Some celebrate new beginnings and set resolutions at the beginning of a calendar year. You may feel pressured to find a “new you” in the New Year. It is common for folks to set intentions to commit to a new exercise routine or diet. You may hear more about plant-based lifestyles like vegan and vegetarian. You may be interested in going vegan or vegetarian with the intention of ethics, sustainability, or health benefits.
While it is possible to be vegan or vegetarian during recovery from an eating disorder, it’s important to keep in mind that any changes to your food intake can trigger eating disorder behaviors or contribute to the onset or relapse of an eating disorder.
What Is “Veganuary”?
Veganuary is a Europe-based non-profit that encourages folks to try veganism for January. It provides resources like recipes, a celebrity cookbook, and emails to support folks making this change. The intention is to provide support for those who want to explore veganism.
Being vegan is so much more than the foods you choose to eat. It is deeply rooted in animal liberation. It is also a value-driven decision. The core values of veganism include compassion, contribution, community, empathy, ethics, harmony, and integrity. It allows you to explore new foods like plant-based proteins and recipes.
When Can Being Vegan Be An Eating Disorder Behavior?
A major red flag for veganism and vegetarianism is when the intention of adopting these lifestyles is to control the types of foods that you are eating to change your body size, shape, or weight. Have you considered adopting a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle but are still determining how it will affect your eating disorder recovery? There is a major misconception that vegan and vegetarian diets are lacking in key nutrients. It is also widely assumed that eating disorder treatment or recovery cannot go hand in hand with a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle. This simply is not true.
Let’s consider two scenarios. The first is someone who has been vegan or vegetarian before their eating disorder diagnosis, and the second is someone who wants to adopt a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle during treatment or recovery from their eating disorder.
Scenario One: Someone Who Has Been Vegan or Vegetarian Before Their Eating Disorder
Someone who has been vegetarian their entire life and whose family are also vegetarian develops an eating disorder. They can meet their nutritional needs through treatment, including several levels of care. Their core values for remaining vegetarian through treatment include community, strong relationships, and open-mindedness. This individual can consider a reality where a vegetarian lifestyle and treatment exist together.
Scenario Two: Someone Who Wants To Become A Vegan or Vegetarian During Eating Disorder Recovery
The intention of any food-related change during treatment should be well thought out and communicated with the individual’s support team. It can be helpful to explore if the transition to a vegan lifestyle is solely food-related. Suppose the desire to be vegan includes
animal rights, toiletries, and clothing awareness. In that case, this supports the idea that this change comes from the individual rather than the eating disorder. If the interest in a plant-based, vegetarian, or vegan diet started as making “healthier” choices, which was followed by the transition to vegetarian and lastly to vegan, then it’s likely that the eating disorder fuels this interest.
Changes to your lifestyle, including what you eat, significantly impact your treatment and recovery. Use your values and support team as an anchor to help you navigate the “new year, new you” noise this time of year. It is essential to discuss any changes to your food intake or physical activity with your treatment team to make sure it’s in the best interest of your recovery.
At BALANCE eating disorder treatment center™, we understand the complexities of eating disorders and provide you with comprehensive and necessary tools to help you on your recovery journey. To this end, we work closely with each client to better understand the spiritual and ethical frameworks that determine their food preferences. Within the safety of a supportive environment, we then reasonably accommodate those preferences while encouraging clients to increase food variety and scope gently. We honor our clients’ religious and philosophical backgrounds. Vegan, vegetarian, and kosher eating patterns are accommodated case-by-case.
Our admissions team would happily answer any questions about you or a loved one receiving eating disorder treatment for anorexia or another eating disorder. Book a free consultation call with our admissions team below, or read more about our philosophy here.
References
Fuller SJ, Brown A, Rowley J, Elliott-Archer J. Veganism and eating disorders: assessment and management considerations. BJPsych Bull. 2022;46(2):116-120. doi:10.1192/bjb.2021.37
Griffin T. Core Values List: 71 Values to Develop Your “Why. Thomas Griffin. https://thomasgriffin.com/core-values-list/. Accessed January 4, 2024.
Veganuary. https://veganuary.com/en-us/. Accessed January 4, 2024
Wolfram T. How Not to Turn Veganuary into a Diet. Taylor Wolfram.
https://www.taylorwolfram.com/veganuary/. Accessed January 4, 2024.
This post was written by BALANCE Blog Contributor, Dawn Lundin (she/her).
Dawn Lundin, MS, RD is a registered dietitian and owner of Restore Ease Dietetics which is a virtual nutrition private practice that focuses on mental health + sports nutrition. She primarily with adolescents and young adults with eating disorders. She believes in meeting clients where they are at which provides a unique client-focused approach to recovery. She lives in Marquette, Michigan with her husband and three sons. As a family, they love to travel and spend time outdoors. She also enjoys mountain biking, running, cross-country skiing, being on or in the water, and knitting.
