Nourishing More Than the Body: A Holistic Approach to Eating Disorders
Written by Cindy Bekkedam RD, RP (Qualifying)
If you're reading this, you might be carrying the belief that recovery from an eating disorder is solely about the food. Maybe your past therapy goals were tightly bound to managing your diet — stopping the cycle of bingeing and purging, or just wishing to feel 'normal' when dining out with friends.
Recovery can often feel like an internal battle, despite diligently eating three balanced meals a day, adhering to medical advice, and striving to be the "perfect" patient. It's not uncommon to hear praises about how well you’re doing, yet inside, you might still feel a turmoil of emotions — chaos, emptiness, a sense of defectiveness, and a pervasive feeling of shame. The external accolades ring hollow when your inner world is still aching.
The truth is, recovery that focuses exclusively on food and the trappings of diet culture is like a house built on sand — it lacks a stable foundation. And please know, this instability is not your fault. Deep down, you've always known that there’s more to your journey. There’s a part of you yearning for a different kind of healing, one that involves discovering and embracing the fullness of who you are.
Recovery is a two-fold process:
When we think about recovery from eating disorders, the immediate focus often falls on food, eating habits, and weight. This is critical as it is often life-saving. Once this physical baseline for healing is met, your healing will be limited if the emotional aspect of your eating disorder is neglected. Far too frequently, the treatment of eating disorders overlooks the crucial emotional components of healing, reflecting a systemic gap in care that needs our attention.
True healing requires attention not just to the physical but also to the psychological and emotional aspects of self. My holistic approach to treating eating disorders reflects this dual focus, aiming to create harmony between body and mind:
1. The first half involves making peace with food, eating, weight, and the body - it also involves understanding how diet culture and weight bias keep us focused on these aspects of ourselves.
2. The second, and equally crucial half, involves finding your Self and making space to get to know and to make peace with the parts of you that protect you, and the parts that you have cut off in an attempt to find a sense of safety in the world.
Focusing on physical nourishment and caring for your body by adhering to a meal plan or eating enough to meet your energetic needs is necessary and helpful in the short term.
However, it can be likened to taking aspirin for a headache caused by a more significant issue.
It may offer temporary relief, but the underlying causes persist. Similarly, addressing only food and body image and diet culture, without understanding the self is a partial approach that is very likely to leave you feeling tense, rigid, and uncomfortable.
This is okay and normal in the short term, yet, it doesn't have to be this way forever.
Making Peace with Food and Self
Picture this: imagine holding a softball between your hands—it feels comfortable and sustainable. This balance is what we strive for in recovery. But if you remove one hand, the other starts to strain, reflecting the imbalance many feel when they focus solely on their eating habits without nurturing their inner selves.
The other half of recovery—finding your Self—means acknowledging and healing the parts of you that have been neglected or wounded. It's about filling the emptiness not with food, but with self-compassion, understanding, and acceptance.
Beyond the Physical: The Emotional Journey
Many people with eating disorders come seeking to "fix" their eating disorders, often viewing better body image or improving their relationship with food as the solution to their problems. But this isn't the full story. The feeling of not being enough persists despite improved body image or eating in a way that feels more balanced and nourishing. This is where the holistic approach comes in—understanding that the desire for control over food and body often stems from deeper emotional needs and unresolved internal conflicts.
Integrating Holistic Healing in Therapy
In therapy, we can work together to understand your internal conflicts and strive for a sense of peace with all parts of the self. This means addressing the inner critic, the people pleaser, and any other parts that contribute to the eating disorder's persistence.
The path to recovery is not just about changing what you eat or how you look; it's about changing how you relate to yourself and the world around you. It's about finding the Self you're meant to be, the self that can manage life's challenges without resorting to disordered eating as a coping mechanism.
This journey of healing requires time and patience, as it is never a linear process. No matter what anyone has told you, the emotional pain that you are struggling with is valid - even if you cannot connect to what is actually painful in your life. Your eating disorder part holds important information about how you experience pain. It deserves the space to be known no matter how insignificant you or others have made it out to be. It is REAL.
Have you found a balance between addressing the physical and emotional aspects of recovery in your therapy journey? If you would like to share, visit my IG @helloroadtoself. Your journey could light the way for others to embark on their own path to holistic healing.
If you are interested in working with me, I offer virtual psychotherapy for eating disorder recovery psychotherapy for adults (18+) in Ontario, Canada.
