Do you overspend and overeat? Deprive yourself of possessions as well as of meals?   If so, there may be a connection between how you spend money and what’s going on with food.  

Many behaviors with food and finances are strategies to cope with uncomfortable or intolerable thoughts, emotions and conflicts, including, but not limited to, the following:

 The Internet has played a complicated role in my battle against an eating disorder.

In the depths of my illness, I used to scour the web to learn how to become a “better” anorexic. I was a slave to it. With every year that I lived with it (twelve in all), anorexia consumed increasingly more of my mind and body, until its goals fused completely with my own. I wanted—I needed—to lose weight, and the Internet, a vast fund of information and pro-eating disorder communities, seemed to hold the key.

Our country has set aside holidays for giving thanks, exchanging gifts, bringing light to a dark time of year. I cherish these ideals. But the actual experiences of the winter holidays often revolve more around food and complicated relationships, busyness and loneliness. Gratitude can seem far away.

Last week, my Pinterest account beckoned me with an alluring collection of pins under the heading, “Thanksgiving goodness without the guilt.” Featured were holiday “clean plates,” a virtual smorgasbord of vegan, raw, and gluten-free meals. 

Part and parcel with Thanksgiving is the inevitable diet talk that ensues. Often, it starts days or weeks before the holiday, as careful eaters strategize about how to conquer the feast with their diets intact. 

1. Costumes aren’t such a big deal
Halloween can get stressful trying to figure out what to wear. Focus less on how you look and more about enjoying the festivities! If you don’t like dressing up DON’T! Wear what is going to be comfortable so it does not get in the way of you having a good time!

Family members play an integral role in supporting their love one's recovery. During the Friends & Family Kick-Off Dinner to open the NEDA Conference last week in San Antonio, TX, this idea was thoroughly explored through a "Friends & Family" panel discussion.

The event was emceed Thomas P. Britton, DrPH, LPC, LCAS, ACS, CCS  from CRC Health Group and the panel was moderated by NEDA Ambassador and author, Jenni Schaefer, and featured individuals in support and treatment roles:

I recently received the following e-mail of thanks from a father who contacted NEDA for resources and references to help his daughter. This letter was so moving and inspirational that we wanted to share it with all of you, because it is supporters and donors like YOU who make our life-saving work possible!

It was a time when courage was essential.  It was a time when tears, shock, rage and grief were unleashed as if I'd pried open a Pandora's Box.  It was a time when innumerable doors began to swing open, new connections form and my intimate darkness fade to make room for the light of My Life, a time ending in the sunshine.

In my own biweekly journaling, I need to run the daily details through my pen to make sense of and absorb them.  And sometimes, there are times when I need the clarity and guidance of a long-scope overview.  I recently looked back at the Steppingstones of my life, which showed my entire life's path spilled out in a list of twelve items on a single page.