When you think about eating disorders, you might picture someone who is severely restricting their food, visibly underweight, or engaging in behaviors like bingeing and purging.
But eating disorders and disordered eating don't always look the way we expect them to.
You don't have to have a diagnosis to struggle with food.
You don't have to be at a certain weight.
And you don't have to feel like your relationship with food is "bad enough" to deserve support.
Sometimes the signs are much quieter.
Maybe you think about food constantly. Maybe you feel anxious when you don't know what you'll be eating later. Maybe you have a list of foods you consider "good" and "bad." Maybe you regularly skip meals because you ate "too much" the day before. Maybe you exercise to compensate for what you've eaten.
Or maybe you technically eat a wide variety of foods, but you spend an enormous amount of mental energy worrying about what, when, and how much you're eating.
You may find yourself wondering:
"Is this normal?"
"Does everyone think this much about food?"
"Do I actually have a problem?"
The answer isn't always straightforward. But your relationship with food doesn't need to meet some imaginary threshold of seriousness before you are allowed to seek help.
