NEDA Week Awareness!

Hi hi! As NEDA week comes to a close, I wanted to share some of my own thoughts relating to the struggles of disordered eating and EDs. First off, there are so many beautiful souls brave enough to share their stories especially this week. Posts like those are truly what inspire me and I hope I can do the same with mine. Further, though I am sharing a snapshot of my experiences with disordered eating and advice to anyone who needs it, I am quite obviously not a professional! I will link NEDA's website below which provides lots of helpful information and resources beyond what I can provide. In the past I have immensely struggled to sufficiently fuel my body with what it needs. I have always been active and enjoyed food...but I have also been through ups and downs in how I viewed/thought about food simultaneously. Countless problems have arisen from my persistent disordered eating patterns in the past; most being habits I never even considered unhealthy at those points in time. I have since come a very long way and feel my relationship with food and myself is healthier than it has ever been, but nobody is perfect. Throughout this all, I feel it important to note that I oftentimes lacked the knowledge i needed in order to overcome the majority of my challenges. I could go on & on about the many moments I can pinpoint my own unhealthy disordered eating habits forming. The specific instances I remember from my past in which adults could have been more sensitive about diet culture talk around children. Habits I got into without realizing they weren't healthy habits. Moments where I just know the toxic conversations could have been shifted another way for the better, etc etc. I do think a problem we have in society is the commonality of diet culture, lack of knowledge in how important it is to use food for fuel, and lack of emphasis on living a balanced lifestyle. Disordered eating and eating disorders alike can manifest themselves through a variety of factors. From factors like the toxicity of diet culture to misinformation, body image, mental health and MORE, it’s no wonder disordered eating is so prevalent in our society. There is just so much to it!! And so much to it that needs to be addressed more than it is.

Once upon a time i may have wondered, what’s the big deal with underfueling anyways? How can I even have disordered eating habits when I am still eating? Why is it actually UNhealthy to eat only foods that are considered “healthy”? Why can I eat the same as somebody else and be under eating, while they are supposedly eating enough for themselves?

I asked myself these questions after getting lost within diet culture and health trends that turned out to actually be unhealthy, at least for me. Which is why as I state over and over again, health is so individual. But when it comes to underfueling, it has huge long term effects on anybody! Relating to athletes, underfueling for whatever the reason may seem minor. However over time this leads to a decreased response to training, irritability, nutrient deficiencies, fatigue, low bone density, and MORE. And did I know that from a young age? Absolutely not! Even at the times in which I knew I wasn’t getting the fuel I needed day to day i saw no immediate health impairments so i thought I was fine. But it’s the bigger picture that I see now with a newer and more educated perspective that matters most. In recognizing disordered eating habits/EDs, know that there are many forms an ED or disordered eating habits can take. Despite the many forms, it doesn’t mean any form is any less valid or not “bad enough” to be addressed. Binging, yo-yo dieting, skipping meals, labeling foods as good or bad, and ignoring hunger signals are all but a few disordered eating habits that can be extremely detrimental to our health. I am not a doctor so I would highly recommend seeking the help of a registered dietitian if you notice yourself struggling with any of those toxic habits (among others) because they are the professionals who should ultimately have the knowledge to help you. There is nothing wrong with seeking help! But my point for right now is that disordered eating/EDs go far beyond simply ‘not eating’. All struggles are valid. Disordered eating/EDs are NOT a one size fits all type of thing. There are certain criterion that medical professionals will look for in order to more easily diagnose and then effectively treat specific disorders. However disordered eating habits beyond any ‘textbook definition’ are just as valid and can be fixed. I for so long got stuck in comparison, thinking I was fine because I was eating more than most people I knew. Even considering foods as good or bad was a disordered eating pattern that I had needed to ditch for a long time, yet it was reinforced as normal because of diet culture. For those who may be losing out on life stressing about food or body image or whatever the struggle is for YOU, I want to tell you that you are more than those things you stress about. You CAN overcome your challenges. Much easier said than done, I know. But the way you look or the foods you eat are not defining factors of your worth. The things that truly matter most will be found more in the enjoyment you get from food, the energy you get from food, and all the extra LIFE you get to live in a life not obsessively preoccupied by food. Life is a gift with so much to it, so give your body the fuel it needs to live that wonderful journey of yours to it's fullest!!

See:

https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/

for more info and resources!