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A starved brain cannot self-regulate. A stressed body cannot digest. And a child sitting at the dinner table with an eating disorder is experiencing both at once — not as a choice, but as neuroscience. The nervous system state of the people around them is information their threat-detection system is reading constantly. Your calm is not just emotional support. It is functional medicine. Here is the science behind why — and what it means for mealtimes.

This one might make some of you uncomfortable. Good. Stay with it. I started my workout today on the treadmill. Nothing unusual there. But then I stopped at seven minutes and something seconds in. Not ten minutes. Not fifteen. Not a round, satisfying, socially acceptable number. Just, I'm ready to lift now. A Forrest Gump moment, if you will. I just stopped. I also left my phone at home, no distractions, no chasing calories, or how long I worked out for. Gosh, it was so relax

One of the things families often say to me is: "She knows she needs to eat. So why won't she just do it?" It's a fair question. And new research is starting to give us a better answer. The old explanation For a long time, the dominant idea in science was that compulsive behaviours, including the rigid food rules, rituals, and repetitive thinking seen in anorexia, were essentially habits gone wrong. The idea was that the brain had slipped into autopilot. That restriction or av

My theme for research this week is eating disorders in midlife and older women. In the last few years, conversations about perimenopause have finally become louder. Women are sharing experiences that were once whispered about or dismissed. Hormones, sleep changes, brain fog, joint aches, mood shifts, heavy periods, and exhaustion are now being talked about openly. That shift matters. For many people, it has been validating to realise they are not alone. But there is another s

In first sessions with parents, I often find myself holding two responsibilities at once. I need to be honest about how serious malnutrition can be. And I need to help families feel steady enough to begin the work. Those two things don’t always sit comfortably together. This feels especially hard when malnutrition is not treated with urgency or as an emergency by other clinicians. I know I am biased toward this viewpoint as a dietitian; however, the evidence points to early,

Anorexia nervosa carries one of the highest mortality rates of any psychiatric disorder. That is not dramatic language. It is established in long-term research and formally recognised in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, Text Revision . Malnutrition is not cosmetic. It is not a lifestyle preference. It is a systemic physiological compromise. When the body is undernourished, the heart muscle weakens. Resting heart rate slows. Blood press

BMI is not a measure of brain recovery. Anorexia nervosa is one of the only psychiatric illnesses in which discharge decisions are often tied to a number on a scale. Once a minimum BMI is reached, stabilised bloods, and a restored heart rate are achieved, treatment intensity is frequently reduced. But if anorexia is a disorder of the brain, why are we measuring recovery primarily by body weight? Weight restoration is essential. Without it, there is no recovery. But stopping a

There is growing attention on the psychological and neurocognitive effects of GLP-1 receptor agonists. Much of the discussion asks whether these medications themselves cause mental health harm. That question, however, starts in the wrong place. The more useful question is not whether GLP-1s are “good” or “bad”, but whether we are adequately accounting for what happens to the human brain when energy availability falls below physiological need, regardless of how that reduction

Gastrointestinal symptoms in hypermobile Ehlers–Danlos syndrome (hEDS) are increasingly recognised as more than coincidental. While joint hypermobility is often the most visible feature, research now shows the gastrointestinal tract can be significantly affected, sometimes to the point where oral intake is no longer sufficient to maintain nutrition. For some individuals, gut dysmotility leads to progressive weight loss, dehydration, and micronutrient deficiencies. Yet in hosp

A research-informed question about NGT, brain healing, and recovery in eating disorders Nasogastric tube (NGT) feeding in eating disorders is most often framed as a last resort, a short-term medical intervention used to restore weight until oral intake resumes and the tube can be removed. Alongside this framing sits a persistent concern: that people may become “dependent” on tube feeding, or that it undermines motivation to eat and engage in recovery. This concern is understa

If you’re a dad supporting a teenager with an eating disorder, food can quickly become the main battleground in the house. You might notice yourself repeating reminders, explaining why eating matters, or getting frustrated when meals drag on or don’t happen at all. It’s understandable. You’re worried. You want your child to get better. And you can see the practical problems coming if eating doesn’t improve. What often gets missed is how the brain responds to pressure , especi

A newly published paper has been sitting with me this week, and the timing feels important. The study examines micronutrient and nutritional deficiencies associated with GLP-1 receptor agonists , and while it is careful and measured in its conclusions, the implications are worth pausing over. In simple terms, the paper outlines something clinicians would expect but the public conversation has largely skipped over: when appetite is reduced, food intake often drops in ways that

Understand the “starved brain” and why nutrition must come first in eating disorder recovery. Practical parent insights + $1 per book to EDCS.

When You Want to Give Up, Keep Going If you are supporting someone with an eating disorder, there will be moments when you desperately want to stop. Stop pushing. Stop insisting.Stop being the “bad guy.”Stop holding boundaries that feel like they’re breaking the relationship. Those moments do not mean you are doing something wrong. They mean you are doing something hard . Structure is not cruelty, it is care In eating disorder recovery, structure and boundaries are not punis

Food Mad: Nutritional Neuroscience for Eating Disorder Recovery

Bloating. Constipation. Abdominal pain. Early fullness. IBS-type symptoms. These are often blamed on “food intolerances,” stress, or a “sensitive gut.”But one of the most common — and overlooked — causes is chronic underfueling . Digestion is not a passive process. It is energy-dependent , neurologically regulated, and deeply connected to both hormonal and microbial health. When energy intake is too low, the gut is one of the first systems to be down-regulated. This article e

The Math ain't Math'in Fourteen hundred calories is often presented as “reasonable,” “safe,” or even “generous.” Physiologically, it isn’t. Not for an adult body.Not for an active lifestyle.And not for a brain, gut, and hormonal system expected to function well. If you experience brain fog, irritability, constant hunger, bloating, constipation, poor sleep, feeling cold, or emotional flatness, this is rarely a motivation issue. It is far more often an energy availability issue

Dieting isn’t a personal failure — it’s a system that doesn’t work. A dietitian explains why choosing not to diet can support real health and recovery.

A Body Is Not a Problem to Solve | Body Trust, Brain Health & Self-Improvement

Learn how food builds and fuels your brain. Simple, science-based nutrition tips for mood, focus, memory, energy and long-term brain health.