Bust a Myth Around Food: “People With Eating Disorders Just Refuse to Eat”
Eating disorders are not simply about refusing food.
A person may restrict, binge, purge, emotionally eat, follow rigid food rules, experience relentless food noise, avoid foods because of sensory distress, lose their appetite, fear choking or vomiting, or feel completely out of control around food.
Depression, anxiety, grief, trauma, ARFID, sensory processing, autism, ADHD, physical illness, stress and major life changes can all influence a person's relationship with eating. Sometimes the person desperately wants to eat but cannot make eating feel manageable.
And some eating disorders involve eating more rather than less. One meal—or one person's appearance—cannot tell us the whole story.
Message from Maggie
I want us to move away from seeing difficult eating as bad behaviour. There is usually something underneath it that deserves our attention. Instead of asking, “Why are you refusing to eat?” we can ask, “What is making eating difficult today?” Curiosity gives us somewhere to begin.
Space to Breathe Therapy
