Care for Eating Disorders and Body Image Distress

Virtual and in-person evaluation and treatment for eating disorder, binge eating disorder, and somatic symptom disorder in Riverside and the Inland Empire

You might find yourself obsessing over food, counting calories to the point of exhaustion, or eating in secret because the shame feels too heavy to share. Many people in Riverside struggle with rigid food rules, fear of weight gain, compulsive exercise, or episodes of binge eating followed by intense guilt and distress. For some, the focus shifts to physical symptoms like pain, fatigue, or gastrointestinal distress that feels overwhelming, even when medical tests don't fully explain the severity.

Eating and body-related concerns can affect physical health, mood, energy, and self-esteem, and they often overlap with anxiety, depression, trauma, and perfectionism. Mending Health Care provides virtual and in-person psychiatric evaluation, therapy support, and medication management for eating disorder, binge eating disorder, and somatic symptom disorder. Treatment includes regular meal structure, identifying emotional triggers, reducing shame language, building emotion regulation tools, and addressing underlying stress or trauma that maintains the cycle.

If eating patterns or body-focused distress are affecting your health, relationships, or daily functioning in Riverside, contact Mending Health Care to discuss evaluation and coordinated care options.

What Treatment Looks Like for Eating and Body Concerns

Your evaluation with Mending Health Care in Riverside includes a detailed review of eating patterns, body image beliefs, physical symptoms, and any behaviors like restriction, bingeing, purging, or compulsive exercise. You'll discuss how long these patterns have been present, what emotional states trigger them, and whether there have been dramatic changes in weight or appetite. The assessment also considers co-occurring anxiety, depression, or trauma that may be driving the behaviors.

After starting treatment, you'll notice that eating feels less controlled by fear or compulsion, and you begin to rebuild a more neutral relationship with food and your body. Regular meal structure reduces the urge to binge, and emotion regulation tools give you alternatives to using food as a way to cope with distress. Body neutrality practices help reduce obsessive checking and harsh self-judgment, allowing you to focus on function and well-being rather than appearance.

Medication may be used to support mood, anxiety, obsessive thinking, or co-occurring conditions that maintain the eating disorder cycle. Care often requires coordination with medical monitoring to ensure physical safety, especially when restriction or purging are present. Mending Health Care offers virtual and in-person evaluation and ongoing follow-up care focused on safety, dignity, and evidence-based treatment that addresses both the behaviors and the emotional roots of the condition.

People often wonder whether they're sick enough to need help, whether treatment will force them to gain weight, and how long recovery takes.

What You Need to Know Before Starting Treatment

Signs include secretive eating, dramatic changes in weight or appetite, obsession with food or body image, rigid food rules, fear of certain foods, purging, compulsive exercise, or using food to cope with emotions. If eating patterns are affecting your health, relationships, or ability to focus on daily life, it's time to seek evaluation.
What are signs that eating patterns have become a disorder?
Binge eating disorder involves episodes of eating large amounts of food while feeling out of control, often followed by guilt, shame, or emotional distress. It happens regularly and isn't about occasional overeating at a holiday meal—it's a pattern that disrupts emotional and physical well-being.
How is binge eating disorder different from overeating?
Somatic symptom disorder involves intense focus on physical symptoms like pain, fatigue, or gastrointestinal distress that causes significant distress and disruption, even when medical tests don't fully explain the severity. The symptoms are real, but the distress is often tied to underlying anxiety, trauma, or emotional dysregulation.
What is somatic symptom disorder?
Shame reinforces secrecy and isolation, which prevents you from seeking help and makes the behaviors more entrenched. Treatment works to reduce shame language and replace it with curiosity and self-compassion, which allows you to address the underlying emotions driving the eating patterns without feeling judged.
Why does shame make eating disorders harder to treat?
Medical monitoring is necessary when there are signs of medical instability such as fainting, chest pain, severe restriction, frequent purging, or significant weight loss. In these cases, Mending Health Care coordinates care with medical providers in Riverside to ensure physical safety while addressing the psychiatric aspects of the disorder.
When is medical monitoring necessary during treatment?

If eating patterns or body-focused distress are consuming your thoughts, affecting your health, or making it hard to connect with others, Mending Health Care offers virtual and in-person evaluation and medication management designed to break the cycle and rebuild a healthier relationship with food and your body. Contact us to schedule an appointment and begin a treatment plan that prioritizes safety and long-term recovery.