Eating disorders are one of the most prevalent mental health issues facing women. However, they are not the only ones who deal with them. In the UK, around 1.25 million people are estimated to have some form of eating disorder.
Organisations such as BEAT have helped to arrange Eating Disorders Awareness Week, which allows people who have experienced or are living with eating disorders to share their journeys towards recovery, and to make sure others in the same situation have resources and knowledge to help them in their recovery.
Understanding Eating Disorders
Eating disorders can come in many different forms. The three most common are;
- Anorexia nervosa, where you try to manage your weight by over exercising and undereating
- Binge eating Disorder (BED), where you eating large amount of food until you feel uncomfortably full
- Bulimia, often seen as losing control over how much you eat then trying to not gain any more via various methods
These are not the only eating disorders people face. When the symptoms are not as standard as the three above, the phrase OSFED (Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorder). OSFED can include purging disorders, variations of anorexia and bulimia, and other food-related issues.
Breaking the Diet Culture
“Diet culture” reflects the sort of things you’ll hear across all sorts of media. The idea that you need to lose some weight before your holidays, that getting ft is the worst thing tht can happen as you age; normally presented by people who have an entire team of experts to help them with their dietary plans.
But, most of the diets presented are not particularly helpful for weight loss in the long run. Some can even be dangerous to your nutritional health and mental health. Following people who encourage these diets can lead you to feeling like you are failing. These diets are never easy to follow, despite how they are presented.
It is important to realise that nutrition is not a sprint, but something you can take a much longer-term view of. One unhealthy meal will not leave you by the wayside, and for some people, you may still carry a little extra weight even when you diet – and that’s not the end of the world!
The most important aspect of breaking diet culture is realising that limiting yourself and forcing changes over a short period of time is not going to be as effective as taking the time to change your habits for the long-term.
Establishing Long-Term Habits
One of the most important things you can learn on your weight loss journey is proper nutrition. Many diets will advocate for “miracle foods” or for restrictions on certain types of food. These can help you lose weight quickly, but can cause further health problems, even ones with permanent effects.
Learning what sort of foods will provide great nutrition, helping you stay fuller for longer and help control those pesky snack cravings, can make all the difference in maintaining a healthier lifestyle. When those cravings do strike, knowing what sort of snacks can provide what your body needs is a more sustainable and maintainable habit to have in the long term, rather than restricting or avoiding certain food groups.
These should not be short-term goals either! Changing up how you view food and what foods you eat can take time, but allowing them to develop and making them work for you will help them to become part of your daily routine.
Connection Between Eating Disorders and Nutrition
Eating disorders are not just bad for your mental health. By restricting your overall food intake, you can end up with serious nutritional deficiencies.
For people with an eating disorder, it can be difficult to seek help. However, a nutritionist can help support them while they seek help for the behavioural side of the problem. By working with people to develop a new mindset around food, and ensuring the food they do eat provides as much nutritional benefits as it can, a nutritionist can provide a baseline to build on to help change the habits that led to the disorder.
A holistic approach covers both the foods you eat and how you feel about it, as well as your overall wellbeing. If you are dealing with other health problems, it can be difficult to focus on the foods you eat. Being exhausted makes it much easier to eat something unhealthy for the sake of speed; similarly, being ill can form harmful habits around the foods you eat.
A nutritionist will take all of these into account and help you develop a set of habits that can help not only with your health and wellbeing, but to encourage you to view your own habits through a lens of how you can change and develop them.
Alongside this, a multidisciplinary team can help to treat the major elements of an eating disorder. From therapy sessions, appointments with a dietician and the help of a nutritionist, you can establish the new behaviours you need while also making sure they will work for you.
Authorship
Authored by Ian Coakley
Medical Content Writer
Ian is a content writer at Simple Online Pharmacy. With a background in science communication, editing, and freelance writing, Ian aims to empower readers with accessible health information.
Medically Reviewed by Laura Perez
Content Writer / Clinical Nutrition Lead
British Dietetic Association membership no: 24597
With many years of experience as a clinical dietitian, Laura Perez specialises in delivering personalised nutrition services to help patients achieve their health goals through informed dietary choices. As the Lead Dietitian at Simple Online Pharmacy, Laura oversees the clinical aspects of nutrition and eating disorders, providing expert guidance and recommendations.
Updated 25/06/2025
