In the depths of my disordered eating, besides feeling miserable, I remember constantly thinking about food- what I couldn’t eat, what I could eat, ways to NOT eat, feeling remorse about eating. It was exhausting. On top of it all, I not only felt anxiety about food but about my body.
I later realized I was focusing all my energy on food and my body so I would not have to deal with some pretty stressful personal issues.
This is, in my opinion, the most important step in recovering from food anxiety- figuring out WHY you are putting so much energy in your eating habits. It could be a number of things: Feeling emotionally or physically stressed, boredom, depression, loneliness, anger or exhaustion.
Once you start restricting or binging because of these reasons, it tends to get progressively worse (in my experience), but the good news is once you are aware of the reasons you have food anxiety and make a effort to change, the less often you will turn to it.
The next step? freeing yourself. Letting go of it all and give yourself some slack. Get rid of the diets, rules and restricted foods. This can be scary, almost unbearable, but it is essential from breaking free from your food anxiety.
Now it’s time to deal with the underlying issues. This takes a conscious effort. You have to give yourself permission to eat when you are hungry and stop when you are full. You have to face emotional issues head-on and put some serious effort into getting enough sleep.
Finally, Let go of the all or nothing mindset. Whether its eating whatever you want all the time, or eating nothing at all. It’s overwhelming and destructive. No one is perfect and trying to be will cause constant anxiety and remorse. It sets us up for failure. We need to enjoy life, and as I said before, let go. Don’t stress about over- indulging or not working out, just live your life and make a conscious effort to listen to your body and treat it with respect.
There are days, and sometimes weeks, when my disordered eating haunts me a little more than usual, but I truly believe I could never get back to rock bottom because of everything I have learned in the process of recovery.
Have you ever felt anxiety over your eating habits?
How do you handle it?
