Nutrition therapy is an integral part of the eating disorder treatment and recovery process. At Anue, Dana Wells, M.Ed, RDN, LDN, CPT, LPC specializes in the field of eating disorders. Dana’s expertise comes from her extensive knowledge and hands on experience in the field as the lead Registered Dietitian and primary therapist for outpatient treatment facilities in her area as well as her own personal experience and recovery with an eating disorder.
Dana’s approach to treatment is to provide an atmosphere of unity with her client’s so they can work together as a team to meet their individual needs. Her goal is to assist her clients in having a balanced and sustainable relationship with food, free from negative or distorted thoughts about oneself. Dana realizes that eating disorders are a complex issue and supporting clients with their struggles goes beyond just nutrition interventions and takes patience, skill, and collaboration with the client and their loved ones as well as their treatment team.
Dana’s goals for treatment are to assist the client to eat adequately to meet the body’s daily nutritional needs while learning to listen to and trust ones body’s internal cues. Clients learn to determine hunger and fullness while dealing with underlying thoughts and emotions that remain at the core of a person’s illness and recovery. Eating and nutrition can play a major role in inhibiting or promoting the recovery process. Dana will help clients move towards a practice of mindful and intuitive eating.
Eating disorder symptoms and behaviors can vary from person to person and between different eating disorder diagnoses including: an unhealthy focus on food, disordered eating, an eating and/ or body preoccupation, distorted body image, and body hate and disassociation. If you or a loved one are experiencing any of the following symptoms Dana and the team at Anue can help:
- Chronic/Severe dieting/Fasting
- Eliminating specific food items, entire food groups or categories of foods
- Obsessive calorie counting, monitoring of nutrition labels or precise measuring of foods
- Labeling foods as good vs. bad, clean vs. dirty, or relying on safe foods vs. fear foods
- Difficulty eating around other people or in social situations/Increased isolation from others
- Extreme difficulty making decisions about food, as when ordering off of a menu at a restaurant
- Refusal to eat and denial of hunger
- An intense fear of gaining weight
- Preoccupation with food
- Eating until the point of discomfort or pain, often with high-fat or sweet foods
- Self-induced vomiting
- Laxative use to assist in losing weight
- Excessive exercise
- Often consuming large amounts of food over short periods of time
- Feeling that you’re eating behavior is out of control
- Feeling depressed, disgusted or upset over the amount eaten
- Excessively preoccupied with your body
- Obsessively looking at your body and feeling unhappy
- Difficulty leaving the house due to not being happy with your body image
You are not alone and there is help available! Call Anue for an assessment today.