A common dynamic I’ve noticed in the eating disorder recovery world is this idea that if you want to eat a nutritious diet and be physically fit you are clearly disordered in your food/exercise approach.

There is a fine line (that looks different for everyone) when it comes to what is disordered or not in someone’s food/exercise approach.

Just because you care about nutritious eating and being physically fit does NOT mean this is inherently problematic!

(In other words, how you are relating to nutritious food and exercise may be disordered right now, but it doesn’t have to be that way).

I find that dietitians and other eating disorder professionals who approach their work with clients in such a black-and-white way tend to turn off and lose trust with a lot of clients who genuinely care about these things, even if they are struggling and experiencing health and fitness in a disordered way at the current moment. This can manifest from everything from direct interactions with clients (“you are disordered for wanting to eat/be healthy” vibes) to marketing (i.e., always showing photos of eating disorder dietitians eating cupcakes, as if anything else would be “disordered.”)

Maybe you are someone who truly does enjoy training for races and going to the gym, but these activities have become overly obsessive and disordered in how you are engaging with them. That does not mean that these activities are inherently bad, need to be “off-limits” for forever, or that you can’t engage with them in a genuinely healthy way in the future.

Maybe you value and enjoy eating a nutrient-dense diet, but things have gotten to a point where it is no longer healthy — for example, feeling like you have to have the “healthiest choice” at all times and that you are doing something wrong if you eat a dessert.

That doesn’t mean nutritious eating and caring about how food impacts your health is inherently wrong and disordered — by working on your relationship with food, you can learn to pursue nutritious eating in a way that is truly healthy and supportive of your mental and emotional health, too. (And, as I like to point out, our mental and emotional health also impact our physical health — it’s all connected!).

Going to the gym most mornings at 6am is not inherently disordered. In fact, it can be part of a healthy and life-giving routine, supportive of your overall health.

HOWEVER, it is disordered if you feel like a failure if you don’t go, feel like you have to eat less if you don’t go (regardless of your hunger cues), and only feel “okay” if you get your workout in.

That being said, even if you are experiencing food and exercise in a disordered way, you CAN get to a place where you have a healthy relationship with food/exercise, which is the FOUNDATION for engaging with fitness and nutrition in a TRULY HEALTHY and life-giving way.

In my own life, I am all about physical fitness and eating a nutrient-dense diet. I enjoy exercising in some way pretty much every day, have trained for races in the past, and love filling my days with delicious and nutritious foods. This lifestyle is enjoyable to me, helps me feel my best, and helps me engage in the other things that matter to me in life — things like being present with my husband, family, friends, and clients, having energy for work and life at home, and being generally healthy in order to pursue my life vision/goals.

There was a time in my life when my health and fitness intentions spiraled into disorder, and I was engaging with these things in a very unhealthy way. I became addicted to and obsessed with exercising, and felt like I had to exercise a certain way each day in order to be okay. I became rigid in my eating patterns, ultimately leading to a very unhealthy diet.

It took a lot of time and internal work to get to the place where I am now — having the healthy foundation with fitness and nutrition needed to incorporate things like going to the gym, training for races, and eating nutritious foods in a way that is not full of obsession, and instead rooted in JOY and healthy desire.

In recovery, we often have to do uncomfortable work like taking a break from formal exercise and setting aside any fitness goals for the time being. That doesn’t mean this is forever, and that these things are always going to be off the table for you. In fact, fitness and exercise will be much more enjoyable, available to you in the long-run, and truly healthy if you give your body and mind the time they need to heal. You can read more about some of the nuances of a healthy relationship with exercise here.

I care deeply about physical health, and appreciate the impact that exercise and nutrition have on one’s overall health. If these things are important to you too, know that it is possible for you to recover from your disordered eating/exercise and return to nutritious eating and fitness in an emotionally healthy, non-obsessive, joy-based way.

Recovery and nutrition/fitness are NOT mutually exclusive!

If this is different from the message you’ve heard so far along your recovery journey, or if what I’ve shared resonates with you in any way, I’d love to hear more. Feel free to leave a comment below or message me with your thoughts!