Find Food Freedom With London, UK Eating Disorder Dietitian Emma Townsin, RD
I recently got to know Emma Townsin, who is an eating disorder dietitian in London, England. She is a warm, softhearted person who is a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor. Emma is a kind soul who is a perfect choice for those of you struggling with eating disorders in London and throughout the UK and all over the world! Her practice is called Food Life Freedom.
Why did you choose to become an eating disorder specialist?
Working in other clinical areas, I consistently saw so much stress around food. So many people were following strict food rules that were making them feel miserable - both around food and in their social interactions, activities, family lives and professional lives. Increasingly, I could see our culture of diets and weight loss attempts was leading to stressful relationships with food and driving the uncomfortable eating behaviours we are trying to heal from. I wanted to be better equipped to support people to stop feeling overwhelmed around food, to naturally eat foods that feel good and ultimately improve their overall quality of life.
I completed a certification course in Intuitive Eating Counseling with Evelyn Tribole of Orange County, California. In this course, I learned as much about myself and my relationship with food and body as well as how to support others. From here, I also fell into an NHS (National Health Service) specialist eating disorder dietitian role and undertook much more training in Eating Disorders, Intuitive Eating and Trauma Informed Care which I find so interesting. Ultimately, we all deserve to enjoy food in eat in a way that truly supports our body and our lives. I really love helping people find that for themselves.
What kind of treatment do you provide?
I use an intuitive eating framework which draws on a CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) model to remove stress around food and a mindfulness approach to reconnect with the body. I integrate other aspects of my training such as anti-diet and health at every size, trauma informed care, nutrition education, emotion regulation tools and the lived experience of my clients. These model works really well for those who have spent a long time on-and-off diets and/ or are experiencing out-of-control eating such as binge and emotional eating.
Do you work with only eating disorders?
I work with people experiencing a stressful relationship with food. Whether this is a diagnosed eating disorder or generally feeling disconnected from their body and experiencing uncomfortable eating or difficult body image. I can also work with people wanting to make some food changes to support their health but wanting to avoid a diet path or weight centric approach.
Where are you located? In which states/regions do you practice?
I am based in London, UK. I can work with people from all over the world. (I am originally from Australia :))
How long have you been working with eating disorders overall?
I started my Intuitive Eating Training in 2018 and finished in 2020 and have working in intuitive wating ever since. My first eating disorder job was in 2021 and I have worked in eating disorders in both the NHS (I still do this part time) and privately.
What are your favorite types of clients to work with?
My passion is supporting people who generally feel stressed around food and a disconnect with their body. I have particular interests in improving body connection (hunger, fullness, emotions), stopping dieting, letting go of stress around food and overcoming out-of-control eating experiences such as binge or emotional eating. For clients this often looks like having been on-and-off diets for many years (even sometimes from childhood) and wanting to "just eat normally", not understanding or trusting hunger, fullness, self care and emotional body cues and/ or experiencing uncomfortable or out-of-control eating experiences (such as binge eating/ emotional eating).
What happens during a first appointment with you?
For our first contact, you can schedule a free 15 minute chat so we can make sure we are a good fit and feel comfortable together. Then in the first appointment we have an hour together. I will invite you to share your experiences around food and body through childhood and your adult years as well as what role you want food to play in your life. I will be closely listening out for areas that will be supportive to work on together to remove food stress and begin building body trust.
I will ask some follow up questions in these areas to understand more about you. I will then share some things I have noticed, provide some nutritional and psychoeducation as relevant to you and we will come up with some goals or activities to work on between appointments so you can move towards food and life freedom.
What are the first steps you take when treating binge eating and/or bulimia?
Although binge eating and bulimia feels very emotional in the moment, it's important to address both the physical triggers as well as the psychological triggers outside of the binging moment. Physical triggers are often hunger (especially getting "overhungry") even if you don't feel hungry as well as having off-limits foods and dieting behaviours. So bringing in regular structured eating of a variety of foods is extremely important.
Then we will have a look at what is going on psychologically, what the body is trying to tell you it needs. Such as mental restriction around food, a need for safety and acceptance, a heightened stress response, rebellion of others expectations or just a disconnect with the body's emotional or self care cues for example. We will then explore some strategies for in and after a binge eating or bulimia moment to aim to reduce the stress, guilt and shame and have more awareness of what your body needs - whether it is food or something else.
What do you wish people knew about getting treatment for eating disorders?
That eating disorders and stressful relationships with food are so common. Uncomfortable eating behaviours are nothing to be ashamed of, it really is just your body trying to get what it needs and keep you safe. Our brains can make us feel like there is no other way we could possibly think or feel around food, but these are just the current neural pathways in our brains and it is completely possible to change them. Getting treatment is about changing these unsupportive thoughts and developing trust and connection with your body so eating comes naturally without overthinking it. It will improve so many areas of your life and the hard work you put in will be completely worth it!
How can people learn more about and contact you?
Website is www.foodlifefreedom.com
Email: emma@foodlifefreedom.com
Instagram: @food.life.freedom
Facebook: Food Life Freedom
I also have a free 20 minute emotional eating video training and a free intuitive eating e-book on my website :)
Share one fun fact about you that most people don't know.
My favorite way to "read" is listening to an audiobook. This is one reason I love creating audio content such as podcasts and online courses.
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Disclaimers for My Work in Body Image, Binge Eating, and My Virtual Online Binge Eating Program
*DR. MARIANNE-LAND’S BINGE EATING RECOVERY MEMBERSHIP PROGRAM is online binge-eating education and private virtual group support via a Facebook Group. The aim of this course is to help people reduce and eliminate any type of distressed eating, such as binge eating or binge/purge behaviors via education, behavioral changes, and mindset shifts. DR. MARIANNE-LAND’S BINGE EATING RECOVERY MEMBERSHIP PROGRAM is not a clinical eating disorder therapy or eating disorder treatment program and is not intended to serve as such. In them, Dr. Marianne Miller works from her role as a binge-eating coach, not as a binge-eating therapist.
**The ELITE BINGE EATING RECOVERY METHOD is virtual binge eating education and LIVE virtual coaching support. The goal of this program is to help people stop any type of distressed eating, such as binge eating or binge/purge behaviors via education, behavioral changes, and mindset shifts. The ELITE BINGE EATING RECOVERY METHOD is not a clinical eating disorder therapy or eating disorder treatment program and is not intended to serve as such. In them, Dr. Marianne Miller works from her role as a binge-eating coach, not as a binge-eating therapist.