Eating disorders and stress go hand in hand. Stress causing unhealthy habits like eating disorders. The more stress we put on ourselves, the more likely we are to continue these unhealthy habits. An eating disorder is a psychological disorder that is characterized by disturbed eating habits like bulimia or anorexia. The start of these disorders are various depending on the person but recognizing ways that can make you aware that you could be dealing with an eating disorder is important.
How does it start?
Eating disorders tend to form as a response to stressful environments. When under these stressful circumstances, it is hard to stray away from negative coping responses. In the case of eating, these environments drive individuals to the point of starving, binging and purging, etc. The environment which often causes this stress is society. The standards set by society to have this ideally thin stick slim waist figure or 6-pack body with bulging biceps push people towards these unhealthy eating habits. This is mainly common amongst adolescents. As we as individuals in society surround ourselves with these unrealistic standards, we push ourselves to unhealthy habits rather than trying to find a healthy outlet to release our stress (Gleissner).
What causes it to happen?
Food can be used to help suppress emotions such as boredom, anger, and sadness. During times filled with stress, our bodies produce a hormone called cortisol which creates that feeling of hunger causing us to occasionally binge. Binging cycles are one of the unhealthy ways used to suppress these feelings. An example of a binge cycle would be as follows: when stressed, you eat a lot; once you overeat, thoughts of weight gain produce more stress. If you are suffering from a binging eating disorder already, your body will be producing more cortisol compared to people who don’t have this eating disorder, causing that nonstop urge to eat. Some factors that can produce the stress which drives us to this point of binge eating include financial issues, losing dear ones, family issues, being bullied, work troubles, and huge life changes like moving places (Watson).
The Harm Behind It
A University of Michigan survey states that 20% of women in college feel like food or thoughts about food control their lives. HuffPost author, Carolyn Gregoire wrote an article, 6 Things You Need To Know About Stress & Eating Disorders.
Stress Can Contribute To The Development Of An Eating Disorder: Overwhelming feelings cause us to drift towards unhealthy coping mechanisms such as binge eating, restricting ourselves from eating certain things or a certain amount (tracking calories).
Disordered Eating Can Cause Your Stress Levels To Spike: Beyond the physical damage eating disorders do to our bodies there is also the physiological damage that it does to our bodies. Stressing over the amount of food we consume on average and our weight increases our stress levels and can produce anxiety as well as reduce our self-esteem.
College Students Are More Likely To Develop An Eating Disorder: 28% of female undergraduates at the University of Michigan screened positive for an eating disorder and 40% of the campus’ students screened positive for some form of restrictive eating routine, from the time they had started college.
Disordered Eating Is Linked To Anxiety & Depression: Half of the females who had an eating disorder at the University of Michigan were also screened positive for anxiety out of which a quarter also screened positive for depression. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America says that if one has an anxiety disorder and an eating disorder at the same point in time, it is harder for recovery to take place.
Stress — And Eating Disorders — Can Be Secretive: Very frequently do eating disorders happen in silence. The emotional stress and anxiety caused because of it has the ability to drive one to the point of isolation. “‘You’re trying to keep the behavior from those around you — a lot of time people who struggle with eating disorders are trying to maintain the image that everything’s OK’ “(Gregoire). Andrea Lawson is a clinical social worker for Counseling and Psychological Services at Michigan; she says that the “pressure-cooker environment” that college provides makes it even harder for individuals to open up and reach out for help with their eating disorders. “‘People tend not to share with others when they are struggling, especially in our perfectionistic, high-achieving university community where there may be a greater stigma for mental health concerns, or they may worry that they are not naturally good enough to make it in the competitive environment,’ says Lawson.” (Gregoire).
Path to Recovery
When coping with anorexia and bulimia there are certain things you can consciously do and avoid to put you on the right track to recovery. You should let yourself be open with those you trust, endure each emotion you have whether bad or good to the fullest, acknowledge each emotion you experience along the way, make use of the people near you to distract your mind from stress rather than using food as an outlet, and lastly allow your emotions to come and pass as they may without restricting them from happening. You should not fake any emotion and let it be genuine instead, do not allow others to shame you for experiencing a certain emotion since chances are they have no idea what you are enduring so let your emotions be your own, do not run away from the way you feel if it causes you discomfort but embrace it instead, do not get overwhelmed if you feel like you are losing it because of your emotions and most importantly do not rely on food to suppress feelings of pain and sadness. Apart from the emotional dos and don’ts, there are physical ones as well. Melinda Smith, M.A., Lawrence Robinson, and Jeanne Segal Ph.D., wrote an article titled, Eating Disorder Treatment and Recovery, in which they provided the emotional dos and don’ts above as well as the physical ones below.
Let go of rigid eating rules: Restricting yourself from certain food in rigorous ways, encourages eating disorders to form, so instead form healthy boundaries, like only letting yourself eat ice cream twice a week, because that won’t affect you as bad as eating it every day.
Don’t diet: Refraining from eating food, can cause you to become obsessed with that restriction pushing you to a point of near starvation. Give more attention to foods that will help give strength to your body. Eat when you’re hungry because food is the fuel to keep your body moving and healthy, so when you’re hungry eat till you’re full, so your “tank” is full again.
Stick to a regular eating schedule: Make it a habit to eat every three hours, whether is a snack or meal, eating consistently keeps your mind off of food. When you starve yourself all your mind thinks about is food, so keeping a constant eating schedule avoids this issue.
Learn to listen to your body: When you have an eating disorder, your body becomes accustomed to ignore the signs of you being full or hungry that your body gives you to the point where they might be unrecognizable. A way to start giving these signals the attention they require is by eating based on your physiological needs rather than your emotional needs.
Stop body checking: Wearing clothes that are too small for you as “motivation”, seeing which areas in your body have more fat than the rest, repeatedly weighing yourself creates a distorted image from the reality of your appearance. Make it a point to yourself to embrace each part of your body, a number on a scale doesn’t affect your worth as a being so don’t let it.
Avoid “fat talk”: Ridiculing others for their appearance or giving that more important than a person’s worth is the source of the problem. Focusing on our emotions rather than our appearance leaves less room for feelings of body dissatisfaction to happen.
Challenge negative self-talk: Acknowledge the times you bring yourself down and stop it immediately. Continuing this behavior causes you to base your self-worth off these thoughts but that is not the truth so avoid doing it from the start.
Dress for yourself, not others: Wear clothes because you are comfortable in them or because they make you feel confident, not to impress others
Stop comparing yourself to others: Those who do not have an eating disorder still undergo feelings of inferiority as they compare themselves to people on social media. On social media, everyone glorifies the positive aspects of their life to make it seem as if they have no flaws. Editing and photoshop are so common on the media and although we may be aware of it, we still allow it to take a toll on us, so sometimes a break from social media is needed and perfectly okay to take.
Pamper your body: Treat your body with care and love rather than tearing it down continuously.
Stay active: Healthy exercise that is not compulsive is good for you as it is done on your own terms and flexibility rather than sticking to a plan which can push your limits and wear you out easily if you aren’t used to it. Keeping your body active is not only good for the body of course, but your mind as well, and directly impacts how you treat yourself. Spending time on activities because they make you feel good about yourself and not to better your image is a great way to keep yourself healthy and active.
Develop a solid support system: Keep people who support you and care about your well-being near you during times where you aren’t feeling your best, so they can help rebuild that positive energy in you. Stay away from people who make you feel less about yourself and drain your energy, those who do not contribute to your life positively are just distractions keeping you from being your best self.
Identify your “triggers”: Identify the things or events that cause you to go back to your unhealthy habits. Be aware of the signs you reverting from the start, so you can seek help from the beginning.
Avoid pro-ana and pro-mia websites: Don’t go on websites that mention anorexia and bulimia that support these disorders. It is a dangerous distraction that keeps you from healthily recovering.
Keep a journal: Having a journal where you write down your daily thoughts and emotions helps you take control of yourself, and makes it easier to be aware of the moments where you fallback into negative patterns so you can get help immediately.
Stick with your eating disorder treatment plan: Neglecting therapy or other parts of your treatment, even if you are getting better is detrimental to your recovery in the long wrong so don’t indulge in doing it.
Fill your life with positive activities: Create time for activities that make you happy and create positive responses, like a new hobby, volunteering in your community, or something you always wanted to do. The more things you find rewarding in your life, the less you will want to focus your attention on weight and food.
If you do lapse, don’t beat yourself up: Recovery is a lengthy process that takes patience, time, and effort, but all entirely worth it in the end. Emotions like shame and guilt shouldn’t come in the way of your recovery process, so when something doesn’t go your way think about how you will overcome it if it happens again in the future and always keep in mind that a small lapse does not equate to a full-blown relapse.
Conclusion
Eating disorders are extremely detrimental to your health. As a society, we create environments that encourage these types of behaviors, but recognizing the start of an unhealthy pattern is one of the best things you can do for yourself. Allowing yourself to vulnerable to seek help when things aren’t going right prevents you from going down a destructive path. Do activities that keep your mind distracted from food and weight. Keep the people who are good for you close to you when times are tough to help build those positive habits back up again. Lastly, remind yourself daily that you’re worth is not defined by your appearance no matter how much society depicts that, your worth comes from how you are as a person and being in society.
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