My name is Tiffany, and I am one of the lived experience researchers on the team! I have fully recovered from anorexia, and want to use my experience to help empower others. Recently, I was asked to give an EBE talk on navigating Christmas with an ED as this can be an extremely difficult period for those with an ED. I remember this festive season being one of dread instead of excitement, despite always having loved Christmas.
As Christmas is coming up, I have compiled a workbook, sharing my experiences and tips that helped me through this period. Every journey is different, but I hope that this workbook can be some comfort and help you feel more supported throughout Christmas. Here are they key topics:
Remember, this is a temporary season. Christmas is another day in recovery. Use the same strategies and tools you would use on any other day. If you are finding things difficult, COMMUNICATE! You deserve to feel as comfortable as possible, it is a big day for you. You are never a burden for setting boundaries. You've got this :)
0 Comments
6/30/2025 0 Comments Summer RemindersThis week I just have a few reminders for you:
This weeks blog is around managing eating disorders in the hotter seasons. Before I start with this topic I’d like to apologise for the inconsistency of these blogs recently, and I’m going to try to send them out weekly again (:
Summer (or in England any season that decides to bless us with heat), can be a tricky time for those with eating disorders. This could be trying to manage with staying hydrated, or wearing more revealing clothing to regulate better with the heat. Adapting the amount we drink can be unsettling, as in colder months we may drink less. Though it is important to stay hydrated, I think it’s important to acknowledge that this can be tricky for those with eating disorders. I’m also autistic and for me this means I don’t usually get signals of dehydration for my body, so it can add a little extra barrier to staying hydrated. Some suggestions I have that have helped me are: to set a reminder (this could be hourly or every few hours) on your phone so you have an added reminder to drink. Another suggestion would be to bear in mind that when it’s hot, we sweat more. This means our bodies may need some additional drinks throughout the day to replenish themselves. Clothing in summer can also be difficult. We may have to wear shorts or vests in order to stay cooler. I haven’t got many ideas that may be helpful for those who are especially conscious of how they look/feel in smaller clothing. However, I would say to try and remember that everybody is too worried about how they look to notice how you look (I hope this is a helpful statement, however I appreciate it may be received in a negative way). Our bodies are the least interesting things about us, and this may be hard to remember, however I’d say to try and focus on what positive attributes we have inside rather than out. I hope this weeks blog has been helpful in some way, and I hope to see you back here next week (: -Leah 5/13/2025 0 Comments Mental Health Awareness WeekI wasn’t sure what to write for mental health awareness week but I wanted to share a few thoughts. It’s an important week, however can be difficult for those who have battled with mental health conditions or know those who have loved ones who do. I wanted to say that whether you have a diagnosis, no matter how long you have struggled or been affected by your mental health, and no matter what you struggle with…you are valid. Everybody has mental health, and that’s why it’s important to recognise that there are periods of time where you may be affected by aspects of your mental health. Mental health awareness week can help us to appreciate how important and different everybody is and hopefully value one another more. To anybody reading please remember that you are amazing and you have got this!
-Leah 3/14/2025 0 Comments Easter TimeHello to any and all readers this week (:
I hope you are all doing fabulously, it’s okay if you are not are getting by (that is just as amazing). I wanted to share some food for thought, pun intended. It’s Easter time soon and there are a few topics I wanted to speak about. 1. Pancake day 2. Religious events 3. Easter Firstly, pancake day! Although this has passed…I don’t think it has. Pancake day can be any day you want it to be! I had pancakes over the weekend as I felt it would be a bit much with what was going on for me on Shove Tuesday. I still wanted to have pancakes around this time so I made my own pancake day (: I was then thinking about the fact that why should we just have pancakes on pancake day, why not any day! If you are anxious about having pancakes but feel ready to challenge (if this is a challenge for you) you should not feel bad in doing so any time of year. Next, I wanted to speak a little about religious events happening at the moment. I’m not too knowledgeable on religious events like Ramadan and lent occurring right now but had a few thoughts as I know both of these can have some food implications. People will often give up something for lent and some people fast at specific times of the day for Ramadan. Even tho these are important for many people and their religion please make sure if you have participating you put yourself first. If possible please try and talk to family/friends and community teams about what is best for you. Some suggestions I have are giving up something that doesn’t have negative impacts on your diet or making sure you are medically and mentally stable enough to fast (maybe even doing this on intermittent days). Again, I don’t know a lot about these events but just some thoughts I had. Lastly, I wanted to speak about Easter as it can have a lot of connotations with food. As a child I’d be so exited for Easter eggs and different Easter chocolate. These days I get more anxious than anything. However the part of me that is excited, wants me to find ways that I feel comfortable to join in. Some things that have helped me are pre-planning what may be manageable and thinking about what I want to join in with; remembering that others are not judging if/and what I join in; finding non-food Easter activities o can join in with. Easter can be a difficult time but can also be really enjoyable. The weather is getting a little warmer now which is lovely and there’s lots of lovely spring themed displays up in shops. I hope some of these thoughts have been helpful and I hope to see you back here for the next blog (: -Leah 2/25/2025 2 Comments Eating disorder awareness weekIt’s eating disorder awareness week! I’m glad this is a week designated to spread awareness and hopefully support people living with eating disorders and getting a better understanding. Although caring and understanding should always be there, this week hopefully boosts everyone’s understanding and hopefully helps those of us who are all too aware (“:
Some things to remember when spreading awareness for eating disorder awareness week:
To finish off, I hope that this was a helpful reminder in thinking about what may/may not be helpful to share if you’re wanting to share during eating disorder awareness week. I hope that this week helps give those who want to learn, a better understanding! -Leah Finding identity is something that can be difficult for anybody and I wanted to speak a bit about my experience with this while finding my own way. I developed my eating disorder before I got diagnosed with autistic spectrum condition. This was difficult as I felt for a long time that had I been diagnosed sooner, maybe I wouldn’t have developed my eating disorder, as I thought that I may have not needed to find comport in “controlling” what I eat. However I now realise I could never know this, yes I can speculate but I will never truly know. I think as humans we overthink about things that may or may not have happened if the order of events in our lives are different. In the short term I’ve found this can help, however to move forward accepting the way things have happened can help us to heal (in my opinion). You can’t change the past as much as we so desperately want to on occasions, whether this be big or small things. What we can do, is change what we continue to do or change to make future events better for ourselves.
When you have an eating disorder, for many this is our whole world and it shrinks the world for us so it revolves around this. I often get scared that friends, family and others I’ve met after developing my eating disorder won’t like me anymore when I’ve recovered. But why wouldn’t they?! It’s rare that anybody would say “I liked you better when you were ill” or “when you weren’t present and thinking about food all of the time, our conversations were so much more interesting” or even “I liked your body much better before”. Never say never as people say some very strange and irrational things but, these things are highly unlikely to be said and are a reflection on the type of person they are than you. Although these types of things aren’t kind, I appreciate that others in our lives may struggle when dynamics change and when recovered/recovering we may change slightly as people, but I’m certain it is for the better. Your eating disorder doesn’t make you a better version of yourself, it may feel like it makes it easier to cope in the world however I’ve never heard someone who has recovered from an eating disorder say “I regret my decision”. I hope these thoughts are helpful and maybe give a new perspective. Please remember not to be hard on yourself, you may be in a difficult place but trust your support network and have faith in yourself because YOU CAN DO THIS. -Leah 12/10/2024 0 Comments 10th December LanguageThis week’s topic is around language. Language used can be a big thing and passing comments may mean well but can potentially be difficult for somebody with an eating disorder.
When somebody says the word “healthy” it can have a very different interpretation for somebody struggling. To them it can can feel like you’re saying they are recovered or don’t need to weight restore any longer. This can be damaging as eating disorders don’t have a look, and somebody’s “healthy” may not be what you perceive. I personally think it’s better to compliment everyone on things that don’t relate to their body. Some examples could be: their smile, tattoos, or clothes. Another thing that can be difficult is saying “you’re looking so well” which is a tricky one because most people say this and you never know if somebody is struggling with food and/or body image. It’s not really a term I use but a general rule of thumb that it hopefully upsets less people is, if you know somebody struggles with an eating disorder try not to say it. It can have the same connotations as the word “healthy” for some. Other terms like “you don’t look like you have an eating disorder” “please eat for me” or “you just need to eat” are a big no go, I’d say. As eating disorders don’t have a look and people struggling don’t need any added guilt. I think it’s important to remember that you should never comment on somebody’s body or what they’re eating (there are some exceptions, like if somebody is getting support around food, and there needs to be conversations about it), because how people look and what they eat is their business (: Asking somebody supporting if you’d like you to eat with them or help them plan meals may really help. Please remember to be kind to everyone, regardless of if they have an eating disorder or not. Everybody deserves kindness! I hope you enjoyed this week’s topic and it can help in some small way (: please comment any topics you’d like to see! By Leah Brown 12/6/2024 0 Comments 6th December 2024This week’s topic is new year’s resolutions.
You may be thinking…how is this linked to eating disorders? The link is (for me anyway) that many New Year’s resolutions are diet related. Unfortunately fad diets are at their peak at new years. As we are rapidly approaching 2025 I wanted to offer some reassurance to those with eating disorder. Please remember your body is not a craze or something that should be nourished seasonally! Even if you join in at Christmas you do not need to compensate in the new year. People don’t eat the same amount every day, and having more at Christmas (or any day) is more than okay. Another thing to remember is that you are your own person, just because others go on a diet or cut out specific foods, that doesn’t mean you have to! Yes there are foods that may be eaten around holiday seasons- like Christmas dinner- but nourishing yourself is not seasonal. Different foods doesn’t mean less food, it may just mean you eat different things. Finally, my best advice if you do want to join in with New Year’s resolutions, do something that will better you as a person. This can be short term or long term, but something either non-food/exercise focused will probably more beneficial. Or (though you don’t need to wait until new year), choosing recovery could be your New Year’s resolutions to help you start off 2025! By Leah Brown |
By Leah BrownArchives
December 2025
Categories |
||
Search by typing & pressing enter
RSS Feed