Writer finds solace in accepting her incomplete healing journey from an eating disorder.
Navigating Eating Disorder Recovery in a Diet Culture Landscape
Eating disorder recovery in the modern era is a complex journey, fraught with challenges that stem from diet culture, social media trends, and even medical treatments. Mallary Tenore Tarpley, author of the book SLIP: Life in the Middle of Eating Disorder Recovery, shares her personal experiences and insights in navigating this landscape.
Tarpley's struggle with an eating disorder began at the tender age of 11, following the loss of her mother. In an attempt to cope with her grief, she turned to restricting her food intake, a behaviour that would dominate her teenage years, with frequent stints in residential treatment facilities.
As Tarpley embarked on her recovery journey, she shifted her thinking towards normalizing slips and embracing imperfections. This mindset shift helped her find forward momentum and a path towards healing. However, the current state of diet culture continues to pose significant challenges to recovery.
Social media trends like the hashtag #skinnytok promote thin-ideal messages that can trigger disordered eating behaviours. The hashtag, which had millions of views before it was banned by TikTok in June, glorifies thinness and quick weight loss, featuring diet trends, before-and-after transformations, and dieting "hacks." Recovery experts recommend setting boundaries around diet culture at home and on social media to foster a safer environment for those in recovery.
Meanwhile, GLP-1 receptor agonists, a class of medications originally for diabetes but now also used for weight management, have emerged as a controversial factor in this landscape. While effective for certain metabolic conditions, their use raises concern in the eating disorder community as they may reinforce harmful weight-focused norms and obscure the goal of sustainable, health-centered recovery. Clinicians stress the importance of weight-inclusive goal setting in treatment, highlighting that recovery weights should be individualized and not based solely on BMI or weight loss medications.
Recovery frameworks increasingly emphasize intuitive eating and weight-inclusive approaches, recognizing that rigid weight targets and societal pressure to be thin can contribute to relapse or delayed recovery. Diet culture perpetuates restrictive eating and weight stigma, counteracting the principles of eating disorder recovery focused on health, stability, and psychological healing.
Tarpley's personal experiences highlight these challenges. She found that calorie counting gave her a sense of control after her mother's death, but it also became a dangerous obsession. She struggled with body image issues, both as a teenager and as a parent, finding it difficult to talk positively about her children's bodies while still struggling with her own.
In her book, Tarpley discusses living with an eating disorder and the insights she's gained as an adult. She believes that full recovery can be possible for some, but the push for full recovery can sometimes leave people feeling defeated due to black-and-white thinking and perfectionism. Tarpley, like many others, has not found a definitive definition of "full recovery" in the medical community, adding to the confusion for those with lived experience.
Alicia Garceau, an Indianapolis-based journalist who writes about health, caregiving, and identity, publishes the Substack newsletter The Wonder Years. Her work sheds light on the complexities of eating disorder recovery and the impact of diet culture on individuals and society.
In a world where diet culture and social media trends can complicate recovery efforts, it is crucial to prioritize psychological health, intuitive eating, and weight inclusivity. Recovery is a journey, and understanding and compassion are key to navigating its challenges.
- Recovery experts suggest setting boundaries against diet culture on social media platforms to safeguard the well-being of individuals navigating eating disorder recovery.
- GLP-1 receptor agonists, initially developed for diabetes management, have emerged as a contentious element in the eating disorder recovery landscape, possibly reinforcing restrictive weight norms.
- Acknowledging the importance of health, stability, and psychological healing, recovery frameworks are leaning towards intuitive eating and weight-inclusive approaches, moving away from rigid weight targets.
- In her book, Tarpley discusses her struggle with mental health issues linked to eating disorders, emphasizing the complexity of finding a balance between science-based approaches and intuitive understanding.
- Promoting health-and-wellness and mental health awareness, The Wonder Years Substack newsletter by Alicia Garceau offers a platform for exploring the profound impact of diet culture on personal livesand society as a whole.
