The Food Freedom Society

12/25/2022

Happy holidays to all those who are celebrating 🤍✨

Holidays can be so tough for those struggling to find a healthy relationship with food and body, so I thought I’d debunk a few holiday myths today around food.

I like to use the holidays as a marker of my progress, and I truly feel that I’m able to enjoy myself so much more than ever before.

I always have progress to make, but taking the time to realize my presence and focus in conversations makes me thankful for the mental clarity I have that is no longer taken by ED thoughts.

Always message if you have any specific questions or need support, and I will try to source more holiday tips!

12/05/2022

Today is my 22nd birthday 🎉

… and what I’ve truly learned to embrace this year has been the realization that enjoying food should be viewed as self CARE, and not as weakness.

For years my identity revolved around eating “healthy” foods, and I mentally shamed anyone that didn’t eat in line with the ridiculous rules I had made up in my head. I remember I used to shame people that ate bananas instead of apples (…… literally why???).

And now, as I enter this new year of my life, I have finally been able to both understand why intuitively eating is essential, AND I am able to put it into practice.

I still have slip ups or catch myself in old thought processes, but I also feel that I have made serious progress in being able to make intuitive food choices, and that feels INCREDIBLE!

The best gift I can give myself is food freedom, and I hope you can to 💜

11/04/2022

Talking alllll about anxiety and eating disorders today ✨

Anxiety is the most common co-occurring disorder with eating disorders, meaning that they are VERY often intertwined.

Why is this??

Eating disorders hugely revolve around CONTROL, and anxiety functions as a way to feel that we are in control by creating constant notions of fear for us to “protect ourselves” by.

When I would feel anxious (and at the time couldn’t recognize that this was anxiety), I found that focusing on food and exercise was what helped distract me from my thoughts, and also helped me feel that I was in control.

This only worsened by the more and more control I administered over my eating and exercise, narrowing down the list of foods I could eat smaller and smaller.

This doesn’t mean that everyone with an ED has anxiety, but it can be really helpful to stop and evaluate what role anxiety might be playing in our lives, and how eating disorder habits can function to aid these anxious thoughts 🤍

10/26/2022

Let’s chat phrases 👇

Because diet culture is such a normal part of life, it’s hard to see why these phrases can be flawed or harmful.

But because of this, it’s important to recognize how these phrases can cause harm, especially to those who are struggling with their relationship with food.

These phrases were especially hard for me to tackle when I was struggling and worked to fuel my ED. We often use restriction, weight loss, and guilt as ways to bond with others or feel better about ourselves.

I loved bragging about feeling sick because I would get compliments about it… so why would I think my ED was bad?

Even for those without EDs, it’s crucial to reevaluate how we talk about food, diets, and our bodies, for ourselves and for others.

Which phrases have you used before? What other diet culture phrases have you experienced?

10/17/2022

Happy Monday!

I thought I would start this week by calling attention to some common misconceptions about .

The societal view of EDs that is often portrayed in the media and literature revolves around small emaciated bodies where the person is actively choosing to commit self-harm.

Weeeeellll, this is far from the truth. Eating disorders are a lot more complex than how the media depicts them to be, and these stereotypes can often be harmful to those struggling.

Which one of these myths did you think were true?

10/10/2022

Happy !

Mental health is such an important concept that is finally getting the attention it deserves.

And because mental health is such an overarching concept, it can feel confusing to understand the role it plays in our every day lives.

That’s why I thought it would be nice to write out a few that you can celebrate for yourself.

If none of these resonate with you, remember this is just a small list!! But I would encourage you to think about a few of your own.

A huge part of growth that we often put on the back burner is celebrating where we’re at, even if it isn’t exactly where we want to be.

What are some of your mental health milestones? 🤍

10/10/2022

10/07/2022

reminders for a bad body image day ✨

I think the biggest mindset shift for body image for me was the realization that my views on my body rarely have to do with how my body looks.

Our insecurities and negative thoughts about ourself manifest in a very easy target: our bodies.

When we feel something negative about ourself or others, it’s easier sometimes to blame it on the way we view our body, than to confront the thoughts head on that can be a lot harder to remedy.

So… next time you’re struggling with body image, look at these tips and see if you can get closer to the root of your thoughts, instead of blaming our bodies.

What do you do on bad days?

10/03/2022

Hi again, it’s been a while 👋

I started The Food Freedom Society feeling a need to connect with other people who shared similar experiences with me. In just the first few months, I realized just how many people go through the same journeys, and I felt so passionate about bringing more and more of us together.

I had finally started to reach a great relationship with food, exercise, and my body, and was no longer relying on these things to define my worth.

But when things got hard, I had to learn how to deal with heavy thoughts without using my ED as a crutch.

This was hard.

Without my ED playing a present role in my life, I had to rediscover who I was, and this came with ups and downs. I’ve struggled since then with motivation, self-worth, and anxiety pretty badly. I struggled to find motivation, and that trickled down to this account.

But while I needed to take time to myself, I now feel reenergized to rebuild this incredible community. Thank you if you’ve stayed with me on this journey, and welcome to anyone that is new ✨

If you have any suggestions or feedback, my DMs are always open 🤍

04/14/2022

Recovery is all about making shifts - unlearning what your disorder taught you was true and relearning what it means to truly prioritize your health and growth.

Here are some shifts I made when I went through recovery. It took a lot of breaking down my beliefs that I had learned from growing up in this society and learning how to shift these unhealthy thoughts to one’s that promoted recovery and my health.

What are some other mindset shifts you went through when overcoming diet culture?

04/08/2022

Eating disorders and numbing emotions 🧡

Several studies have found a connection between tendencies to numb emotions in those with eating disorders. Whether it is a predisposition or a result of an eating disorder, emotions and eating disorders have a complicated relationship that often work against each other.

This was certainly the case for myself. When I was dealing with feelings of loneliness, insecurity, and anxiety, I distracted myself with food so that I wouldn’t have to confront those emotions.

This meant thinking about meals, researching nutrition information, planning my next meal… anything I could fixate on that would allow me to not have to face these feelings that I did not want to face.

But what I WISH someone had told me then is that numbing my emotions with food was only going to prolong the pain and suffering.

By coping with food or the lack of it, I only worsened these feelings and confirmed them, leaving myself a bigger hill to climb up.

It took so much learning to realize that the problem really wasn’t with the food, but it was with myself (no matter how cheesy that sounds).

If you feel like you are struggling with this, I recommend reading this post, researching more credible sources about emotional numbing with food, and following the tips on the last slide 🍊

And as always, my DMs are always open! 🧡

03/30/2022

When I was falling into my eating disorder, I read so many articles that told me that under-eating would solve all my problems.

To many of us, under eating has come to represent a sign of “strength,” “self-control,” or “superior,” and has caused many people to attach their worth to how little calories they are able to consume in a day.

While being mindful of our nutrition is helpful, purposely under-eating continuously can have serious negative consequences.

For me, I was constantly shivering to the point where I was wearing winter jackets in the heat of July, had intense mood swings that affected everyone around me, watched my hair fall out… I lost a lot of myself.

But most importantly, under-eating can be a way of telling yourself that you don’t deserve as much as everyone else. By giving into that voice in your head telling you to eat less, you are giving power away from yourself, and losing trust with your body.

Properly fueling yourself is a sign of RESPECT for yourself, and STRENGTH. It means that you appreciate yourself enough to know that you deserve to take care of yourself.

Under eating should NOT be something to brag about, and instead, we should pay attention to see how it is hurting us.

This doesn’t apply to everyone, but for those struggling with disordered eating, I hope this helped! ❤️

03/17/2022

I bounce around the fern diet culture a lot but… what is it anyways??

Diet culture makes up the whoooole concept of equating food, exercise, and body shape with societal worth.

Specifically, diet culture condemns that those in larger bodies are viewed as “lesser” than someone in a smaller body, even though this may have NOTHING to do with a person’s lifestyle!!

Lizzo, for example, has a larger body but is known to eat a diet rich in fruits and vegetables and exercises as well. Yet, we all know a hater who says she “doesn’t take care of herself” or that she’s “promoting obesity.” (🤮🤮🤮)

Well let me remind you that your body shape has NOTHING to do with your health.

But a bigger problem is that someone’s health should not determine their worth in society!!

By placing these baseless assumptions on people, we not only perpetuate harmful stereotypes but also seriously harm the mental health of those that are in marginalized bodies.

If you’re in a larger body, diet culture is actively working AGAINST you, which is, pardon my French, fu**ed up.

That’s why it’s SOO important to unpack why diet culture is wrong and offensive, and relearn how to not associate worth with body shape — which is happening!!!

There is a huge movement starting that is such a wonderful encouraging community. Make sure to check it out!

There is so much progress around deconstructing diet culture, so though it’s scary that there are societal biases around body types, this is actively changing every day.

The only way to destruct diet culture is to spread correct information about it, so I hope you like and share this post!!

And happy ☘️ ;)

03/08/2022

Because of how normalized diet culture and disordered eating is, many of us feel like there’s a competition to be the “most disordered,” or something of that sort.

So many of us (especially women) are accustomed to associate starvation with strength, which induces us to think that bragging about undereating will lead to acceptance and admiration.

This is NOT the case.

Though I didn’t realize it at the time, constantly talking about how I was under feeding myself was annoying and scary to my friends. I was constantly putting them in a place of fear for myself which was actually only pushing me away from them farther, when in reality, I was just trying to gain their acceptance.

Well you heard it here: TALKING ABOUT STARVING YOURSELF ISNT COOL OR SEXY!!

Fueling yourself, on the other hand, is 😎.

Being able to get a meal and actually listen to the person instead of thinking about your food the whole time is SEXY.

Being able to wear a bathing suit to the beach with your friends without complaining about your appearance the whole time is SEXY.

Being able to live a life without food controlling you is the SEXIEST thing of all, and is a gift I wish I could give to each of you.

Let’s work on checking in on our friends and making sure we’re all hanging in there, and remember that you never know who’s going to get influenced by what you say. Words are power and they can be misconstrued dangerously, so PLEASE be careful of how you talk about food, exercise, and your body around others.

We are STRONG 💪 , we are SEXY 😎, and we are POWERFUL 🔋, and we are too freaking awesome for our EDs to bring us down… RIGHT?!

Much love as always,

Hannah ❤️

03/07/2022

It’s now been almost 3 years since I started my recovery journey, and it has been the most life changing experience I’ve had.

But I think what we often don’t see is the people who are far into recovery that still struggle.

A lot of recovered people I follow online talk about how life was so bad with their ED and now they live recovered lives without having to choose recovery actively.

This is incredible, but is not the reality for a lot of us.

For me, I feel freer with food than I’ve ever felt before, but I know I still have certain struggles and foods that throw me for a loop.

But by being open about my struggles on here and to myself, and by actively working to conquer these struggles, I can get one step closer to fully being recovered.

There’s actually a lot of debate about whether a person can be fully recovered - some people say they can go about their day post-recovery never engaging with disordered thoughts. For others, every day is active recovery, but just without the intensity of the beginning phases of recovery.

Wherever you’re at on your journey, remember that it is perfectly ok to be exactly where you are at. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t push yourself, but there is no timer for how long it should take for you to be “recovered.”

Stay in your lane and work on yourself and everything else will come together 🤍

I hope this spoke to someone reading this and I hope you all have an amazing week!!!

Love,

Hannah 🤍🤍💪

03/02/2022

How to ask for help for an eating disorder 💗

This can be a scary step, but I PROMISE, getting the recovery you deserve is the best thing you can ever do for yourself and for the people around you.

There are many resources online to seek help, and it’s important to know how to navigate the best course of action.

1) TALK TO SOMEONE

This can be a friend, a loved one, a guidance counselor… anyone who you feel safe enough to share this information with.
Even just talking about what’s going on in your head can be such a rewarding step to helping you feel less alone with these thoughts.

2) use a screening if needed

I’ve provided some top screenings from reliable sources that can help you better understand what may be going on.

3) make a game plan

This can mean treatment, it can mean working outpatient with a therapist and dietitian, or it can be a treatment plan that works for you.

You MUST get help if you are struggling with eating.

It is not a “flex” to talk about disordered eating and not getting help for it.

Fueling yourself is SEXY because it means that you respect yourself, and that’s the best gift you can give yourself 🤍

If you or someone you know may be struggling, please DM me or call the NEDA hotline for more information 🌸

02/07/2022

Handling frustration with recovery ✨

Getting frustrated with recovery is a natural part of the process. It’s challenging, your body may be changing, and it isn’t really sexy.

For me, I felt like I was making all this progress and no one was even noticing.

What was the point?

I almost stopped going, but when I went back to my roots, I remembered how hard STARTING recovery was, and how I didn’t want to lose my progress, because I was doing it for MYSELF.

Recovery can be challenging, but by using the resources from Food Freedom and your own, you can make it happen, I promise 💜

Let’s go kill this week!!!

02/03/2022

I am about 2 years into my recovery, and I still have so many goals for myself.

I thought that after treatment, I would be “done,” but this was far from the case.

By continuing to work with a dietitian and a therapist, and by prioritizing my recovery goals, I’ve been able to maintain and progress with my recovery, but there are always still things for me to work on, even after 2 years!

What are some of your recovery goals? 💙