DR MARIANNE MILLER
CARING EATING DISORDER TREATMENT IN SAN DIEGO AND THROUGHOUT CALIFORNIA, TEXAS, AND WASHINGTON D.C. FOR ADULTS & TEENS
ARFID and Anorexia: Can They Co-Exist?
When thinking about eating disorders in San Diego, Los Angeles, and NYC, anorexia nervosa and ARFID (Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder) often come to mind. Both types of eating disorders involve avoiding or limiting food, but for very different reasons. So, is it possible to experience both at the same time? Let’s take a look at how these conditions might overlap.
An Open Letter to Parents of Teens and Young Adults With ARFID in 2024
This blog post is an open letter to parents with kids with ARFID (avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder). Whether your child is young, a teen, or even a young adult, it’s important to know the complexities of ARFID and acknowledge the difficulties that all eating disorders have on the family system. Regardless of whether you live in San Diego, California, in NYC, or in London, UK, finding the right ARFID help is key.
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.