Huntsville Eating Disorder Dietitians

Eating disorder dietitians in Alabama can help you heal your relationship with food and recover from your eating disorder. 

Do you feel out of control around food? Do you struggle to eat enough? Are you constantly tracking calories or feel like you always need to be exercising? Are you struggling to allow yourself flexibility around food? Do you feel badly about your body or your eating habits? You might be struggling with an eating disorder.

What is an eating disorder?

An eating disorder is a mental health condition characterized by unhealthy and irregular eating habits, thoughts, and behaviors that have a negative impact on a person’s physical and psychological well-being. Eating disorders often involve an unhealthy preoccupation with food, weight, and body image. Common eating disorders include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder, each with its own specific symptoms and patterns. These disorders can lead to severe physical complications and require professional intervention for diagnosis and treatment.

Signs of an eating disorder can include:

The signs and symptoms of an eating disorder can vary depending on the specific disorder, but some common indicators include:

1. Significant weight fluctuations or noticeable changes in body weight.
2. Distorted body image, with an intense fear of gaining weight or an obsessive concern with body shape and size.
3. Restrictive eating patterns, such as avoiding certain food groups, severely limiting caloric intake, or engaging in extreme dieting.
4. Binge eating episodes, characterized by consuming large amounts of food in a short period accompanied by a loss of control.
5. Frequent trips to the bathroom immediately after meals, which may indicate purging behaviors like self-induced vomiting or laxative/diuretic misuse.
6. Excessive exercising, driven by a need to burn off calories or compensate for food intake.
7. Social withdrawal, isolation, or avoidance of social situations involving food.
8. Obsession with food, including constant thoughts about eating, meal planning, or food-related rituals.
9. Noticeable physical changes such as thinning hair, dry skin, brittle nails, or dental problems.
10. Emotional and psychological symptoms such as anxiety, depression, mood swings, irritability, and low self-esteem.

It’s important to note that individuals with eating disorders may not exhibit all of these signs, and the severity of symptoms can vary. Only having one of these symptoms can still mean you or a loved one is struggling with an eating disorder or disordered eating and needs support. 

Types of eating disorders:

Anorexia

Anorexia is an eating disorder characterized by a relentless pursuit of thinness, leading to severe restriction of food intake, an intense fear of gaining weight, and a distorted body image. Individuals with anorexia often exhibit extreme weight loss, malnutrition, and may engage in excessive exercise or self-induced vomiting. You don’t have to look a certain way or be a certain weight to struggle with anorexia.

Bulimia

Bulimia is an eating disorder characterized by episodes of binge eating followed by compensatory behaviors such as self-induced vomiting, misuse of laxatives, or excessive exercise to prevent weight gain. Individuals with bulimia often experience feelings of guilt, shame, and lack of control surrounding their eating patterns.

Binge Eating Disorder 

Binge eating disorder is an eating disorder marked by recurrent episodes of consuming large amounts of food within a short period, accompanied by a sense of loss of control. Unlike bulimia, individuals with binge eating disorder do not engage in compensatory behaviors. They often experience distress, guilt, and shame about their eating habits. People with any sized body can have binge eating disorder. 

ARFID

Avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) is an eating disorder characterized by persistent and significant limitations in the amount or variety of food consumed, often due to sensory sensitivities, fear of negative consequences, or lack of interest in eating. Individuals with ARFID may experience nutritional deficiencies, weight loss, and impaired social functioning, but unlike other eating disorders, their body image and shape concerns are typically absent or less prominent. 

How can a dietitian help with eating disorder treatment?

Seeing a dietitian for your eating disorder can help you heal your relationship with food and body. Dietitians help make sure you are eating enough food for your body and can help challenge disordered thoughts and behaviors around food and body image. Dietitians can also help with coping skills around eating. We work with adolescents, teens and adults, as well as any family members who would like to be involved and supportive.

Some benefits of seeking nutrition therapy:

• More flexibility around food
• Increased variety of intake
• Improved digestive function
• Decreased depression and anxiety
• Less health complications due to malnutrition
• Improved healing with proper nutrition

Eating Disorder Dietitians can help

At Huntsville Nutrition Collective, our team of skilled dietitians can help you heal from an eating disorder. We provide eating disorder treatment from trained registered dietitians virtually and in person in Alabama. Dietitians provide guidance on balanced meal planning, portion sizes, and addressing any nutritional deficiencies.

Chelsea is a Certified Eating Disorders Specialist (CEDS) and iaedp approved supervisor. Andrea is pursuing her certified Eating Disorders Specialist. Rachel specializes in eating disorder treatment and also is an associate licensed counselor in Alabama.

Our Approach to Eating Disorder Treatment

Our approach to eating disorder treatment involves meeting with your dietitian weekly or twice per week. We’ll also help you establish a treatment team if you do not already have a treatment team in place. We work together as a team with our clients to help them navigate eating disorder recovery. We will meet you where you are and work to normalize your relationship with food and body. 

We know that seeking treatment for an eating disorder can be scary. We’ll do our best to help you feel comfortable during your sessions with us. We will never judge you and want you to feel safe sharing with us. Our goal is to create an alliance against the eating disorder to help you fully recover. We’ll work together to come up with realistic goals along the way so you don’t feel like you’re being asked to do the impossible. 

Ready to Start Nutrition Counseling for Eating Disorders in Alabama?

We can’t wait to help you heal from your eating disorder. Our kind and compassionate registered dietitians at Huntsville Nutrition Collective are here to help you recover from your eating disorder by making small, sustainable changes until you are well. Life is so much better when you’re in recovery. We’ve helped hundreds of people recover from their eating disorders. 

Next steps:
–Meet our team of eating disorder providers
–Schedule an appointment with our team

Other Nutrition Support at Huntsville Nutrition Collective:

As a team of registered dietitians, we at Huntsville Nutrition Collective, are the nutrition experts. We have providers on our team who specialize in cancer care, gut health, pediatric nutrition (failure to thrive, picky eating, baby led weaning), general nutrition concerns, pregnancy nutrition, food allergies, gluten free diets, celiac disease, diabetes, diabulimia, intuitive eating and more.

We offer individual nutrition counseling sessions for a variety of concerns. Not sure if we can help? Reach out to us at info@hsvnutritioncollective.com, and we’ll let you know if we can help. If we can’t, we’ll happily point you in the right direction. We’re here because we want to help people be well and live their best lives, not to treat clients like a number.