The Role of Nutrition in ED Recovery

One of the top reasons that people “fail“ to recover from disordered eating is in fact because of improper nutrition.

When considering a “eating plan“ in recovery the nutrition of that plan should be closely examined and it should be nutrient dense. If said food plan is allowing foods that have no nutritional value, are known to cause inflammation in the body, will have a negative metabolic impact or are in fact foods that you have previously struggled with controlling consumption then they are not in your best interest to eat even if they are “on plan.”

Sometimes in an effort to be perfect on an eating plan people are only considering whether or not something is allowed on the plan when instead the question that should be asked about each food individually is not whether it’s allowed but, “Is this beneficial to me?“

If a food is not beneficial to us then it really doesn’t matter whether it’s “allowed.” The goal is healing and freedom not proving that we can “stick to“ a plan that’s not benefiting us nutritionally.

People with disordered eating and diagnosed eating disorders generally are malnourished. One does not have to look anorexic or be morbidly obese to be malnourished, but make no mistake both of those categories are a state of malnutrition.

Our best bet for recovery and being free from the obsession with food and struggling with physical hunger is to eat food that is truly nutrient dense that results in physical satiation and a reduction of, if not elimination, of physical cravings.