DR MARIANNE MILLER
CARING EATING DISORDER TREATMENT IN SAN DIEGO AND THROUGHOUT CALIFORNIA, TEXAS, AND WASHINGTON D.C. FOR ADULTS & TEENS
ARFID: How to Deal With the Mental and Physical Health Risks
Struggling with ARFID (Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder) is no joke. I’ve been working with teens and adults for years in San Diego who have ARFID. My heart goes out to them. Whether you live in sunny San Diego or elsewhere in California, Texas, Florida, and other states or countries, having ARFID means that others misunderstand you, and medical providers frequently misdiagnose you. It’s so isolating. You may have a hard time keeping on weight. You feel uncomfortable going to restaurants and eating in front of other people. Friends and family often say to you “just eat” or ask, “Why can’t you get over it? It’s just food.” They don’t understand that food isn’t “just food” to you. It’s so much more.
An Open Letter to People Wanting to Recover in 2024: Find Freedom from ARFID, Binge Eating, Bulimia, Anorexia
To all of you who have spent years, even decades, struggling with an eating disorder, I hear you. I have experienced similar eating disorder challenges when I lived in San Diego, Denver, and Texas. I know that you want the suffering to stop.
How Neurodiversity and Eating Disorders Overlap (& How to get help in London, UK)
Since the pandemic began, an increasing number of my California eating disorder therapy therapy clients have demonstrated neurodiverse traits. If you live in or around London, UK, you likely have been watching social media, and when posts and videos come up about ADHD, OCD, or ASD traits, you may relate. It’s true that the stress and trauma of the pandemic has affected (and still affects) all of us. It’s also true that if you have an eating disorder, it’s likely that your behaviors have increased, and if you’re neurodivergent, your traits have become more noticeable. So let’s explore how neurodiversity and eating disorders overlap and how you can get help for it in London, England.
Addressing Parents' Needs When Their Child Has an Eating or Feeding Disorder by San Diego Dietitian Lindsay Stenovec, RD
You’re at the dinner table in San Diego, California, or elsewhere, trying to get your kid to eat. They say the food looks funny or smells weird, and they just won’t take one bite. You feel worried that they aren’t getting adequate nourishment. The pediatrician tells you that they are losing weight. You are chewing your nails to the quick. You don’t know what to do. Enter eating disorder dietitian and feeding expert Lindsay Stenovec, MS, RD. Lindsay knows parents. She is a parent herself. She gets the struggle. She knows how to nourish kids who have feeding or eating disorders in California. She supports parents on this journey. Let’s hear what she has to say.
Treating ARFID with San Diego Eating Disorder Dietitian Maddie McClean, RD
Grappling with ARFID (avoidant restrictive food intake disorder) is really hard. Whether you struggle with ARFID yourself, or whether it’s one of your kiddos, there is SO much anxiety. You feel frustrated because food choices are limited. You may fear choking or vomiting. You struggle with how food looks or dislike how it feels in your mouth. Plus, you experience shame and embarrassment because you don’t eat the same as your peers. ARFID is incredibly complex, and not a lot of people really get it. One person who understands ARFID is San Diego eating disorder dietitian Maddie McClean, RD. She does amazing work helping folks of all ages get on the road to ARFID recovery.
Five Tips for Managing Overwhelming Emotions in Eating Disorder Recovery
Have you ever felt so filled with emotion that it was almost unbearable? Do your mind and body feel flooded with feelings such as fear, anger, disgust, frustration, irritability, anxiety, or sadness—to the point at which you feel almost paralyzed? Having an eating disorder in San Diego and elsewhere is so hard. Sometimes the overwhelming emotions can be triggered by things such as discomfort with food and with your body, negative interactions with others, and work and family stress. At such times, it seems like the emotions take over both your brain and your body, and you would do anything thing in the world to make them stop. It is so so hard. Thankfully, there are a few coping strategies that can help you navigate such situations. These coping skills come from dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), which is an approach I integrate in my work with people struggling with eating disorders in San Diego.
Have Kids Who Are Picky Eaters? Meet San Diego Dietitian Rachel Rothman, RD
Do you have kids who are extreme picky eaters? Have you been grappling with trying to figure out how to provide for their nutrition needs without turning every meal into a battle? It is so hard when you have children that struggle with eating a wide variety of nutritious foods. It is absolutely exhausting, especially in San Diego when you just want to pack some food and go to the beach and focus on enjoying the sun, sand, and water instead of worrying about whether you can get your kid to eat something. One of the newer diagnoses of eating disorders is Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID). It is basically extreme picky eating that can cause serious health issues.
One San Diego pediatric dietitian who specializes in ARFID, as well as in other types of feeding and eating disorder treatment is Rachel Rothman, RD (registered dietitian). She has a B.S. Food science from University of California Davis and a Master’s degree in nutrition education from Teacher's College, Columbia University. She has loads of clinical experience with feeding difficulties, feeding disorders, sensory processing disorder, and many other nutritional ailments. All in all, Rachel is a really smart woman who will do an amazing job working with you and your kids.
Four Tips to Navigating Triggering Family Situations in Eating Disorder Recovery
Do you ever struggle with all of the focus on “family” and “togetherness” this time of year? Does it seem as though you can barely get through family events without feeling like you want to run out of the room screaming? Holidays can be such a challenge if you have an eating disorder. A lot of family-focused activities center around food, which can trigger a lot of anxiety and other uncomfortable emotions. It is hard when parents, spouses, grandparents, great-aunt Petunias, or whoever comment about your body and what you are (or aren’t) eating. Especially in San Diego, when in December you can be wearing tank tops, shorts, or a skirt as you take family trips to the beach. It can feel as though your body and how you eat is on display. It may seem that loved ones have free reign to comment on it. It really, really sucks. As an eating disorder therapist, I love helping people navigate family situations that can be tricky and triggering, so I’m here to help you get started.
Interview with UCSD Eating Disorder Center's Christin Conkle, LMFT
Hi everyone! I interviewed one of my former marriage and family therapy (MFT) graduate students from Alliant International University. Her name is Christin Conkle, and she is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in San Diego. She graduated years ago, so she knew me when I was a new professor at Alliant! She now works at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) Eating Disorder Center. She is the lead therapist in the adolescent programs, which provides a partial hospitalization program (PHP) and intensive outpatient program (IOP) for teens with anorexia, bulimia, avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID), and other specified feeding or eating disorder (OSFED), which is a category that includes subclinical and atypical eating disorders. She is a lovely person who really has a heart for teens and families struggling with eating disorders.