Why Self Care?

You may be thinking, “I don’t need self-care. That’s for people who need therapists and yoga.” Mmmmm….. Not quite.

Self care is something us mental health professionals preach and preach because surely enough, we all could use some TLC.

What does self-care look like?

• A bath or shower

• Curling up with your fur baby, or real baby!

• A nap

• Doing something that makes you feel beautiful such as buying new makeup, getting a haircut, getting your nails done

• Finding a place in nature and being by yourself

• Going for a walk or to a work out

• Baking

So many forms of self-care! But really, it comes down to doing what re-energizes YOU.

Self care is for all of us. It’s for when our battery needs recharged. When we’ve had a bad day. When our motivation is low.

Bottom line. Self care means taking care of yourself. And we all need it.

Don’t keep pouring from your cup without refilling it. In order to be the best version of yourself and serve those around you, you must take care of yourself too. It is not selfish, it is only giving back to yourself so you can continue to brighten those around you.

What’s your self care?

How to Offer Support to a Loved One with an Eating Disorder

This is such a common question from parents or loved ones who are trying to support someone with an eating disorder.

No one ever said providing support comes naturally.

What prevents someone from offering good support?

1. Fear

You may feel fear that if you say the wrong thing or trigger them, they will self-harm, hate you, run away, whatever it may be. Yes, those things could happen, but do you know what else can happen? The eating disorder can win. The eating disorder can cause them to withdraw from their loved ones, starve themselves, force them to act upon thoughts that their authentic self does not want to do. Do not let fear stand in the way of supporting your child or loved one.

2. Guilt

There is no one to blame for the development of an eating disorder. Eating disorders can develop due to many things, one strongly being genetics. An easy analogy for this is- the genetics loads the gun, the environment pulls the trigger. Environment is something that is very difficult to control. This is not your fault, it is not anyones fault.

3. Pain

It is definitely painful watching someone you love treat their body in a harmful way. Eating disorders effect the individual mentally and physically. It takes a team of multi-disciplinary professionals to treat it, and one of the multi-disciplinary professionals is you. Family and friends play one of the largest roles in their loved one’s eating disorder treatment.

4. Misunderstanding

As mentioned before, no one asks for this illness to fall upon them. If you’re struggling supporting a loved one with an eating disorder because you simply do not understand, educate yourself. There are great resources at nationaleatingdisorders.org

After you conquer the barriers preventing you from providing good support… what do you do?

1. Be present with them at meals and snacks, help distract them by talking about light topics that are unrelated to food.

2. Make sure they have accessibility to food and beverages.

3. Text or write them uplifting notes.

4. Make sure they make it to their appointments with their treatment team.

5. Be their rock- consistent and strong

6. Do not talk about your own issues with food. Keep topics of diets, calories, weight, your eating struggles taboo.

7. Ask them how they are doing around meal times, or in general.

8. Empower them to tell their treatment team about behaviors they are acting upon.

Those are just a few ways you can support someone with an eating disorder. The other most important thing to do is to support other supporters. Do not knock each other down because you are all a part of a team and will succeed through positive affirmations from one another.

I would love to hear your stories in how you support your loved one! Post in the comments below, or send me an email at isabelle@bamboonutritionrd.com