Disordered eating therapy for the food math.
Online therapy in California for disordered eating, restriction, binge cycles, and body image — weight-inclusive, non-diet, body-respectful care for adults in their 20s and 30s.
Restriction. Binge cycles. The exercise that's really about earning food. The running tally in your head. And underneath all of it — the slow realization that it was never quite about the food.
What disordered eating actually is.
Disordered eating is a relationship with food and body that's quietly running underneath everything else — organizing your day, your mood, and your sense of worth around rules, numbers, and control. It doesn't always meet the criteria for a named eating disorder, and it doesn't have to in order to be worth treating.
Often it looks like the opposite of a problem. It looks like wellness. Discipline. “Being good.” That camouflage is part of what makes it so hard to name — and why so many people carry it for years before getting help.
How it shows up.
The food math runs constantly, even when no one can see it. Some of the ways it shows up:
- The food math — the calorie counting, the macros, the constant mental tally
- Restriction, then the binge, then the guilt, then the restriction again
- Exercise that's about earning or undoing food, not moving your body
- Rules about what's allowed, when, and how much
- A relationship with the mirror that you'd never speak aloud
- The messages about food and body you absorbed from family, still taking up space
What's underneath.
Disordered eating is rarely about food. It's usually about something the food is managing:
- Control — a way to feel in charge when life feels like it isn't
- Core shame — a body and self that never feel like enough
- Emotion regulation — food as comfort, punishment, or numbing
- Family and cultural messages about food, body, and worth
- Anxiety and perfectionism — the same patterns, pointed at the plate
How therapy helps.
We work with all of it — the named eating disorders and the quieter patterns that hide behind health language — with weight-inclusive, non-diet, body-respectful care. The goal isn't a different body. It's a life that isn't organized around food and control.
We help you understand what the eating is managing, build other ways to meet those needs, and slowly loosen the rules' grip. For the neuroscience of why these patterns become automatic — and how they change — see Why Therapy Works.
Our approach at Align.
We draw on CBT for the food rules and thinking patterns, ACT and IFS for the parts and values underneath, and attachment work for the roots. Weight-inclusive and non-diet throughout. When medical oversight is needed, we coordinate with physicians and dietitians.
Sessions are weekly, 50 minutes, online, with a California-licensed therapist who's yours alone. $200 per session.
Who we work with.
Adults in their 20s and 30s whose relationship with food has quietly taken over — including the people whose patterns look like wellness from the outside. We work with sub-clinical disordered eating as readily as diagnosed eating disorders, and we believe you don't have to be “sick enough” to deserve help.
Disordered eating therapy — common questions.
Do I have to have a diagnosed eating disorder to come?
No. Much of what we treat is sub-clinical — the patterns that don't meet diagnostic criteria but still run your life. You don't have to be “sick enough.” If food and body are taking up more space than you'd like, that's enough.
What does weight-inclusive, non-diet care mean?
It means we don't treat weight loss as a goal or health metric, and we don't prescribe diets. We focus on your relationship with food, body, and self — not on changing your body to fit an external standard.
Can disordered eating be treated online?
Yes, for most presentations. Some severe eating disorders need medical oversight or a higher level of care; if so, we'll help you find it and can work alongside that team. For most disordered eating, online therapy is effective.
Isn't my eating just about discipline and health?
It can be hard to tell from the inside — disordered eating often disguises itself as wellness. If the rules cause distress, drive guilt, or organize your life, that's worth exploring, regardless of how healthy it looks.
Will you make me eat things or weigh me?
No. We're a talk-therapy practice using a weight-inclusive approach. We don't weigh you or impose food rules. When meal support or medical monitoring is needed, we coordinate with the right specialists.