Counselling for Eating Problems and Disorders

Whether or not you have an eating disorder, worries about food and weight may be spoiling your life - and can even lead to anorexia, bulimia or weight problems. Counselling is a good way to:

Regulate your eating and stop crash dieting and bingeing.
Feel better about yourself and improve your body image.
Help food and eating to be less of an obsession - life’s too short to be worrying about every fat gram.
Improve other areas of your life so food becomes less important
Feel understood and listened to by your counsellor.

A self-help programme to regulate binge-eating

You can try using this programme on your own, or alongside counselling. If you want to find out more, read “Overcoming Binge Eating” by Dr. Christopher Fairburn. Many of my clients aren’t yet ready to start regulating their eating – to give up their eating disorder. If this is the case, I recommend you start counselling to help you to understand more about why you have come to use food in this way.

Step 1: Start filling in food diaries. I have designed my own form, which encourages you to look for triggers, think about feelings and start to take control. Click here to download my food diary (don't forget to save it to your computer).

Step 2: When you have been filling in the food diaries successfully for several weeks, move towards the eating plan. (Click here to see the to eating plan.) This is NOT a diet. I do not tell you what to eat – instead you should be starting to enjoy a variety of different foods, staying off foods that may trigger a binge until you feel safe to start introducing them.

My interest in eating problems

I trained as a counsellor with the primary purpose of working with eating problems. I had difficulties in this area myself in my teens and twenties and really wanted to use that experience in a positive way once I’d recovered. I hope and believe that going through it myself has given me extra understanding when working with clients who are struggling with their eating.

I’ve worked as a volunteer on the BEAT helpline (formerly the Eating Disorders Association) and many of my clients are referred to me via them. I’ve written articles for their magazine and you can find my details on their website: www.b-eat.co.uk/HelpandSupport/HelpFinder (go to North Yorkshire).

I offer telephone counselling for eating disorders and eating problems in the UK and further afield. I believe telephone counselling is particularly useful if you struggle with body image issues and would find it difficult to be face to face with a counsellor.

Julia Bellerby - Counselling and Life Coaching in York and anywhere in the UK by telephone

Julia Bellerby
Grad. Dip. Counselling BACP Accredited; Dip. Coaching
Contact me on 07939 255425 or click here to contact me by email.