RECOVERING FROM AN EATING DISORDER IS POSSIBLE…ALWAYS!

My name is Barbara, and I was sick with anorexia when I was 14 years old. My first psychotherapist told me that the “blame” for my eating disorder was undoubtedly my mother’s. After a first hospitalization, I started therapy with another psychotherapist, and with her, I further explored the role of my parents in the 

development of my illness. I talked a lot about my childhood and family dynamics for almost 10 years, but I didn’t recover from my anorexia. I had been told that I would have to settle for managing the symptoms, and for a few years, I even convinced myself that that was the only life possible for me. But it wasn’t LIFE. It was just surviving by following the rules of a disease that made me believe I could never live without it. 

I found myself at 44 thinking that that was the only life possible for me. The glimmer of hope 

came when I read “Atomic Habits” and started to get interested in neuroplasticity. Maybe I could change my brain even after all these years. I started searching to see if anyone had ever written anything about neuroplasticity and eating disorders, and I found the person who literally saved me: Tabitha Farrar. I was lucky to know English well, and her book “Rehabilitate, Rewire, Recover” inspired me. I asked her if she could be my recovery coach, and she literally changed my life. I understood more about my illness thanks to Tabitha (a person who 

recovered from anorexia and became an eating disorder recovery coach and author) than I did in all those years of therapy. Most importantly, I found someone who told me, “I am sure you can 

recover.” 

Tabitha’s approach is totally different from what I see every day in traditional treatments, and it’s based on neural reprogramming. A part of me was skeptical, but what did I have to lose? I used my obsessive and perfectionistic character traits to follow her instructions to the letter, and I can 

say 

that I reached a level of freedom in a few months that I never thought possible. I felt like I 

was still missing a piece, or maybe a part of me wasn’t convinced that I could live my whole life eating without following rules or restricting, so I started an Intuitive Eating program with an 

experienced American therapist specializing in eating disorders. The perfect choice. 

I’m convinced that an Intuitive Eating journey is the perfect completion of every recovery from eating disorders, a journey to reconnect with one’s body and relearn how to listen to it while deconstructing fatphobia and diet culture dictates. When I realized that, after 30 years of illness, I could really recover, I decided that I would dedicate the rest of my life to helping others recover and became an eating disorder recovery coach to bring this figure to Italy, which was fundamental for my recovery from anorexia. 

When I talk on social media, I receive many comments from people who are surprised to see a 47-year-old person talking about these topics 

because, in the collective imagination, only young girls suffer from eating disorders. However, the truth is that if you don’t recover, eating disorders don’t go away on their own, unfortunately. Just as there is a stereotype about the emaciated girl with eating disorders, in Italy, too many people (including professionals) still think that recovering from an eating disorder means reaching and maintaining a certain. weight. Recovery is much more than that, and the word that best exemplifies recovery for me is freedom. 

Barbara Arlati