Food Freedom & Eating Disorder Recovery
Virtual and in-person therapy in Indiana
“You’ve worked hard to find peace with food and your body. Maybe you’re still in the diet roller coaster, or mostly recovered but still triggered. Deep down, you know life is meant for more than body size, food rules, or calorie counts — and you’re ready to live fully again.”
– Emily Paxton MA, LMHC, RD
Tired of Diet Promises, Old Triggers, and the Noise That Never Quiets?
It’s exhausting.
You start the day determined to finally feel at peace with food and your body. Maybe you tell yourself this time will be different — no more late-night stress eating, no more letting the scale decide your mood. But then the old thoughts creep in: Did I already mess up? Should I just buy that new plan everyone’s raving about?
Deep down, you know the next diet, program, or supplement is just another gimmick — you’ve tried them all before. Still, part of you feels the pull, wondering if maybe this one will finally work. That tug-of-war leaves you stuck in the diet roller coaster — hopeful one week, frustrated and ashamed the next.
Other times, it’s not about the diet itself. It’s your clothes fitting differently in midlife, or the sting of a comment from your spouse, doctor, or a stranger online. It’s the flood of diet culture chatter that reopens old wounds you thought you’d healed. Even after real progress, those triggers can still hit hard, and the critic inside doesn’t hesitate to pile on shame.
What’s most exhausting is how much space it all takes up. The mental math, the calorie counts, the endless “should I or shouldn’t I” debates — all of it steals energy you’d rather be spending laughing with your kids, enjoying a walk without tracking steps, or pouring yourself into the passions and relationships that bring you joy.
Deep down, you know life is meant for more than food rules, body battles, or calorie counts. And you’re ready for a new way forward.
Step Into Freedom
Imagine a life where the food noise finally quiets down. The constant tug-of-war — diets, calorie math, old triggers, and that inner critic — no longer takes center stage.
You sit down to eat without second-guessing every choice. A passing comment about your body doesn’t send you spiraling. You enjoy meals with your family, not because you followed all the “rules,” but because food has lost its power to define your worth.
The pull to buy the next shiny diet plan fades, because you trust yourself more than gimmicks. The shame and guilt loosen their grip, and you begin to feel grounded in who you are — not in what the scale says.
And with all that mental space freed up, you have more energy for what matters: laughing with your kids, saying yes to joy in movement, pouring yourself into the relationships and passions that make life rich.
You are worthy of peace, freedom, and confidence exactly as you are — and you can finally believe it.
You’re in good hands.
I know how exhausting it is to feel stuck between diet promises, old body triggers, and that critic inside that never seems satisfied.
I’ve been there myself — caught in the pressure of food rules and perfectionistic voices — and I bring that lived understanding together with 25 years as a registered dietitian and 15 years as a therapist.
That blend of personal experience and professional training means I won’t just hand you another set of tips or meal plans. Instead, I’ll guide you with compassion and proven tools like IFS and trauma-informed EMDR to reach the deeper roots of your struggle. Together, we’ll help the parts of you that still carry shame, fear, or old habits find relief — so you can step off the diet roller coaster, quiet the food noise, and finally live in the peace and freedom you’ve been craving.
I know it takes courage to begin again, especially when you’ve already tried so many approaches. But therapy doesn’t ask you to push harder — it invites you to heal differently, in a way that honors both your story and your hopes for the future.
This therapy is for …
→ The person caught in the diet roller coaster — tired of trying “one more plan” but still feeling tempted by every new promise.
→ Those who feel mostly recovered from an eating disorder, yet still get triggered by body changes, comments, or diet culture messages.
→ Anyone exhausted by the mental noise of calorie counts, food rules, or the inner critic that never feels satisfied.
→ The high-functioning helper who looks put-together on the outside, but inside feels drained from constant body worry and perfectionistic pressure.
→ Parents who want to break free from diet culture for themselves, and also model peace with food and body for their kids.
→ People who sense they’re “doing fine” on the outside, but don’t want to waste another decade silently battling food and body doubts.
→ Those longing to reclaim the joy and energy that diets, shame, and old patterns have stolen.
