If nourishing your body feels like a complicated maths equation
As an experienced Credentialed Eating Disorder Dietitian, I offer compassionate support for recovery, both in-person (Templestowe Lower) and telehealth sessions Australia-wide. The good thing is that clients require neither a GP referral nor a formal diagnosis to see me for ED-related concerns. If cost is an issue, I can offer Medicare rebates (with a GPCCMP and EDPT).
If you’ve landed on this page, you might be struggling in your relationship with food and your body. You could be experiencing anxiety or distress around your food choices, or worries associated with your weight and shape. You may feel like you’re swinging from restriction to bingeing, while persistent concerns regarding food and body image may prevent you from truly engaging in life.
Although things seem overwhelming at times, you might still feel hesitant about seeking help. Are you unsure whether you are ready to make a change or open up? Confused about it all? If so, you’re certainly not alone; for all its benefits, support can be hard to accept.
With this in mind, it’s worth unpacking some of the more common questions people have about seeking help. I hope that by answering them, you feel less confused and less alone. More than that, I hope you feel encouraged, knowing you deserve freedom and healing.
As an eating disorder dietitian, I provide compassionate support for people who may experience some of the following:
If nourishing your body feels like a complicated maths equation
If your anxieties about food make it hard to be present with friends and family
What was once important has faded as food and body image concerns absorb most of your time
Guilt and or shame mark your relationship with food
You worry about what and how much to eat, which feels paralysing
The number on the scale determines your mood and food choices for the day
Anxiety rises until you have completed your daily exercise, and yet it still never feels enough
Other things you may be struggling with:
Counting calories and macros (protein, carbs and fats)
Avoiding certain foods due to a fear of weight gain
Engaging in body checking (weighing, mirror checking, etc.)
Bingeing
Restrictive eating patterns
As an eating disorder dietitian, I support people with or without a formal diagnosis. It means that I can support people regardless of whether they have a recognised eating disorder. I can assist clients with the following ED-related issues:
Disordered eating (struggling with dieting, emotional eating, mindless eating, chaotic eating patterns)
Anorexia Nervosa (AN)
Bulimia Nervosa (BN)
General or non-specified eating disorders (OSFED)
Severe and enduring AN
If you don’t have a formal ED diagnosis, I can conduct a nutrition assessment that will help you gain insight into your relationship with food and your body. It will provide you with steps to get the support you need from your GP and other health professionals.
Understanding how hard it is to take the first step, I commence support by focusing on getting to know you and your story. I provide space to help you bravely unpack your struggles with food, and to begin making sense of them. I help you understand the drive for freedom, the pull towards the eating disorder, and the tension between them. Together, we build a shared understanding of your struggles with food and body image, touching meaningfully on your hopes for healing.
While understanding your story is my focus in an initial appointment, we will also begin to explore some of the following topics:
What brought you to seek help now
Your general physical and mental health
Previous experience(s) with health professionals
Your evolving relationship with food
Your present food intake and appetite
Eating disorder behaviours, body image
Any exercise regimen you follow
Any fears or anxieties you may harbour about food, nutrition and recovery
Your motivations for change
Exploring such questions (often for the first time) can seem overwhelming. Even raising them can trigger feelings of distress. That is why I will always seek to respect both your autonomy and need for safety. I will strive to provide a gentle, compassionate setting where you can unpack these issues in your own time. Whenever the conversation seems too stressful, we can pause and take a moment. This may involve practising self-soothing strategies. You are in charge of what we discuss and how we discuss it. And it goes without saying that there’s no pressure to answer any of my questions if you’re uncomfortable.
You may also have questions about what the next sessions might be like. From a general perspective, the first few sessions will focus on some of the following:
Building a shared understanding of the eating disorder cycle/patterns
Developing insight into the factors that drive and sustain eating disorder behaviours
Exploring further your motivations for, and reservations about, change
Exploring the way an eating disorder impacts your life and health
Nutrition education that’s relevant to you (starvation syndrome, diet myths, metabolism, etc.)
Identifying your main goals (i.e., your hopes for recovery)
Discussing a basic “road map” for recovery, while identifying your initial steps
The strengths you bring to your recovery journey
Current supports you have in place – or what additional supports you may need
I consistently adopt a collaborative approach with clients. I concentrate on understanding your concerns and capacity for change. At the beginning of each session, I also offer a brief “check-in” where I may ask questions like the following:
Do you have any reflections, questions, or concerns from our previous session?
Is there anything in particular that you would like to discuss today?
Can I make some suggestions about what we could talk about?
Would you like to decide together on the focus for our session?
Moving forward, we will continue to review your goals, cultivate insight, build your skills and decide on what steps to take as you journey towards a healthier relationship with food and your body.
This isn’t a linear process, of course: a journey like this often involves both steps forward and backward. If and when goals aren’t met, you will be met with compassion and understanding. Such moments shouldn’t be seen as failures; rather, they are opportunities for curiosity, reflection, and growth.
To summarise, ongoing sessions may focus on (but won’t be limited to):
Building insight and understanding
Nurturing motivation for change
Skill building (e.g., self-compassion, appetite awareness, mindful eating)
Identifying eating disorder thoughts or unhelpful narratives and how to respond to them
Nutrition education
Meal support strategies
Practical strategies to support you in nourishing your body
Strategies to reduce eating disorder behaviours
Strategies to try new and feared foods
Building positive body image skills
Building intuitive eating skills
Strategies to manage related health conditions (gut health, bone health, amenorrhea, low iron, insulin resistance, etc.).
Many people worry that dietitians might tell you what to eat or force you to gain weight. It makes sense that these might be a concern; change can often feel hard, and such worries lie at the heart of your eating disorder. As an eating disorder dietitian, I aim to take a respectful, gentle approach – recognising that you know your body better than anyone else, and that you are in charge of your health.
This means we formulate health-related goals collaboratively. Any recommendations I make are an offer for you to accept or decline as you choose. If I have concerns about your well-being or eating disorder behaviours, I will communicate them gently and non-judgmentally.
As a Credentialed Eating Disorder Dietitian, I have worked in the field of eating disorders since 2007. In addition to my own lived experience, I have learned a great deal from the people I have had the privilege of supporting. A core value of mine is learning, in the broadest sense. This means I am always seeking to absorb insights and knowledge from those I support, the latest research, and my peers and colleagues, all of which shape my approach to nutrition counselling.
Because I have worked in this field for a prolonged period, I have gained extensive experience supporting people with eating disorders across a broad range of clinical settings. This includes individual nutrition counselling, day programs, group therapy (focused on body image and nutrition education), and program development. My experience and understanding of different service programs enable me to assess an individual’s needs and make tailored recommendations regarding the level of support that might suit them.
If you are curious about seeking support, why not book a free discovery call? No obligation, no pressure – just a chance to connect and explore your journey of healing. If you’re ready to take the first step, then please book your first appointment on my booking page.
Jessica offers trauma-informed, individualised and evidence-based support for eating disorders. Here’s how she might help you in your recovery journey:
I offer a compassionate, weight-neutral approach to recovery from BED. Please see my blog post on BED for more information. Here are some of the ways I could support you in this regard:
I offer patient-centred, trauma-informed, and evidence-based care for people wanting freedom from the binge-purge cycle. Here are some of the ways I will support you:
I provide compassionate and trauma-informed support for people who have struggled with an eating disorder for many years and who have tried multiple treatment options.
I take a Responsive Feeding approach to supporting people with ARFID. This is an evidence-based model that reduces pressure around food and mealtime conflict. It aims to preserve the parent-child relationship while respecting the individual’s autonomy. It is a “safety-first” approach that supports young individuals to increase the variety of foods they accept gradually. The elements of my approach may include:
Meal plans are optional and crafted collaboratively. Before making a meal plan, we discuss the goals and purpose of this particular strategy. We will consider what might make a meal plan both helpful and unhelpful. We will incorporate various options at each mealtime to keep it flexible. Meal plans are meant to help you with your nutrition goals, such as eating regularly or increasing the variety of foods you are eating, making a tailored approach essential.
Ambivalence is a normal part of the recovery process. In fact, you may start treatment feeling very unsure about making any kind of change. This is okay. I will provide a space where you can openly explore your thoughts and feelings around change. I welcome your honest opinions and will always respond with compassion and respect. You are in charge of the pace and the steps you take towards it. It’s in that journey that your motivation (even as ambivalence lingers) will build.
Of course! Sessions function as non-judgmental spaces, allowing you to explore your challenges openly and patiently. You will not be “told off” or judged if you don’t make a change or if you continue to struggle with eating disorder behaviours. Instead, I respond with compassion and curiosity, supporting you in learning more and finding motivation for recovery.
Many people have foods that create a lot of anxiety. The first step is to understand your thoughts and beliefs about feared foods. We will explore your relationship with those thoughts before building new skills, so you can relate to them in a way that supports your recovery journey. From here, we will decide on a plan about when and where to begin reintroducing those dreaded foods and what support you might need to do this sustainably. This could mean, for example, having the feared food in session with me, so that you can draw on emotional support for any anxiety that may arise.
Struggling with one’s body size, shape, and appearance is a common thread shared by the various eating disorders. It goes without saying that many people harbour deep fears around weight gain or body changes. An important step, then, is to work collaboratively to understand the fear of weight gain better, your relationship with your body, and your desire to control it.
Weight gain may happen naturally or may be one of the goals we set for your recovery. In our conversations, you are welcome to express your fears and concerns; again, these will be met with compassion. If weight gain is necessary, I will provide you with education on the consequences of being underweight or weight-suppressed. I will also help you discover your own motivations for change while supporting you in taking actions aligned with your recovery.
Whether or not you will be weighed depends on the goals of treatment. If weight gain is a goal, then we will discuss the best approach to monitor your progress. There are two approaches to weighing: blind weighing and seeing your number. Blind weighing is where you don’t see the number on the scale, but may receive some feedback about your progress. This is helpful for some people who find even small fluctuations anxiety-provoking. By contrast, seeing your number allows you to understand your weight fluctuations better. This is part of the recovery journey on which you embark – reaching a place of acceptance that your weight is just a number, and not a measure of your value or worth.
If weight restoration isn’t necessary, weighing may or may not happen. This will be decided collaboratively.
I adopt an individualised approach and will collaborate with the treatment team to decide what body image work we undertake. A frequent starting point is to develop a shared understanding of what body image is and what body image work entails. This might involve telling your body image story and making sense of your struggles with compassion. From here, I am equipped to help you cultivate positive body image skills such as self-compassion, exploring and broadening your ideas on beauty, re-shaping internal narratives, developing a sense of gratitude towards your body, exploring and understanding weight stigma, functional appreciation, and listening to and taking care of your body.
Initially, it may be helpful to schedule appointments more frequently, whether weekly or fortnightly. This allows us to build rapport and generate momentum towards recovery. Together, we can discuss the level and regularity of support that you find helpful, and that fits in with your schedule. Reflecting on this, you will be able to decide how often to see me.
This is a question many people would like answered. The recovery journey is different for each person; that said, we know that the earlier you seek help, the better your prognosis. It is perfectly normal for motivation and recovery actions to fluctuate. I will always strive to offer compassionate support, no matter how long the journey takes.
During those early sessions, we focus on establishing a strong therapeutic relationship, building insight and a shared understanding of your eating disorder, identifying motivations and barriers to change, deciding on goals and initial steps to take, exploring nutrition facts, developing skills and strategies to support your recovery journey, developing a regular and adequate food intake, and developing meal support strategies. That said, everyone’s journey is different; some people find they can make a change fairly quickly, while others need more time. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. That is why my practice is always tailored to the individual’s needs and circumstances.
This is a great question. My hope is that people feel comfortable naming their feelings without feeling guilty. It is normal to feel stuck at times, or even to relapse. This is a part of the recovery journey. It’s important to remember that recovery is rarely linear, so it’s not unusual to experience setbacks. I will help you to express and explore these feelings, connect (or re-connect) with your values, and decide on the direction you want to go.