Competition and comparison is a big component of how ED provides an illusion of control.

Letting go of that mental tally can truly open up so much space to actually live in the moment - and to savour the laughter, the connections, the tastes and the joy of being able to simply relax 🏖️☀️

Disordered eating and habits can be complex, even without a formal diagnosis 💭📝

Everyone’s relationship with food and their body is deeply personal, and it is important to acknowledge struggles that don’t fit neatly into a clinical definition.

his is a powerful shift in mindset that can happen during the journey of recovery from an ED.

ED often creates rigidity with exercise in the mask of health and fitness 🤼‍♂️

I recall when a client went camping 🏕️ they mentioned how they became more present with enjoyment and connections with people because they were unable to access social media and ways to body check.

One of the most important — and frustrating — realities of recovery is that digestive symptoms may temporarily worsen before improving in eating disorder recovery. In order for the gut to heal and for gut symptoms to resolve, there has be a consistent eating pattern along with an adequate and balanced intake of foods.

Digestive issues are incredibly common in people experiencing eating disorders or chronic restriction. In fact, many people seek help for gut problems long before they realize their relationship with food may be contributing to their symptoms. Bloating, constipation, nausea, stomach pain, fullness after small amounts of food, reflux, and unpredictable bowel movements can feel alarming and very real — because they are real.

But one important thing often gets overlooked:

Sometimes the gut is not “broken.” Sometimes it’s underfed, stressed, or adapting to inconsistent nourishment. This is why eating disorder symptoms are frequently confused with conditions like Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS).

Accessibility of food 🥦🍞🥫 is a significant and albeit often forgotten key factor in recovery. Food insecurity inherently causes intake restriction so unsurprisingly, it is commonly linked to disordered eating and eating disorders.

Before we even get into the nitty gritty of sugar…
This statement made a weird assumption that my client was eating a lot of sugar, likely an excessive amount of sugar 🤨

It’s hard to fully let ourselves trust anything really these days, especially with so much misinformation, hearsay and differing opinions out there, easily accessible through your family doctor, word of mouth from friends and relatives or on the internet 🗣️
It’s hard to even trust ourselves when an ED is present.

For me as an ED dietitian, a meal plan can feel like a double edged sword. On one hand, a meal plan can be a very supportive part of facilitating mechanical eating 😋 On the other hand, it can play into new food rules that the ED clings to follow 📝

HAES is less about following strict rules and more about changing your relationship with health, food, and your body.

If you’ve spent any time online looking at nutrition, wellness, or fitness content, you’ve probably come across the term Health at Every Size®—often shortened to HAES®. Depending on where you encountered it, it may have been described as empowering, controversial, misunderstood, or even dismissed altogether.

We have known that neurodiversity has a strong correlation with EDs for a while now. This autistic client described how the onset of their ED started with gaining a special interest in counting and tracking calories.

Picky eating can be a natural development stage in childhood that is perfectly normal. Having strong preferences for food is also okay👌🏼

However, if you notice persistent strong rigidity around eating to the point where it impacts growth or desired functions due to things outside of body image such as:
- Sensory elements like texture, temperature, smell, taste, appearance, noise etc
- Fear of adverse consequence like nausea or choking
- Overall lack of interest in eating ie. eating feels like an overwhelming chore

These symptoms are often related to another type of eating disorder called Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID).

There is no need to gaslight ourselves into believing that looks do not matter. What we look like has an impact- weight stigma, thin ideal, racism, sexism, ageism, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, the list of examples goes on.

We have bad days for all types of reasons. ED loves bad days, because it gets to scream and shout things like “I ate too much” or “I hate my body” all the more 📣