How to Battle Secrecy and Shame with your Eating Disorder

It took me 26 years to realize this: if you're intentionally hiding something from the people you care about, it's (almost always) not good for you. I've applied this rule to many areas of my life now. If there's a romantic relationship, a habit, or even a personal decision that I'm hiding- it means there's shame surrounding it. And for me shame (and secrecy) are personal indicators that I'm not doing what is best for me.

When it comes to food and eating, secrecy is a RED FLAG. In general, I could say this indicates a negative relationship with food, eating or your body.

Some examples of eating disorder secrecy might be:

1) You quickly eat mouthfuls of more food when other people leave the room as if you don't want them to "catch" you doing so
2) You wait until all of your roommates/family members are asleep and then you eat large amounts of food
3) You always eat your meals alone
4) You lie about eating sometime earlier in the day to avoid eating with friends
5) You lie about what you ate in fear of being judged
6) You sneak food and eat quietly in your living space as if you don't want anyone to know you're eating.
7) You throw up your food and nobody knows about it

Of course, these are all examples of secrecy and shame as it involves a negative relationship with food.

How can you put and end this ED shame/secrecy and also work towards recovery?

1) Make an effort to eat your meals with other people
2) Keep all of your food items in a public/common spaces in your home
3) Talk to trusted people about your struggles with food
4) Ask trusted friends to intervene if you feel yourself about to binge. This can be done by striking up a conversation with you, asking to hang out outside of the house, or just distracting you somehow.

Please keep in mind that what I publish on this blog are just ideas/suggestions that I have to help others heal. Please do not take them as scientific fact or proven roads to recovery. I have curated the list above based on my personal experience and also the experiences of others I've talked to.

Have a wonderful evening!

xox

Meg