My top five recovery tips
If you’re questioning whether you’re sick enough, the likelihood is, you are. Someone with a healthy relationship with food and their body doesn’t question if they have a problem. Navigating recovery is challenging, especially in a society consumed by diet culture, but living with an eating disorder is also hard. So, you can do hard things.
These are my top five tips for eating disorder recovery.
1. Reach Out for Help
I know how difficult it is to reach out to others. I was terrified of telling people and it kept me stuck in my eating disorder for a long time. You’ll likely be able to think of 101 reasons not to reach out; eating disorders thrive in isolation, so reaching out poses a major threat. I felt embarrassed and ashamed. I was worried that people wouldn’t understand; would they think I was exaggerating? would they think I was vain? would I be forced to give up all my eating disorder behaviours immediately?
It’s important to know that some people won’t understand or know what to say, but if they want to and are able to support you, they’ll be willing to learn. You don’t have to tell everyone all at once. Choose one or two people from your inner circle who you trust and reach out to them. I found it helpful to write down what I wanted to say and let the person read what I’d written. You might prefer to message, call, or speak in person; find what works best for you. It’s important to also reach out for professional support, ideally a professional aligned with principles of Health at Every Size. Working with a recovered person can make sharing your story easier, as they’ve been through a similar journey. I promise that it will get easier each time you share your story.
2. Challenge Your Eating Disorder Voice
This concept comes from Carolyn Costin’s book, 8 Keys to Recovery from an Eating Disorder.
Lasting recovery involves strengthening your healthy self. We’re all born with a healthy self, but for those of us who develop an eating disorder, over time, we also developed an eating disorder self. Your eating disorder self can’t be more powerful than you because it’s a part of you. Right now, your eating disorder self is probably loud and in control. It’s that voice in your head telling you, “you aren’t sick enough”, the part of you that obsesses over food and your body.
The process of strengthening your healthy self requires it to speak back and challenge your eating disorder self. If you’re thinking, “but my healthy self doesn’t have anything to say”, ask yourself what you’d say to a loved one or child in your situation. Would you feed a child the same way you feed yourself? Would you tell your partner or sibling to compensate for eating? Or would you speak about your friend's body in the same way that you speak about your body? I’m sure that you can bring your healthy self out for others. Now it’s time to focus on bringing it out for yourself.
3. Opposite Action
There will be many times throughout your recovery when your eating disorder self is screaming at you, “YOU CAN’T EAT THAT” or “YOU NEED TO WEIGH YOURSELF”. The screaming is the loudest when your eating disorder self is feeling challenged. Giving in to the screaming may help you feel better in the moment, but it only serves to keep you stuck in your eating disorder. What can you do instead? Opposite action… eat the food, don't weigh yourself (better yet, throw out the scale). Doing the opposite action challenges your eating disorder self and helps to strengthen your healthy self so that your healthy self can regain control.
4. Unsubscribe From Diet Culture
Diet culture is the water in which we swim, and you’ve likely been submerged your entire life. If you’re a millennial like me, then you’ll probably remember shows like the Biggest Loser or Extreme Makeover. What about "heroin chic" supermodels like Kate Moss and her famous quote “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels”? And there’s the countless diet trends, Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, low-fat diet, subway diet, special K diet, Atkins...
Nowadays, diet culture is much sneakier. It’s morphed into "wellness" culture, #strongnotskinny, juice cleanses, Whole30, “no-guilt” sweet potato brownies (um, I didn’t know guilt was ever an ingredient). Author and registered dietitian Christy Harrison defines diet culture as a set of beliefs that worships thinness and equate thinness with health and moral virtue. It demonises certain ways of eating while elevating others and oppresses people who don’t match up to its supposed picture of health. So, how do you unsubscribe from diet culture? The first step is educating yourself. You can’t reject diet culture without being able to recognise it.
Want something you can do today? Unfollow every Instagram account or Facebook page that is even slightly associated with diet culture. Diet culture red flags:
Posting before and after body transformation photos
Pushing unrealistic body standards
Posting ‘what I eat in a day videos’
Labelling foods as “good” or “bad”
Promoting “cheat” meals or days
Using buzz words like detox or cleanse
Encouraging “earning” food through working out, etc.
Suggesting that one body type is better than another
Promoting the “perfect” diet or one diet over another
Posting about the number of calories or macros in food
Contact me through the Your Nourished Mind website for my list of anti-diet resource recommendations.
5. Feed Yourself a Steady Diet of Recovery
You can’t heal in the environment where you became sick. No, I’m not saying you need to move. But it’s time to develop an awareness of the media and information that you’re consuming and to make conscious choices that support your recovery. There are some great Health at Every Size, anti-diet culture and pro-recovery resources available. Exposing yourself to these resources can support you to challenge your beliefs around food, exercise, body image and self-worth, which is essential for lasting recovery.
Contact me through the Your Nourished Mind website for my list of recommendations.