Eating Disorder Therapy & Recovery
In Orange County CA
Breaking Free from Food Obsession and Body Image Struggles
What would it be like if food and body concerns didn’t rule your life?
Comprehensive Treatment for Anorexia, Bulimia,
and Binge Eating Disorder
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Living in our comparative, marketing driven society, it is impossible not to ingest hundreds of messages about what our bodies "should be," what is the "right thing" to eat, and which diet, product, or exercise plan will deliver the desired results.
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​I'm so glad you're here, whether you're struggling with food and body concerns yourself, supporting someone you love, or simply looking for understanding and hope.
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This page is designed to feel like a conversation with someone who truly gets it. You'll discover:
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My personal understanding of diet culture struggles and the exhausting cycle of food obsession
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My three pillars of recovery: unconditional permission, breaking secrecy and shame, and becoming a counter-cultural rebel
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How therapy can help you find food and body freedom using Health At Every Size and Intuitive Eating principles
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Practical next steps for beginning your healing journey
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Common questions and concerns I hear from clients (addressed in the FAQ section below)
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My hope is that by the time you finish reading, you'll feel less alone and more hopeful about the possibility of true freedom from food and body preoccupation. You deserve to live a life where your worth isn't tied to a number or what you ate.
Whether you're struggling with
anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder,
or other forms of disordered eating,
specialized eating disorder treatment can help you
reclaim a balanced relationship with food and your body.
I’m willing to bet you are…
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familiar with the surge of hope and determination followed by frustration and despair of dieting
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picking apart everything that you don’t like in every picture
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used to judging your hunger and your food choices as if they are character flaws
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often obsessed with food
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afraid that you can’t trust your body, hunger or worth
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​These experiences are common signs that may indicate an eating disorder or disordered eating patterns that benefit from professional eating disorder counseling.
I understand! I have been through the yo-yo dieting cycles and intense workouts that ended up hurting my body and feeling disappointed with how I looked. I also know how exhausted and defeated I felt through it all.
I think we can agree there has to be a better option than this constant rollercoaster. When we find ourselves burned out, held captive to unattainable standards, torn between conflicting information and out of touch with our body's wisdom, how do we break free?
Preoccupation with food & body image lures you in
with the hope of happiness and peace but ends up…
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Stealing your ability to be present in your relationships and experiences
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Distracting you from your passions
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Draining your energy and joy
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Drowning you in anxiety and fear
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Trapping you in a sense of shame and hopelessness
Discover Food & Body Freedom
through eating disorder recovery
If you’re healing from a diagnosed eating disorder, such as anorexia, bulimia, or binge eating disorder - or even a dysfunctional relationship with food and your body - the real goal is finding freedom. Not just from fear, obsession, and the need for control.
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You deserve freedom from shame, diet culture and not feeling like you have permission to be yourself. You deserve to be enjoying friends and family around a dinner table. You deserve to take in the view on the beach instead of wondering how you look to other people. You deserve to feel your worth.
The shape of your heart and mind are infinitely more interesting and valuable than the shape of your outer vessel.
Eating disorder recovery and healing from body image issues requires three pillars of transformation: unconditional permission, breaking the secrecy and shame, and becoming a counter-cultural rebel.
PERMISSION: You have unconditional permission to eat, to move in ways that feel good, to rest, to be in a body, to be your intuitive size and shape, to value your internal experience more than arbitrary standards, to be your authentic self.
BREAKING THE SECRECY: Shame grows in the darkness, like the monster in your closet as a child. Turning on the light reveals that the fears were greater in our head than in reality. You don't have to share your story with everyone, but you need to be honest and brave in this space.
COUNTERCULTURAL REVOLUTION (OF ONE): If only for yourself, within your own sphere of influence, you must become more intentional about pushing back against all the messages, marketing and societal expectations that do not serve you. It is a revolutionary act to define your own expectations!
I want to help you bust "health" myths perpetuated by diet culture, learn radical self-acceptance and finally experience freedom in the way you were designed to. I work from a Health At Every Size harm reduction strategy, with the ultimate goal of you being able to eat and move intuitively.
It is a winding road to unlearn deeply ingrained patterns of thought and behavior around food and body. You don't have to walk it alone.
Therapy for eating disorder recovery can help you...
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Discover value that comes from within through body image therapy
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Break free of damaging cultural “norms” with diet culture recovery work
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Rewrite the stories that keep you at war with your body using eating disorder recovery techniques
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Reconnect you with your intuition and develop trust in your body through intuitive eating skills
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Learn self-compassion and self-acceptance that sets you free in your eating disorder treatment journey
What are Signs You May Need Eating Disorder Treatment?
Eating disorder symptoms can be subtle, especially in adults.
Consider eating disorder therapy in Orange County if you experience:
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Obsessive thoughts about food, weight, or body shape
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Binge eating episodes followed by guilt or restriction
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Avoiding social situations involving food
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Emotional eating that feels out of control
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Extreme dietary restrictions or orthorexic behaviors
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Body dysmorphia or distorted body image
Kerry Martinelli, LMFT's eating disorder therapy approach combines:
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Health At Every Size (HAES) principles
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Intuitive Eating practices
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Body image healing work
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Trauma-informed eating disorder treatment
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Diet culture recovery support...
to create a holistic relearning about how to be in and care for your body.
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​Serving the Orange County communities of Irvine, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Costa Mesa, Tustin, and surrounding areas, I provide accessible eating disorder treatment near you. Whether you're looking for eating disorder therapy in Orange County or online eating disorder counseling, I'm here to support your recovery journey.
How does Kerry Martinelli, LMFT approach eating disorder treatment?
Having spent 2 years at a residential and PHP/IOP eating disorder treatment center, I developed an eclectic approach that incorporates strategies and skills from the best evidence based treatments for eating disorders, including IFS, ACT, DBT, Health at Every Size (HAES) and Intuitive Eating. My eating disorder recovery program integrates evidence-based methods with trauma-informed care.
What is Health at Every Size (HAES)?
​​HAES is a movement started by medical Dr. Lindo Bacon is a framework that challenges weight stigma in healthcare. It is based on the principle that weight and health are not the same thing. Those of us practicing from a HAES framework are challenging the prevalent anti-fat bias in healthcare and wellness spaces. HAES advocates for wellbeing, dignity and improvement of health for every body, regardless of size or shape. You can work towards improved health at any size, not to impact the share or size of your body, but to support and care for your body as it is right now.
What is Intuitive Eating (IE)?
According to the National Eating Disorders Association, intuitive eating is about trusting your body to make food choices that feel good for you, without judging yourself or the influence of diet culture. It is an anti-diet approach to how you fuel and nourish yourself. The principles of IE also apply to our approach to movement and exercise.
Will following IE and HAES mean I go out of control?
No, Intuitive Eating (IE) and Health at Every Size (HAES) are about honoring your inner wisdom and unique needs. It can be hard to believe that you can trust your body to know how much, what and when to eat, and that it is the foundation of our work. It is nearly impossible to recognize the subtle yet present cues of our body when we have been swinging back and forth between starving and giving over to hunger and the forbidden fruit dynamics of dieting. When we get back into balance, it becomes clearer and easier. We won’t start intuitively at the beginning. We will gently adapt our approach until you reach intuitiveness.
HAES is not the same as body positivity. HAES as about rejecting the myth that thin means healthy and creates space for everyone to pursue improvements in their health, regardless of size.
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How is eating disorder therapy different from regular therapy?
Eating disorder counseling requires specialized training in food psychology, body image therapy, and understanding diet culture recovery. As an experienced eating disorder therapist, I understand the unique challenges of eating disorder recovery and use approaches specifically designed for these concerns. My unique three pillar recovery approach was developed over the years I worked in a higher level of care eating disorder treatment center.
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What types of eating disorders do you treat in Orange County?
I provide specialized eating disorder therapy for adults struggling with:
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Anorexia nervosa treatment
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Bulimia nervosa counseling
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Binge eating disorder therapy
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OSFED treatment (Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorder)
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ARFID therapy (Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder)
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Orthorexia treatment
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Emotional eating counseling
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Body dysmorphia therapy
How will this time be different? I've tried so many things and I'm scared to be disappointed again.
This is not a new plan that replaces food rules and exercise regimens. This is about learning a new way of being in your body and with food. This is about unlearning rules and reconnecting to the innate wisdom that is present in our bodies, which are beautifully and powerfully crafted to keep us safe and well. Rather than forcing the body to submit to the mind, we are working toward integrating them because (shocker) they are all part of the same whole. Caring for the mind is caring for the body and vice versa. This is about learning to care for yourself, not change yourself.
Is eating disorder recovery possible? Do I have to change everything all at once?
Eating disorder recovery is not defined by perfection. Recovery is not the complete absence of old urges, behaviors of beliefs. It is about engaging with those old patterns in a new way, with more and more consistency over time. We are working toward harm reduction that you can sustain over time.
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I do not approach recovery from an all-or-nothing mindset. That approach echoes the rigidity of diet culture. Harm reduction means that we make incremental changes that, with time and consistency, yield big results. If we try to change everything all at once, it can be very hard to maintain and this is about finding new, sustainable mindset and lifestyle changes that work for you.
Does Kerry Martinelli, LMFT offer virtual eating disorder treatment?
Yes, I provide both in-person eating disorder therapy in Orange County and online eating disorder counseling for clients throughout California. Virtual eating disorder treatment can be just as effective as in-person sessions, depending on what your symptoms are and what supports you have. Schedule your free eating disorder therapy consultation to get personalized guidance on eating disorder treatment options
Take the first step towards healing.
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Initial Discussion
I will contact you to discuss your goals for therapy and get a sense of how we would work together.
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Begin to heal
We will meet weekly to get established and then determine what frequency will best serve your needs.