In-person eating disorder therapy in Newport Beach, CA | Online therapy in California and Texas

You may notice thoughts about food and your body taking up more and more space — a running conversation in your mind about what you should eat, what you shouldn’t have eaten, and what you’ll do differently tomorrow.

Food noise that won’t turn off.
Rules that promise control — but never quite bring relief.

You might spend a great deal of time thinking about food — planning it, avoiding it, worrying about it — or feel like eating decisions carry far more emotional weight than they should.

Even when part of you understands what’s happening — and genuinely wants something different — these patterns can feel incredibly difficult to shift.

Over time, the struggle with food and body image can begin to shape how you feel about yourself and how freely you’re able to move through your life.

Meals may start to feel stressful. Your body may begin to feel like something to manage rather than something you live in.

You might feel caught between wanting peace with food and feeling pulled back into familiar patterns.

If you recognize yourself in any of this, you're not alone.

Therapy offers a space to slow down, gently understand what’s underneath these patterns, and begin finding a more peaceful and sustainable relationship with food, your body, and yourself.

Next Steps

Understanding your experience

When assessing an eating disorder, I look beyond appearance, weight, or visible behaviors. What matters more is how food, exercise, and body image are affecting your daily life — how much space these thoughts take up, the emotional weight they carry, and whether there is a sense of being out of control or afraid of losing control.

I pay attention to how these struggles may have helped you cope, and how they impact your sense of self, your relationships, and your ability to be present in your life.

Above all, I listen for your pain — including the suffering that may not be visible on the surface.

I share this because there are so many misconceptions about eating disorders. People often minimize their struggles because they don’t feel “sick enough,” don’t fit neatly into a diagnosis, or don’t look like the stereotypes people associate with eating disorders.

If you’re struggling with food or body image in any way, your experience matters — and you deserve support.

Body Positivity. Every Body is Beautiful. Eating Disorder Recovery.

We will start where you are.

Our work begins by understanding how the eating disorder has lived in your life — the pain it has caused, and the ways it may have offered comfort, protection, or a sense of control.

For many people, disordered eating begins as an attempt to solve something: If I were thinner… healthier… more disciplined… I would finally feel confident, happy, worthy. We will acknowledge the role the eating disorder has played while gently opening space for something new.

From there, we strengthen the part of you that longs for healing and begin clarifying your own vision of recovery. We will explore the parts of your struggle that feel difficult to release, while honoring any uncertainty or fear about who you might be without the eating disorder.

We’ll look at what you’ve already tried, where you feel stuck or overwhelmed, and explore new ways of relating to food, your body, and yourself.

Healing can feel slow at times. It can feel vulnerable. And it is worth it.

Over time, eating out with friends can feel enjoyable instead of overwhelming — and food and your body can become sources of nourishment rather than stress.

You don’t have to feel fully ready for change for therapy to begin. We can start wherever you are.

To Anyone Navigating Life in A Larger Body...

If you live in a larger body, you may have spent years navigating messages about what you “should” eat, how you “should” look, or who you’re supposed to be in order to be worthy. You may have tried diets, sworn them off, gone back again, or simply felt exhausted by the constant noise around food and weight.

Wherever you are in your relationship with food and your body, there is space for you here. This is a place where we can explore that relationship in all its complexity — without judgment, shame, or another plan to fix yourself.

If dieting has left you feeling defeated, confused, or disconnected from your own cues, you’re not alone. While diets promise control, they often deepen struggle and erode trust in the body.

In our work together, we’ll explore your lived experiences and the messages you’ve absorbed about food, weight, and worth. With curiosity and compassion, we can begin to understand what food has meant in your life — not to pathologize it, but to honor the ways it may have helped you cope, soothe, celebrate, or survive. From there, we can begin building a more trusting and compassionate relationship with food, your body, and yourself — one that isn’t defined by diets, shame, or constant self-monitoring.

Individualized Eating Disorder Therapy in Orange County, CA

I specialize in supporting individuals navigating experiences such as:

Anorexia Nervosa treatment
Bulimia Nervosa treatment
Binge Eating Disorder therapy
ARFID (Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder)
OSFED (Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorders)
Chronic dieting and disordered eating
Orthorexia and rigid food rules
Body image distress and body dysmorphia
Eating disorders in athletes and high-performing individuals
Disordered eating and body image concerns in midlife, including during perimenopause and menopause
Eating disorder therapy for LGBTQ+ clients (affirming care for queer and transgender clients)
Eating disorders in neurodivergent individuals, including ADHD, autism, and sensory-related feeding differences

Whether your experience fits neatly into a diagnosis or feels more complex than a label, eating disorders are rarely just about food. They often develop in response to trauma, anxiety, overwhelm, perfectionism, identity stress, or nervous system differences. Our work addresses both behaviors and underlying patterns, helping you build a more grounded, sustainable relationship with food, your body, and yourself.

Eating Disorder Therapy: Frequently Asked Questions

Many people arrive here with questions about their relationship with food, their body, or what therapy might look like. Here are a few of the questions I’m most often asked.

How do I know if I need therapy for an eating disorder?

Eating disorders don’t always look the way people expect them to. Some people experience clear diagnostic symptoms like restricting, bingeing, purging, or compulsive exercise. Others find themselves caught in constant thoughts about food, weight, or body image—even if their behaviors don’t fit neatly into a specific diagnosis.

Many of the people I work with feel like something about their relationship with food or their body just isn’t working anymore. The thoughts may take up a lot of mental space, or eating patterns may begin to interfere with daily life, relationships, or your ability to feel present with yourself.

Sometimes, from the outside, everything appears fine. You may be managing work, school, or responsibilities while quietly carrying distress around food or your body that others don’t see.

If food, body image, or eating patterns are creating distress or taking up more space in your life than you want them to, therapy can help you understand what’s happening and move toward a more peaceful and sustainable relationship with food and your body.

What if my eating struggles don’t seem “serious enough” for therapy?

Many people hesitate to seek support because they worry their experience isn’t “serious enough” to count as an eating disorder. They may tell themselves that others have it worse or that they should be able to handle things on their own.

Many of the people I work with are still functioning in their daily lives—showing up for work, school, or relationships—while privately struggling with thoughts about food, body dissatisfaction, or cycles of restriction and overeating.

If your relationship with food or your body is creating distress or taking up more mental space than you’d like, it deserves attention and care. You don’t have to wait until things feel worse to seek support.

What does eating disorder therapy involve?

Many of the people I work with come to therapy feeling stuck in patterns around food, body image, or control that no longer feel sustainable. While eating behaviors may be the most visible part of the struggle, my approach looks beyond food itself to understand the deeper patterns that keep those behaviors in place.

Eating disorders rarely develop in isolation. Difficulties with food and body image are often intertwined with anxiety, perfectionism, trauma, identity, relationships, or the ways your nervous system has learned to cope.

In our work together, we explore these underlying dynamics while also developing practical tools to help you navigate triggers, food-related anxiety, and body image distress. Our sessions won’t only focus on food or behaviors—we’ll also make space for the broader context of your life, because healing rarely happens in isolation.

I’ve tried to recover before. What if it hasn’t worked?

Many people come to therapy after trying for a long time to change their relationship with food or their body on their own. Some have been through previous treatment or periods of recovery that didn’t lead to the lasting change they were hoping for. When old patterns return, it can feel discouraging or even make you wonder if real change is possible.

Recovery is rarely a straight line. Often there are important reasons certain patterns have been difficult to let go of, and those reasons deserve understanding rather than judgment.

In our work together, we take time to gently explore what may have made change difficult in the past while creating space for a different kind of relationship with food, your body, and yourself to begin to take shape.

What if part of me isn’t ready to let go of the eating disorder?

This experience is actually very common. Eating disorders often develop for important reasons. They may create a sense of control, offer structure, numb difficult emotions, or provide a way to cope when things feel overwhelming.

Because of this, it’s normal for one part of you to want change while another part feels unsure, protective, or even afraid of letting go.

In our work together, we make space for that ambivalence rather than pushing it away. We take time to understand what the eating disorder has been doing for you and what those parts of you may need moving forward. As that understanding deepens, many people find that new possibilities for change begin to open up in a way that feels more natural and sustainable.r a different kind of relationship with food, your body, and yourself to begin to take shape.

What if I feel ashamed or embarrassed about my eating habits?

Shame is incredibly common when someone is struggling with an eating disorder. Many of the people I work with have spent a long time carrying these experiences quietly, feeling embarrassed about their eating habits or worried about what others might think if they knew.

Shame tends to grow in silence, which can make these struggles feel even more isolating.