I've learned that finding your passion is critical in eating disorder recovery. Passion is what keeps us pushing through life, through the worst and the best of days it remains a driving force. While a prisoner of my eating disorder, I lost passion for any and all things this life had to offer. I realized during my eating disorder recovery journey that passion is something we need to reconnect with to find the strength to keep persevering in wellness.

It can be hard to integrate old binge foods back into your diet. In all honesty, I still have foods that I fear greatly though I have been in recovery from my binging behavior for quite some time. These foods are the ones that I would consistently binge on and would bring me mass amounts of distress. Over time, however, I have learned to reintegrate old binge foods back into my diet and consume them in a normal way.

I always knew I needed to let go of shame during binge eating disorder recovery and knew it would be a difficult road getting there. Letting go of the shame surrounding your eating disorder behaviors allows you freedom from the secrecy of your disorder and is essential while on the path to wellness. Here are tips on letting go of shame in binge eating disorder recovery.

Being honest with yourself and where you're at in your eating disorder recovery process can be challenging. At times I find I am trying to convince myself that I am doing better than I actually am. What we need to do is be honest with ourselves each day, checking in, seeing where we are at and what we need. Doing this will create self-awareness that will aid in keeping slips at bay.

We need to learn how to deal with the urge to binge eat -- even if we haven't binged in years. When the urge to binge arrives, we may feel like our only choice is to give in. Here's the good news, we have a choice. We can choose not to act on binging behaviors. Here are some tips to help deal with the urge to binge eat head on.

The benefits of dance movement therapy (DMT) during my eating disorder recovery can't be ignored. I have been a dancer all my life and, honestly, think dance is what saved this life of mine (Alternative Approaches to Mental Health Treatment). Shortly into my eating disorder recovery journey, I began working with a dance movement therapist. Having this experience made me realize how important movement, in particular, dance movement therapy, is for eating disorder recovery.

Something I always stress to people is that eating disorder recovery is not always a linear process and slips in eating disorder recovery happen. This is unfortunate, but something we need to be aware of. Throughout my recovery journey, I fell back into old disordered eating behaviors countless times before long-term abstinence from binging was able to occur. Here's how to deal with slips in eating disorder recovery.

Secrecy in binge eating disorder is huge. I was once told that eating disorders were all about secrets and lies. As I ponder that thought, I cannot think of anything more accurate. When consumed by binge eating disorder, I did everything in secret, never letting anyone into the reality of my life. I snuck food, lied about what I was eating, and denied any comments about my behavior. I wish I would have known then that the secrecy of my binge eating disorder was only digging me deeper into my dark hole.

Holidays in binge eating recovery can make the season even more anxiety-triggering. This time of year is especially food-filled and it can be tempting to dig in full force. It is important to remember what you are working towards and keep on your path toward binge eating recovery even during the holidays.

There is a great deal of misunderstanding when it comes to food, and those food myths hinder binge eating disorder (BED) recovery. It can be what the "healthiest" thing is to eat or the latest diet fad. When recovering from an eating disorder, we need to remember that current food fads are usually not the best for us. We know better and need to ignore what the trends are and stick to the balanced eating plan which keeps us from using behaviors. Watch for food myths in your binge eating disorder recovery.