Meet New People in Your Area

Have you moved to a new place recently? Have you been isolating from the outside world? Are you simply ready to meet some new people? Here are a few ideas on how to meet new friends and grow your social and support circle:

-Meetup is a great tool for joining in on activities in your area. Search through the categories  (dinner and movie, hiking, coffee shops, etc.) and find a meetup that fits your interests - see if that time works for you and commit to going! The best part about this website and app is that others in the group are there for the same reasons you are: to make new friendships.

-Local Classes: Take a fun class at a community college near you. Bond with others while developing a new skill. Try pottery making, calligraphy, cooking, ballroom dancing - you will be surprised at all of the exciting classes your community has to offer!

-Volunteer: Connect with people who have the same passions as you and feel good while helping others! Check out Volunteer Match for an easy way to find volunteer opportunities near you.

-Support Groups: Sometimes the best friendships are made with those who have had similar life experiences. Join a support group and meet people who understand your challenges. One option is NAMI connection for people living with mental illness - check it out to find your nearest support group.

-Challenge Yourself: Maybe you say hi and start a conversation with someone on the bus, on your lunch break, at the grocery store. Challenge yourself by getting out of your comfort zone. Start small - smile at a stranger or compliment somebody's shirt in the elevator. Work your way up to starting a conversation and asking a new acquaintance to coffee!

Welcome 2016!

We're reposting this from last year, but it's so helpful to take some time to organize your thoughts and set goals. How can you get where you're going if you don't know where that is?

8% of new year's resolutions are accomplished - let's change that. 

What was your New Year's Resolution? Start exercising more? Exercise less? Cook More? Make taking care of yourself a priority? Manage your time better? Manage your budget better? Get out of the house more? Be Happy?

Why not start living the life you want? 

All your goals are within reach, but you may need a little help to get there. Walden Living is here to help, and this blog is here to help organize your recovery and your resources for support!

Get involved in your community, do something you enjoy, and become engaged in you own life.

NEDAwareness Week Day Seven: Parents

• Parents don’t cause eating disorders. They can be a major part of recovery. 
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Parents do not cause eating disorders. They are in a unique position to help identify eating disorders early, seek professional help, and support a child through the recovery process. It is also important to note that eating disorders are not a choice - they are not "just a phase" or an attention-seeking behavior. Eating disorders are serious, potentially life-threatening illnesses that are best treated with a support system that includes the family. Parents also need to practice self-care when caring for a loved one. Recovery is possible, but it can be a trying experience for both the individual and their family members.

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Hope and Support:
Hope for Parents
Parent Toolkit

NEDAwareness Week Day Six: Medical Professionals

Eating Disorders are often overlooked/misdiagnosed by medical professionals. Learn the signs & share! 

Physicians and medical professionals can play an integral role in educating and assisting individuals who may be struggling with eating disorders or at risk for developing these illnesses. Due to a lack of education about the complexities of eating disorders and the range of behaviors and symptoms associated with them, physicians often overlook warning signs or misdiagnose eating disorders. These mistakes take a toll. More than 2/3 of youth with an eating disorder have not gotten treatment. Without education, physicians may miss an opportunity to stabilize a condition until appropriate treatment can be arranged.

For More Information Read Here:
What's Up Doc? - Stay in the know about the realities of eating disorders
Guide to Recognition/Management
Screening and Managing Eating Disorders - A guide for medical professionals

NEDAwareness Week Day Five: Dieting and Eating Disorders

35% of “normal dieters” progress to pathological dieting. Of those, 20-25% develop an eating disorder 

Americans get many mixed messages about health—and many of those messages are far from healthy. We hear about the virtues of "good" foods and the evils of the “bad” ones. Our national fixation on weight loss has resulted in $60 billion in profits for the diet industry – an industry whose products and weight loss plans are often the catalyst to an eating disorder. Research shows that 35% of “normal dieters” progress to pathological dieting and of those, 20-25% continue on to develop partial or full-syndrome eating disorders (Shisslak, Crago, & Estes, 1995). From TV commercials to bestselling books, there are countless ideas about what we should be eating and how we should be exercising. But this focus on food and weight in the name of “health” can become a dangerous and disruptive preoccupation for some.

All too often, the drive for thinness begins early in a person’s life. For example, 46% of 9-11 year-olds are “sometimes” or “very often” on diets (Gustafson-Larson & Terry, 1992) and 35-57% of adolescent girls engage in crash dieting, fasting, self-induced vomiting, diet pills or laxatives (Boutelle, Neumark-Sztainer, et al. 2002; Neumark-Sztainer & Hannan, 2001; Wertheim et al., 2009).

"Extreme dieting is never a healthy alternative. Among "normal" dieters, 35 percent will progress to pathological dieting and of those, 20-25 perfect progress to full-blown eating disorders. The Biggest Loser is not only a trigger to those on the show who are predisposed to develop an eating disorder but to viewers at home as well. We need to quit looking at the number on the scale and adopt a healthy lifestyle."

Read Here for More Information:

Orthorexia: Those who have an "unhealthy obsession" with otherwise healthy eating may be suffering from "orthorexia nervosa," a term which literally means "fixation on righteous eating."

-10 Ways to Recognize Orthorexia

Stories of Hope:

"My symptoms violently bounced between anorexia and bulimia and I became a master at hiding them. My eating disorder could not be perfectly boxed into a diagnostic code, which made it easy for my ED voice to always tell me, 'See, you're not that bad. You aren't underweight and you don't purge that much.'"
-Read More Here: A Scale Can't Measure the Severity of Your Eating Disorder

"They do not have a clue about men having an Eating Disorder; I guess that is why I am there to help them to better understand the disease."
-Read More Here: Reclaiming My Life

Get Involved:

Use the #NEDAwareness hashtag to join us for a Tweet Chat, A Slippery Slope: Identifying Disordered Behaviors Before they Go Too Far