Magnificent as they are, the holidays can be stressful for anyone. But for the 30 million women and men in America who struggle with an eating disorder, the most wonderful time of the year can also be a full-blown, four-alarm holiday emergency, as Clark Griswold would say. I speak from experience: As someone who has battled anorexia and exercise addiction for well over a decade, that the extreme focus on food and eating, often accompanied by well-meaning but nonetheless insensitive comments, can be some tough shit. For example, it’s not ideal when dear Aunt Carole won?t shut up about having to increase her crazy workouts to “work off all that ?nog,” or how she just ordered a 3-month supply of skinny tea to detox from the holidays and maybe you should too, or how she should really look into laxatives this time of year (the latter of which was actually said to me, if you can believe it ), and you’re sitting there just trying to finish your pie without putting her face in it. These types of discussions can make staying on a recovery-oriented path increasingly more difficult than it already is. So, Aunt Carole, please take your skinny tea, rev up the RV, and hightail it back to Florida. ?When the holidays turn into something to ‘get through’ rather than something to look forward to and celebrate, something has gone terribly wrong,? says Carolyn Costin, MA, MEd, MFT, CEDS, FAED, founder of Monte Nido & Affiliates, a premiere eating ...