An Eating Disorder Specialist Explains How Trauma Creates Food Disorders

I want one so people can pay attention to me and care abt me

It’s not just control, I find if I’m preoccupied thinking about food and how hungry I am I stop thinking about my problems. Also when I’m upset I get too nauseous to eat.

In my personal experience with eating disorders…I’ve found that eating disorders are fueled by excessive guilt. Guilt from other people’s comments, from self perceptions, from not looking like we think we should, from thinking we are fat, from overeating, from feeling a lack of control…..this guilt also fosters low self esteem.
Guilt removes self worth and contentment. The eating disorder is an attempt to fix some of what makes us feel guilty. I had other OCD behaviors along with anorexia and Bulimea.. just trying to be perfect in the way I looked and the things I did. That was 40 years ago….. a few weeks ago, my son said …Mom, you live as if everything has to be black and white….its either perfect (white) or a big failure (black). He said, I’ve learned that life is in the grey area…when you can live in the grey area you will be content.
He said that because I’m still OCD about some things. So I was amazed at his well thought out words! He is right! We have to live with our imperfect selves. Without the guilt of missing the mark. And give that same to others. . Excessive guilt over how others see our selves or our yards is useless. Im loving that concept of living in the grey zone. That is where we ALL live now and it’s a live and let live place. Even for the person in the mirror!

I just want to be skinny 😢

I keep eating just because of my divorce and not seeing my child. I’ve never had attachment to food before this, I was actually a health coach, now I need help! 😑

I need trauma therapy. Does anyone know someone who I can speak to now? Just have an urge after years of divorce trauma and losing my kid to speak to someone.

Soilent Green is People.

Hi. Im korean
We barely have support systems in korea society for ED, ocd patients.
Unlike americans do, I have never seen a single group that treats anorexia, ed, ocd etc
Americans are lucky to have various voices and helps from doctor to individual groups in society

heckin' informative.

Recently most people have eating disorders that can fixed with modifying eating habits

Stracke Road

U alsow loock like bulemic person ! Are u really now one look after me first exemple end im bolemic fromn2017

I now what i saay dont play either people because is no truh bulemic person cant stoped …..!!!!

I don't know if this has happened to anyone else, but I am leaving my testimony so that if something similar has happened to someone else, it can help them in their process.
I think my anorexia problem was largely due to a trauma I had as a child
sexual assault by a cousin who at that time. I felt guilty and that degenerate is the culprit. I carried out the whole part of my life hating what led me to not enjoy my childhood and youth because I did not recognize my trauma. In adulthood it was a long process to close this trauma and that it no longer causes double suffering in me.



added to what I saw on television at that time that can now be seen massively with the internet, since women were always shown in a thin way and with certain proportions and in my mind I believed since I was little that I always had to have that prospect and thus continue not eating added to that with the problems I had at school for seeing myself as so thin and not knowing the reason, since I was very small, so I formed the idea that people who saw themselves as overweight or simply normal weight were bad people.

I think that a lot of it is also due to public figures. In the case of women, an image of perfection was always shown before and in the long run, when you are young, you can assume that as reality. So be careful.
Many adult women believe that perfection is looking a certain way, having surgeries and all that, and in the end losing themselves and not seeing their inner beauty, their outer beauty that was given to them at birth, and many take advantage of that.
I am foreigner
My english is still in process

Had one a few times, then it changed to meth addiction, then i got clean and it changed to a different ED 😢 trying to self medicate my anxiety and stress..

Can narcissistic abuse lead to an eating disorder? I don’t have much of a desire to eat.

I had anorexia as a teen ages 14-16 and what caused it was domestic violence at home.

I used to skip all the food I could and only drank coke as I had a weird belief that calories in drink didn’t count.

At the time I didn’t know why I was doing it, now, I think it was both a form of self harm and also a distraction. My life was so horrific not eating and feeling hungry, obsessing over my body and hurting it felt more pleasant than home.

I realised suicidal thoughts I’ve had are the same but for PTSD from said violence. It was extreme violence too as in blood, broken teeth, fear of death. I read that it’s common for teen girls in DV homes to end up annorexic. So, yeah.

I also now OVEREAT to avoid PTSD. I’m always running away from the trauma. And I can’t stop myself.

Are you asking questions ?

mental through food medium

Very Interesting 🤨 to know 😢about all of this stuff. Never really got Treatment for Arfid and Sensitive to Foods and Hightened food texture issues. 😢😢

Jesus, God the Son the Son of God, died, and spilled His precious blood, on the cross to pay the price for our sins. He was buried and on the third day rose from the dead just like the scriptures said He would. Salvation is a gift, please accept it now if you haven't already by BELIEVING in what Jesus did for us.

The pandemic and IG influencer aka sex worker explosion has really destroyed so much progress we have made toward helping recognize, treat and to stop eating disorders in people. Instagram is really men (and supporting women) profiting off of people’s suffering around body and sex - WHILE PRETENDING NOT TO and denying doing so. I am very scared for our society.

If I eat too much I feel sad if I eat not enough I starve

i really cannot force myself to eat in front of people i am not comfortable with. it leads me to literally not eating for days at a time, because im staying at a family members house and i just cannot shake the fear that they will make some type of comment about me eating. and eventually i go so long without eating, or i only ever eat when they arent around, so it is like a given that they are gonna say something next time they see me eat. which makes it even worse and makes me not want to eat when they are around more. it is at a point where my stomach is so messed up i get full so crazy fast, like within 4 bites of something i am full. but then i feel STARVING not even an hour later, and it doesnt matter what i eat, it is always like this. i wish i could just eat normally with no fear. i wish people let others eat without saying things

I actually am so traumatized I can’t eat I only eat when I’m starving so bad that my ulcers hurt and I have to eat. Today I only had to eat crackers. Can’t eat.

My dad was an alcoholic and I was forced to eat foods that would make me vomit. Okra mixed with cornmeal WTF 🤮Still has me jacked up today 33 years later two beautiful boys later who are thankfully doing awesome, and I’m stuck between 100 and 108 pounds smh but my dad didn’t know I was born with a condition vomiting milk which fucked up my stomach. My stomach was not like other children but he took it as being picky. He’s dead but I forgive him, I want to like food again man this sucks😢

"Planet Ayurveda combines tradition with science. Their product has been a game-changer for me in my battle with anorexia!"

I was forced to eat as a child, mum forced me to eat food I didn't want she will give same for days, but I had chocolate and ice cream some times.

Amali
Australia
Victoria.

Thanks for shedding light on anorexia. I struggled with appetite issues and weakness, but Planet Ayurveda’s Shatavari Capsules and Weight Gain Formula helped me regain my strength and weight naturally. If anyone’s facing similar struggles, these herbal supplements are a blessing!

we NEED MORE doctors like this lady but unfortunately only the bad incompetent ED specialists work in the state healthcare system here in the UK!

I was both binge eater and anorexic and bulimic none are fun lol

Hurts

I love it another specialist that never had this disorder...

Insurance company’s are the real monsters
When we actually want help

They always shift the blame to society. Maybe your patients caused the issue by starving themselves?

Seems like there's no way to avoid obesity that she wouldn't call "traumatizing." So just settle for heart disease and type-2 diebetes I guess.

I do it for being accepted in my family I have noticed wen I look fragile cute they like me more or care for me😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢

I do it to be accepted😢😢😢

I would love to eat normal😢ly 😢😢😢

So after my husband had an affair, i gained 100 pounds. I had a crappy childhood lots of trauma, first husband was abusive physically and mentally. I thought this husband would give me the love and safety I've always longed for. But when i realized that he was having an affair from the get go, i ate my sorrow. In germany we even have a word for it "Kummerspeck" literal translation Grief Bacon.
Overweight due to emotional overeating.

God healed me I found my identity and it's not anorexia 👁

Its autism

She’s right on but… you do get the belonging when you lose the weight. I threw up my food for about a year, lost a ton of weight and everyone was just freaking out about how good I looked. Now I’m not sick and I’m back to fat and I feel more alone and rejected than ever.

Treatment doesn’t work well these days because the therapists say.. health at every size.. love your body.. so you regain all the weight and stay obese and then you’re triggered again know you’re unattractive and unhealthy and the whole cycle starts again

Thank you for bringing attention to ARFID. This was a disorder I struggled with for years as a result of trauma from choking. I was in middle school.
Of the many professionals I saw, no one considered this disorder as a possibility, or even valid. I felt like there was something stuck in my throat. They put me under anesthesia and shoved a camera down my throat to check. I wouldn’t eat much of anything, only sticking to three foods, which I brought everywhere with me when we went over to friends houses or elsewhere. They were going to intubate me with a feeding tube. This retraumatized me because I was even scared of needles at that point. Thank you for educating people.

My heart hurts

I've lived 34 years of mostly pain. I have no idea how to feel it.... Gluttony overtakes me to soothe the chaos. I'm borderline overweight.... I don't know how to overcome this i dislike how weak I've been

I have used food for self-soothing since a very young age. I am 49 and cannot imagine eating just for hunger. My life is consumed, no pun intended, by hating my eating disorder, hating my need for comfort and regulation from food, and the negative impact that my lack of control over food has caused me to be obese all my life.

I lost 90 lb in 2021-2022 by joining a weight loss challenge, essentially forcing myself to change my diet and exercise. I could not believe I got down to a weight I hadn't ever dreamed of being. The moment I won my money back, it was a STRUGGLE to have self control.... Every. Single. Second. I was in panic mode, fighting the devil of binge eating and compulsive overeating. I have regained 40 lb in a short year.


I tried therapy, bought dozens of books, listened to hours and hours of podcasts, joined FB groups, joined OA, bought programs, listened to hypnotherapy, etc. Etc. I am isolated from my life more now than when I was 230 lb and trying fad diets. I feel like therapists don't get it. Restriction does lead to overeating, but what about the 5 yr old little girl who was obsessed with food because it was her only source of love and a way to feel good, if just for a moment. I had a BPD mom and a father who worked 3 jobs to support her shopping habits and 4 children. I also think he avoided coming home. He is an amazing person, but emotionally unavailable.

In my podcast world, I've learned that I'm an avoidantally attached person, probably dismissive avoidant. I feel like giving up.

These lectures, books, programs, etc.. don't address people who have been locked into an eating disorder since early childhood. It feels hopeless.

1) My life is a horrific nightmare

2) I am completely trapped inside of.

3) Just hell. No escape.

Food. It all tastes bad. What can I do to get something down. Extreame Hot Sauce. I have learn how not to taste food. Hold gulp and down a glass of water and smile. Obviously I do not eat out or go to. peoples homes.for dinner. As a child eating scared me to death. The taste how do you get past the taste?