A gentler starting point · Canada
The meal is not the problem — the fear around it is.
If food rules your days — eating it, avoiding it, undoing it — that has a name, and people recover. No lectures. No numbers. Start gently.
Tell us once, gently. A navigator confirms the clinical-first fit — doctor, specialised program, peer support alongside — and makes one introduction, only when you say yes.
Free · no obligation · you approve every step · a real person within one business day
No email · nothing stored · runs on this page. In crisis? Call or text 988, any hour.
Medical red flags · act now
If any of these is happening, this stops being a website question.
- Fainting — or repeatedly feeling like you're about to
- Chest pain, or a racing or irregular heartbeat
- Blood in vomit
- Rapid weight change, in either direction
One plain sentence, said once: eating disorders carry the highest mortality of any mental illness. We tell you that not to frighten you, but because it is why this panel sits above everything else we have to say — and why medical care comes first on every page of this site.
- Independent — not a treatment centre
- Every fact sourced and dated
- Licensed providers only
- A real person within one business day
- 988 first, always
Tell us once — we do the calling
What actually happens when you reach out
A real person reads it.
Who answers: a navigator with lived or professional recovery experience — not a bot, not a call centre. Usually within one business day.
Then up to three clinical-first options that fit — with NEDIC alongside.
Public, subsidized, or private, labelled honestly, so nothing is a surprise partway through. Not sure what you can fund? Check coverage first.Is treatment covered? →
One warm introduction — only when you say yes.
We hand your request to the intake team you approve. Nobody else.
If the honest answer is the free public route, we say so.
And send you there instead of forcing a fit. That is the whole point of being independent.
What it costs you: nothing — ever. Matched licensed providers fund the service with flat marketing fees for introductions, never per-admission, so our only incentive is the right fit. In a crisis, skip all of this: call or text 988.
Our promises
So you don't have to take our word for it.
You approve every introduction.Nothing moves without your yes. We never pass your details to anyone you haven't agreed to.
One word ends it.Reply STOP to any message and it's the last you hear from us — no follow-up, no drip, no calls.
Never sold to data brokers or advertisers.Your details go to the matched licensed providers you approve, to answer you — that's it. Deleted once no longer needed.
No fit? We tell you.If nothing we know of genuinely fits, we say so and point you to the free public route instead of forcing one.
Crisis first, always.If you're in danger we get out of the way: 988, any hour. Eating Recovery Help is not an emergency service.
Free, no real name needed
First Steps — the full guide
Scripts, checklists and the exact next steps — sent to your inbox, kept nowhere else.
No numbers, anywhere
Numbers are how this illness keeps score — so we don't publish any. No measurements, no counts, no goals in digits, no before-and-after anything, on any page, ever. If a resource we link to uses them, we say so before you click.
No account, no email — everything works anonymously
The self-check, the fellowship guide, every page — free to use with no sign-up and nothing stored. We only ever ask for contact details if you ask to be connected to a treatment program, and referrals go only to programs with clinician-led intake.
Nothing follows you
There are no advertising pixels and no retargeting on this site — your visit will never surface as an ad on a screen someone else can see. What you read here stays between you and this page.
A quiet first step
Five questions. No score. No verdict. Nothing stored.
Five yes-or-no reflections on control, secrecy, body-preoccupation, undoing, and how much of life has been ceded to food. It runs entirely in your browser and disappears when you close the tab. It cannot detect or rule out an eating disorder — only a clinician can do that — but it can make a fuzzy worry easier to say out loud.
Begin the self-check →What the five questions touch:
- Controlwho holds your days
- Secrecywhat no one sees
- Body preoccupationthe waking hours it takes
- Undoingcancelling what was eaten
- A smaller lifewhat's been given up
Reflective only — there is no tally and no severity band, on purpose. Only a clinician can assess you.
The pathway starts with a clinician — here's the map.
Eating disorders affect the heart, the blood, the bones — in ways no website or meeting can see and an examination can. The primary route runs through a doctor or nurse practitioner into Canada's specialized eating-disorder programs; peer support walks alongside. The full picture lives on the clinical-pathway page.
The one call to make first
NEDIC — Canada's eating disorder information centre.
Free, confidential, and staffed by people who understand exactly this. NEDIC can help you find providers, understand options, or simply say the thing out loud for the first time — whether it's about you or someone you love. A clinician's assessment is the primary route to care; NEDIC is the best-lit path toward one.
- Seven peer fellowships serve people struggling with eating — with deeply different philosophies. We map all seven neutrally, and endorse no food plan as right for everyone.
- OA leaves plans of eating to the individual. EDA rejects the abstinence model entirely — balance, not perfection. Four others build recovery around structured food plans some members use.
- Wherever you land: for eating disorders, a clinical assessment is the primary route — fellowships are a complement many people lean on alongside treatment, not a substitute for it.
- Watching this happen to someone you love? Kelty Eating Disorders (BC's provincial centre) has plain-language guides for families — useful anywhere in Canada. keltyeatingdisorders.ca ↗
Straight answers
Is this confidential?
Yes. You can read everything and take the self-check without an account or an email — the self-check runs entirely in your browser and nothing is stored or sent. If you choose to send a connection request, we ask for your express consent first, and your details go only to the licensed providers matched to your request — always programs with clinician-led intake. We never sell your information to data brokers or advertisers, and this site uses no advertising pixels or retargeting.
Does it cost anything?
Using Eating Recovery Help is free. Much of the help itself is free too: NEDIC's helpline and live chat are free, many specialized eating-disorder programs are provincially funded, and peer-support meetings cost nothing. Private programs charge their own fees, which you confirm directly with the provider — we never quote prices on your behalf.
Is the self-check a diagnosis or a screening?
Neither. It's five reflective yes-or-no questions with no score at the end — on purpose. It cannot detect or rule out an eating disorder; only a qualified clinician can assess you. What it can do is make a fuzzy worry easier to say out loud, and point you to the doors in the order that keeps you safest: a doctor or NP first, NEDIC whenever you want a human voice, peer support alongside.
What if I'm not sure it's serious enough?
That doubt is nearly universal — and eating disorders occur in every kind of body, so nobody can judge it from the outside, including you. A doctor or NP can check what no website can see. If a doctor feels out of reach, NEDIC (1-866-633-4220, nedic.ca) can help you find one, or just listen first. And the four red flags — fainting, chest pain, blood in vomit, rapid weight change — always mean emergency care now, not a reflection.
This has a name. It is a medical condition. People recover from it.
You don't need the perfect words — a quiet reflection, one appointment, or one call to NEDIC is a whole first step. When you're ready, we can also make one warm introduction to a program with clinician-led intake.
In crisis right now? Call or text 988, any hour, free. NEDIC: 1-866-633-4220.