April 2025 Newsletter

IN THIS ISSUE...

• Message from the Chair
• Tips for Easter while living with an Eating Disorder
• Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID)
• An interview with an adult with ARFID
• Getting enough variety of food
• Health Star Ratings Review Petition
• Upcoming EDANZ support meetings

As fast as 2025 is going, we are now into April and we are once again faced with the first set of school holidays for the year and another holiday which involves food: Easter. Our first article references some tips the Butterfly Foundation published a couple of years ago which are, of course, still valuable to reread this year. 

The rest of this month’s newsletter is based around ARFID – Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder, an eating disorder affecting a number of young people and their families in Aotearoa New Zealand. 

To finish, we have a reminder of the Health Star Rating submission and petition to Government currently live.

Wishing you all a safe April.

Ngā manaakitanga
Megan

Tips for Easter while living with an Eating Disorder

• Have a plan
• Establish boundaries
• Don’t focus solely on the food
• Be kind to yourself

The full Butterfly Foundation article is linked below.  It is aimed toward affected individuals, however is more widely useful and the tips can be adapted for caregivers too.

Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID)

Amongst so many excellent resources from Wharaurau, there is also an excellent online course about ARFID for clinicians as well as parents and supporters. This online course gives some good insight and suggestions for different age groups, which parents may very much relate to. It takes 45 minutes and is easy to finish in one sitting:

Learn More

ARFID: An interview with an adult with Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder

An insightful interview with a woman talking about her lengthy and challenging experience in finally reaching a diagnosis of ARFID. The interview covers her journey from when she was a toddler through to her 50’s – the misunderstanding, rounds of misdiagnoses (e.g. being treated for Anorexia when this was not the problem) and the relief from finally getting the right diagnosis and help.

Read Article

Getting enough variety of food

A practical and hands-on approach and techniques to help people to broaden the range of foods in their diet. It’s written for an adult, but equally useful for parents or carers to adapt for their child or someone in their care.

Read Article

Health Star Ratings Review Petition...

Have you signed yet?

As part of our advocacy work, EDANZ has worked together with a group of Lived Experience Affected Individuals and Caregivers to put a submission forward to the Government about their review of the Health Star Ratings. If you’d like to see an improvement on the Health Star Ratings in Aotearoa New Zealand, please consider signing. The link below will take you to our own EDANZ page explaining the efforts behind the submission and the petition to sign:

Learn More

Upcoming support group meetings

EDANZ believes parents/carers have unique abilities to support one another and we hold regular meetings to which you are warmly invited. Currently, we're joining together around the country once a month thanks to videoconferencing technology. 

If you would like to participate in a virtual support group, please RSVP to info@ed.org.nz and we'll send you the link.

Upcoming meetings:

• Wednesday, 7 May at 8pm
• Wednesday, 4 June at 8pm

Did you know EDANZ doesn't receive any regular funding? The EDANZ team are all volunteers who generously give their time to support families and the community. 

Even a small donation from you will help us stay afloat. 

We're so grateful to those who have helped us financially this year.

Make a Donation