FOOD GUILT WITH ANOREXIA
What is food guilt?
Food guilt is the action of being obsessive on foods which you perceive to be “good” or “bad” and the consumption of food makes you feel ashamed. Those with anorexia often believe that thieve consumed too much food and believe that they’ve done something wrong. Food guilt in recovery is the most unpleasant feeling and diminishes the sense of satisfaction after eating. It can lead to a cascade of other feelings like helplessness and loss of control. Ultimately food shouldn’t be a source of guilt, it should provide nourishment and satisfaction. Food guilt is often taught and stems from learning that food is either “healthy” or “unhealthy”. Reducing your nutritional intake can provide some momentary relief and stress relief, but reintroducing food creates feelings of guilt and self-disappointment. The eating disorder will beat you up and make you feel a feeling of guilt after eating. Its woven so deeply into the mind that it becomes a natural response.
Feelings of food guilt:
Eating disorders make their victims feel worthless and shamed for eating. This often makes the sufferer be filled with self-loathing, shame, and hopelessness. When we feel out of control, we try and rid ourselves of the guilt by compensating using destructive behaviours and self-imposed rules. Nourishing our bodies and going against the eating disorder creates uncomfortable thoughts and feelings which highlight the distorted patterns and negative self-talk that’s encountered for individuals. The overwhelming feeling of failure will often push those struggling into punishing behaviours to rid themselves of the horrible feeling.
Root causes of anorexia and heavy emotions:
Recognising that eating disorders aren’t primarily about food is a valuable realisation. Food restriction and deprivation are the symptoms surrounding the eating disorder and must be treated so that psychological work and interventions can be accessed to help reduce self-torment and low self-esteem. The problems beneath the surface typically relate to the inability to accept themselves for who they really are and their appearance. An eating disorder is your worst enemy and will pose as your inner critic making you feel worthless and mot good enough, thus keeping an individual stuck in the vicious cycle of obeying anorexia. The main issue surrounding food guilt is the ability the feeling must define the way you feel about yourself. Understanding your behaviours and vicious cycles as well as recognising your intrusive thoughts is key when tackling an eating disorder. The goal being to deal with the emotions in a healthy way and not resorting to anorexia inclined behaviours to bring relief and safety.
Riding the unpleasant emotions:
Experiencing your emotions can be overwhelming and to understanding when the feelings arise is key. The relationship that an individual has with food and healthy activity is destroyed by anorexia. While guilt and shame are related, they’re not identical. Guilt is the feeling of having done something wrong whereas shame is deeper and personal and produces the sensation that an individual is flawed as a person. Guilt is more of a negative evaluation of a behaviour such as “I did something wrong” whereas shame is more “I am wrong”. Shame is the intense feeling of inadequacy and worthlessness. These emotions can arise due to internal beliefs and values as those with anorexia tend to be touch on themselves. Those with an eating disorder describe a negative or critical internal voice fuelling negative thoughts. Internal dialogue is only amplifying what’s communicated externally. The messages projected around an individual influence our beliefs and values from an early age, causing an individual to internalise them. Unhealthy behaviours are resorted to help calm that critical inner voice and cope with the uncomfortable feelings. These emotions disconnect you from your body’s needs and signals, therefore those with an eating disorder must learn how to process these emotions and deal with them safely while relearning how to trust those signals. Adapting the ability to pause and question the thought as well as the purpose it serves is useful when challenging you’re eating disorder.
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