Training for a marathon is exhausting. 

Here at NEDA, we aim to provide education, support, and options for individuals and families affected by eating disorders. Recently, we asked our supporters on Facebook and Instagram to share how NEDA has helped them or a family member in maintaining recovery. In honor of over a decade and a half of service, here are 15 responses from our community that share how NEDA has impacted their lives!

Though tattoos are not for everyone, some individuals choose to get inked for a variety of reasons. Especially when overcoming hardship, a tattoo may serve as a reminder of the battles you’ve won and the feats you’ve conquered. For many of us recovering from eating disorders, recovery tattoos represent strength, hope, and motivation to continue with recovery. In case you’re considering getting your own recovery tattoo, we’ve compiled a list of steps that will help you be satisfied with your new ink!

Today’s #NEDAchat will be focusing on eating disorders and body image in the dance community. We have an incredible panel lined up, and we wanted to introduce you to them. Read on to see who they are and what they are doing to tackle this discussion in the dance community.

Those who know me well know that I’m naturally drawn to the dark. My mind always goes to the worst case scenario. My first thought after a positive thing happens in my life is: great, but when is the other shoe going to drop? You might say that I’m a pessimist, or cynical (my mother often does) but, honestly, I try to be positive about things. Maybe it’s that I believe preparing for the worst always leaves you to be wonderfully surprised by the median outcome, rather than being disappointed or shocked when things don’t go your way. 

“Dear Melody” is an advice column by Dr. Melody Moore, a clinical psychologist, yoga instructor and the founder of the Embody Love Movement Foundation. Her foundation is a non-profit whose mission is to empower girls and women to celebrate their inner beauty, commit to kindness, and contribute to meaningful change in the world. Dr. Moore is a social entrepreneur who trains facilitators on how to teach programs to prevent negative body image and remind girls and women of their inherent worth.

Ah, summer. No school, no deadlines, and no obligations. In their place: cookouts, pool parties, beach trips, vacations, etc. Life is easy-breezy, a two-month-long, Instagram-worthy holiday. 

But—what if your summer isn’t this? What if your summer is actually a story of unstated (but ubiquitous) pressures? The pressure to be easy-going, fun-loving, and spontaneous. To socialize all the time. And of course, to show off that mythical “bikini-body.”

Day 28: Tuesday “I forgot how miserable I really used to be...I want my life. I want a personality. I want hobbies. I want love. I want feeling, I want confidence. I can’t have those things along with ED. So goodbye ED. Goodbye forever. I want recovery more than ever.”

With the anticipation of celebrating Independence Day growing every day, people all across America seem to be getting ready, picking up paper plates and plastic cutlery, standing in long lines at the supermarket, or stocking up on red, white, and blue clothing to be extra patriotic this year. Among all the excitement of rejoicing in the independence of our country, we may be less attentive to our own needs and sometimes reject our personal cues to re-energize and uplift ourselves.

I spent many summers in fear and trepidation. I felt like this was a season that I didn’t fit in.

There’s good reason because leading up to the warmer months, magazines told me how to get the perfect beach body. When swimsuit season was upon us, I was mortified that I never achieved a body with shipshape abs.