'Ai Pono Hawaii provides a serene, homelike setting for those struggling with eating disorders to he
Hawaii's Premier Eating Disorder Treatment Center providing Residential and Partial-Hospitalization Treatment on Maui and Virtual IOP for Hawaii residents.
08/06/2025
You don’t owe your eating disorder a redemption arc.
Viktor Frankl wrote that even in suffering, we still have one freedom — to choose how we respond.
But choice doesn’t always feel simple. Especially when the pain wasn’t chosen.
You don’t have to romanticize the struggle.
You don’t have to turn it into a lesson.
Sometimes it just hurt.
And still, something else is possible.
What if healing isn’t about rewriting the past, but reclaiming your present?
Not about making sense of the pain, but learning to relate to yourself in a new way?
At ‘Ai Pono, we don’t hand you a script.
We listen for what’s already within you —
the parts that want to be heard, the parts that long to belong again, the parts still hoping to come home.
The question of how anorexia nervosa is treated remains one of the most frequently asked by patients, families, and even healthcare providers navigating this complex terrain. While the fundamental pillars of care maintain their importance, anorexia treatment has evolved significantly in recent years, incorporating new understandings of trauma, body image, harm reduction, and individualized care. Understanding these developments helps illuminate both what remains essential and what has transformed in our approach to healing. Read more on our blog.
Discover how anorexia treatment has evolved beyond weight restoration to include trauma-informed care, harm reduction, and embodied healing approaches that honor the full complexity of recovery
07/30/2025
Binge eating disorder (BED) is one of the most misunderstood diagnoses in the eating disorder spectrum. It’s often framed as an issue of emotional regulation, willpower, or addiction. The behaviors don’t match the stereotype: there’s no sharp weight loss, no obvious physical decline. In someone who isn’t visibly underweight, chronic dieting and food anxiety are often misread as normal. Many people, including professionals, fail to see it for what it truly is: a restrictive eating disorder. Read more on our blog!
Binge eating is often misunderstood. Get clear on the roots, triggers, and recovery path that honors both physical and emotional needs.
07/20/2025
Not all eating disorders look like dramatic weight loss or refusal to eat.
Often, they show up quietly:
– Baking for others but rarely eating
– Exercising through pain or guilt
– Feeling “good” for skipping meals
– Obsessing over food, even while restricting it
– Getting praised for weight loss that feels anything but healthy
These can be symptoms of something bigger.
They’re signs of distress. And they deserve to be met with understanding — not overlooked because they don’t match a stereotype.
At ‘Ai Pono, we honor the complexity of eating disorders — especially the ones that don’t “look the part.”
✨ You can read more about these subtle signs in our latest blog post: The Warning Signs of Eating Disorders You Might Be Overlooking.
🌊 And if any part of this feels familiar — to you or someone you love — know that support is available. Recovery is possible. Check out aipono.com or the link in our bio for more information.
07/18/2025
You may have noticed body ideals shifting again. If that’s stirred up anxiety, shame, or old thoughts—you’re not alone. This toolkit is here to support you in staying grounded in what’s true, no matter what the headlines say.🌺
07/14/2025
What does it mean to heal? Not just to treat symptoms, but to support someone in reclaiming their body, their story, and their sense of connection to the world? At ‘Ai Pono, we believe this kind of healing requires more than protocols or isolated techniques. It requires a philosophy. Holistic eating disorder treatment is not a checklist of modalities. It’s a worldview. Learn what it means to heal the whole person on our blog.
From TMS to art therapy, holistic eating disorder treatment honors every layer of healing. Learn how ’Ai Pono blends innovation with deep-rooted values in care.
07/13/2025
Some eating disorders are hard to miss. Others live in plain sight for months or years before someone realizes what they’re seeing. By the time concerns are taken seriously, the illness may have progressed significantly, sometimes with life-threatening consequences. Early signs of eating disorders or disordered eating often go unnoticed, not because no one cares, but because they don’t match the stereotypes. Read more on our blog!
Disordered eating isn’t always about body image. Stress-related restriction, baking without eating, and physical symptoms may point to something deeper.
07/11/2025
🌊✨ Big news from ‘Ai Pono Hawai‘i! ✨🌊
We’re proud to announce our collaboration with The Institute on Violence, Abuse and Trauma as we work together to bring trauma-informed resources, education, and community connection to clinicians and advocates.
💙 The 23rd Annual Hawai‘i International Summit on Preventing, Assessing, & Treating Trauma Across the Lifespan is officially accepting submissions! This is an incredible opportunity to share your expertise, research, and lived experience with a global audience.
🗓 Event Details:
📍 Hilton Hawaiian Village, Honolulu
📅 Affiliated Training: March 1, 2026
📅 Summit: March 2–4, 2026
✨ Call for Submissions Deadline: August 31st
Whether you’re a professional, an advocate, or someone passionate about advancing trauma-informed care, we invite you to be part of this inspiring event.
We’re honored to partner with the Institute on Violence, Abuse and Trauma (IVAT) as an official collaborator!
IVAT’s 23rd Hawai‘i International Summit on Preventing, Assessing, & Treating Trauma Across the Lifespan is now accepting submissions from professionals, advocates, and those with lived experience.
If you’re passionate about topics like trauma-informed care, prevention, and collective healing, consider submitting your proposal to share your work with an international audience.
📅 Submissions due August 31st.
📍 March 2–4, 2026 | Honolulu, Hawai‘i
🔗 Learn more and submit here:
Join the 22nd Hawai'i Trauma Summit! Learn prevention & treatment across the lifespan. Honolulu Convention Center, April 7-10, 2025. Register now!
07/08/2025
Our alumni often tell us recovery taught them things they never expected.
That rest is something you’re allowed to have.
That worth isn’t measured by weight.
That connection and compassion can heal in ways isolation never could.
If you’re wondering whether treatment could help you find peace with food, your body, and yourself, know this: you are not alone, and healing is possible.
✨ At ‘Ai Pono Hawaii, we offer holistic, evidence-based care that honors your story and supports you every step of the way.
💛 Learn more about our programs at aipono.com.
07/07/2025
Restriction isn’t always obvious. Sometimes it looks like skipping meals in the name of productivity. Sometimes it’s clean eating turned rigid, or small portions served with a side of guilt. Sometimes it’s a voice in your head telling you that nourishment must be earned.
At its core, restriction is a disconnection from your body, your needs, and your life. It separates people from cultural traditions, social spontaneity, and internal cues like hunger and fullness. Over time, it can shrink the world around you, not only in what you eat, but in what you allow yourself to enjoy. It isolates. Read the full blog on our website.
Restriction can sever connections from hunger cues, joy, and relationships. Explore how to stop food restriction and begin healing.
07/06/2025
Eating disorders, especially anorexia nervosa, are among the most challenging mental health conditions to treat. These disorders go beyond food, they reflect deep-rooted patterns of thought, emotion, and behavior. While cognitive therapies and mindfulness have been more widely studied in bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder, recent research has begun to explore their targeted use in anorexia treatment, where persistent restrictions, cognitive rigidity, and emotional avoidance present unique challenges. Read more on our blog.
Learn how some of the most effective therapeutic approaches for eating disorders, cognitive therapies such as CBT, are applied in anorexia treatment.
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Ai meaning “to eat, nourish” and Pono meaning “with ease, naturally, in perfect order and wholeness.”
At the ‘Ai Pono Eating Disorder Program, we recognize that eating disorders are complex problems with psychological, emotional, nutritional, and biochemical components, but we do not view women who struggle with these problems as irreparably damaged. Rather, we see them as highly intuitive, sensitive beings who have developed an obsession with food, fat, and dieting as a way of coping with social and psychological stress.
“When a woman enters the labyrinth of recovery, she follows a twisting, winding path to her center. Finding a sense of who she is as a woman, she exits with a new way of being in the world.”
– Eating in the Light of the Moon
We see the recovery process as a journey towards self-awareness. Through this journey, a woman can learn to nourish herself physically, as well as emotionally, and restore a sense of balance to her life. We believe that eating disorders can be successfully treated and overcome. A life of struggle and conflict can become one that is rich, meaningful, and fulfilling.
We provide a serene, nurturing setting in which women can be given a temporary reprieve from the stressors of their everyday life that may hinder the discovery of the deeper meaning embedded in their eating disorder symptoms. We believe that recognizing and identifying the adaptive function of the eating disorder can point one towards the development of life-skills necessary for resolving the eating disorder.
Our program offers tools to help identify, accept, and express our needs and feelings directly, rather than through our relationship with food and eating.
“Don’t get stuck looking at the finger pointing towards the moon. Look at the moon.”
– Zen saying
At ‘Ai Pono, we strive to provide an essential connection to one’s inner wisdom, or internal guidance system. We believe that this connection can provide women with a lifelong solution to specific struggles with eating, rather than a temporary fix. We believe complete recovery is possible.
“An eating disorder is like a w**d: if you cut it off at the top, given the right circumstances, it can grow back. But if you go down and clear out its roots, it can be eradicated.”
– Anita Johnston, Ph.D.
By developing better skills for dealing with their bodies, their feelings, and their relationships, women who suffer with eating disorders can reclaim their lives and health.
‘Ai Pono Programs were built upon a philosophical foundation that stems from a belief that there is deep meaning to be found in the struggle with an eating disorder. This meaning, however, remains a mystery — buried beneath a myriad of painful symptoms — until those who struggle choose to resolve their specific eating problems and embark on the journey to recovery.
