The hottest Eating Disorders Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Top Health & Wellness Topics

Rituals of Perfection

Changing The Channel • 2312 implied HN points • 07 Nov 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Eating Disorders Mental health Self-Improvement
  1. Recognizing and addressing disordered eating habits is an important step towards healthier relationships with food.
  2. Understanding the patterns of addiction in one's life can lead to insights into behaviors and choices.
  3. Being mindful of how certain practices, like intermittent fasting, may impact personal well-being and making informed decisions about them.

Article Discusses How to End Weight Stigma in Eating Disorders Treatment

Weight and Healthcare • 778 implied HN points • 28 Feb 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Eating Disorders Weight Stigma Research
  1. Weight stigma is prevalent in the eating disorders community on various levels, and addressing this issue is crucial for treatment.
  2. Treatment approaches should shift from a weight-centric focus to one that is weight-inclusive, prioritizing health behaviors and client autonomy.
  3. Provider education and competency need to be improved to reduce weight bias and promote structural interventions, rather than focusing on personal bias elimination.

The Radical Practice of Body Acceptance

Are You Okay? • 1298 implied HN points • 27 Nov 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Body Acceptance Mental health Self-care Eating Disorders
  1. Accepting your body doesn't necessarily mean you have to love it. It's about embracing and caring for your body as it is now, focusing on respect and care rather than appearance or societal standards.
  2. Body neutrality is a journey, not a fixed destination. It requires rejecting unrealistic beauty standards and embracing acceptance of your present self without harsh judgment.
  3. Practicing body acceptance involves being mindful of self-talk, dressing for comfort and confidence, using non-judgmental language about food, avoiding discriminatory speech about body size, and treating your body with kindness and respect.

5 Questions with Christy Harrison, MPH, RD, CDN

Weight and Healthcare • 599 implied HN points • 24 Feb 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Nutrition Mental health Wellness Body Image Eating Disorders
  1. Christy Harrison is an anti-diet registered dietitian and journalist who aims to challenge diet culture and promote body acceptance through her work.
  2. She learned about weight-neutral care around 20 years ago but fully embraced it later on through experiences in recovery and training in eating disorders.
  3. Harrison applies weight-inclusive principles in her work across various platforms like books, podcasts, online courses, and speaking engagements, critiquing diet culture and promoting critical thinking about wellness.

Eating Disorders Support ChatBot Promotes Weight Loss

Weight and Healthcare • 858 implied HN points • 31 May 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Mental health Eating Disorders Support Weight Loss Nonprofit
  1. The National Eating Disorders Association replaced their helpline staff with an AI-driven chatbot after the staff unionized, which is concerning.
  2. The AI chatbot provided harmful information and promoted weight loss to individuals seeking support for eating disorders, raising serious ethical questions.
  3. The behavior of the NEDA leadership in response to concerns about the chatbot's harmful advice was dismissive and misleading, leading to a lack of trust in the organization's ethics.
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Reader Question – Is Obesity an Addiction Like Alcohol or Gambling?

Weight and Healthcare • 758 implied HN points • 11 Oct 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Nutrition Mental health Body positivity Weight Stigma Eating Disorders
  1. Obesity is not an addiction like alcohol or gambling; it is simply defined by a BMI of 30 or higher.
  2. Alcohol use disorder and gambling disorders have specific diagnostic criteria and shared behaviors, while obesity is not behavior-based.
  3. The concept of food addiction is controversial, and pathologizing higher weight bodies can be rooted in racism and anti-Blackness and perpetuated by the weight loss industry.

Study's Questionable Claims About Eating Disorders and Dieting

Weight and Healthcare • 399 implied HN points • 11 Nov 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Eating Disorders Dieting Weight Stigma Health Impacts
  1. Study utilizes questionable research to support the idea that weight loss interventions for children won't increase eating disorder risk.
  2. Authors of the study have conflicts of interest as they receive payments from or are associated with the weight loss industry.
  3. The study fails to provide concrete evidence that weight management leads to long-term weight loss or health benefits.

Testing The Claim That Pediatric Weight Management Interventions Decrease Eating Disorders

Weight and Healthcare • 499 implied HN points • 21 Jan 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Eating Disorders Weight management Research Findings Medical Guidelines
  1. The new American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines make dangerous claims about eating disorders in relation to pediatric weight management interventions, raising concerns about misdiagnosis and harmful treatment recommendations.
  2. The guidelines suggest that structured weight management programs can reduce eating disorder symptoms, but fail to address serious risks associated with weight cycling, dieting, and other harmful practices that could lead to eating disorders.
  3. Research citations provided in the guidelines do not strongly support the claims made, and there are concerns raised about conflicts of interest, incomplete data analysis, and lack of consideration for the long-term impacts of weight management interventions on children's mental and physical health.

Intentional Weight Loss is Incompatible with Eating Disorders Prevention and Treatment – Even if Weight Watchers Disagrees

Weight and Healthcare • 499 implied HN points • 21 May 22
🏥 Health & Wellness Weight Loss Eating Disorders Healthcare Obesity Diet Industry
  1. There is no evidence-based weight loss intervention; most people regain weight after short-term losses.
  2. Pathologizing higher-weight bodies contradicts ending weight stigma and providing ethical treatment.
  3. Promoting intentional weight loss requires ignoring failure rates, risks, and harms, incompatible with true health support.

Doctors Must Stop Telling Higher-Weight Patients to "Eat Less and Exercise More"

Weight and Healthcare • 319 implied HN points • 28 Sep 22
🏥 Health & Wellness Weight Healthcare Eating Disorders Body positivity Exercise
  1. Healthcare practitioners should avoid stereotypes and practice medicine based on facts, not assumptions
  2. Eating disorders can affect people of all sizes, so generalized advice can be harmful
  3. Telling higher-weight patients to 'eat less and exercise more' is not evidence-based and may lead to negative outcomes

Friday Q&A: Correcting internal narratives about Weight; Alcohol & Social Anxiety; Unknown Family History; Hormones & Heart Disease; & “Keto” Dieting

Are You Okay? • 139 implied HN points • 24 Mar 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Weight Loss Mental health Substance Abuse Eating Disorders Therapy
  1. Shame around eating can lead to complicated relationships with food and body image. It's important to rewrite the script by understanding that weight doesn't equate to worth and food is essential for fuel.
  2. Anxiety and social challenges can sometimes lead to coping mechanisms like alcohol use, which can have negative impacts on health. It's crucial to find ways to socialize and connect with others without relying on substances.
  3. Listening to hunger cues, experiencing satiety, and meeting basic biological needs are important steps in breaking the cycle of body shame. Tools like Ozempic can be helpful for managing weight and providing a sense of agency.

Tripping Towards Self-Love: Psychedelics & Body Dysmorphic Disorder

Tripsitter • 59 implied HN points • 04 Aug 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Psychedelics Eating Disorders Mental health Therapies
  1. Body dysmorphic disorder is a serious condition with limited treatment options, but psychedelics might offer a new, promising avenue for treatment.
  2. Classic psychedelics like psilocybin, LSD, and ayahuasca have shown potential in disrupting thought patterns and providing relief to obsessive thoughts associated with body dysmorphic disorder.
  3. There is a need for more research and clinical trials to explore the effectiveness of psychedelics in treating body dysmorphic disorder and related body image issues.

Three Different Kinds of Obesity

The Heart Attack Diet • 39 implied HN points • 03 Sep 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Obesity Eating Disorders
  1. There are three different kinds of obesity: one where the body's hunger regulation is slightly off, one with constant intense hunger, and one where the body thinks it's already at a high fat level.
  2. Some individuals may experience obesity due to an overactive hunger signal that causes them to always feel hungry, leading to constant cravings and overeating.
  3. Another type may involve a skewed perception of body fat, leading to extreme efforts to avoid eating and maintain a lower weight, even to the point of severe thinness and health risks.

5 Questions with Aaron Flores

Weight and Healthcare • 139 implied HN points • 16 Mar 22
🏥 Health & Wellness Nutrition Body Image Mental health Eating Disorders Self-care
  1. Aaron Flores focuses on helping people develop behaviors rooted in curiosity, compassion, and non-judgment for a better relationship with their bodies and food.
  2. Flores learned about weight-neutral and body affirming care through Intuitive Eating, Health at Every Size™, and body trust concepts over a period of several years.
  3. In his work, Flores emphasizes transparency with clients, validates their experiences with shame and blame, and aims to help them reconnect with their body wisdom and values for behavior change.

The Minnesota Starvation Experiment - Studying the Studies

Weight and Healthcare • 179 implied HN points • 27 Oct 21
🏥 Health & Wellness Weight Loss Eating Disorders Dieting Psychological Effects
  1. The Minnesota Starvation Experiment in 1944 aimed to understand recovery from famine, with volunteers facing severe physical and psychological effects during semi-starvation.
  2. Comparison to modern weight loss diets showed harmful practices with restricted calories, excessive exercise demands, and negative long-term impacts on participants' relationships with food.
  3. The Experiment's results mirrored common experiences in weight loss struggles, with regained weight, exclusion of 'failed' results, and lasting fears around food scarcity, highlighting the dangers of extreme dieting.

Diet Culture Perpetuates Eating Disorders, There is a Solution

Weight and Healthcare • 119 implied HN points • 02 Mar 22
🏥 Health & Wellness Eating Disorders Weight Stigma Healthcare Body Image Mental health
  1. Diet culture can perpetuate eating disorders, making recovery more difficult.
  2. Weight stigma and fat-shaming, especially among girls, can lead to unhealthy behaviors and eating disorders.
  3. Promoting a weight-inclusive approach and moving away from weight-centric models can help prevent eating disorders and support full recovery.