May is recognized as Mental Health Awareness Month, but it’s also recognized as Women’s Health Month.. In honor of both, we are shedding light on a topic that is not discussed nearly enough and covers both mental health and women’s health – the effect disordered eating has on the female body, and specifically how altering food intake and added stress can effect hormonal balance and fertility when an eating disorder is involved.
I know we’re all being saturated with information about the pandemic right now, but I want to take a moment to talk to the people in eating disorder recovery. This is a SUPER triggering time and if your newsfeed on social media is anything like mine, there are lots of folks stressing about weight, exercise, and body image.
It’s a unique time. I guess I should say the Coronavirus or COVID-19 has brought about a strange and interesting time for our family. We’ve been home together for over a week now. Kind of like Christmas break, but… um, different. I have two early teen boys, a husband, and 2 dogs. All of us home, all of the time, for days and days. You know what that means? FOOD. LOTS. OF. FOOD.
Not many people know this, but February is National Eating Disorder Awareness month. This month is dedicated to shining the spotlight on eating disorders by educating the public, spreading a message of hope, and putting lifesaving resources into the hands of those in need. Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness… If you have a loved one that you believe has an eating disorder, here is a tool that may help guide the conversation. It is the acronym ACT NOW.
Is it just me or does it feel like January (and perhaps even February) is always the longest month of the year? It seems the cold and dreary days drag on for weeks and we stay curled up on the couch waiting for warmer weather. We peek outside to see bare trees and grey skies, but once spring and summer hit, we seem to go non-stop.
