'Ai Pono Hawaii provides a serene, homelike setting for those struggling with eating disorders to he
Hawaii's Premier Eating Disorder Treatment Center providing Residential and Partial-Hospitalization Treatment on Maui and Virtual IOP for Hawaii residents.
11/16/2025
At ‘Ai Pono Hawaii, we teach that food has no morality. Unless you have a true allergy or it’s expired or moldy, all food belongs in recovery. When we drop the “good” and “bad” labels, we can finally see what the eating disorder has been trying to do for us — not just what it’s done to us.
Recovery is a journey back to your inner wisdom, where nourishment becomes grounding instead of frightening. If you’re ready to explore the deeper meaning beneath your symptoms and learn new ways to care for yourself, reach out. We’re here to walk with you.
11/15/2025
Eating disorders are serious psychiatric conditions that affect how someone relates to food, body image, and physical health. While cultural conversations often focus on anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa—a topic we covered in a recent blog—the diagnostic landscape includes a broader range of presentations that reflect the complexity of disordered eating. Understanding these categories matters not just for recognition and intervention, but plays a large role in creating access to appropriate treatment. Read our new blog to learn more.
What are the different types of eating disorders? Explore DSM-5-TR diagnostic categories, from anorexia nervosa to OSFED, and why accurate diagnosis matters.
11/11/2025
It’s not enough to know what an ED does TO you.
You have to understand what it’s doing FOR you.
Because make no mistake—your ED has a job. A very important one. It’s trying to protect you, help you cope, keep you safe.
So if you’re going to let it go, you’d better know what role it’s been playing—because that role has to be replaced with something that truly heals.
At ‘Ai Pono Hawaii, we don’t just treat the behaviors. We help you uncover the purpose beneath them, so you can meet your real needs with compassion and wholeness instead of control and fear.
🌺 Learn more about our approach to healing at www.aipono.com
11/07/2025
Eating disorders are complex, serious mental health conditions that affect people of all genders, ages, and backgrounds. Despite this, myths and misunderstandings are still widespread. Two diagnoses most people recognize—anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa—are often confused with one another, sometimes even used interchangeably. While they share some overlapping features, they are not the same illness. Read more about the differences on our blog.
Understanding the differences and similarities between anorexia and bulimia can help break down stigma and improve awareness. Let's take a closer look.
11/03/2025
You don’t have to wait until it’s “bad enough” to begin healing. 🌿
At ‘Ai Pono Hawaii, we believe recovery isn’t about fixing what’s broken — it’s about remembering your wholeness.
✨ ‘Ai means “to eat or nourish.”
✨ Pono means “with ease, naturally, in harmony and wholeness.”
Our approach honors the deeper meaning beneath eating disorder symptoms — the part of you that’s trying to communicate through food, body, and control. When you learn to listen with compassion, the path toward freedom begins to unfold.
Whether through our Residential Program in Maui or our Virtual IOP serving all genders, you’ll find a safe place to rest, rediscover your intuition, and reconnect with the natural rhythm of nourishment — body, mind, and soul.
💛 You don’t have to do this alone.
Healing begins the moment you say yes to yourself.
🌺 Visit aipono.org to learn more about our programs and philosophy of recovery.
10/31/2025
For anyone struggling with food this Halloween — take a deep breath. You’re not alone.
At ‘Ai Pono Hawai‘i, we know that holidays can bring up fear, guilt, and “all-or-nothing” thoughts.
Our residential and virtual IOP programs were designed for moments just like this — when your relationship with food feels impossible, but you’re brave enough to reach for something different.
Through evidence-based care, holistic practices, and compassionate support, we help people reconnect with their bodies, rebuild trust with food, and rediscover the joy that gets buried beneath fear.
You don’t have to wait until you feel ready. You just have to begin.
10/31/2025
If “just eat” worked, no one would need treatment.
Eating disorders aren’t about food — they’re about fear, safety, and survival.
Here are some things to say that actually help:
🫶 “I’m here with you, no matter what happens.”
🌿 “What’s going on in your body right now?”
💛 “I care about you and I don’t think of you any differently.”
Because recovery doesn’t start with food — it starts with safety, connection, and trust.
At ‘Ai Pono Hawaii, our clinical team helps clients and their loved ones learn how to communicate in ways that support real healing.
If you or someone you love is struggling, visit aipono.com to learn how we help people recover with compassion, evidence-based care, and aloha. 🌺
10/29/2025
We’re ‘Ai Pono Hawai‘i 🌴 — an evidence-based, holistic eating disorder treatment center on Maui helping people heal their relationship with food, body, and self.
Follow for clinical insight, recovery wisdom, island calm, and a whole lot of compassion.
Because healing happens best surrounded by support — and, in our opinion, by the sea. 🌊
10/09/2025
Atypical anorexia nervosa (AAN) is often treated as a footnote in conversations about eating disorders, a quieter, less visible counterpart to what many still imagine as the “classic” presentation of anorexia nervosa. But in reality, this diagnosis does not indicate a lesser illness. It reflects a deeper and more systemic issue: the role of weight stigma in how we recognize, label, and respond to eating disorders. Check out our blog to learn more!
Explores how weight stigma impacts diagnosis and treatment of atypical anorexia, and why weight should never determine the legitimacy of an eating disorder.
10/03/2025
✨ The 21st Annual Renewed Eating Disorders Conference in Tennessee was such a powerful gathering of clinicians, advocates, and community members all dedicated to recovery and healing. 🌱💙
From meaningful connections to inspiring presentations, the event highlighted the importance of coming together to learn, share, and support one another. We’re especially proud that our co-founder, Dr. Anita Johnston, was featured as part of this year’s program—bringing her unique perspective on the power of story and psychology in recovery. 🌺
Mahalo to for creating such a heart-centered space!
10/01/2025
✨ 16 years in an eating disorder. Then treatment on Maui gave me my life back. 🌺
Recovery is not perfect. It’s not linear. It’s messy, and at times it feels like losing the only thing that kept you safe. But slowly, you learn: the disorder was never really keeping you safe. Your body was. Your spirit was. Your capacity for connection was.
At ‘Ai Pono Hawaii, recovery isn’t about fixing what’s “broken.” It’s about remembering your wholeness, honoring the wisdom of your body, and learning to fiercely protect your healing.
If you’re wondering whether it’s possible — it is. Healing happens here.
‘Ai Pono Hawaii | Link in bio
📍 Maui, Hawaii | Holistic Eating Disorder Recovery
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Ai meaning “to eat, nourish” and Pono meaning “with ease, naturally, in perfect order and wholeness.”
At the ‘Ai Pono Eating Disorder Program, we recognize that eating disorders are complex problems with psychological, emotional, nutritional, and biochemical components, but we do not view women who struggle with these problems as irreparably damaged. Rather, we see them as highly intuitive, sensitive beings who have developed an obsession with food, fat, and dieting as a way of coping with social and psychological stress.
“When a woman enters the labyrinth of recovery, she follows a twisting, winding path to her center. Finding a sense of who she is as a woman, she exits with a new way of being in the world.”
– Eating in the Light of the Moon
We see the recovery process as a journey towards self-awareness. Through this journey, a woman can learn to nourish herself physically, as well as emotionally, and restore a sense of balance to her life. We believe that eating disorders can be successfully treated and overcome. A life of struggle and conflict can become one that is rich, meaningful, and fulfilling.
We provide a serene, nurturing setting in which women can be given a temporary reprieve from the stressors of their everyday life that may hinder the discovery of the deeper meaning embedded in their eating disorder symptoms. We believe that recognizing and identifying the adaptive function of the eating disorder can point one towards the development of life-skills necessary for resolving the eating disorder.
Our program offers tools to help identify, accept, and express our needs and feelings directly, rather than through our relationship with food and eating.
“Don’t get stuck looking at the finger pointing towards the moon. Look at the moon.”
– Zen saying
At ‘Ai Pono, we strive to provide an essential connection to one’s inner wisdom, or internal guidance system. We believe that this connection can provide women with a lifelong solution to specific struggles with eating, rather than a temporary fix. We believe complete recovery is possible.
“An eating disorder is like a w**d: if you cut it off at the top, given the right circumstances, it can grow back. But if you go down and clear out its roots, it can be eradicated.”
– Anita Johnston, Ph.D.
By developing better skills for dealing with their bodies, their feelings, and their relationships, women who suffer with eating disorders can reclaim their lives and health.
‘Ai Pono Programs were built upon a philosophical foundation that stems from a belief that there is deep meaning to be found in the struggle with an eating disorder. This meaning, however, remains a mystery — buried beneath a myriad of painful symptoms — until those who struggle choose to resolve their specific eating problems and embark on the journey to recovery.
