Eating Disorder Recovery Cannot Happen Without This
Recovery is overwhelming.
If it feels like trying to solve a Rubik’s cube blindfolded, you’re not alone. But guess what? There’s one (okay, maybe two, but let’s not split hairs) thing that’s crucial for recovery to happen. Just one. And that is: eating adequately and consistently. It's the magic bullet that helps decrease food obsessions, restores physical health, boosts focus and memory, and—drumroll, please—improves your mood almost immediately.
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Here’s the thing: when you eat regularly and enough, a domino effect happens. Your food obsessions disappear, your physical health improves, and your focus, memory, and mood are back to a “normal” baseline.
It's almost too good to be true, right?
I promise it’s not.
In this episode, we’re getting down to the nitty-gritty of why consistent eating is the cornerstone of eating disorder recovery. Whether the whole recovery journey feels overwhelming or you're not even sure you want to dive in, this is the one (or maybe two) thing you absolutely need to do. And trust me, there's a reason why focusing on eating regularly is non-negotiable.
I know it may sound confusing coming from me since I emphasize the significance of understanding underlying issues etc. and often reject the idea that a behavior switcheroo can be that profound or even that simple. The difference here is twofold: one, if you never get interested in the underlying issues and still want recovery, this is your ticket. And two, you can ponder and explore underlying issues and themes and the function of your eating disorder but as long as you don’t do this, you’ve missed the whole point. It’s called intellectualizing and it’s actually not all that helpful in real life.
In this episode, I’m discussing:
The importance of eating consistently and adequately in eating disorder recovery.
The significant decrease in food obsessions when eating enough and consistently.
The restoration of physical health, focus, memory, and mood with consistent eating.
The immediate improvement in mood once consistent eating habits are established.
The reduction in binge eating, emotional eating, and uncontrolled eating through consistent eating.
The complexity of individual experiences with eating disorders.
The impact of inadequate eating on irritability, focus, mood, and food obsession.
The challenges of consistent eating in your daily life; resulting in the potential need for working with a dietitian.
The importance of understanding the underlying reasons for not eating adequately or consistently.
Compassion in understanding the difficulties of maintaining consistent eating habits.
The connection between body image concerns and difficulties in eating adequately.
Tweetable Quotes
"When you are eating consistently and enough for your body, the food obsessions decrease significantly." - Rachelle Heinemann
"If you're not feeding yourself adequately across the board, your focus will be off." - Rachelle Heinemann
"There really does need to be one thing that you focus on, and that is going to be eating adequately and consistently." - Rachelle Heinemann
"Eating consistently means eating every two to four hours throughout the day. And it ends up being five to six times a day." - Rachelle Heinemann
Resources
Grab the Replay of the Resistance in Treatment Webinar
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Related Episodes
Episode 121. The Comparison Trap and Eating Disorders
Episode 119. Eating Disorders Don’t Have a Look
Episode 108. The 1 Thing That Affects Every Single Person with an ED
Episode 88. Did We Take Intuitive Eating Too Far?
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Grab my FREEBIE!: As you navigate recovery, you may be feeling like something is missing. You're doing a lot of work challenging yourself with the food, your body, and exercise. You're probably working on lots of other things at the same time, like stuff at work or relationship issues.
But, still, something doesn't feel like you're getting to the bottom of it. Grab my free journal prompts below and begin to work through the emotions of healing.
More From Rachelle
Hey there! I’m Rachelle, the host of the Understanding Disordered Eating Podcast. As a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, I work with clients to make sense of life’s messy emotional experiences.
I believe in the power of deep work and its positive impact on your life in the long term. Learn more about how we can work together here.
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