Eating Disorders and Self-esteem
Eating Disorders and Self-esteem
To be well with yourself is to be well with your food.
Pause for reflection… let us think about it together.
The way you eat, the manner you choose your food, how satisfied you are, and simply how you feel after your meals are attitudes that tell a lot about yourself.
It is not too hard to notice that your diet and eating habits reveal your lifestyle and your choices. But they also reveal your confusions … and your questions…
In reality, it is not easy to choose what is better for you, we are constantly bombarded with so much information that it is hard to feel confident with our feelings and choices – and as a result, so many people remain confused about food and suffering from eating disorders.
We end up only focusing on a part of the problem and, in extreme cases, get stuck with some severe condition, whether it is anorexia (denial of physical hunger to attain a delusional ideal), bulimia (constant attempt to remove what has been already eaten – exercising or vomiting) or more common binge eating (frequent fits of overeating).
The common point of these conditions is that the person is trying to find relief in food (or in its absence) of various emotion-related experiences – conflicts, lack of understanding, frustration, loneliness…
Even if we do not present an extreme case, in truth these three classic models of eating disorders present themselves in a way or several facets of the modern day, which makes them so common that that they become trivialized and can easily be considered “normal”.
Example: The person wakes up thinking about eating less and dieting before anything else happens… and later finds a “good” medicine that helps burn what he/she ate. Another example, very common: whenever a group of friends meet, someone will be complaining about the pounds recently gained.
However, what is “normal” is often far from adequate and can cause significant physical and emotional impairment.
Restoring and respecting the perception of physical hunger is the key to regulate the way we eat and what we eat. It is the first commitment we must make with ourselves. Accepting physical hunger and identifying its source is our guide to achieve maximum enjoyment in food.
Then, we need to work to better understand our emotions and addressing them directly – not with food! It is hard work, but it is the way to build a better and real relationship with oneself. To identify one’s true emotional needs, one must be willing to grow on the path of self-knowledge, identify their frailties and frustrations, and create alternatives to regulate oneself without trying to drown them with food.
I know – it is easier said than done. But as we grow this awareness, we can begin to search for answers that are more assertive. It starts with staying with our feelings to process and understand what they are trying to say; then adopt different, more fulfilling strategies to address them, such as: talking with a good friend, meditating, taking a lingering bath, reading a good book, resting, praying, listening to “that” song… Only you will know what is best suited for your particular anxiety, so understand it and get straight to the point.
Are not these, by any chance, the real pleasures in life?
So, let us make an effort to understand our true emotional needs and use them as our guide to find real satisfaction in life. Let us find out from our own story the best way to deal with our physical, emotional, and spiritual self-realization. That is the start of the journey to master Life.
