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Whenever I share with people that I’m an eating disorder coach, I always encounter at least one person who opens up to me about their bulimia, binge eating, or other food-related issues.

And up to this day, it still shocks me. It’s such a secretive disorder that often we don’t even recognize the ones who are suffering from it. It might even be your best friend, your family member, or your neighbor. It could be anyone, and you might not even know about it.

If you (or your loved one) are suffering from an eating disorder, take a moment and read this.

It will help you. You will recover. Whatever your challenge is, you will overcome it and you will be happy.

I know it might be hard to believe, especially if you’ve already tried everything: from therapists to energy healers, to clinics and dietitians—and you’re losing hope. I’ve been there too…I went from orthorexia to anorexia, to bulimia and then to binge eating, and I felt like I’d tried it all to heal. Nothing worked and I reached rock bottom. Despite that, I found a way to recover, and today I’m happier than I could ever imagine!

So I have no doubt about your complete recovery. You are an amazing human being with huge potential, and you deserve to feel complete, happy, and fully satisfied with life.

This issue touches a specific group of people with certain tendencies, personality traits, and yes, even certain gifts. And those gifts are extremely valuable. We have so much power within us, and we simply don’t often make the best use of it, which can lead to self-destruction instead of empowerment.

But we can reverse it and create a life that we love. This also means that we have all we need to overcome an eating disorder, and there is a gift waiting for us on the other side of it. 

All we need to do is to understand what is really going on within us and what steps we need to take to recover.

Today I’m going to share with you five tips that you can start applying right now to start overcoming binge eating or bulimia.

Remember, it’s not about reading and understanding this advice, but also acting on it. So make sure you apply at least a couple of these tips, and I promise you’ll start seeing results soon. Let’s dive in!

1. Stop searching for another diet.

I know you might think that this is the way out. That maybe you haven’t found the right diet for you yet. That if you could find it, everything would just fall into place. You’d finally be able to control it all: your weight, your confidence, your life. But no. This is a big mistake. Because it’s not about your diet. If you analyze any diet, you’ll see that some people achieve results with it and some don’t. If it was about the diet, everyone would be successful with it.

So what is it about?

It’s about your relationship with food. When you heal your relationship with food, you will thrive on any diet or lifestyle that you choose.

If you have an eating disorder, it means that you’ve probably denied yourself nourishment and food in the past. When you deny yourself food (energy) that your body needs, it stops trusting you. A part of your brain called “reptilian brain” activates, and it makes you do anything in order for you to “survive.” So first of all, it will make you binge whenever you spend a long period restricting food, and second of all, your body will also start storing fat to have energy reserves for the next time you decide to restrict.

So, the first thing you can do is to start eating more regularly. Do not let yourself to stay hungry for a long time. That will only backfire. Start eating every three hours. It might seem like a lot, but it’s not. If you give your body food for energy—and more energy in general from sleep, meditation, and other healing things—it will start trusting you again, and will stop storing fat for an emergency.

When your body starts trusting you again, you won’t need to feed yourself every three hours. But for now, it’s beneficial, so start with this.

2. Learn to be comfortable with the uncomfortable.

Did you notice that whenever you feel an inclination to binge (or purge), you feel this incredibly uncomfortable sensation in your body? An urge that completely takes over you? Well, if you want to overcome your eating disorder, you’ll have to face this urge. You’ve been acting on it for long enough now, it’s time to face it and see what it’s really about.

Whenever you start feeling that urge, you can start by telling to yourself that it’s okay to feel uncomfortable. Allow yourself to feel that feeling; do not try to escape it by running to grab a snack. Just let yourself feel it and then imagine that sensation slowly leaving your body.

Yes, you might still engage in the action afterward, but as you practice this form of mindfulness, the urge will begin to reduce every single time.

3. Do a complete clean-up.

Mainstream media is one of the main reasons that so many people, women and men, develop eating disorders. It makes us feel like we’re not enough the way we are, and that our value is equal to our body image. And while everybody has a right to have the body that they want to have, that desire shouldn’t come from external sources! So, if you want to liberate yourself from past programming and harmful beliefs, you have to first stop feeding yourself with it.

To do that, you can start by throwing away all of the fashion magazines, unsubscribing from newsletters, and getting away from social media. I know—that’s a big one.

We don’t need to completely quit social media, but we can start by unfollowing everyone who might compromise our recovery. Remember, it’s temporary. Unfollow any models, fashionistas, fitness inspiration, and even yogis who love showing off their “perfect” bodies and flexibility. You might think yoga is an exception, but it’s not. For many people, it’s just a new trend, and can be superficial. A true yoga teacher doesn’t care about any of this.

I know you might think that all of this is your inspiration to be “healthy.” But it’s not.

I was brainwashed by the fashion and beauty world too. It was hard to throw away all of my vogue magazines, to unfollow make-up artists. But that was the best decision I’ve ever made. And it was more important than I realized. Remember: that world is an illusion. Do you want to be a slave to it? Or do you want to be free?

4. Be gentle with yourself.

I know how it sounds, but keep reading. These little things make the biggest difference.

I know you are harsh on yourself. You constantly criticize yourself; you’re always trying to change and to become better and prettier and skinnier. You might be afraid to let go of this part of yourself because you think that this is what makes you keep moving forward. But it’s the opposite. This is what keeps you stuck!

Start listening to the way you talk to yourself. What do you say to yourself when something doesn’t go the way you expected, or when you look at the mirror and you see something you don’t like? Would you be that harsh with your best friend? With someone you love?

Do you know that the ultimate healing power in this universe is…love? If you do not offer this to yourself, it’s going to be an exhausting ride to recovery. So start giving yourself the love and acceptance you deserve. Start being gentle with yourself. Even if things don’t go the way you want them to go, even if other people criticize you, even if you have a little relapse—the love is in your hands, and you have the power to fill yourself up with it.

3. Talk to somebody.

This is an important one. All these eating disorders, as well as addictions, are full of secrecy and shame. We have to break out of these patterns and these emotions. Shame and guilt are the lowest frequency emotions, lower than anger and hate. When we start opening up, we start raising our frequency too. We start letting go of the heaviest emotions that are holding us down.

Find somebody to talk to, a relative, a friend, a loved one, or a coach. Somebody who you can trust, who will understand and support you. If you don’t feel like you are ready for this step, you can start by expressing yourself in a journal.

Also, start communicating to Source, Consciousness, Absolute, God (whatever you believe in!) in your meditation or prayers, and ask for help. Really. Don’t overthink it, just do it.

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So these are the first steps that can help you to get on track.

Remember, you are not alone in this.

You can fully recover and you absolutely deserve this freedom and happiness!

I’ve coached hundreds of women with eating disorders, and every single one of them is an amazing human being with a big heart and great potential that were simply being blocked by this terrible addiction. Yes, all of them completely transformed. So, yes, it is possible!

Are you ready to live a life of complete freedom? To be completely happy?