Yesterday, I posted part one of my interview with clinical psychologist and eating disorder specialist Sarah Ravin, Ph.D, who also has an informative blog here. We talked about how the eating disorder field officially defines eating disorder recovery, what the research says and how Dr. Ravin defines recovery.

Below, we talked more about recovery, how to minimize relapse and good books and websites that readers can turn to — and much much more.

There’s a lot of confusion about what it really means to recover from an eating disorder. To get some clarity and insight, I spoke with eating disorder specialist Sarah Ravin, Ph.D. And I’m thrilled to present part one of that Q&A today.

Every Monday features a tip, exercise, inspiring quote or other tidbit to help boost your body image. For many of us, Mondays are tough. We may feel anxious and stressed out, anticipating an arduous week, especially if we didn’t get much rest and relaxation during the weekend. These kinds of feelings don’t create the best environment for improving one’s body image. In fact, you might be harder on yourself and easily frustrated. You might even feel like you’re walking on egg shells – with yourself! With these posts, I hope you’ll have a healthier and happier body image day, that’ll last throughout the week.

Got a tip for improving body image? Email me at mtartakovsky@gmail.com, and I’ll be happy to feature it. It can be anything you do that’s healthy and helps boost your body image. I’d love to hear from you!

Many of us are all too familiar with the message that thin equals health and happiness. We’ve yo-yo dieted. We’ve worked out really hard. We’ve starved. We’ve tried crash diets and detoxes. We’ve tried diet pills, and so on … all in the name of this message. But the one message that gets lost amid all this is that of self-acceptance.

I know that many of us feel like our bodies are betrayers. They jab at us with loud pangs of hunger when all we want is to diet away the pounds. They get exhausted when we want to work out harder. They don’t burn as many calories as we want them to. They get flabby where we don’t want them to.

Women’s magazines love to use the word “willpower”:

“It seems there are two kinds of women: those that have willpower of steel and can somehow manage to avoid a taste (or two or three) of dough when making cookies, and the women who not only have a taste, but also lick out the bowl! Given that holiday baking season is on our doorsteps, I have to know: How many of you have been known to partake in a little cookie dough?” ~ Glamour.com

“In a world where you can inhale half your daily allotment of calories as you turn left out of the drive-thru, often the only thing standing between you and a few extra chins is willpower—that oh-so—elusive ability to halt the urge to indulge. …

These four tactics target the most common resolve busters. Put them into practice, and pretty soon that cheesy Sicilian slice or glazed doughnut will be no match for your mental strength.” ~ Women’s Health

We often don’t hear much about eating disorder recovery or relapse or how to deal with the size-obsessed media when you’re trying to recover. And when we do, it can be very misleading.

Every Monday features a tip, exercise, inspiring quote or other tidbit to help boost your body image. For many of us, Mondays are tough. We may feel anxious and stressed out, anticipating an arduous week, especially if we didn’t get much rest and relaxation during the weekend. These kinds of feelings don’t create the best environment for improving one’s body image. In fact, you might be harder on yourself and easily frustrated. You might even feel like you’re walking on egg shells – with yourself! With these posts, I hope you’ll have a healthier and happier body image day, that’ll last throughout the week.

Got a tip for improving body image? Email me at mtartakovsky@gmail.com, and I’ll be happy to feature it. It can be anything you do that’s healthy and helps boost your body image. I’d love to hear from you!

When my negative voice starts yapping, it can be tough to shut it up, especially after I’ve failed at something, regardless of how small that might be. I’m also a bit rigid (OK, very), and a hiccup in my day can mean a mountain of defeat.

Here’s part two of my interview with the fabulous Shannon Cutts, eating disorder advocate and founder of MentorCONNECT, a pro-recovery mentorship program.

Below, Shannon tells readers about the biggest eating disorder recovery myths, how to find your key to life and, whether you have an eating disorder or not, how to overcome a battered body image and disordered eating and…lots more!

A few weeks ago, I reviewed Beating Ana: How to Outsmart Your Eating Disorder and Take Your Life Back by Shannon Cutts and took some great advice from the book for my post on silencing the eating disorder voice. Today, I’m pleased to present an interview with Shannon! Below, we talked all about MentorCONNECT, Shannon’s book, eating disorder recovery and relapse. I think you’ll find Shannon’s responses very helpful. Even if you don’t have an eating disorder, you’ll certainly find many words of wisdom.