Eating Disorders Recovery Support
A site for all who wish to recover from eating disorders
Stephanie Covington Armstrong--Not All Black Girls Know How to Eat
About Not All Black Girls. . .
Stephanie Covington Armstrong does not fit the stereotype of a woman with an eating disorder. She grew up poor and hungry in the inner city. Foster care, sexual abuse, and overwhelming insecurity defined her early years. But the biggest difference is her race: Stephanie is black. In this moving first-person narrative, Armstrong describes her struggle as a black woman with a disorder consistently portrayed as a white woman’s problem. Trying to escape her self hatred and her food obsession by never slowing down, Stephanie becomes trapped in a downward spiral. Finally, she can no longer deny that she will die if she doesn’t get help, overcome her shame, and conquer her addiction to using food as a weapon against herself.
Email Stephanie today at Stephanie@edrsweb.org !
I’m Kate, 31 and relieved to be able to say that today I am in recovery from anorexia. Recovery to me has been a long, painful process involving therapy, hospitalisations and learning to change my anorexic thoughts and behaviour patterns, primarily through Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Cognitive Analytical Therapy.
Following graduation in 2001, I decided I could no longer exist enslaved to the disease and the time had arrived to seek out more intensive treatment. Up until this point I had seen numerous doctors, attended support groups and out-patient care at Ipswich Hospital. Multiple medications had been prescribed to no avail; some of which had actually caused me to lose more weight! I knew that if I did not get help soon anorexia would achieve her ultimate goal...another wasted life.
The past 6 years have seen me experience wonderful times of freedom from anorexia as well as periods of desperation and relapse. I see recovery as something I choose daily, to follow my menu plan, stick to my exercise contract, take my medication and continue working with my Cognitive Analytical therapist. Today, I read as much as I can about CBT and CAT approaches to recovery and have recently put together a book about my journey, entitled “Goodbye Ana” and have included information about what has helped me to remain well.
The main aim for writing the book is simply to educate and support those impacted by this parasitic disease. Chipmunka Publishing, who have kindly worked with me to create my book, specialise in promoting mental health awareness. My heart is to see the stigma and sense of taboo surrounding eating disorders, as well as mental illness in general, be eroded through sharing my story.