Navigating Eating Disorders Over the Holidays
The holidays can be challenging for everyone, but especially triggering for those with eating disorders or other emotional struggles. For those with eating disorders, there is often pressure in front of family or friends to eat a lot. They tend to retreat, isolating themselves or, at the table, limiting food choices. Family dynamics, and a heightened focus on food, can trigger significant stress and exacerbate eating disordered behaviors.
Those caring for friends and family need to notice and support the person exhibiting food restriction and avoidance, as well as unexpected expressions of anger or anxiety leading up to the holiday festivities.
Eating disorders manifest in various ways. Symptoms might present as classic examples of anorexia, bulimia, or binge eating disorder. Or, they may be subtle, nuanced, and easy to miss—especially in a culture where diet behaviors are often normalized.
Warning signs to look out for include:
Expressing fear about gaining “holiday” weight
Binging
Distress over body image
Picky eating that seems like new preferences and aversions
Compulsive exercise
The pervasive “new year, new me” mentality and rampant weight loss conversations around New Year’s resolutions can make it even harder to discern typical behaviors from problematic ones. We live in a society where disordered eating is normalized, especially during the holidays. Often, eating disorders begin as diets, with the initial desire to be more healthy and fit.
Oftentimes, parents feel that it is their fault and are anxious to address it. An eating disorder is no one’s fault, and it's really never about the food. The conversation should focus on underlying anxiety and a desire to feel more in control, not the food. The conversation will be hard, and will often be met with a lot of anger and denial, but try to stay calm and remind them that your only goal is to help them be healthy, happy, and safe.
Dr. Geary specializes in eating disorders and is available for consultation.
