Types of Restriction in Binge Eating Recovery
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When starting the *very* hard work of normalizing your relationship with food, being curious about how restriction is playing a role in your eating behaviors is one of the most helpful places to start.
Most people don’t equate restriction with all of the eating disorders, but the truth is that restriction is at the foundation of disordered eating, anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder and orthorexia (along with many other things!).
In the Dieter’s Rebellion Group for women struggling with food and body image, we take a hard look at cycles of behavior around food. And, for most people once they get curious about their own cycle, it’s relatively predictable. Restriction of some sort eventually leads to the “problem” behavior of binge eating.
Let’s flip things on their head for a moment. Let’s shift the lens of the problem off of bingeing. Let’s get curious about how restriction is contributing to your own cyclical behavior around food and your body.
Restriction can be a sneaky thing. So, let’s consider a few common types of restriction that could be contributing to your relationship with food.
restricting/depriving food
For most people, this is the most straightforward place to start. Physical deprivation of food will almost always propel us toward food.
Skipping meals, cutting out food groups, dabbling in intermittent fasting, trying the latest dieting trend- we’ve been trained to believe that restriction of the thing we feel we are struggling with will be the answer. The truth is that restriction is what actually continues to drive the chaos.
Our bodies are smart ya’ll.
Really smart.
We’re hardwired to fight starvation (ie restriction). Our bodies simply want to survive. So, they propel us toward food in a big way. Not because they’re wrong or flawed, but because they have our back.
They want to live and thrive.
And, despite what we’ve been taught, the way to do that is to eat.
Freely. Regularly. Adequately.
restricting permission
Intuitive Eating is a self-care eating model that lays out principles to restore your relationship with food. It’s a model that informs my work with clients, and over the years, I have found that one of the principles that scares the heck out of most people is giving yourself unconditional permission to eat.
Restricting permission is a sneaky means of restriction. We’ve all witnessed and taken part in guilt-laden comments about food- how much, what, where, and at what pace has been consumed.
Guilt and shame such common and normalized components of people’s relationship with food.
And, they’re a big part of most people’s cyclical relationship with food.
Giving yourself full permission to eat meals, snacks and honor cravings, not only challenges guilt and shame, but helps us slow the cyclical nature of behaviors around food.
restricting emotions
Ahhh feeling the feelings. Not something we’ve been taught. I’ll admit, throughout grad school I remember trying so hard to understand how in the world to feel feelings. Like, is there a manual for that?! Wasn’t that what I was supposed to be learning 🤨 ?! LOL
Culturally we’re taught to slap on a smile, grin and bear it, don’t be too much, don’t feel too much. That, combined with personal traumas, many folks feel like floating heads. Intellectualizing, reasoning, understanding in a brain way, but not in a body way.
But, here’s the thing.
Our bodies act as filing cabinets for our minds. If it’s happening in the mind, it’s happening somewhere in the body.
Emotions are energy in motion (e-motion) in our bodies. And when we deny that energy, that information, it will only be so long until it floods us. And we’re left scrambling, trying to figure out how to cope with it, or for many people struggling with their relationship with food, continue to numb and disconnect from it (enter restriction/deprivation).
If you identify as someone who emotionally eats, you know what I mean. You can shove the feelings down to a certain point. Until something or someone pushes you over the edge and you feel things in a big way.
And, there we are. Thrust back in the cycle of eating behaviors.
restricting joy
Life is busy. And if you’re anything like me, it’s easy to focus on the do-to’s, the necessary, the concrete. When we do this, it’s so easy to forget to prioritize what bring us joy and pleasure. I’m a firm believer that joy and pleasure are healing forces.
So what does this have to do with food?
Food is inherently pleasurable. It’s meant to be satiating, or satisfying. Culturally, we experience some of the most joyful life moments alongside food. It can bring an exhale of relief. A nostalgic memory. A feeling of connection to loved ones we’ve lost or haven’t seen.
And, yes. Food. Tastes. Good.
Enter, pleasure.
Allowing the idea that it’s ok to find pleasure and joy in food, without pathology (guilt/shame), can be supportive of finding your way out of your own cycle. And, giving yourself to find joy and pleasure in other areas of your life, can help take some of the pressure off of food.
Will it still taste good? Yes! And, the less pressure we have on food meeting all of our needs, the more food can just be food.
Thus, slowing your cycle of eating behaviors even more.
I’d like to encourage you to get curious. What types of restrictions are part of your relationship with food? Do you have the energy and support to challenge them and shift toward taking care of yourself in a different way?
It’s hard work, but it’s good work.
As always, believing in your worthiness for a relationship with food that meets your unique needs.
🧡,
