Eating Disorders Are Not About the Food!

by Ellern Mede Eating Disorder Treatment

By definition, eating disorders are about unhealthy behaviours related to food, right?

Well, yes and no.

The symptoms certainly focus on food. Surprisingly, though, eating disorders (such as anorexia, bulimia or selective eating disorder) are not really about food at all. It is about underlying emotional imbalances, emotional triggers and environmental factors that fuel the continuation of eating disorder symptoms as a means of coping with life stresses.

Before considering the emotional roots, let's begin by considering the food-related symptoms characteristic of eating disorders. First, eating disorders can be considered an excessive need for control over food intake, which results in compensatory behaviours such as restricting, purging or in the case of compulsive overeating, binge cycles. Second, eating disorder symptoms may include unrealistic calorie-based concerns, which result in self-starvation or compensatory behaviours such as over-exercising, chronic laxative abuse or insulin manipulation. Third, eating disorders often reflect rigid dietary habits such as eating only raw vegetables or eliminating meat, fatty foods, high carb foods, etc. Fourth, eating disorders include body-image distortions such that patients employ severe food manipulation in an attempt to correct perceived flaws (e.g., thighs are too big, the stomach is too fat).

Despite these very definite food-related obsessions, it is a mistake to think of these disorders as being about food. In reality, the manifestation of disordered eating merely reflects surface symptoms or the tip of the iceberg that indicates a much deeper emotional problem. That is, control over food is one particular coping skill (just not a healthy one) employed to deal with an underlying issue. The choice of control over food is a subconscious drive to cope with overwhelming emotions or stressful situations that are currently swamping all available resources.

In many ways, our bodies speak in metaphors. This type of body communication regarding emotional disturbances is neatly demonstrated in eating disorder symptoms. For example, many people who suffer from anorexia express a desire to "disappear" due to very poor self-esteem or social stresses such as peer abuse or peer rejection and their bodies comply as they become painfully thin.

An eating disorder therapist in London can help individuals who suffer from eating disorders help to face their fears, develop better coping skills, socially relate in a healthy way and increase their ability to communicate their emotional needs more effectively.