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While I never struggled with an eating disorder, I struggled with eating.

I wanted so badly to be thin that at one point I was afraid of eating two apples a day (one of my fave foods).

I’d think long and hard about the sugar content and whether two apples per day over time would add up to extra pounds.

I think the fear of foods – whether it’s high-calorie or high-carb foods or fast food – has become commonplace in our culture, fed, in part, by women’s magazines and hysteria over the obesity epidemic.

Food fears tend to kick-start a vicious cycle of restricting and overeating, leading to disordered eating, and possibly to an eating disorder.

This is such an important topic, so I wanted to get expert insight on it.

Today, I’m pleased to present my interview with Marcia Herrin, EdD, MPH, RD, LD, who specializes in children and adults with eating disorders.

Marcia founded the Dartmouth College Eating Disorders Prevention, Education and Treatment Program. Currently, she sees clients in private practice and co-writes a blog about eating disorders and nutrition.

Below, Marcia discusses the definition of food fears, how they develop, the signs of unhealthy food anxiety and more.

Mondays can be rough for many of us, and this doesn’t create the ideal environment for building a better body image. To help you turn that around, every Monday features a tip, activity, inspiring quote or some other tidbit to help boost your body image – and kick-start the week on a positive note.

Got a tip for improving body image? Email me at mtartakovsky at gmail dot com, and I’ll be happy to feature it. I’d love to hear from you!

I’ve talked before about the beauty of being different, essentially a movement that blogger and photographer Karen Walrond started  about embracing our quirks and opening our eyes to the beauty of those quirks.

About seeing the allure even in the least likely of places. In ourselves (like my roundish chicken pox scar on my head).

And in others (a loved one’s scar, quirky habit; the way they might talk, love, look or live).

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I’m excited and so grateful to publish another guest post by Elizabeth Short, who recovered from an eating disorder after a 16-year battle.

She’s already shared her inspiring story on Weightless (see part 1 and part 2) and talked about the various tools that helped her recovery post inpatient treatment.

Recovering from an eating disorder goes beyond becoming physically healthy. Healing yourself from within is just as key.

Below, Elizabeth writes beautifully about becoming whole.

As readers of “Weightless,” I’m sure you know by now that eating disorders are not really about food and weight.   They are about many underlying issues that are manifested through food and weight.  We focus on what we eat and how much we weigh because that is something we can control – something we can change.

Yesterday, psychotherapist and body image expert Jane Shure, Ph.D, shared her insight on overcoming body shame, an extreme form of negative body image.

In part two of our interview, Jane talks about how the inner critic develops, how to quiet it and what emotional resilience really is – concepts that I believe are key in cultivating a positive body image.

From time to time or every day, all of us can relate to the gnawing and negative voice of an inner critic, the doubts, the insecurities, even the outright lies it may tell us about our supposed unworthiness.

But like body shame, you can overcome the inner critic and boost your ability to bounce back from the bad stuff. Here’s how.

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I’ve already talked about body shame on Weightless when I interviewed expert Carolyn Jones from the Eating Recovery Center. But I think it’s such an important topic that I wanted to explore it again.

So many of us experience body shame, a deep and intense belief that we’re defective.

Equally as damaging, we think that we’ll never learn to respect ourselves, to see ourselves as worthy, let alone love ourselves just as we are.

We lose hope.

But please know that if you’re experiencing body shame, you can overcome it. It takes time and effort, but you can conquer it.

For guidance on overcoming body shame, I turned to psychotherapist Jane Shure, Ph.D, who specializes in body image and self-acceptance. She also writes the blog The Doctor’s In. (You can learn more about Jane and her work below.)

I hope you find this interview helpful! And please stay tuned for part two tomorrow.

Mondays can be rough for many of us, and this doesn’t create the ideal environment for building a better body image. To help you turn that around, every Monday features a tip, activity, inspiring quote or some other tidbit to help boost your body image – and kick-start the week on a positive note.

Got a tip for improving body image? Email me at mtartakovsky at gmail dot com, and I’ll be happy to feature it. I’d love to hear from you!

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For a long time, I was ashamed of my body. I felt iffy about wearing certain clothes because I didn’t know if I was thin enough to wear them.

I wanted to fix specific parts that I viewed as flaws.

I felt awkward in my body.

Maybe you have, too. Maybe you still do.

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“A friend once told me she wished she could scrape the taste buds off her tongue, so she didn’t have to choose between the pleasures of eating and being thin.”

So writes author and professor Harriet Brown in her book, Brave Girl Eating: A Family’s Struggle With Anorexia. (Check out my interview with Harriet: part 1 and part 2.)

Does this statement shock you?

I regularly feature Q&As with individuals who’ve recovered from eating disorders, binge eating, negative body image and any kind of disordered eating. If you’d like to share your story of recovery, I’d love to hear from you! You can email me at mtartakovsky@gmail.com.

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Here’s part two of my interview with Nina, who’s recovered from various eating disorders after an almost 10-year battle. Nina writes her own pro-recovery website, helpforeatingdisorder.com.

Below, she talks about the insights she’s gained from her struggles and seeking recovery, what recovery means to her, myths about eating disorders and more.

You can check out part one here.