Food, Body, Animals: Eating Disorder Recovery As A Vegan
**Content warning: This is one person’s story; everyone will have unique experiences in recovery and beyond. Some stories may mention eating disorder thoughts, behaviors, and symptoms. Please use your discretion when reading and speak with your support system as needed.
By Abby Couture
When I was 14, I stopped eating animals. During that time, I developed anorexia and started restricting food. Today, I am recovered both mentally and physically, although it’s important to acknowledge that I do experience intrusive thoughts related to eating—just as I experience intrusive thoughts related to my obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, I am able to stop myself from acting on those thoughts and feelings.
Throughout my recovery, I never stopped being vegetarian. In fact, I have been vegan for the past six years (with the exception of locally-produced honey every now and then). My passion for animals and the environment is a core part of my values, as evident by my academic and early career pursuits.
When Fear Says “No,” You Can Say “Yes”
**Content warning: This is one person’s story; everyone will have unique experiences in recovery and beyond. Some stories may mention eating disorder thoughts, behaviors, and symptoms. Please use your discretion when reading and speak with your support system as needed.
Emma Gubitz (she/her) is a 22-year-old Canadian copywriter, a proud Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) graduate who now calls NYC home. She’s passionate about using stories to motivate others to overcome life’s challenges. Explore her advertising portfolio at emmagubitz.com and discover her desire to tell brand stories.
Where the River Flows: A Q&A with Author Rachel Havekost
**Content warning: This is one person’s story; everyone will have unique experiences in recovery and beyond. Some stories may mention eating disorder thoughts, behaviors, and symptoms. Please use your discretion when reading and speak with your support system as needed.
Rachel Havekost is the bestselling author of Where the River Flows, Write to Heal, and The Inner Child Journal. Along with her other titles, The Self-Healer’s Journal and The Grief Workbook, Rachel has single-handedly built an online social media presence with a combined 300k+ individuals devoted to de-stigmatizing mental health.
Courage, community, and connection are at the heart of Rachel’s work. After 18 years of therapy for an eating disorder, depression, sexual trauma, suicide attempts, and divorce, Rachel strives to use radical transparency as a window into her mind and heart so that others might not feel alone.
Her current work is centered in life after suffering: asking questions about embracing humanity, living with uncertainty, and allowing for ease after periods of strife. She is quickly amassing a readership on her Substack publication, “The Messy Middle,” where she writes weekly newsletters about living imperfectly and showing up messy.
Recently, Rachel has completed her master’s degree in psychology, attended Harvard’s first Mental Health Creators Summit, and was recently featured for her writing and advocacy in The New York Times. She is grateful and honored to be able to share her story and support others on their journey to joyful living.
Beyond My Body: A Q&A with Ally Rae Pesta on Her Eating Disorder Recovery Memoir
**Content warning: This is one person’s story; everyone will have unique experiences in recovery and beyond. Some stories may mention eating disorder thoughts, behaviors, and symptoms. Please use your discretion when reading and speak with your support system as needed.
Ally Rae Pesta is a yoga teacher, run coach, eating disorder recovery coach, speaker, and published author. She’s been in recovery for ten years. Her passion is to empower individuals to find purpose beyond their body and reclaim their relationship with their body, movement, and food. Her memoir, Beyond My Body: Recovering From a Complex Eating Disorder, Reclaiming Movement, and Finding My Worth, launched on World Mental Health Day, October 10th. Visit her website allyrae.co to learn more or buy her book here.
Why did you write Beyond My Body?
I have always loved to write. Since I was five years old, I dreamed of writing a book one day. Fast forward to 17 years old, lying in a hospital bed, where I wrote in my recovery journal that one day I would write a book about this. Although it took me ten years to finally write and publish my book, my truest why still remains—write it for my 17-year-old self who wanted so badly to feel seen, heard, and understood.
Sun and Blue Skies. Rain and Clouds. – All Part of Recovery.
**Content warning: This is one person’s story; everyone will have unique experiences in recovery and beyond. Some stories may mention eating disorder thoughts, behaviors, and symptoms. Please use your discretion when reading and speak with your support system as needed.
By Mollie Twitchell
I am starting to accept that I may not be able to change or erase some things from my past — which includes the things I have lost from having an eating disorder. I am trying to learn how to manage better, live a healthy life, and achieve the things I want to do despite the things that have happened.
Finding True Recovery
**Content warning: This is one person’s story; everyone will have unique experiences in recovery and beyond. Some stories may mention eating disorder thoughts, behaviors, and symptoms. Please use your discretion when reading and speak with your support system as needed.
Audrey McKinney (she/her) is a rising senior at Purdue University, where she studies Nutrition and Dietetics. Audrey is passionate about helping people find healing from their eating disorders. By sharing her story, Audrey wishes to provide hope that recovery is possible!