It’s been a while since I’ve put together a resource guide for all things related to eating disorder recovery. However, with the back-to-school fall season in full swing, I figured this makes access to mental health resources a timely topic, since major life transitions can be an especially tricky time for folks with eating disorders.
This theme is one I’ve even noticed in two of the memoirs included in this round-up. Both books touch on the return to school, resulting in unsolicited comments on the authors’ bodies and worsening ED behaviours. The mental health toll of life transitions is certainly a topic that’s discussed in the blogs on this list, too. It’s a reminder to be sensitive and alert to the added stress this time can bring to youth and adults alike.
Now, you may have read this blog post title and wondered: “Wait a second, beans?! What do beans have to do with eating disorder recovery resources?” Well, Full of Beans happens to be the title of a lovely podcast all about raising awareness and reducing stigma on eating disorders — more on that and other helpful resources below.
Here are some of the blogs, books and podcasts that have been on my mind recently when it comes to eating disorder recovery.
1. Book: Ana, Mia & Me: An Eating Disorder Recovery Memoir by Michelle Pugle
What makes the memoir Ana, Mia & Me so unique is that it’s written by 17-year-old Michelle, freshly diagnosed with her eating disorder, with an afterward from the now 30-something freelance health writer. All these years later, she chose to leave her original words untouched and unedited: “I am doing this for my younger self — for the budding writer who survived anorexia but swallowed her story. I am doing this for the tens of millions of people struggling with stigma and eating disorder recovery.”
Similar to Hungry to be Me, another memoir I reviewed lately, Michelle weaves in heartfelt poetry between chapters. The teenage narrator brought me back to my own high school days, a time filled with constant comparisons, cliques and confusion. Add in the birth of the Internet and discovery of ‘thinspo’ content, and you have a recipe for a full-blown eating disorder. Michelle’s younger self is wise beyond her yearss, bringing a refreshing perspective to the voices of Ana and Mia.
You can learn more about Michelle on her website: www.michellepugle.com.
2. Book: Chasing Numbers: Starve, Sleep, Repeat by Scott Ellis.
There aren’t many memoirs detailing the experience of men with an eating disorder (though I recommend Starving for Survival by Jason Wood!), so I was eager to read Scott’s perspective in Chasing Numbers. Right off the bat, I noticed how teenaged Scott is complimented for his summer weight loss. He writes about the pitfalls of the education system’s focus on “healthy eating,” which spirals into a dangerous obsession with numbers and calorie-counting in his senior year of high school.
When Scott goes off to college, his eating disorder worsens to the point where he can’t concentrate on coursework, begins fainting and isolating himself from others: “I wanted nothing to do with the people around me, because there was no room in my life for anything other than my anorexia.” After a terrifying restrict-and-binge episode, Scott checks himself into a hospital and slowly begins the first steps toward recovery.
Flip forward many years, and Scott now works as the Operations Coordinator at Eating Disorders Nova Scotia and has dedicated all proceeds from his book to this non-profit organization.
Note: There is mention of specific ED behaviours, numbers and weights in both memoirs which may be triggering to some readers.
3. Podcast: Full of Beans
What I enjoy most about the Full of Beans podcast is how host Hannah Hickinbotham clicks effortlessly with her guests and relates their experiences to larger themes in the eating disorder recovery world, whether she’s speaking to clinical researchers, ED survivors or mental health authors.
I can confirm that Han is an absolute joy to speak to when we chatted this summer about the intersection of eating disorders and social anxiety. We unpacked the challenges in emerging from lockdown, with increased distress around eating food in public and around others. Plus, we had a good laugh over me not knowing that “pudding” is British slang for dessert.
4. Podcast: Uncovery Pod
A snippet from the Uncovery Pod trailer sums up this podcast so well: “I’m not a b****, I’ve just been hangry for a decade.” Host Maddie Quinlan is relatively new to the ED recovery world, yet ready to take the plunge and share what it’s been liken so far. This is a podcast I started listening to recently and, like me, Maddie took a break over the summer and is back now with Season 2 of her podcast.
Her latest episode discusses the little bursts of energy and excitement she’s felt recently as she replenishes her body. Maddie reveals that that actually wants to see people in make plans, in what she calls an “apology tour” for being MIA. She explores topics like adequate nutrition, trade-offs in the “mucky middle” of recovery and how it feels to be dressing in a new body.
Maddie’s mission of wanting to discuss her own journey to hold herself accountable and educate others hits home for me, and I’m excited to see what the rest of Season 2 brings.
5. Blog: Frayme
Frayme is a Canadian network of youth mental health resources with a goal to strengthen global collaboration and action. I love the origin story of their name: “‘Frayme’ was chosen to emphasize that knowledge and experience are the structure – or frame – that supports the redesign of how youth access mental health and wellness services.” One of their programs is Groundbreakers, a national network of lived experience individuals (like me!) where Frayme acts as a bridge between these individuals and the over 400 partner organizations providing direct services to youth and their families.
When I first learned about this organization, I stumbled across their blog and discovered so many different stories on topics from substance use and opioid treatment, to anxiety and eating disorders. I was inspired to pitch a blog post around my rocky transition from youth to adult mental services, which was recently published.
6: Blog: NEDIC
I’ll never stop including the National Eating Disorder Information Centre (NEDIC) as a resource for those seeking Canada-specific information about eating disorders. But did you know they also have a blog? It’s a good one, too, with regular posts from individuals with lived eating disorder experience and clinicians.
I’d always been a big fan of their blog and have been reading it for years, so I was thrilled to find out a post I submitted about my experience with group therapy as a teenager was published this month. Interested in sharing your story? I highly recommend taking a look at their blog guidelines — there’s even an option to post anonymously if you’re not ready to have your name out there.
In my 10+ years of recovery, I’ve recognized that resources like the ones above are so, so key to pursing a full eating disorder recovery.
There’s no point in talking about eating disorder recovery without pointing folks to helpful resources and tools. Otherwise, I may as well be screaming into an abyss of hopelessness and despair. If anything, books and podcasts and stories about others’ lived experiences have inspired me to be more vocal about my own.
It’s also made me realize that I’ve failed to include easily accessible resources on my Instagram profile, where I regularly post content about mental health and ED recovery. I’ve since added a ‘Resource’ highlight to my profile where you can find local, national and international eating disorder resources. Help is out there and available, trust me on this one. 💜
