Eating Disorder Therapy in NYC
Rebuild Your Relationship With Food
Disordered eating can impact every part of your life. Meals feel stressful, your body feels tense, and your thoughts may feel nonstop. With the right support, you can find stability, ease the pressure, and restore a healthier, more compassionate connection with yourself.
Are thoughts about eating or your body taking over your day and leaving you feeling tense or unsure of yourself?
Eating disorders are not just about food. They can take over your thoughts, impact your body, and make everyday life feel overwhelming. Many people feel pressure to stay in control, appear put together, or push through on their own, even while feeling consumed by fear, guilt, or distress around eating. You might be high-achieving and caring toward others, yet struggling quietly with fixation on food, body image, numbers, or control.
Our Eating Disorder Therapy services support individuals in New York who are navigating recovery, whether you are stepping down from higher care or beginning therapy for the first time. You do not need a diagnosis to reach out. We work with anyone experiencing disordered eating or a diagnosed eating disorder, including those who worry it is not “bad enough” or who have been labeled “treatment resistant.”
Eating disorders are serious mental illnesses with physical risks, and recovery requires compassion and safety. We use a harm reduction approach and collaborate closely with dietitians and medical providers to support your well-being. From the first conversation, we aim to help you feel understood, respected, and grounded as we explore your relationship with food, body, and movement at a pace that feels safe. Our NYC therapy is inclusive and affirming for people of all genders, cultures, and identities, and our approach is culturally competent, body-inclusive, and sex-positive.
Do You Identify With These?
I restrict my food intake, whether it’s calories, certain food groups, or specific foods.
I exercise excessively or feel compelled to work out to compensate for eating.
I purge by vomiting or using diuretics, laxatives, diet teas, or supplements.
I binge eat or consume large amounts of food in a short period of time.
I feel out of control around food or my eating behaviors.
I am afraid of gaining weight.
I perceive my body as larger than it actually is.
I feel intense guilt or shame during or after eating.
I think about food constantly — what to eat, when to eat, how to compensate, or how to avoid it.
I chronically diet or jump from one diet to the next.
I experience rapid changes in my weight.
I obsess over eating only “clean” foods or follow strict food rules.
I struggle with GI discomfort such as bloating, nausea, or stomach pain.
I feel cold easily or have a low tolerance for cold temperatures.
I have difficulty concentrating or staying mentally present.
I feel distressed eating in public or around others.
I avoid food due to lack of interest, sensory discomfort, or fear of negative consequences.
*Please note: This list is not exhaustive. Every individual battling disordered eating will have unique struggles and can cycle through various eating disorder behaviors at different times in their lives. Eating disorders do not discriminate — any person of any size, gender, race or age can battle any eating disorder.
We provide virtual therapy for clients across New York. Contact us today to schedule your first session and begin your path toward feeling calm, supported, and confident in yourself.
Looking to heal your relationship with food? Complete the form below to set up your free consultation and connect with care that truly supports you.
Start Eating Disorder Therapy Today
No obligation. Just a supportive, 15‑minute call.
LEL Therapy is a virtual therapy practice that primarily serves clients in NY, with one of our therapists also licensed in FL, MA, NJ, and CT. To receive care through LEL Therapy, you must reside in one of these states. Although we’re an out-of-network provider, we make the process easy by issuing superbills you can send to your insurance for reimbursement.
It’s natural to feel uncertain or overwhelmed when your relationship with food becomes difficult. I’ll guide you in learning skills that steady your emotions, ease the pressure around eating, and support a more compassionate and balanced connection to your body.
Lauren Larkin, LMHC
Types of Eating Disorders LEL Therapy Treats:
Anorexia and “Atypical” Anorexia
Bulimia Nervosa
Binge Eating Disorder
Other Specified Feeding and Eating Disorders (OSFED)
Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID)
Body Dysmorphic Disorder
Disordered Eating
Orthorexia
Body Image Issues
Exercise Disorders
To sum it up, at our NYC virtual therapy practice, we treat all eating disorders. We see them all as equally valid and deserving of support.
Are you questioning if you should seek help for
disordered eating, body image issues or disordered exercise?
Here’s the deal — If you’re questioning whether your relationship with food, your body, or exercise is healthy, it’s time to explore eating disorder treatment. When these aspects of your life start to impact your day-to-day functioning or you constantly feel like you need to change yourself, it’s a sign that seeking eating disorder therapy could help. You don’t need a formal eating disorder diagnosis to begin this journey. Our team is here to support you in freeing yourself from these food and body challenges.
You don’t have to face this alone. Healing is possible, and we’re here to walk with you — at your pace.
Our Approach to Virtual Eating Disorder Therapy in NYC
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At LEL Therapy, we are relational therapists. This means we work to build genuine connections with our clients, bringing our authentic selves into the therapy room. Our approach is modern and human-centered—far from the traditional "blank slate therapist" approach. You won’t find worksheets here (unless you really want them). Instead, we offer personalized, evidence-based eating disorder treatment tailored to your unique needs.
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We understand how hard it can be to be asked to pause your life for eating disorder treatment. Our eating disorder therapists will do our best to work with your current lifestyle and help you stay present and engaged, whether you’re busy with your career, education, or being a parent. With this in mind, we will help you develop a care team comprised of a Registered Dietitian and a Medical Doctor, who will help oversee your food and physical health. However, if we’ve helped you create a care team and are not seeing the progress necessary to ensure your safety, we may need to refer out. Should this be necessary, we will collaborate with you and guide you through the process until you have secured the appropriate care.
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Eating disorders are complex, and recovery is challenging. We don’t expect perfection from our clients because we know there’s no such thing as a perfect eating disorder recovery. Operating from a harm-reduction framework, we work with you using a combination of Mindfulness-CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy), and Narrative Therapy. These evidence-based practices equip you with tools as we work to explore the deeper origins of your disordered eating. Through narrative therapy, we will help you challenge harmful narratives that have shaped your core beliefs about yourself, your body, and your worth.
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Our goal is to help you live through your own values, not those imposed by our diet-culture ridden and thin-obsessed society. This process involves deconstructing societal norms and identifying and embracing your personal values. This process ultimately leads to kinder self-treatment.
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Research indicates that two-thirds of individuals with eating disorders have experienced trauma. Our New York therapists specialize in treating trauma—from childhood trauma and single-incident PTSD to complex PTSD—we are committed to helping you through both your eating disorder and trauma recovery. By addressing the whole person, we empower you to connect with the healthiest, happiest version of yourself.
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While we will collaborate with and trust your registered dietitian with the nutrition aspect of recovery, we understand and support the implementation of the 10 Principles of Intuitive Eating for eating disorder recovery. We believe Intuitive Eating can help you find balance in your relationship with food as you step away from obsessive thoughts about food and body.
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When it comes to movement, we will work with you to find ways to move joyfully, as you work to step away from excessive movement behaviors that can act as a form of self-harm. We’re here to support you in caring for yourself better and treating yourself and your body with the kindness you deserve. Whatever your recovery process looks like, we’ll walk with you every step of the way—you don’t have to go at it alone.
What to Expect During Virtual Eating Disorder Therapy:
In our sessions, we toggle between your past and present, helping you gain insights into your current behaviors and beliefs. By understanding your past, we can work on your present actions and trajectories. We provide tools and techniques tailored to where you are in your journey, helping you address your current challenges while understanding the deeper roots of your behaviors. Depending on individual client needs, we can offer support through food exposures and meal support during session.
Do I have to love my body to be in eating disorder recovery?
Loving yourself wholly is an ongoing journey, and self-compassion is a critical piece of the work. Loving your body in a society that profits off of self-doubt is challenging at best. We don’t believe you need to love your body to enter meaningful eating disorder recovery. However, we believe you can work to have a more peaceful and trusting relationship with your body. Part of that work is done through rejecting diet culture and unattainable societal beauty norms. Our eating disorder therapists are here to help you on that journey.
We are aware that body image work is easiest for those living in thin, white, cis-gendered, abled bodies. We are body inclusive therapists, which means we recognize that body image work is more challenging for people of size, people of color, disabled individuals, and trans and nonbinary folks. We will not sugar coat your real-life experiences through dismissive body positive rhetoric. We are equipped to help you explore your grief around your body narrative and help you find a more peaceful, liberated relationship with your body.
Why Choose LEL Therapy?
At LEL Therapy, our team includes eating disorder therapists with experience working with folks with eating disorders in higher levels of care (HLOC). We’re skilled in working with individuals at varying stages of recovery. We acknowledge our privilege and recognize that while we are experts in this field, you are the expert on you. We’re not here to dictate how you should approach your recovery. Instead, we bring our own experiences into the therapy room, offering a human-centered approach. We are dedicated to supporting you on your journey to recovery.
We stand out by bringing a unique, authentic lens to our work. Our therapists have personally experienced many of the same struggles you face, and they approach therapy with openness, lightness, humor, and warmth. We create a safe space where you feel held and supported in your journey. Our therapists are loyal, sweet, kind, hardworking, smart, and fun—they love to bring their zest for life into their practice.
Experience eating disorder therapy with someone who truly gets it and is dedicated to helping you thrive.
Ready to get started?
Because healing is possible.
