Is My Relationship with Food and My Body Disordered?

Do you find that you are constantly thinking about food or your body? Are you making decisions that have nothing to do with food on how it has to do with food? Do you feel like your fear of gaining weight is following you wherever you go? Are you done with being stuck inside the same negative cycle?

These are some common questions to ask yourself when determining if your relationship with food is disordered. In the following post I will define a few disordered eating terms to help you identify where you might be at.

Restriction:

Any type of restrictive mentality towards food. It can present as the amount of food you allow yourself to eat, time of day, type of food, amount of calories, even ‘clean eating’ can be a form of restriction. At the root of all disordered eating is some type of restriction, even if just the mentality (example: “I ate a big dinner therefore I will eat a small breakfast”). 

Binge Eating:

Eating large amounts of food in a short amount of time. Usually, binge eating feels out of control. Oftentimes, eating to the point of physical pain. 

Chronic Dieting:

Also known as the yo-yo diet. Exemplified by trying diet after diet, oftentimes losing weight and gaining it back (or more) after the diet has subsided.

Chronic Overeating:

Eating obsessively throughout the day, feels out of control, obsessive thoughts about food most of the time. 

Compensating Behavior:

Oftentimes, this takes place alongside the other terms defined above. Compensating behavior comes in the form of participating in some type of behavior as a way to ‘make up for’ what you just ate. Some people exercise, restrict, vomit, take laxatives, or any combination of.

You might find yourself relating to some of the terms outlined in this post. You might also find yourself thinking that it is not bad enough or that you do not want to get rid of your disordered eating for fear of what that might mean. These are all common things to say and feel! After all, disordered eating is a learned coping strategy to try and feel better, when in fact, it does the opposite. 

The good news is, these are all common fears to have when approaching therapy for an eating disorder. I can say it now - there will be a part of you that does not want to recover from the disordered eating habits that have developed. That is all okay and that is something we will work on together. 

REACH OUT FOR SUPPORT WITH EATING DISORDER TREATMENT

Perhaps it is time to break free from the obsessive thoughts around food and your body and to find meaning outside of them. If you are interested in learning more about how I work with eating disorders, please feel free to reach out! I offer a free consultation where we can discuss what you are looking for. I look forward to hearing from you.