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Joanna's Blog Friends and Family How to Help Your Friend or Sister Who Has an Eating Disorder
Joanna's Blog Friends and Family How to Help Your Friend or Sister Who Has an Eating Disorder
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As someone with an ED, I don't know if I would feel comfortable being with a bunch of "normal/healthy" people at an event that involved food.
Well, that's not totally correct, I (personally) am okay with it, but if my ED was really bad I can imagine that being around people eating and feeling like I had to eat would be very anxiety provoking.
I guess I still get that a little because I hate when I feel like I have to eat.
I'm not really sure what i find helpful from others. Not many people know about my ED so I guess they don't act differently towards me.
What I do NOT find helpful (from everyone), are the comments about what I'm eating
or, the one that's really bad is, "you're eating that!!!," if I choose to have something I don't usually eat, like dessert.
Then I feel like I shouldn't be eating it and that I'm only supposed to be eating lettuce.
If you are living in the thick of an eating disorder, you will not be comfortable in a socially acceptable eating situation. Your challenge is to face those uncomfortable feelings. When you stretch yourself to tolerate whatever you feel for as long as you can while you are in a "normal" eating situation you are moving against the rules of your eating disorder. You strengthen your ability to live a normal life.
Just a little bit at a time is fine. If the people in your life work to make you "comfortable" that means they will be catering to your eating disorder. Commenting on what you eat is intrusive. But including you in normal events and expecting you to behave in a socially acceptable and gracious way shows their respect for you. It also gives you an opportunity to rise to the occasion.