Understanding Disordered Eating: Eating Disorder Recovery and Body Image Healing

"Eating disorders are about control."
It's one of those phrases that gets repeated so often it starts to sound like an unquestionable truth. But when you sit with it for more than a few seconds, it gets messy fast. Because if eating disorders are "about control," then recovery is often framed as the opposite: letting go of control. And that's where a lot of people understandably get stuck.
That advice is usually offered in a vague, almost dismissive way, as if the problem is that you're gripping too tightly, overthinking everything, or refusing to loosen your hold. The implication is that if you could just relax, stop trying so hard, and surrender a bit, recovery would naturally fall into place. Which, let's be honest, is not how this works.
Tweetable Quotes
"People love to use the phrase 'Eating disorders are about control', but it's really vague. Like being "in control" is good, and being "out of control" is bad. - Rachelle Heinemann
"When we say release control, we mean loosening rigidity… but we're not asking to lose structure." - Rachelle Heinemann
"When we talk about control and loosening control, we do not mean to enter into chaos." - Rachelle Heinemann
"What we're asking people to do when we ask for increased flexibility is to take away the protection against anxiety. So we have to understand this is not just a matter of asking your clients to just loosen the reins a bit. It's something that is going to feel internally, very, very uncomfortable." - Rachelle Heinemann
"Ultimately, when we use the term control… it's only problematic when it really constricts your life." - Rachelle Heinemann
"Recovery… is about widening that bandwidth." - Rachelle Heinemann
"We are increasing your capacity to experience whatever it might be… without flooding, without impulsivity." - Rachelle Heinemann
Resources
Join my FREE webinar happening on March 18th: Brave on Purpose!
Grab my Journal Prompts Here!
Looking for a speaker for an upcoming event? Let's chat!
Now accepting new clients! Find out if we're a good fit! 
 
LEAVE A REVIEW + help someone who may need this podcast by sharing this episode.
Be sure to sign up for my weekly newsletter here!
You can connect with me on Instagram @rachelleheinemann, through my website www.rachelleheinemann.com, or email me directly at [email protected]

Let's be honest: if eating disorder recovery were just about wanting it enough, none of us would be here. You'd read one book, listen to one podcast, have one "aha" moment… and boom, cured.
But that's not how this works, and if you've tried to shortcut your way through recovery before, this episode is probably going to feel a little too familiar.
Tweetable Quotes
"If we're working toward feeling safe, toward recovery, or toward mental wellness, you cannot ever do that with a starved mind or body. It just doesn't happen." - Rachelle Heinemann
"Everybody's recovery is gonna look different." - Rachelle Heinemann
"If willpower worked, then you wouldn't need recovery." - Rachelle Heinemann
"Insight is great, but the insight without changing the behavior is just having a very nice intellectual conversation, which really does absolutely nothing or very little to change eating disorder behaviors." - Rachelle Heinemann
"Healing is not linear." - Rachelle Heinemann
Resources
Grab my Journal Prompts Here!
Looking for a speaker for an upcoming event? Let's chat!
Now accepting new clients! Find out if we're a good fit! 
 
LEAVE A REVIEW + help someone who may need this podcast by sharing this episode.
Be sure to sign up for my weekly newsletter here!
You can connect with me on Instagram @rachelleheinemann, through my website www.rachelleheinemann.com, or email me directly at [email protected]

Have you ever hit that point where you're doing recovery "right" and instead of relief, you feel like absolute garbage? Like… you gave up the behaviors, you're eating regularly, you're showing up to sessions, and somehow everything inside you feels louder, messier, and harder to deal with than before.
This episode is about that part. The part no one really warns you about. The phase where recovery doesn't feel freeing, it feels destabilizing. Where you might quietly wonder if you made a mistake, or if maybe the eating disorder actually worked better than this.
Tweetable Quotes
"Feeling worse does not mean that you're failing. It means everything is changing." - Rachelle Heinemann
"Part of what the initial stages of recovery does, is that it removes your capacity to cope before it builds your capacity to cope better." - Rachelle Heinemann
"You're not worse. You're just less dissociated, which is a sign that things are actually headed in the right direction." - Rachelle Heinemann
"If you're willing to stay where it's uncomfortable, I guarantee you will find a lot more on the other side." - Rachelle Heinemann
Resources
Grab my Journal Prompts Here!
Looking for a speaker for an upcoming event? Let's chat!
Now accepting new clients! Find out if we're a good fit! 
 
LEAVE A REVIEW + help someone who may need this podcast by sharing this episode.
Be sure to sign up for my weekly newsletter here!
You can connect with me on Instagram @rachelleheinemann, through my website www.rachelleheinemann.com, or email me directly at [email protected]

If you've ever been told that you need to "heal the root" of your eating disorder, but no one ever really explained what that actually means, this episode is for you.
Maybe you've done the meal plans. The behavior tracking. The symptom management. And yet… something still feels unresolved. Fragile. Like the eating disorder quiets down for a while, only to resurface later in a different form.
In this episode, we slow the conversation way down and talk honestly about unmet childhood needs. Not as a way to blame parents, caregivers, or anyone else, but as a way to finally understand why your eating disorder made sense in the first place.
Tweetable Quotes
"Relapse isn't the end of recovery. It's a moment inside of it." - Rachelle Heinemann
"Eating disorders don't just happen. They happen within the context of the rest of your life." - Rachelle Heinemann
"When emotional needs aren't consistently met, we still develop strategies internally to help us survive." - Rachelle Heinemann
"You can stop the behaviors temporarily, but if the underlying emotional needs remain unmet, something else will pop up." - Rachelle Heinemann
"Healing means giving yourself now what you didn't get then." - Rachelle Heinemann
"Part of the process in therapy is creating a pause between the urge and the behavior." - Rachelle Heinemann
"Your behaviors make sense in the context that you grew up in." - Rachelle Heinemann
Resources
Group Training for Clinicians, led by Jack Heinemann.
Details: 
• 6 weekly sessions (75 minutes each)
• Thursdays at 12pm EST
• Begins 2/12
• $85 per session
• Limited spots
Looking for more information? Email [email protected] or [email protected] 
Grab my Journal Prompts Here!
Looking for a speaker for an upcoming event? Let's chat!
Now accepting new clients! Find out if we're a good fit! 
 
LEAVE A REVIEW + help someone who may need this podcast by sharing this episode.
Be sure to sign up for my weekly newsletter here!
You can connect with me on Instagram @rachelleheinemann, through my website www.rachelleheinemann.com, or email me directly at [email protected]

In this episode of Understanding Disordered Eating, I'm joined by Jack Heinemann for a live, supervision-style conversation that explores what's often happening beneath the surface when therapists feel stuck. Rather than focusing on what to say or do next, we slow the work down and examine how unconscious relational patterns quietly organize the therapy relationship itself, shaping both the client's experience and the clinician's emotional response, often without either person realizing it.
This episode isn't about quick techniques or the perfect intervention. It's about learning how to think differently.
Resources
Group Training for Clinicians, led by Jack Heinemann.
Details: 
• 6 weekly sessions (75 minutes each)
• Thursdays at 12pm EST
• Begins 2/12
• $85 per session
• Limited spots
Looking for more information? Email [email protected] or [email protected] 
 
Grab my Journal Prompts Here!
Looking for a speaker for an upcoming event? Let's chat!
Now accepting new clients! Find out if we're a good fit! 
 
 
LEAVE A REVIEW + help someone who may need this podcast by sharing this episode.
Be sure to sign up for my weekly newsletter here!
You can connect with me on Instagram @rachelleheinemann, through my website www.rachelleheinemann.com, or email me directly at [email protected]