Get to Know Anne Richardson: A Devon, UK Registered Nutrition Therapist Who Specializes in Eating Disorders

I’ve recently connected with Anne Richardson, who specializes in eating disorders and is a Devon, UK registered nutrition therapy practitioner. She is very active on Instagram @theeatingdisordernutritionist. Two things I really like about Anne is her authenticity and her witty sense of humor. I also appreciate that she is an anti-diet dietitian in the UK who is very clear about not focusing on weight loss in her nutrition practice. She also loves food and knows how to cook fun things. I’m excited for you to learn more about her. :)

Why did you choose to become an eating disorder specialist?

I have always loved food and cooking and I come from a family where food was celebrated. We often had people over for dinner parties and my mum cooked pretty much everything from scratch. I was interested in doing dietetics in my early teenage years but I got dissuaded from going this way because my maths grades weren't high enough - in France, where I grew up, the system can be quite rigid.

Those teenage years were quite difficult for me: there were problems at home, I had just changed school to go to secondary school, I was trying to find who I was while also trying to fit in, look cool etc. I had this sense that I wasn't good enough, my family seem dysfunctional and I felt awkward, too big, not pretty enough. Basically I was both too much and not enough. I had a friend who was everything I wanted to be: slim, blond with blue eyes, perfect parents, a beautiful house etc. All the boys liked her and I felt I was just tagging along. I now know that my friend had an eating disorder but at the time, I just thought she was perfect.

One day I went shopping with my friends and we all bought the same fashionable skirt. I wore it to school, conscious that perhaps it didn't suit me as well as the others but still proud to be wearing something fashionable. That day my friends all lined up and one by one they came to tell me that I couldn't possibly wear this skirt because "I didn't have the legs for it.” It crushed me. I confirmed what I had suspected all along, I was disgusting, worthless and unloveable. I hated my legs for years after that.

So, I decided to lose a bit of weight by eating a bit less. Then I decided to become "healthier" by becoming vegetarian and over the weeks and months, I melted. People were congratulating me on my weight loss like my weight had been what was dragging me down all along even though I was never clinically "overweight.” They told me I looked good, so I figured that losing a bit more weight would make me look even better.

Those boys who had never noticed my existence were suddenly very interested in getting to know me and not just my friend. It felt amazing. Except that it didn't last. I can't pinpoint the exact moment when it all went wrong but at some point I lost control. I couldn't stop restricting and I was petrified of what used to bring me so much joy. I cooked for myself so that it would be the least calorific possible, I baked but I wouldn't eat any of it. I was tired, cold, hungry, miserable and socially distant. I had to stop dancing because I had no strength. The boys didn't fancy me anymore, and the girls were confused by who I had become.

Aside from my mum who tried to intervene, I received no professional help and so it lasted for quite a few years. I just spent my time studying and not eating. I think this lack of help was a reflection both of the time (the late 90s) but also the culture of thinness in France. Eventually, I grew tired of it all and I decided enough was enough. I needed to get better, so I did. I didn't start eating lots but I made tiny little changes ("atomic habits" as some would say). I created my own behavioral experiments: what will happen if I do that? What about this? Little by little I started eating more but it wasn't really enough for my weight to massively change.

Then I moved to London at 19. It could have broken me but instead it made me.

In London, I loved that people were so inclusive, I could see people in larger bodies wearing fashionable clothes and being sexy when I always thought that was only reserved for the thin ones. I could see there was a world out there that I couldn't explore if I kept restricting, so I relaxed a bit. It also helped that no one really knew me as "the anorexic girl," so I could reinvent myself and become just Anne, or "French Anne" as people now call me.

Over the years, I regained some weight but it was so gradual that I had plenty of time to get used to it, plus I stopped weighing myself so I wasn't fixated on the number. I bought new clothes and gave the old ones away. I tasted new foods, went out, laughed, had boyfriends etc. My periods finally came back and I felt elated.

I was now working in publishing but I had a sudden quarter-life crisis while trekking in the Canadian Rockies. I wanted more from my job than just make money, so I decided to retrain as a nutritionist. I wasn't interested in weight loss or eating disorders but simply to show people that food is a friend and that it can help us feel better. I retrained, quit my job, started my family.

After working for a couple of years I realized people who were coming to me all wanted to lose weight, even though they hadn't originally come to me for weight loss, and even though there was no issue with their weight. I also noticed that many people displayed strange food habits, habits they were very reminiscent of the things I used to do when ill.

I realized eating disorders and disordered eating were ubiquitous, and so I decided to train further in that field. Now I have a busy practice only seeing disordered eaters. My love of cooking and baking has come back, except that I now eat what I make!

What kind of treatment do you provide?

I have been doing a diploma in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in the last three years, so I combine nutritional therapy with CBT skills. I guess you could call it "nutritional counseling.”

Do you work with only eating disorders?

Yes but people don't have to have a formal diagnosis.

Where are you located?

I'm in the Southwest region of the UK, in Devon, but I mostly see people online these days.

How long have you been working with eating disorders overall?

7 years

What are your favorite types of clients to work with?

I don't now if "favorite" is the right term but because of my history, I connect the most with people who lean on the anorexic/orthorexic spectrum, and I have a particular affinity with teenagers.

What happens during a first appointment with you?

It's mostly an information gathering session: it's for me to see where you are at and whether I truly feel I can help you, it's also for you to see whether you feel comfortable with me.

What are the first steps you take when treating binge eating and/or bulimia?

I find it's reestablishing some structure in people's diet. There's often a lot of restriction and perhaps chaotic eating patterns so we try to work on that first.

What do you wish people knew about getting treatment for eating disorders?

There's no shame about it; it's an illness, anyone can be ill. You don't have to be "hospital worthy" to be ill enough.

How can people learn more about and contact you?

My website is www.theeatingdisordernutritionist.co.uk and I'm on Instagram as @theeatingdisordernutritionist

Share one fun fact about you that most people don't know.

I'd rather poke myself in the eye than eat coriander.

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