Recently there was a discussion in a Facebook group for ED caregivers about what recovery looks like. A lot of the answers were the same. Stable weight. Intuitive eating. Less reliance on meal plans. Reduced ED behaviors. Or being completely behavior-free.
Every day, Americans are inundated with approximately 4,000 media messages. Many of the messages target our kids with distorted ideas about how they should look and act. Kids of all ages and adults often perceive messages and images on social media as authentic, rather than taking into account that many of these photos have been filtered, digitally altered, or worse, completely distorted.
The changing seasons often trigger a myriad of emotions in individuals with eating disorders. These emotions can range from excitement, anticipation, and joy, to fear, worry, and dread. Many of these emotions revolve around the seasonal variety of foods that are served during the fall and winter holidays. Holiday foods can often be “fear foods” or “trigger foods” for patients with eating disorders. In addition, many holidays are centered around social eating.
For persons recovering from an eating disorder, it can feel unsettling and sometimes impossible to stay in one place. There is a certain restlessness and inquietude that often accompanies an eating disorder – a desire to escape or run away from the discomfort you may feel within your own body.
Normalizing eating behaviors is one of the main goals during eating disorder treatment and recovery, and a process that is particularly challenging. Individuals with eating disorders often have elevated anxiety and describe extreme beliefs about the potential consequences of eating.
With the new year in full swing, we are bombarded with post-holiday diet talk and “new year, new you” messages that inevitably encourage New Year resolutions centered on outward transformation. We see this trend year after year, yet, research suggests that 95% of diets fail (note: diets fail, not you). In addition, for individuals in recovery from an eating disorder, these messages can be triggering and can quickly interrupt hopes for freedom from disordered eating.
Recovering from an eating disorder requires intentional effort, and people often look for guidance on how to prioritize goals that support a positive recovery. One of the main priorities shown in research to enhance recovery is improving the body’s nutritional state. When an individual is engaged in eating disordered behaviors, they become poorly nourished. An inadequate nutritional state perpetuates these behaviors, which make treatment and recovery more difficult. Therapy and medication are also less effective in a malnourished state further highlighting the importance of targeting proper nutrition for a more positive outcome.
As we grow from infancy to adulthood, our preferences, beliefs, and senses of self undergo dramatic shifts. Friends come and go, relationships with family change, and music comforts us, emboldens us, cries and laughs with us along the way.
Creative expression and authentic emotions are often silenced by the presence of an eating disorder. As a nonverbal language, expressive arts can facilitate the process of slowly uncovering and unearthing the creative self that may be hidden under layers of shame and guilt.
Yoga is an ideal component of therapy for individuals with eating disorders. The word “yoga,” translated from Sanskrit, means yoke, the union of self with the divine, of mind and body. The practice fits in especially well with the therapeutic model that is followed at Veritas Collaborative, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy: learning radical acceptance while acknowledging the need for change.