Recovering from an eating disorder, including bulimia recovery, is a challenging yet deeply rewarding journey. It’s a path of self-discovery, healing, and reclaiming control over your life. Whether you’re just beginning your recovery or have been on this journey for some time, these five tips can help guide you toward a healthier relationship with food, your body, and yourself. Keep reading to learn 5 tips for bulimia recvoery.
1. Build a Support System
Knowing that you don’t have to recover from bulimia on your own is a crucial first step. Eating disorders thrive off of secrecy, so finding loved ones and/or a treatment team who you can count on during this journey is extremely helpful. Especially when we live in a culture that constantly demonizes foods, bodies and certain eating habits.
Consider reaching out to an eating disorder dietitian, especially one that is intuitive eating and Health At Every Size aligned, as well as an eating disorder specialized therapist.
Courage to Nourish offers eating disorder support groups for those in recovery. You might find it helpful to get support from peers. Recovery isn’t a path you have to walk alone; having people who can offer encouragement, listen without judgment, and provide practical support can make all the difference.
2. Eat Consistently
Many of our clients who find themselves in a binge/purge cycle, also find themselves in a restrict/binge/purge cycle. In order to engage in bulimia recovery, it’s important to eat regular, consistent, and satisfying meals throughout the day. Working with an eating disorder dietitian can help you discuss roadblocks to eating consistently and help you find various practical ways to work through urges you might have to restrict. Eating consistently prevents extreme hunger, which can trigger bingeing. Also, when establishing an eating routine, it might also be helpful to create time for self care activities and hobbies that bring you joy.
3. Notice Triggers
When you engage in your eating disorder behavior, it might be helpful to keep a log of the various triggers – both physical and mental.
Some examples of physical triggers might include: nervous stomach, fullness, hunger, bloating, tiredness…etc
Some examples of mental triggers might include: body image disturbance, general anxiety or depression, increased stress at work, school or home…etc.
For every person, physical triggers are different, so it’s important for you to identify your own experiences with your triggers. You might even notice how your physical and mental triggers relate to each other. And, it might be helpful to bring your log/journal to your session with a dietitian and therapist.
4. Practice Coping Skills
Many people in recovery from an eating disorder can relate to the idea that the eating disorder actually is a coping skill. An individual might use eating disorder behaviors to avoid emotions, to numb or because they don’t know how else to cope. Part of healing from an eating disorder is to practice using other coping tools that could eventually replace the eating disorder.
One tool I recommend to clients is the “pause technique.” When you have an urge to act on a behavior – either bingeing and purging – try setting a 5 minute timer and do something else. Maybe you watch TV or read a book. Maybe you practice a mindful meditation or deep breathing. Maybe you call a friend. Maybe you name 5 things you can see, 4 things you can touch, 3 you can hear, two you smell, one you can taste.
After the 5 minute timer goes off, notice how your urge has either increased or decreased. Keep setting the timer until the urge goes down. And if it doesn’t and you find you still need to act on the behavior, that is OKAY. The goal is to create some distance between the urge and acting on it.
5. Explore “Anti-Diet” Culture
It’s probably no surprise when I say that our culture has extremely rigid “eat this, not that” rules. We find ourselves confused about the nutrition information out there. We find ourselves feeling guilty for eating certain foods, for not eating others. We find ourselves hating any body changes that might happen. And not to mention how difficult it is for someone in a higher weight body to exist in the world with the weight stigma in our culture.
Oftentimes, our culture’s relationship with food affects our own relationships with food. And for many people, this impacts their eating disorders.
So, part of healing from an eating disorder is exploring how our culture might have impacted your relationship with food, body and exercise. You can explore these topics in session with your dietitian.
Options for Treating Bulimia
Like many eating disorders, bulimia often manifests as a coping mechanism for difficult thoughts and feelings. Treatment looks different for everyone, but evidence shows that support from mental health professionals in collaboration with registered dietitians like those at Courge to Nourish can help shine a light on why a client feels overwhelmed in life and examine how this distress affects the client’s relationship with food specifically, in an understanding and supportive way.
How long does it take to recover from Bulimia?
Treating an eating disorder takes time! There is not any specific path people follow and we recognize that recovery is not linear. Most of the clients we see are “long term” clients who we work with on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. If you feel like your healing journey is taking “too long,” just remember that there is no such thing as “too long.”
Find Bulimia Recovery
Bulimia recovery is a journey that requires patience, perseverance, and a lot of self-love. By building a strong support system, eating consistently, recognizing triggers, practicing coping skills, you can foster a healthier relationship with food and yourself. Courage to Nourish dietitians specialize in HAES, eating disorder recovery for those with bulimia. If you are looking for support in recovery, we are a call away. Reached out for a complimentary discovery call today!
Contact Us
Courage to Nourish is a group of eating disorder specialized dietitians. We have in person locations in Alexandria, Virginia, Columbia, Maryland and College Park, Maryland. We offer virtual services across the state of Virginia, Washington DC, Pennsylvania, and Colorado. We offer individual nutrition therapy. As well as support groups. We would love to guide you in building a better relationship with food.
Contact us for more information. And to schedule a discovery call. Also, sign up for our client or clinician newsletter!
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Alex is the founder and owner of Courage to Nourish. She opened Courage to Nourish to create a practice that aligns with her values in eating disorder recovery. She is a Certified Eating Disorder Dietitian and Approved Supervisor through iaedp. Alex loves working with children, high school and college students as well as athletes. Additionally, Alex is a proud anti-diet dietitian and works with her clients through a Health At Every Size © and intuitive eating framework. Read more about Alex here.
