I just noticed this little magnetic notepad that is hanging on the side of my computer. I remember picking it up several years ago at a NEDA conference because I needed to write something down when I was near the exhibit booths. So I picked up the notepad and ultimately stuck it to my computer when I got home. And there it has stayed. I neither thought about it or really used it since.
Today, however, I was on hold and found myself staring at this little notepad, which said:
Food is not the problem, therefore it can never be the solution. I confess, I'm a little stymied by this. To say that food isn't the problem for someone with an
eating disorder strikes me a vaguely ridiculous. Of course food is a problem- either you can't eat enough, or you can't stop eating. Food isn't necessarily at the root of an eating disorder, any more than being sad is at the root of depression. It's our attitude towards food, and our ability to consume and digest appropriate amounts of it that ultimately are the problem.
To some degree, I have found food to be the solution to my eating disorder. Eating is not a cure, not by a long shot. But re-learning how to eat and maintain a healthy body weight has been one of the big challenges of recovery. The rest of recovery--coping skills, emotions, therapy--doesn't mean a whole lot if you haven't addressed the eating part of the eating disorder.
I was always told that my eating disorder wasn't about the food. I'm realizing now that my eating disorder was about the food. It wasn't solely about the food, as a lot of my anorexia had to do with my anxiety and fears around food, as well as perfectionism, etc. Not that clinicians should focus on the food to the exclusion of everything else, but you have to start somewhere.
(On a side note, the other phrase from treatment that still makes me cringe is "fat is not a feeling." Fat is too a feeling--a
physical feeling. It's not an emotion, but you can, in fact, feel fat.)
I understand that food (whether consuming it or restricting it or purging it) will never be a solution to emotional problems. I've learned that the hard way. But to say that food isn't a problem, period, and food isn't part of the solution seems a little ludicrous when it comes to eating disorders.
How do you interpret this notepad? What do you think?
Today, however, I was on hold and found myself staring at this little notepad, which said:
Food is not the problem, therefore it can never be the solution.
I confess, I'm a little stymied by this. To say that food isn't the problem for someone with an eating disorder strikes me a vaguely ridiculous. Of course food is a problem- either you can't eat enough, or you can't stop eating. Food isn't necessarily at the root of an eating disorder, any more than being sad is at the root of depression. It's our attitude towards food, and our ability to consume and digest appropriate amounts of it that ultimately are the problem.
To some degree, I have found food to be the solution to my eating disorder. Eating is not a cure, not by a long shot. But re-learning how to eat and maintain a healthy body weight has been one of the big challenges of recovery. The rest of recovery--coping skills, emotions, therapy--doesn't mean a whole lot if you haven't addressed the eating part of the eating disorder.
I was always told that my eating disorder wasn't about the food. I'm realizing now that my eating disorder was about the food. It wasn't solely about the food, as a lot of my anorexia had to do with my anxiety and fears around food, as well as perfectionism, etc. Not that clinicians should focus on the food to the exclusion of everything else, but you have to start somewhere.
(On a side note, the other phrase from treatment that still makes me cringe is "fat is not a feeling." Fat is too a feeling--a physical feeling. It's not an emotion, but you can, in fact, feel fat.)
I understand that food (whether consuming it or restricting it or purging it) will never be a solution to emotional problems. I've learned that the hard way. But to say that food isn't a problem, period, and food isn't part of the solution seems a little ludicrous when it comes to eating disorders.
How do you interpret this notepad? What do you think?