***Trigger Warning: Following Article

Deals With Eating Disorders***

I went to an eating disorder support group meeting, Sunday night.  The topic: ‘Laps and Relapse’ got me to thinking about my struggles, and how I wish I were further along on my recovery.  You see, two years ago, I was diagnosed with Binge Eating Disorder (BED).  The sad part, I’ve dealt with the effects of BED, since I was a child.

According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD), at least 30 million people of all ages and genders suffer from an eating disorder in the United States. For those receiving treatment, recovery is the ultimate goal but often feels elusive.

So, what does recovery look like?

The short answer: it is different for everyone.  Well, great, what type of solution is that?

The longer answer comes with commonalities between everyone’s recovery. The first starts with a meal plan. Not a diet, but a healthy balanced meal plan. That can be frightening enough. It isn’t only developing what a ‘healthy balance mean plan’ means to you and your care team, but sticking to that meal plan daily. The act of eating can be overwhelming for those who struggle with an eating disorder. Some foods can be triggering.  Triggering means, they cause fear and anxiety for the person struggling to eat.

Self-care is paramount to the recovery process. Self-care has a variety of forms. This can manifest from meditation to journaling to drinking water to preparing food to say something kind to yourself.  By no means are any of these things easy to accomplish. Some days they are downright impossible. As cliche as it sounds, the struggle is real.  As with your meal plan, self-care is about balance.  There will be days when getting out of bed and getting dressed in all we can muster. Whereas there will be other days that we celebrate the snack we had without prompting.  It is all about balance and taking the good with the difficult.

Lastly, create a support system of people who will aid you when it is challenging to help yourself.  Support systems can be friends, family, therapists, support group meetings, and treatment facilities.  Don’t hesitate to reach out to this network when you need it.  That is its purpose.

Eating disorder recovery IS possible.  It takes work.  It takes determination.  But you can do it.  I can do it.  We can do it.

If you or somebody you know is struggling with an eating disorder, please contact the National Eating Disorders (NEDA) Helpline at 1-800-931-2237 or text ‘NEDA’ to 741741.