This veganism/vegetarianism series concludes with a 6-part process for asking yourself why you eat the way you do and what you might gain from switching something up.
Temporal absolutism (treating everything as if it were permanent) is an important maintaining factor for eating disorders, systematically preventing radical dietary change.
Remembering that tradeoffs are inevitable can be immediately reassuring as well as longer-term effective in recovery. Many goods can’t be maximized while also minimizing all harms.
Reforging the direct link between appetite and action is one of recovery’s central tasks, and broadening your diet to include animal products is one efficient way to do it.
Full recovery from anorexia tends not to come about by accident. Dietary decisions like meat or no meat contribute at many levels to what your commitment to recovery really means.
"Who or what really benefits?": A simple tool for checking the rationale and the consequences of our dietary principles (and any other important life choices).
Vegetarianism or veganism can be a contributing cause or an early effect of a restrictive eating disorder, and feedback dynamics easily kick in to maintain both.
The first part in a series on vegetarianism/veganism and eating disorders, mapping out the essence of the "ethics trick" that can keep people V/V who really shouldn't be.
In the final part of the series, we offer a third perspective on the perceived “bodyweight” versus “health” tradeoff, and consider what changes as recovery proceeds.
In Part 2 of our series on recovery as an optimization process, we consider how multiple objectives get reconciled, and the difference between technically optimal and good.
I propose a set of interlinked questions designed to disrupt dissonance reduction patterns and create possibilities for behavior change to eliminate—not just reduce—dissonance.
Cognitive dissonance is a powerful psychological theory that can offer a revealing angle on how eating disorders survive. Here, an overview of the basics of the theory.
How does a statement like "I'd commit to recovery if only I were sicker" come to feel it makes sense? How does it keep so many people hesitating so long on the brink of recovery?
A new paper argues that to treat eating disorders effectively we need to acknowledge the psychological and physiological aspects but intervene where it works: in the behaviors.
Three ways in which not limiting the amount of dietary fat you consume will help make your recovery wholehearted—plus reflections on the timeline of recovery and fat's roles in it.
Gaining significant body fat is a non-negotiable element of recovery from anorexia. It's time to make peace with the idea and the reality of getting fatter.
Are your philosophical views relevant to your recovery? If you believe matter is all that the universe consists of, might you be more or less likely to get better?
As anorexia gives way to recovery, friendships continue to play a role, for good or for ill, and continue to be shaped themselves by the movement from illness to health.
Emily T. Troscianko, Ph.D., is a researcher and writer with a particular interest in the links between fiction-reading and mental health.
About A Hunger Artist
A Hunger Artist explores what it's like to have anorexia nervosa and to recover from it, emphasising in particular the powerful interconnections between the sufferer's physical and psychological states. The blog discusses recent directions in clinical research on eating disorders, analyses some of the paradoxes and vicious circles that characterise this dangerous mental and physical illness, and connects eating disorders with current sociocultural trends and with personal factors like relationships, work/study, and sport.
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