I remember my dietitian once telling me that there is more to life than rules about what you are and aren’t allowed to eat, that there are preferences if you give yourself permission to accept them. What the heck are food preferences, I thought. I only knew the world of strict, punishing food rules, thanks to the eating disorder. Here I share how I came to loosen my grip on food rules and began to explore what I actually, truly, deep down enjoy and dislike to eat—and in so doing, opened an unexpected pathway to self-acceptance.

Meet guest contributor Layla Caroni. At age 27, after 10 years of struggling with an eating disorder, Layla faced herself in the mirror and began what she calls the most significant journey of her life: her Hero’s journey to recovery. Read Layla’s inspiring story, which is also an invitation to view your own recovery journey as heroic.

For so many of us in recovery, being “healthy” creates quite a conundrum. Although we commit to health and desire the benefits that come from being healthy, it can be painfully difficult to hear the words: “You look healthy.” Here I open up about the trouble I had with this word, and how I eventually learned to expand my definition of healthy from one rooted in eating disorder thinking to one that aligns with recovery values.

Meet guest contributor Evie Rose, who shares about making the brave, hard choice to leave university to seek help for an eating disorder and addiction. Evie describes how she’s integrated yoga into her recovery journey, and the many ways the practice has helped her feel again and move her body with intention and compassion. If you could use a little hope today that recovery is possible, give Evie’s post a read.

Guest contributor Steph Hillier (she/her) writes with honesty and humor about the fears, challenges, and hopes of going through eating disorder recovery. Read Steph’s story to learn how living with anorexia ultimately exhausted her of beating herself up for being an imperfect human, leading her to commit to walking the path of recovery wearing “kick-ass love glasses and self-compassion capes.”

The health nut identity is far too common in our culture. It's often actually an eating disorder in disguise: orthorexia, an obsession with "healthy" eating. Caroline Young, MS, RD, LD, RYT, reflects on her years suffering from orthorexia and shares how she reclaimed her worth by letting go of her “health nut” mask.

Guest contributor Lora McCandless struggled with an eating disorder for many years, often feeling alone and unseen. Here, Lora shares how hearing the words “Be Kind to Yourself” for the first time set her on a journey to learning how to practice self-kindness in her recovery and in her life today as a mother, wife, and human.

Guest contributor Liz Dehler shares about the Buddhist meditation of loving kindness and how integrating it into her recovery and life has helped her love herself more fully and build nurturing relationships with others.

Guest contributor Caroline Young, MS, RD, LD, RYT, shares her story of yoga and eating disorder recovery. From watching her mother practice yoga as a child to taking classes in college, Caroline describes how this practice helped her find lasting connection with her body and emotions.