MY TWO BOOKS ARE AVAILABLE NOW...
ADDICTED TO ENERGY DEFICIT—YOUR NEUROSCIENCE BASED GUIDE TO RESTRICTIVE EATING DISORDERS
& AIMING For OVERSHOOT—THE HANDBOOK YOU NEED TO FULLY OVERCOME A RESTRICTIVE EATING DISORDER
Helly Barnes~
Professional Coach
Addicted to Energy Deficit
My First Book is Available to Buy NOW!!
My First Book is Available NOW!!
I have been on quite a journey writing this book.
It has given me so much more insight into what restrictive eating disorders are, why they are so powerful and the best approach to overcome one.
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I now know that restrictive eating disorders are a powerful addiction to energy deficit.
In the book, I explain the neuroscience and other evidence-based information so that you too can better understand eating disorders and more importantly, how to overcome one.
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The book is available through all good online book retailers… yes, and Amazon!
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Review of Addicted to Energy Deficit by Eva Musby, author of 'Anorexia and Other Eating Disorders: How to Help Your Child Eat Well and Be Well'
"Helly Barnes makes a strong case for tackling eating disorders as an addiction. She proposes that energy deficit (being underweight, eating insufficiently) leads to dopamine imbalances in those who are genetically vulnerable. And that restriction, as well as many behaviours and rituals associated with it, brings relief from the extreme fear and anxiety arising from abstinence.
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Using the addiction model, she explains tasks of recovery… full nutrition, full weight recovery, abstaining from eating-disorder behaviours, bringing back normality, and so on. She offers explanations for the mental hunger a person may feel even when their stomach is full, for the need for overshoot, why the fear of becoming fat tends to disappear as people gain weight.
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I enjoyed reading this book. It's very well written, and there is loads I recognise from the treatment of teens, as well as some big differences. For instance Helly makes an excellent case for stopping all eating-disorder behaviours and rituals at once. She justifies this from experience as well as from the dopamine argument. Total abstinence from getting your 'fix' means that you eat all types of foods in unrestricted amounts, while resting and abstaining from those physical activities that are part of your addiction: the yoga, walks, even the housework. This will bring results — and relief — faster and more reliably.
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If, in spite of Helly Barnes' scientific references, you disagree with the eating-disorder-as-addiction-model… you will still get loads out of this book. Models matter because they guide our actions as we make treatment decisions. What Helly proposes is infinitely more helpful than the common models that an eating disorder is all about control, or terrible parenting, or social media, or a desire to be thin, or that it's a monster that we parents can hate and shout at.
There's plenty to think about as you read Helly Barnes' engaging book.
If you're reading it as a parent, it will increase your awareness of your child's experience. If your child is an adult then Helly Barnes is someone to follow and keep learning from. And if you're an adult with an eating disorder, I believe this book will give you clarity and courage for you to work towards complete recovery"
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Find the full review on Eva's website by clicking here and do check out all of Eva's excellent work too as although she works predominantly for parents of young people with eating disorders, many of her resources are excellent and can be adapted to the task of 'parenting' yourself through the process of overcoming an eating disorder.
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