healthmedicinet

 

 Jenni told us, “Never, never, never give up!” She then quoted Amelia Earhart who said “The best way to do it, is to do it.” In treatment, Jenni learned that her eating disorder was not about the food, but, but food was the best medicine for recovery. “A starved brain cannot get better.” She remembers thinking that following a food plan would be impossible. She couldn’t picture eating on regular basis or responding normally to hunger and fullness. But when she just starting eating as her nutritionist directed her, the real emotional recovery began.

Jenni then stopped talking and drew a graph on the chalkboard.

“This graph of ups and downs describes my recovery. I learned from every fall. I learned to recognize the lies ED told. I learned to say no. I learned I could go to bed with the covers over my head and that the bad feelings would pass without my acting on my eating disordered thoughts.” One of my patients was so taken by this imagery that she asked Jenni to include this graph when she autographed a copy, Life without Ed.

Jenni ended the evening with several songs and some insights from her second book, Goodbye Ed, Hello Me, about finding real joy and peace in life. “It’s not just about food and weight,” she says. “I’m here to help people to fall in love with life.”

At lunch earlier in the day, Jenni told me about her new book, Almost Anorexic, due out this summer. Jenni’s co-author is eating disorder expert and Assistant Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard (and Dartmouth grad) Jennifer J. Thomas, PhD. Almost Anorexic is written for an overlooked but prevalent segment of people who suffer from many of the key symptoms of an eating disorder but do not quite meet the full diagnostic criteria of one of the eating disorders. I know many people who fall into this category. They often feel that their situations aren’t bad enough to deserve treatment. Jenni wrote this book for you. Thank you, Jenni!

Nutritionist Marcia Herrin and Nancy Matsumoto, co-authors of The Parent’s Guide to Eating Disorders, G?rze Books, Marcia is also author of the recently published Nutrition Counseling in the Treatment of Eating Disorders (Routledge, December 2013).

 Copyrighted by Marcia Herrin and Nancy Matsumoto.

 

 

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