A clinician friend emailed me yesterday with concern about the impact of the most recent meat recall on eating disorder patients and their families.
One of the classic early signs of an eating disorder is a false vegetarianism -- where foods are cut out but no compensatory foods are added in. It is often followed by more restriction, always accompanied by ethical concern.
During eating disorder recovery it is very important to return to the normal eating patterns and preferences of life before the illness: to rejoin the culture of the family and society around food. That goal is made harder if the society in which we live is irrational and fear-based about eating.
But we still have the power, as loving family, to create an environment around the dinner table of pleasure, nourishment, and confidence.
A clinician friend emailed me yesterday with concern about the impact of the most recent meat recall on eating disorder patients and their families.
One of the classic early signs of an eating disorder is a false vegetarianism -- where foods are cut out but no compensatory foods are added in. It is often followed by more restriction, always accompanied by ethical concern.
During eating disorder recovery it is very important to return to the normal eating patterns and preferences of life before the illness: to rejoin the culture of the family and society around food. That goal is made harder if the society in which we live is irrational and fear-based about eating.
But we still have the power, as loving family, to create an environment around the dinner table of pleasure, nourishment, and confidence.