What to Know About Disordered Eating

Food plays an important role in our lives, not only for physical nourishment, but also in our emotions and in our relationships.

Eating together is a way we can connect more deeply with those around us. Meal times are a place where families and friends sit down to engage in social interactions and catch up on their day. Lunchtime conversations establish bonds between colleagues. Partners share intimate moments with each other over dates at restaurants.We enjoy special foods at birthdays, weddings, and holidays.

For some people, cooking and sharing food is a way of expressing love. For others, it is of cultural significance and closely linked to cultural traditions.

Unfortunately, it’s not an uncommon sentiment to hear someone talk about their relationship with food in a negative way. “I cheated on my diet today with those donuts”. “I ate so bad today, ugh I feel so gross”.  “I’ll be hitting the gym early tomorrow morning after this meal tonight!”.

As much as people joke about these types of comments, they show the impact of diet culture and the media on our relationship with food. Such comments can represent an underlying disordered relationship with eating, food and body image.

What Is Disordered Eating?

When the term disordered eating comes to mind, it’s easy to automatically think of an eating disorder such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa or binge eating disorder. Eating Disorders definitely encompass disordered eating, but not everyone who has disordered eating has a clinically diagnosed eating disorder. There are some important differences. Disordered eating is not a diagnosis, rather it is a way of talking about ways someone may be interacting with food in an unhealthy way.

Disordered eating includes any type of abnormal eating patterns or unhealthy behaviors with food. It isn’t a one-time type of situation, but rather something that can be consistent and problematic. It can show up in a wide variety of ways and over time these types of behaviors can have serious emotional and physical health consequences. They may even lead to an eating disorder.

Food Anxiety

Food anxieties can greatly interfere with quality of life since so much of life happens around food. This may include rigidity around meal times or locations. It may also extend to the types of foods that can be eaten. Anything outside of the comfort lines can cause anxiousness. Someone may engage in dieting or restricting certain foods or skip a meal. Another way this shows up for someone is engaging in “clean eating” and focusing a lot of attention on ingredients and quality of food.

Negative Body Image Struggles

Having a distorted view of your body and overall health, especially stemming from food, can induce high levels of stress. Influences from social media and diet culture can cause you to have an unrealistic view of your body.

For example, a person may believe their body is not socially acceptable or that they need to lose weight, so they start cutting their food intake down or engaging in different diets or exercise programs.

Erratic Eating Behaviors

Eating disorders have very specific criteria for a diagnosis of a disorder. Certain issues may not rise to the level of a diagnosis, yet still cause internal distress and need for support. Some warning signs to look out for are dieting, fasting, restricting, over-exercising, or bingeing.

If someone is having difficulty eating regular meals and snacks throughout the day or is always trying a different diet or skipping meals, this may also be a signal that additional support and help is needed.

Using Food to Cope

We’re all human and go through many emotions throughout a day. Coping strategies are important to manage stress and process through emotions. It can be normal for food to bring us comfort and joy. But if food is being used as the only coping skill and the person is isolating from family and friends, it could be a warning sign.

How Disordered Eating Differs From Eating Disorders

Disordered eating habits can evolve on a spectrum. Many of these behaviors don’t meet the criteria of an eating disorder, yet it could still be really impacting someone’s life. Beneath the surface of disordered eating is a much more complex emotional experience. For many, disordered eating becomes a way to cope with overwhelming feelings, express distress, or try to manage the unrealistic expectations and messages from diet culture.

They are significant enough to cause a disruption in quality of life, but not severe enough to be considered a disorder by definition. Disordered eating habits, if left unchecked, can spiral into a fully diagnosable eating disorder. It’s important to know the warning signs.

Next Steps

Is dieting a significant part of your life? Does food or meals make you anxious? Are you skipping meals or avoiding certain food groups? Do you criticize yourself? Are you unhappy with your body? Is food a driver for reward or punishment?

If you've answered yes to any of the above, it could be a red flag for something deeper. Exploring the root cause is important for finding a route forward. Working with a professional can get you the help you need to develop a more effective relationship with food. Contact me to learn more about my services and see how Eating Disorder Therapy can help.