with an eating disorder!  The post was about all the reasons why Christmas can be so diff...

This is the second part in a short series on low appetite in eating disorder recovery and how to manage it. In this episode I cover 11 tips of how to keep yourself eating despite a low physical or perceived appetite in your recovery process so that you do actually get recovered! www.hellybarnes.com

In eating disorder recovery appetite can fluctuate, especially physically, throughout the process. In this first episode in a series on hunger and appetite, I discuss why low appetite (physical and mental) might occur at different stages of eating disorder recovery and whether you have to keep eating despite it. www.hellybarnes.com

Anyone recovering from an eating disorder will know all too well how powerful the fear response can be when attempting to take on a recovery positive 'challenge'... In recovery it is crucial to be able to proceed with recovery action despite the fear and in this episode I provide a few small hacks to help overcome that all too powerful fear response in your eating disorder recovery. www.hellybarne...

Eating disorder recovery will stagnate, stop or even begin to slide sneakily back if you are not on top of it and stay vigilant as to where you are and are not progressing. This episode talks more about why you need to keep ensuring your recovery with the eating disorder keeps evolving. www.hellybarnes.com

When in eating disorder recovery, many people start off determined and in attack mode but then it gets harder and tiring and things start to slide back. This episode is about how to recognise when your initial gung ho / attack on recovery mode has depleted and the importance of bringing that gung ho attitude back and keeping it there into your full on recovery. www.hellybarnes.com

When in eating disorder recovery, how do you tell whether the movement and exercise you are or want to engage in is still compulsive? This is a dilemma that many people face when in recovery... how do I know if it is ok to move or exercise?  How do I know if I am 'recovered enough'? Have a listen to find out more! www.recoveringnomad.com

This is an episode for anyone with a business, strategic or systematic type of brain... Eating disorder recovery is probably the most important thing you will do in your life and it is a full time project (or should be to be successful).  Therefore, treat it as such and apply the tools of project management to keep your recovery on top!! www.hellybarnes.com

Eating disorder recovery is tough on the person going through it but it is also incredibly difficult for those who are supporting a loved one in eating disorder recovery.  Knowing what to do or not do can be a minefield and it's especially challenging when your loved one with the eating disorder is an adult. This episode provides tips on how to support a loved one in eating disorder recovery. www....

Most people have heard of dopamine as a brain chemical that rewards us for things that occur in our lives (things we do, see, taste etc)... But dopamine is also an important brain chemical in motivating us towards goals that are difficult. This episode is about how to use what we know about dopamine to help motivate you in eating disorder recovery. www.hellybarnes.com

We talk about fear a lot with eating disorders because the illness generates intense and powerful fear reactions when you try to eat more, rest more, face weight gain and those fears have to be faced in the process.  But we don't often talk about using fear FOR recovery and that is the topic of this episode! More on me: www.hellybarnes.com

For Mental Health Awareness Week 2022, the topic is loneliness.  Therefore, I have made an episode about my experiences of loneliness both when I had an eating disorder and in recovery. More about me: www.hellybarnes.com

Following on from an earlier episode about how restriction can sneakily manifest in eating disorder recovery, this episode includes lots of practical tips in how to overcome the restriction that is lingering in your life. My coaching: www.hellybarnes.com

One thing is true. Eating disorders are manipulative and they lie.  They twist the reality of the person who has the illness and make them believe things or see things that are just not true or valid. But they are persuasive and believable. This episode is all about just how eating disorders behave like spin doctors in your brain. My coaching: www.hellybarnes.com

When in eating disorder recovery, one of the key areas to focus on is overcoming all the restriction in the how, what, where and when you eat, digging out any sneaky ways the eating disorder might be trying to keep a hold on you. In recovery, you can be eating so so so much more food and appearing to the world to be winning at recovery but actually still restricting.  In this episode I discuss sev...

When you have an eating disorder, it can be the case that you are scared to recover because you fear that when you are 'recovered' you will have to restrict your intake again (this fear is often a result of traditional treatment approaches and diet culture). This episode is to reassure anyone who needs to hear it that unrestricted eating is not just for recovery... it is for life... that's right,...

In eating disorder recovery, it is crucial to rewire your brain so that the new habits of eating without restriction and not compensating for eating in any way become hard wired in and take little or no conscious effort in future. One way to help rewire faster is by using positivity when you are in recovery!  Find out more in this episode. More about my coaching: www.hellybarnes.com

This is an episode in which I share my opinions and thoughts on whether anyone can be bulletproof in full recovery from an eating disorder, and the concerns I have about people getting too complacent in full recovery. My coaching services: www.hellybarnes.com

Eating disorder recovery is a long process and it is easy to get complacent and stuck in new recovery ruts along the way. This is why it is crucial to keep shaking recovery up! My coaching website: www.hellybarnes.com

In this episode, I talk about how to make sure that your environment and the things you see, hear, notice and people you spend time with each and every day are all set up so that they will 'trigger' your brain to consider the recovery option in each moment (as far as possible!). My coaching: www.hellybarnes.com

On a biological / physiological level, fear and excitement are the exact same response and it is just our interpretation of what is happening in our body that makes one of them fear and one excitement. Therefore, in eating disorder recovery, it can be possible to use the physiological state your body is in when you are afraid and change it into excitement instead... Have a listen to know more! My...

In eating disorder recovery, many people experience urges to eat high quantities of food in a binge or feast eating style and then describe this as having 'lost control' of their eating. In this episode I argue that this is not losing control when people 'binge' in eating disorder recovery and why this is gaining control of recovery! Find out more about my coaching: www.hellybarnes.com  

In eating disorder recovery, when we talk about 'rewiring the brain', the concept applies to the thoughts you have, as well as your actions (and rewiring both together is the best option for a quicker recovery!). Find out more in this episode. More on my coaching: www.hellybarnes.com