10 things that can keep eating disorders going
10 Things that can keep eating disorders going
Eating disorders often develop as ways to cope— sometimes in response to stress, trauma, or experiences that felt unsafe or overwhelming. People sometimes feel frustrated with themselves for not being able to change their behaviors. Below are 10 things that can keep eating disorders going and make it challenging (but not impossible!) to recover.
Systemic Issues: Larger societal problems such as discrimination, food insecurity (not having enough food to eat), or weight bias can lead people to experience shame and stress, which can disrupt appetite and lead to the use of disordered eating to cope.
Being Below Your Body’s Desired Weight: Known as your “set point” (or “settling point”), being under your body’s desired weight can trigger intense hunger, cravings, and slowed metabolism. This can keep restriction and binge–restrict cycles going. Your body’s settling point can change over time.
Food Rules: Having rigid rules (e.g., “no carbs”; “no eating processed foods”) causes guilt when broken, which can fuel bingeing and restriction.
Restricting food you eat: Not eating enough in portion, timing, or variety causes fatigue, poor focus, extreme hunger, and binge urges. People may also experience other effects of food restriction. Read more about the effects of restriction here.
Basing your Worth on Body or Control over your food: Having your self-esteem be solely focused on weight, shape, or eating in a certain way reinforces body-checking, avoidance, and strict rules that keep the cycle going and can isolate you from doing what matters in life.
Other Weight Control Behaviors: Vomiting, fasting, over-exercising, or using products to cancel out or “make up” for your eating keeps your body undernourished and locks the binge–restrict cycle into place.
Life Stress & Difficult Emotions: Experiencing difficult emotions and stressful life events can make you vulnerable to using behaviors to cope or to use the eating disorder as a distraction. Treatment can help you learn coping skills and give you the opportunity to reflect on how to confront stressful situations.
Low Self-Esteem: Feeling unworthy fuels the belief that changing your body will make you “enough.”
Perfectionism: Unrealistic standards drive self-criticism and rigid thinking, making “good enough” impossible, and the bar keeps raising. It’s worth noting that achievement and meeting high standards are often praised in our society and by people in our lives, which reinforces these behaviors.
Relationship Difficulties: Strained or unfulfilling relationships can lead to using disordered eating to avoid, communicate distress, or self-soothe.
Although there are many things outside of our immediate control that can fuel eating disorders, treatment can help identify the things we can do to help ourselves. CBT for eating disorders can help you identify what keeps your eating disorder going, and offers ways to support you during recovery.
The information shared in this blog is intended to educate and empower, not to replace medical or mental health services. It should not be used as a form of treatment. If you’re struggling or need individualized care, please reach out to a licensed professional.