https://www.murraynutritionco.com/

Murray Nutrition, Brentwood, TN (2025)

07/07/2025

Thoughts on “the eating disorder being loud” - looking forward to sharing more on this topic!

Which of these common responses do you relate to the most? Comment below if you’re comfortable 👇🏼💙

06/26/2025

Stay cool my TN peeps, this one is for you! 🍊🧊🥵☀️

What’s tips stuck out to you the most? Comment below 👇🏼

*P.S. What’s the most brutal summer (outside) job you’ve ever worked? For me it was a roller coaster ride operator at an amusement park 😬😅 IYKYK

04/23/2025

There is a LOT of suffering that happens with eating disorders that isn’t objective, isn’t quantifiable, and yet, it’s very much real and devastating. There’s a reason why my recent “high functioning eating disorder” post did so well 💔

It’s really hard when you are suffering from an eating disorder and don’t have that objective data!!! It absolutely can feed the denial.

At the same time, denial is a universal symptom of an eating disorder, and should be acknowledged as such. If you find yourself saying “it isn’t that bad” or “I don’t think I have a problem” and others are concerned about you - something to be curious about 🤔

Early intervention (treatment) for eating disorders leads to better outcomes - research tells us this. Suffering longer isn’t a destiny to suffer forever, however, it does make it harder the more deeply engrained the disorder gets. Not waiting until the last possible minute to seek help *can* (not always) help avoid higher levels of care. 🙏🏼

I would have saved $$$ on treatment if I would have sought help when I first started struggling, instead of delaying, denying, and distracting myself from the reality of what was happening.

If you or a loved one can relate to any/all of this, my team is accepting new clients heading into the summer and would be honored to support you - reach out via DM or at www.murraynutritionco.com 💛

03/25/2025

Speaking as someone who has been there 🙏🏼 this has come up several times this week in client sessions.

On the one hand, you know it’s literally just fruit. On the other hand, it seems like a life-or-death situation to make sure you get the lowest calorie fruit (food item?) possible.

These are some of the things folks with eating disorders struggle with - an extremely narrow selection criteria for “acceptable foods” that can further contribute to anxiety, guilt and shame with eating.

In our practice, we help clients reduce exposure to calorie counts and “extra” nutrition information to help the body and mind come back into safety and regulation. We do this in a way that continues to promote nutritional health, balance, and variety.

There are some aspects of nutrition that are helpful to focus on. Calories in fruit ain’t one of them 🫶🏼

If you are thinking about food for more than 25% of your day, there might be a reason to do some self reflection around why that is. Food and body obsession don’t have to be YOUR norm, even though it is unfortunately normalized in our culture.

Me + my team recently opened up some 1:1 client spots available late March into early April - DM me if you think we might be a good fit - you don’t have to suffer any longer 🫶🏼

03/20/2025

So many of the clients we work with are “high functioning” in their eating disorders. I was the same way in my own experience with an eating disorder.

This can be so confusing for friends, family, and support people to notice, not to mention the person who is actually suffering from the eating disorder.

This phenomenon can also feed denial, and the idea that “I must be okay, things must not be that bad if all of these other things are okay.”

How can one be doing that “badly” while also maintaining a high GPA, advancing in career, functioning like a “normal” person? Other people have it worse, right?

There are a couple of reasons this happens:

1️⃣ Food restriction + malnutrition increase cortisol and adrenaline hormones within the body, which can make it seem like energy and productivity are great, we can handle it all, and nothing could possibly be wrong. This state also disconnects us from hunger and fullness cues, creating the allusion that one does not need much nourishment to get through the day. The problem is when this state of fight-or-flight becomes one’s default state of being, as the body was never meant to exist only within this realm. This results in chronic emotional dysregulstion and eventually, a breaking point, physically, mentally, and emotionally.

2️⃣ Eating disorders are survival strategies, often used to mitigate low self-worth. The same can be true for getting good grades and killing at work. These things are not “wrong” or “bad”, but when they are rooted in the felt sense that “I cannot be okay without this thing” it’s amazing what one’s body and nervous system will allow them to do, for a period of time, until you can’t anymore.

3️⃣ Eating disorders are a socially acceptable drug of choice. People celebrate you when you lose weight or “eat healthier”. They love seeing someone who is really disciplined in the gym. The cultural reinforcement of eating disorders is also one reason, in my opinion, why so many people are “high functioning” and delay getting the help they really need 🫶🏼

This experience is more common than not, and it’s incredibly lonely. If you can relate to this, know you’re not alone and help is available 🫶🏼

03/05/2025

TL;DR
🧠 Food restriction keeps you mentally stuck on food and your body.
🍽️ When eating more, you may experience the phenomenon of improved body image, with or without weight gain.
💙 This happens, not because you suddenly love how your body looks, but because:
1. your relationship with your body has fundamentally changed
2. your body is more resourced to handle moments of body image distress with proper nutrition.

Is eating enough like a magic pill that eliminates all body discomfort and body image woes? No, of course not! But it is an *often* overlooked piece of the puzzle!

If you are looking for more nutrition support, we are opening up additional 1:1 nutrition client spots this month - reach out today to schedule a complimentary discovery call to see if we are the right fit for you 🩵

03/03/2025

My definition of “recovery” has evolved over the past several years both being in recovery and working in the field of eating disorders. On the one hand, I desperately want other people to know not to immediately throw in the towel when it feels like their world is ending from a debilitating eating disorder. On the other hand, I do feel very confident that “recovery” and “healing” will look different for each person, depending on that individual’s life circumstances, timing, & access to resources.🤍

There are people who experience much, much relief from eating disorder recovery, and require little to no conscious management of it day to day once they have walked through that process.

Some people get to the point where they may no longer use the eating disorder behaviors, while still continuing to struggle with the mental side of things. 🧠

Others may suffer from the eating disorder symptoms for the duration of their lives, in varying degrees.

Others heartbreakingly lose their lives from eating disorders.💔

To date, there is no “cure” for eating disorders that has been found. Similar to cancer, some folks respond to xyz treatments really well, and others simply don’t. More research is needed. More resources are needed. A better culture is needed.

“Recovery” or “healing” happens with appropriate treatment yes, but also the support and resources necessary to move out of survival mode. And needless to say, a person can’t move out of survival mode when they don’t have the appropriate opportunities, circumstances, and resources to be able to do so.

I believe in recovery, I believe in healing…and I also believe in humanness, pain, trauma, and things that get in our way of being the best versions of ourselves that have nothing to do with how hard we are trying. And sometimes that doesn’t mean full remission of symptoms. But that doesn’t mean that growth and healing and more of the good can’t happen, through recovery. 🩷

“Recovered” might not feel like helpful verbiage for you. Maybe it does. Think about what makes you feel alive and aligned. ✨

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

02/14/2025

If I had a magic wand, there would probably be *something* I would change about each of these pictures.

And I feel sad even typing that out, because my highest, healthiest "Self" adores ALL of these pics and the memories attached.

There is a part of me, I should say, that would change xyz if I could w no cost 🤪

And the reality is — the *only* reason I would even think to do that is because of the tens of hundreds of thousands of millions of beauty and body messages and standards I've absorbed !!! thats it.

Positive body image doesn't mean liking how you look all the time, adoring every picture you take, and always being satisfied with your weight. This is perfectionistic and impossible in this world.

what it can mean, is building a relationship with your body that is able to move through ruptures, pain, and frustration. It means loving YOURSELF and YOUR BODY, treating it with kindness and respect even on days when you don't love how it looks. It means radical acceptance around the fact that there will be days when you feel "heavier" or "bigger" regardless of physical changes in your body, and it doesn't mean anything. And there is freedom in not having to solve or react to that apart from wearing something comfier. Its knowing you *might weigh less* you counted calories, start cutting out foods, and compulsively exercising (who knows honestly) - BUT - owning that the COST of doing that, for what it does to your brain, is not worth it. It's letting go of the relentless pursuit of thinness, as if you owe the world that. Its honoring what feels aligned in and through your body *right now*, understanding that this will change throughout your life.

what sticks out to you? what would you add? 🩷

02/13/2025

Eating disorders can perpetuate such high levels of shame, self-hatred, and self-abandonment in one’s self. The shame can be paralyzing. One of the biggest things that propelled my own recovery journey was not a specific type of therapy, a certain meal plan, book, podcast or other resource, but rather, being able to tell my story in a safe space with people who were willing to enter into that with me and also say “me too” AND ALSO you don’t have to stay here. Your story is not over. You are not broken. There is nothing wrong with you. You are loved. You can heal. 🥹

And this practice of reducing shame while simultaneously supporting each individual in taking courageous steps towards a different way of entering into relationship with food and body is at the heart of what we do at Murray Nutrition (yes, as dietitians 😊)

One of my favorite quotes is, “Shame dies in stories that are told in safe spaces” by Ann Voskamp & it’s something I return to regularly.

What a privledge it is to witness so many step out of darkness of shame and into the light ♥️

Happy Valentine’s Day 🩷🩷
xx, The team at Murray Nutrition

02/10/2025

It’s the little things that are actually the *big* things 🫶🏼 (and a lot of these things do not feel little at all 🩷)

I will add that number 9 is what we are seeing a LOT of in our practice these days, more and more folks feeling like their healing / recovery is incomplete, no longer fearing food / eating situations, and yet, feeling the pull to eat in a way that feels even more aligned than not caring about nutrition at all. If any of these resonate with you, we would love to support you at MN ♥️

What would you add? 👇🏼

12/17/2024

This phrase is one that resonated deeply with a client of mine this past week as the holidays are quickly approaching.

Calorie counting can be a problem because it disconnects us from the internal wisdom of our bodies. And for those of us who have more of a predisposition towards anxiety, ocd, and eating disorders - numbers do prove to be tough on the brain.

As one client of mine realized last week, “Sometimes calorie counting makes me under-eat, and other times it makes me eat when I’m not hungry.”

It can feel helpful because it feels like a sense of control.

For many, this ends up being a false sense, an illusion of control. Because is one really in control (or okay?) when they must count calories to be able to eat?

I’m not sure. But the answer for myself is a resounding no, and the same is for many of our clients at MN.

At the end of the day, I don’t think we were meant to spend all of our time meticulously planning out our meals, counting calories, and obsessive over food. It takes away from our presence and aliveness.

One strong motivator in my recovery was not wanting to look back on my life & have memories tainted by how all-consuming my eating disorder was. I deserved better, and you do too ⭐️🎄

11/18/2024

In my eating disorder nutrition counseling practice, we work exclusively with folks who suffer from eating disorders.

🤔 How many of these people would you guess are“underweight” according to the BMI?

Answer: less than 10% of my clients are “underweight” according to BMI

Which means, over 90% of the people I’m treating for clinically significant eating disorders are at or above “normal weight” according to the BMI ‼️

😭 As someone who spent several years invalidating my own eating disorder & delaying getting the help I needed because I did not hit the “underweight” BMI threshold,
I’m telling you this so that you understand...

(1) The VAST MAJORITY of people who suffer from eating disorders IRL are not “underweight” according to BMI

(2) BMI is not a reliable indicator for health, much less a “healthy weight” for YOUR unique body.

(3) A person can have a “normal” BMI and be suffering immensely from an eating disorder.

(4) The way that eating disorders are depicted in the media do NOT represent what’s actually happening in the world.

This goes without saying, but let me make it abundantly clear —

‼️ You cannot tell if someone has an eating disorder based on how they look ‼️

This is also one of the biggest reasons why I never ever ever compliment another person’s body size/weight, because you never truly know what you’re complimenting.

If you’ve been looking for a sign to stop invalidating yourself & start healing your relationship with food and your body, this is your sign. 🫶🏻

We provide in-person and virtual nutrition counseling services in our Brentwood, TN office location and nation-wide in several U.S. states. Inquire today for more info! We would be honored to support you.

www.murraynutritionco.com

Murray Nutrition

07/07/2025

06/26/2025

04/23/2025

03/25/2025

03/20/2025

03/05/2025

03/03/2025

02/14/2025

02/13/2025

02/10/2025

12/17/2024

11/18/2024

Address

Website

Alerts

Contact The Practice

Shortcuts

Share

Category