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Eating Disorders: What I Need to Do to øBeatÓ My Eating Disorder

In my 20 years of practice with patients suffering with a restrictive eating disorder, I have found a list of 12 self-statements, a sort of cognitive-behavioral plan, helpful in my work with patients. I ask my patients to keep this list with them and work on one each day, until the list is internalized:

1. Relax my rigid adherence to times to eat.
2. Stay motivated to get healthy and overcome my eating disorder.
3. Fight my tendency to diet or exercise excessively.
4. Overcome my terror of being overweight and work towards thinking about food, instead of being preoccupied with food.
5. Face my fears of going on eating binges. I can stop eating when I want to.
6. I need to realize that too much energy is going into my eating disorder, so much so, that I can't enjoy things the way I used to.
7. I need to stop being so self-critical. It's OK to make mistakes. I just need to try to not make the same mistakes, over and over again.
8. I have to stay in touch with all my feelings, feeling sad, feeling irritable, and feeling any way I do.
9. I need to gain a greater comfort level with my body. I need to be able to see myself in the mirror without clothes, and feel comfortable with myself.
10. I need to fight how self-conscious I am about my shape.
11. I need to maintain a very clear awareness of my illness.
12. I need to stick with my food plan and my exercise plan.

02/05