The experience of living in and relating to your body when you have binge eating disorder or are bingeing has been coming up a lot for me this month, both in my research work and in session with clients. I wanted to repost a recap I wrote a few years ago when I served as a panelist in a discussion of BED treatment. Stemming from this conversation, here are a few suggestions to help you in doing this hard work:
Increase the visibility of body-positive images in your online world: The kind of images we see or intentionally expose ourselves to can make a difference in our own perception of our bodies. Tumblr and Instagram are places where images of people in larger bodies loving their bodies are abundantly available.
Improve physical spaces to the best of your ability, or admit and address shortcomings: If you’re in recovery, update mood boards or the art the decorates your home, office, or online space to be positive about food and bodies or to shift towards subjects or topics that aren’t about your eating but come from another interest or passion. If you’re a clinician, make sure your offices and waiting rooms have comfortable, accessible, and accommodating furniture. Have interesting artwork and reading material outside of the standard magazines that display only certain types of bodies. If this isn’t doable, talk openly about what’s lacking. Try to help clients be as comfortable as possible at all times so discomfort doesn’t go unacknowledged or dismissed.
Boost your connection with community: joining Facebook groups or support groups for BED can help you feel plugged in to a wider group of people who understand or are similarly struggling with eating or body image issues. Sometimes starting a conversation with friends can be eye-opening and healing for everyone (just know you’re not responsible for other people’s recovery — sometimes talking to a friend who is struggling can make it feel like you need to do something about it, and it’s OK to not take that on).
Focus on the body in positive ways: do you hide or avoid certain body parts? What would it be like to explore those physical spaces without judgement or criticism? This can be a foreign and difficult task. As an example of what this might look like, eating disorder recovery podcast Recovery Warriors describes dedicating a few minutes, or even as little as 30 seconds, a day to massaging lotion onto body parts that you dislike (which can be novel and intense, especially if we’re used to regarding these parts with judgement… or something stronger). When we compare our bodies to others' or body check for reassurance, we rarely come away comforted or reassured. Instead, we often wind up feeling worse about our bodies and how we look. However, I've had clients tell me that when they take the time to be aware of their bodies and treat them with kindness, their perception of their body shifts and improves.
Being at home in our bodies can be tough, especially if you’re recovering from an eating disorder or living in a body that is stigmatized or faces judgement from the world around us. It can be slow work, and it’s OK to reach out for help from others.