School Lunch In Eating Disorder Recovery
Eating during lunch at school can add an unwelcome layer of anxiety when recovering from an eating disorder. While the structure and schedule school brings can be relieving, the public setting can also be stressful. There may be triggers at school, but it is possible to focus on your recovery regardless of outside influences.
You are not alone if you are struggling while eating lunch at school. Eating disorders can cause a heightened awareness of what our and our peers are eating. Because of this, it may feel like others are paying as much attention to your food and eating habits as much as you are to theirs. The reality is that most people with healthy eating habits will likely need to pay more attention to what others are eating.
Comparison is a tactic that eating disorders thrive off of. Still, the general public does not weigh each person’s meal’s health attributes and portion sizes before digging into their own. Remind yourself of these patterns in your thinking. Others are likely not to judge your eating habits.
You Don’t Have To Do What Others Do
Sometimes, students may be in situations where their peers engage in disordered behaviors. These moments can be challenging. Watching someone else use in disordered behaviors while focusing on recovery yourself is no easy feat. Remember that your recovery is your journey. Regardless of the situation, others may be in, you deserve to eat as much as your body and your mind need to be adequately nourished. It does not make you a failure or weak to continue your recovery while others are struggling; it means quite the opposite. Pressing on in recovery during trying times is something to be incredibly proud of.
Despite the triggering nature of lunch at school, it is unfair to assume that everyone uses disordered behaviors. Sometimes, students end up missing meals simply due to a busy schedule. Unfortunately, this does not make it any easier on the eating-disordered part of the brain. Regardless of the intent behind the action, the result can be triggering for individuals in recovery.
Nobody Is The Same
At the end of the day, the most important thing to remind yourself is that everyone’s situation is different. Other people engaging in different eating habits than your own should not affect the way you nourish yourself. You deserve to eat even when others are not, and you deserve to heal even if others are struggling. You are not at fault for the actions of others, and you should not punish yourself accordingly.
We invite all providers and educators to join BALANCE’s Intuitive Eating | HAES Content Creator, Korie Born (she/her), for a FREE Empowering Recovery: Insights for Educators and Providers Webinar on Thursday, September 28th, at 12 PM ET. Learn how to encourage recovery, promote food and body image peace, and pave the way for a school year of healing for students.
This webinar was made to support you in your work with students during this back-to-school transition this fall. Register here to help your students and clients move through the school year and beyond with actionable steps to make recovery possible.
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Reference
“Eating Disorder Statistics: General & Diversity Stats: ANAD.” ANAD, National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, 3 Mar. 2021, anad.org/get-informed/about-eating-disorders/eating-disorders-statistics/.
This post was written by BALANCE Blog Contributor, Samreen Khan (she/her/he/him).
Samreen is a high school graduate with an ardent drive to de-stigmatize mental illness and eating disorders. Born and raised in the Bay Area, she experienced the harmful effects of “fitspo” culture firsthand for most of her childhood. Throughout her own recovery journey, she became passionate about deconstructing diet culture and raising awareness about eating disorders in her everyday life. Samreen began extending her own ideology of intuitive eating and body neutrality to others by publishing her own writing online when she was fourteen, and has since received several awards for her prose and poetry. She has conducted research on the biological and evolutionary implications of familial mental illness, and is currently taking college-level Sociology and Psychology courses with hopes to delve further into the social and cultural constructs that bolster disordered eating, especially within marginalized communities. She’s grateful for the opportunity to combine two of her strongest passions — writing and mental health — by working with BALANCE!
