What to Do If You Think You Have an Eating Disorder

Cross-posted from my article co-written with Melissa A. Fabello for Everyday Feminism

Do you ever feel like thoughts about food and weight are starting to control your life? Do you believe that if you eat certain types of “bad” food that you need to punish or purge yourself by not eating later or exercising in excess to make up for it?

Has your obsession with weight and food become so all-encompassing that your quality of life has started to decrease? Do you feel hopeless and misunderstood when people tell you to “just eat right and exercise moderately?”

Do you become agitated and flippant when loved ones insinuate that you might have a problem? Are you worried that they might try to sabotage your weight loss plan?

If you answered yes to any of the questions above, you may have already begun asking yourself if you have an eating disorder.

And the truth is that it can be downright scary to look down that path.

Part of why we feel so scared to get help for having an eating disorder – to admit it to ourselves, to talk to other people about it, and to get professional help – is that there is a stigma around it.

Because like this article on eating disorder stigma points out, “If I caught the flu, I’d tell my doctor, take medicine, drink some ginger ale, and stay in bed. When I had anorexia nervosa, I didn’t tell my doctor because I was too ashamed to tell a medical professional that I had a medical condition that needed medicine and physical and mental treatment.”

We can’t let that stigma stop us from getting the help that we need.

Breaking down that first barrier is a difficult thing, but it’s an important step.

So let’s explore, together, what eating disorders are and how to get help for them.

Eating Disorders 101

Eating disorders are widespread in our thin-obsessed society, but regularly ignored and downplayed, which make them very dangerous, both emotionally and physically.

The National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) tells us that disorders such as anorexia and bulimia nervosas and binge eating disorder consist of extreme emotions, attitudes, and behaviors surrounding weight and food – and can have life-threatening consequences.

Because they are complex mental illnesses that come with an array of psychological, sociological, and physiological factors, eating disorders (also known as ED’s) are more difficult to treat than many other illnesses.

And contrary to popular belief, they also don’t discriminate. They can be found across all races, genders, sexual orientations, and socioeconomic backgrounds.

You can learn a lot about how to spot an eating disorder in yourself or in a friend by doing research and behavior analysis. What is harder to learn through solitary research is how to actually deal with having an eating disorder on a daily basis – and more importantly, how to recover from one.

You’ve Established That You Have an Eating Disorder – What’s Next?

Admitting to yourself that you have an ED and that you want to get better can be extremely challenging, but is absolutely necessary for long-term recovery.

And if you’ve gotten to that point – which might even be why you chose to read this article – we want to congratulate you.

It takes a lot of strength to get to a point with body image and eating issues where you’re brave enough not only to admit that you might have a problem, but that you want to seek out more information and even help.

It’s amazing to come forward like that.

But even figuring out whether or not your thoughts and behaviors qualify as disordered can be hard to establish.

Amazingly, NEDA has recently come out with an online screening process to see if one’s experiences are in line with the symptoms of an eating disorder. You can check it out here.

Answer the questions, and see what the results tell you. Keep in mind, though, that even if the results say it doesn’t sound like you’re suffering from an eating disorder, it’s still worth talking about getting help for the issues that are being experienced.

So if you’re at the point where you’ve accepted that you might have an eating disorder and are ready to seek help, there are a number of ways to begin your path to recovery.

Different approaches work for different people, so keep an open mind when reviewing your options.

See a Doctor or Nutritionist

Seeing a doctor or a nutrition specialist can be a great first step.

These professionals can tell you exactly what vital nutrients are missing from your everyday life, how that is affecting you, and how to work them back into your diet. They can also help you figure out ways to fuel your body in a healthy way, without feeling sluggish.

It’s important to remember that doctors are there to help you be a happier, healthier person, not to judge or shame you. If you fear that a medical professional will make you feel worse – or if you experience this – know that you can always choose to see another doctor.

See a doctor who will validate your experience and offer you resources and options.

This type of basic medical intervention can help people with ED’s realize the ways in which they are damaging their bodies and help them move towards a healthier lifestyle.

Seek Therapy Options

Therapy can often be an important part of recovery as well.

Therapists who have trained specifically to help their patients deal with and overcome eating disorders are usually the best choice.

Find out what is covered on your health insurance plan, and look for recommendations from previous patients. A good therapist who understands eating disorders could mean a world of difference.

Even if you don’t have health insurance, you have options. Many mental health programs nationwide offer therapy services at little or no charge. They just take some researching to find. Call or visit your local Department of Public Welfare for more information.

And remember that you can also talk to a counselor at school or another community organization.

Explain your situation. Let them know what kinds of thoughts and behaviors you’re experiencing and what your fears are.

Join a Support Group

Talking to survivors of eating disorders in a group setting can be helpful for those trying to get better.

For some, an online support group may feel less intimidating, and there are a lot of recovery-specific blogs out there to help you build community, to feel less alone, and to feel inspired, given what other people are going through.

If you’re not sure where to start, try Recovery Is Beautiful, Life Without ED, and The Love Yourself Challenge on Tumblr. They offer posts to boost positivity, facts about eating disorders and other mental illnesses, tips and tricks for dealing with fears, and also help and support if you want to write in.

If Tumblr isn’t your thing and you’d rather explore YouTube for community and inspiration, check out Arielle Lee Bair and her channel Actively Arielle: A Voice with a Commitment here. She’s an eating disorder survivor and specialist who posts weekly videos about prevention and recovery.

But remember that there are also a number of real-life, in-person groups that meet across the country. With the support of a larger community, a person suffering from an eating disorder can hear testimonial from people in recovery as well as from others currently in their position.

Not sure how to find a group? The Alliance for Eating Disorder Awareness has a helpful directory of support groups to choose from. Other useful resources include Eating Disorders Anonymous and ANAD (which includes a state-by-state listing of support groups).

Try attending a meeting, whether in person or online. If it doesn’t work for you, try a different group – or choose to decide that group therapy isn’t for you.

Remember that recovery varies for every person, so what worked for a friend may not work the same way for you.

Consider Medication

For some people, taking an anti-depressant or other mood-stabilizing medication can be incredibly helpful when dealing with an eating disorder – especially when combined with psychological counseling.

Anti-depressants can help reduce anxiety, obsessive thoughts, and depression in eating disorder patients; they can even reduce physical symptoms such as binge eating and vomiting. Talk to your doctor about anti-depressants to find out more about your options.

In some cases, other medications may be necessary to help deal with the health consequences of eating disorders – make sure to tell your doctor about all of symptoms you are experiencing so that they can make an educated decision.

Create and Educate a Support System of Family and Friends

Educate your family and friends about the disorder that you are struggling with, so they know how to support you during – and beyond – your recovery.

Simple online toolkits, such as this one from NEDIC, can be a good place for relatives and friends to start. By learning about eating disorders, they will be better equipped to help you during your journey and can become more aware of societal triggers that might make things more difficult.

While it can be scary for your loved ones to hear that you are suffering from an eating disorder, starting an honest dialogue about the issue will be beneficial to everyone involved and help you feel less alone.

Let your support network know that you recognize that you need help, are ready to actively find it, and would like their educated support while you do so.

Be Forgiving of Yourself – and Have a Plan

There may be times during the recovery process that you feel yourself backslide. This is normal, and it is okay.

Making sure that you have a contingency plan for such times will help. This plan might include multiple key players such as members of your family and friend group, your therapist, ED survivors from a support group online or in your community, and anyone else who is willing to put in the time and effort to help you resist relapse.

It’s comforting to know that people are there for you if you feel yourself slipping back into old habits. And having a plan to deal with a setback can make a hopeless-feeling situation much brighter.

—-

There was a period when we couldn’t see the light at the end of our ED tunnels. But with time and effort, our support systems and individual determinations helped us reach a healthy, happy place.

Remember – just because you are struggling with an eating disorder right now doesn’t mean that the feelings of hopelessness and depression will last forever.

With the right amount of support, hard work and determination, you can live a normal life again.

The most important thing is understanding that regardless of the specifics of your situation, if you feel like you need help, then you deserve to get help.

So figure out what kind of help that you think that you need, and go forth with the confidence to seek it out.

You’ve already done the hard part.

 

What Would Jesus NOT Do? Cut SNAP!

The actions of Jesus and the teachings of the Bible are constantly being used as justification for the beliefs and actions of people worldwide.

Great – except that sometimes people take them way, way out of context and decide to come up with their own version of what the Bible means. Take the debate over the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps.

SNAP reauthorization has historically been included in the farm bill, a 5-year agriculture and nutrition package passed by Congress. But this year the House Republicans decided to split the agriculture programs off completely from the nutrition title, despite the opposition of over 500 food, farm and conservation groups, including the conservative Club for Growth and the very influential National Farm Bureau Federation. Oh, and basically every nutrition/anti-poverty group EVER!

By removing nutrition, House leadership was able to garner sufficient Republican support to pass the bill in the House and simultaneously make crop subsidies permanent  – and the most expensive that they have ever been. See more in this report from the Environmental Working Group.

But the Senate isn’t having that – and they’ve stated that they won’t pass a split farm bill. This means that getting it passed before the September 30th deadline is dubious – and that SNAP is at risk of being cut if it stays separated from agriculture programs in the bill. For a more wonky take on the matter, read my latest CHN article.

I’ve written a lot about SNAP in the past, but it never ceases to amaze me how many of our elected officials have little to no compassion for the hungry. And it REALLY gets me incensed when they try to use Christianity or Jesus’ teachings as justification for taking food away from struggling families.

Now, I’m not pretending to be an expert on Jesus, or Christianity in general for that matter. But I do know that one of the core tenants of Christianity is to help those in need. Just look at what most of the major Christian organizations in America do with their time: they lobby for low-income people in Congress by supporting safety net programs like low-income tax credits, housing vouchers, child care, and better nutrition. They support the welfare system as a means of lifting people out of poverty.

Simply put, they help poor people. I’m talking about Catholic Charities, the Sisters of Mercy, NETWORK: A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, the Sisters of the Presentation, the United Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church USA, and many, many more. The list includes groups from practically every Christian denomination, all of which vary in their beliefs and practices – and yet the one thing they have in common is a goal to aid the less fortunate among us – and to keep them from hunger by funding the SNAP program.

I certainly won’t argue that all Christian politicians diverge from this goal. For example, during a recent House Ag. Committee debate, Democratic California Representative Juan Vargas cited the Book of Matthew in support of SNAP, noting, “[Jesus] says how you treat the least among us, the least of our brothers, that’s how you treat him.” Vargas supports helping the least among us, which is why he supports a strong SNAP program.

Tennessean Republican Congressman Stephen Fincher has a different outlook on the situation.

Fincher took it upon himself to reply to Vargas’ quote with one of his own, from the Book of Thessalonians: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.” He also made sure to point out that he believes that “The role of citizens, of Christians, of humanity is to take care of each other, but not for Washington to steal from those in the country and give to others in the country.”

Some have called Fincher’s response to Vargas “nicely played.” I completely disagree. For so many reasons.

First, there’s the fact that only one in six SNAP household is a nonworking family without kids or an elderly or disabled family member  (read more in this USDA report).

Yep, you heard that right! Many, many people who receive SNAP are employed, sometimes at multiple jobs, and are just as hardworking as the rest of us. Now maybe if the minimum wage were raised to a livable standard, these people wouldn’t have to accept government benefits on top of their income in order to keep their families fed.

And yes, there’s no denying that there are also many SNAP recipients who are unemployed, underemployed or searching for work.

Now let’s take a look at WHY they those individuals are unemployed. Oh right, because we just had a giant recession and the economy is still struggling. Riiighhht…..

Second, in Fincher’s view of what the world should look like, government would not have a hand in supporting low-income people. The only “safety net” provided would be the generosity of selfless individuals and independent charities. This assumes that people will give of themselves in order to help the poor and create a more equal society. That they will give away enough money and time – completely unsolicited and uncompensated – to keep the nation’s 146 million impoverished people fed, clothed and housed.

It’s a lovely dream. But it’s just that – a dream. Would Fincher ever suggest that we should abolish the police department and criminal justice system and simply trust in the decency of human kind not to steal or murder? Once again, while it’s nice  to imagine a world without crime, it is absolutely and positively not realistic.

Sometimes I think many of our conservative politicians desire an anarchist state. And I don’t think that would sit well with most Americans. Or that it would be even slightly functional.

Oh, and there’s one other little thing about Fincher’s “pious” argument to cut food stamps out of the farm bill and move forward only on agriculture proposals (including those subsidies mentioned earlier).

SHOCKER ALERT: Fincher receives the second largest amount of money in farm subsidies in the whole country. So by cutting SNAP while “supporting a proposal to expand crop insurance by $9 billion over the next 10 years,” he’s doing more than merely making himself monumentally richer. He’s using the government to line his pockets with taxpayer dollars from crop subsidies.

But wait, I thought he wanted the gosh-darned government to stay out of people’s wallets?

I guess that’s only important when it comes to giving food to poor families.

But back to my point – I really don’t think that Jesus would appreciate everyone using him as an excuse to justify cutting food assistance to children, the elderly, disabled folks, low-income workers and the unemployed. The Jesus that I was taught about was kind, selfless, nonjudgmental and generous – not just to those who were among the chosen few, but to those in need as well.

#WhatWouldJesusNOTDo? Cut SNAP.

17 Million Children Hungry – Why Should I Care? They’re Not Mine.

Is this what some Members of Congress think when they go home at night? Since their kids have enough food to eat, why should they worry about those pesky 17 million who don’t know where their next meal is going to come from?

New data from Feeding America tells us that 50 million Americans are food insecure, and that 17 million of these individuals are kids. Kids who need adequate nutrition in order for their minds and bodies to develop properly. Kids who desperately need enough food to succeed in school – and ultimately, in life.

Food security/insecurity refers to food availability and an individual’s ability to access it. Essentially, it means whether or not a person is sure of where their next meal is coming from. Click here to see more information about food insecurity from the Food Research and Action Center.

Again: 50 million people are food insecure. Think about it – that means a LOT of people don’t have a reliable way to get food on a daily basis. And a lot of these people depend on government assistance such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, in order to get the little sustenance that they can.

A lot of fiscal conservatives think that the SNAP program is out of control – and they want to cut it. They cite the fact that the SNAP participant rolls have increased substantially over the last few years and thus, spending on the program has gone up. Yep – that’s true. And it’s also true that the recession put millions of people out of jobs, out of their homes, and into food insecure positions and poverty. So it kind of seems like common sense that the number of people on SNAP would increase as poverty increased.

Still, many in Congress don’t seem to comprehend (or care) how devastating it would be to take away programs like SNAP from impoverished families. Right now, Congress is trying to come to an agreement on the farm bill – legislation that sets federal policy on forestry, nutrition, conservation and agriculture – and both chambers have set out plans to deeply cut nutrition aid.

The Senate has already passed a farm bill (S. 954) that cuts SNAP funding by $4.1 billion over ten years. Although unacceptable in the eyes of most nutrition advocates, this is almost a paltry sum compared to the House farm bill now being debated (H.R. 1947), which plans to slash $20.5 billion from the program over the same time period.

Today Representative Jim McGovern (D-MA) will bring an amendment to the House floor to reverse the SNAP cuts in H.R. 1947. The amendment does not have enough votes to pass, that is clear – but the level of support it gets will be a prime indicator of the bill’s future.

It’s clear to me – as it should be to all Members of Congress – that cutting SNAP will hurt and endanger millions of families and their children. Rest assured that everyone in the nutrition advocacy community will continue to fight tirelessly to keep our kids fed…

…but what can YOU do? Contact your MOCs today and tell them that cuts to SNAP in the farm bill are unconscionable. It doesn’t take much effort, but it’s something. And those 50 million will thank you.

Stayed tuned – the fight’s not over yet.

For more on cuts to nutrition in the farm bill, read my last two articles for CHN: House and Senate Agriculture Committees Back Farm Bills with Significant Cuts to SNAP (May 29) and Senate Passes Farm Bill with Cuts to SNAP as House Prepares to Bring Even More Devastating Bill to the Floor (June 17).