Disordered Eating, Eating Disorders, and Body Image:

Healing Beyond Appearance

Food, exercise, and body image struggles aren’t just about appearance—they’re deeply connected to our emotions, beliefs, and sense of control.
If thoughts about food, weight, or body image are consuming your energy and stealing your peace, you're not alone—and help is available.

We offer a compassionate, nonjudgmental approach to help you heal your relationship with food, challenge unhelpful beliefs, and build lasting self-compassion. Our work is rooted in evidence-based techniques designed to support meaningful, lasting change and promote overall wellness. We understand that some cases require more people on the care team. We are happy to coordinate with physicians, dietitians, nutritionist, other mental health providers, and so on. We also understand that some cases require a higher level of care than what we can provide. We will do what we can to work with you to find a plan that will be most successful. Eating disorders are serious and can be life threatening, but help is out there.

In this post, we’ll explore common symptoms, screening tools, and how therapy can guide you toward healing and recovery.

Understanding Disordered Eating and Eating Disorders

Disordered eating refers to a wide range of irregular eating behaviors that may or may not meet the criteria for a specific eating disorder diagnosis.
Eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder, are clinically recognized conditions that significantly affect a person’s physical and emotional health.

Both disordered eating and eating disorders often stem from complex interactions between emotional, psychological, and environmental factors.

Common struggles include:

  • Obsessive calorie counting or food tracking

  • Compulsive exercise driven by guilt or fear

  • Rigid food rules or extreme dieting

  • Emotional eating (using food to cope with stress or emotions)

  • Binge eating episodes followed by shame or secrecy

  • Avoidance of social events involving food

  • Persistent dissatisfaction with body size, shape, or weight

  • Viewing self-worth primarily through the lens of appearance or fitness

Symptoms of Disordered Eating and Eating Disorders

Some key symptoms to watch for include:

  • Intense fear of gaining weight, even if underweight

  • Preoccupation with food, body image, or weight

  • Frequent dieting or fluctuating between restriction and overeating

  • Eating in secret or feeling ashamed about eating habits

  • Excessive exercise despite injury, illness, or exhaustion

  • Extreme body dissatisfaction or distorted body image

  • Withdrawal from family, friends, or social activities

  • Physical symptoms like dizziness, fainting, gastrointestinal issues, or changes in menstrual cycles

  • Significant weight loss or gain without medical cause

Screening Tools for Disordered Eating and Body Image Issues

If you or someone you know is struggling, these screening tools can help identify potential concerns:

  • EAT-26 (Eating Attitudes Test): A widely used standardized self-report measure to screen for symptoms and concerns characteristic of eating disorders.

  • SCOFF Questionnaire: A quick 5-question tool designed to detect possible eating disorders.

  • Body Image Disturbance Questionnaire (BIDQ): Assesses concerns related to body image dissatisfaction.

  • Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q): Measures the range and severity of eating disorder symptoms.

Early detection is key to getting the right support and preventing long-term physical and emotional consequences.

How Therapy Can Help Heal Disordered Eating and Body Image

Healing from disordered eating and body image issues is not about willpower—it’s about rebuilding trust with your body and mind.

Therapy offers a supportive, evidence-based approach that includes:

1. Understanding the Root Causes

Together, we explore the emotional, social, and psychological factors driving unhealthy food and body behaviors.

2. Building Self-Compassion

Challenging critical self-talk and cultivating kindness toward yourself are central to lasting recovery.

3. Developing Balanced Eating Habits

We help you reconnect with hunger and fullness cues, create flexible eating patterns, and break free from rigid food rules.

4. Addressing Body Image Distress

Learn skills to view your body with greater neutrality or acceptance, reducing the emotional distress tied to appearance.

5. Incorporating Evidence-Based Techniques

We use tools from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Internal Family Systems (IFS) informed approaches, and mindfulness practices tailored to your needs.

You Deserve a Healthy Relationship with Food and Yourself

Disordered eating and body image struggles can feel overwhelming, but they don't have to define you.
With the right support, you can reclaim your energy, rebuild self-trust, and move toward a life fueled by compassion—not criticism.

Ready to start your healing journey? Contact us today to learn more about therapy for disordered eating and body image support.

For more resources on eating disorders, check out the National Eating Disorder Association’s website.

 What to Expect

  • If you’ve received the client portal invitation, log in and check any messages, fill out paperwork, etc.

    Be thinking of what you would like to talk about, or any questions you have. Feel free to write those down and bring them in.

    Verify your insurance. Click here for more information regarding insurance.

  • Our office is tucked beside/behind Ge’Angelo’s in the. Northern Lights Shopping Center.

    We do not have a receptionist, so feel free to have a seat and we will be with you as soon as possible.

    If there is still paperwork to be done, you may be asked to fill out paperwork before your appointment.

    Each therapist has a private office, so you will be with the same therapist in the same office every session. To increase privacy we leave a noise machine on as well as the bathroom light/fan. These are to muffle noises.

    The lighting in the office LED. If you prefer lamps to overhead lighting, let us know and we will be happy to use lamps instead.

    After your appointment we will work together to decide if you would like to schedule another session. We will also determine if that will be scheduled at that time, or if it will be scheduled later. There is no right or wrong way to do it.

  • Be kind to yourself, you’ve done a lot of hard work.

    You are welcome to contact your counselor with any questions/concerns between session. Email or the client portal are the preferred and most direct ways to get in contact. We are generally in with clients and are unable to answer phone calls much of the time. Please be aware we may not be able to return your message for up to 48 hours.

    You can use the client portal to check your appointments or make/change any appointments.

    Contact the Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or visit your local emergency department if you are having thoughts of self harm or suicide. Vivant is not a crisis center.

 Frequently Asked Questions

  • Age ranges are based on individual clinicians.

    Child specific information:

    Sometimes kids are unable to manage more than 30 minutes. Children’s sessions may seem short, but they are still working.

    All child sessions are unique. Sometimes kids have parents/caregivers in the session, other times they do better without parents in the room. Parents/caregivers are almost always involved in the first session, and we will talk about these options.

    If you are bringing an elementary aged child, we ask that you stay in the building during the session if you are not in the session. If there is a concern we will try to accommodate something. We want your child to be safe.

    If you are bringing an older child that gets dropped off, please be aware of the end time (generally 45 minutes for middle school/high school aged kids) so they can be picked up quickly. Again, we want everyone to be safe and we will likely be in session and unable to monitor safety.

  • We treat a variety of diagnoses including, but not limited to, depression, anxiety, ADHD, and PTSD. Our clinicians have extra training in trauma, and am Basic Trained in EMDR.

    We are not licensed to prescribe medications.

  • Yes. Vivant is LGBTQ+ Affirming

  • While we are not faith based, we welcome all faiths.

  • For ongoing clients, scheduling your next appointment can be done at the end of an appointment, through the client portal, or by calling 515-523-5543. Counselors are not always able to accommodate same day appointments.

    Potential clients can fill out a form on our scheduling page.

  • Read about our insurance/fees/payments here

  • We take your privacy seriously. This is suppose to be a safe space and confidentiality is vital to that. If you want someone to be able to communicate with us about your services. (including billing) you can sign a release of information. This is also something that can be revoked by you at any time. Best practice includes coordinating with your primary care provider, but again, this is your choice.

    HIPAA (Health Insurance Privacy Portability Act) protects your PHI (protected health information). Our emails use HIPAA compliant encryption. Our client portal and our backup telehalth platform are HIPAA compliant.

    Counselors are mandatory reporters. As such we are mandated by law to report any suspected child abuse.

    Child Specific: During our first session we will go over confidentiality with children. It is my practice to keep conversations private and only tell parents general updates (ex: ____was open and talkative today), unless there is a safety concern or something that I feel the parents/caregiver should know. If this is the case, I try to be transparent with that so the child is not caught off guard.

    42 CFR Part 2 affords special protection when talking about substance abuse. Therefore children 14 years of age and older need to sign a specific release of information for parents/caregivers to obtain information from the counselor about anything substance abuse related.

  • While our emails use a HIPAA compliant encryption, it is safest to use our secure portal to communicate with your counselor. You may call 515-523-5433, however this is not the preferred form of communication as we are often in session and unable to answer phone calls.

    We discourage coming in person without an appointment as we may be unable to help you. Our office space is shared with other counselors, but they are unable to see your information and will likely be unable to help.