As an eating disorder therapist, I have always paid attention to the messages we receive about bodies.
Earlier in my career, I used to run a body image group, and one of the topics we explored was the way eating disorders and disordered eating are portrayed and, at times, even glorified in our culture. We talked about the messages we receive from the news, healthcare professionals, social media, television, movies, advertising, and even the ways we casually talk about food and bodies.
For some people, these messages may not have much of an impact. However for someone struggling with an eating disorder, or someone working hard to maintain their recovery, those same messages can land very differently.
This is something I continue to pay attention to in my work. Lately, I've noticed a shift that has made me pause.
Have We Boomeranged?
For a long time, our cultural messaging around bodies was pretty clear: skinny was the ideal. Larger bodies were often shamed, and dieting was a normal part of trying to change how we looked.
Then, the conversation started to shift.
We saw the body positivity movement bring more attention to body acceptance and challenge some of the ways we had been talking about bodies. There was also more conversation around weight stigma, health at every size, and the impact of diet culture.
I think there was a lot of value in that shift.
Lately, though, I'm noticing what feels like a movement back in the other direction.
There seems to be more cultural messaging around weight loss, changing our bodies, and looking a certain way. GLP-1 medications have become increasingly visible in advertising and everyday conversations. Weight loss and body transformation seem to be showing up more often in the culture around us.
In some ways it feels like we have done a 180.
As an eating disorder therapist, I tend to pay attention to these kinds of cultural shifts and how they might impact the clients I work with, particularly those who are navigating eating disorder recovery.
Recovery Doesn't Happen in a Vacuum
Eating disorder recovery happens while you are still living in the world.
You can be working hard to develop a different relationship with food and your body while the people around you are talking about diets or weight loss. You can make choices about what you follow and what you allow into your social media feed, but you can't completely control what you encounter.
Even with all of that, I even see this in my own social media feeds. I can adjust my settings, block ads, and be intentional about what I follow, and I will still occasionally have content show up that is presented as being about health or wellness, but that I know could be triggering for some of the clients I work with.
You don't have to seek out these messages for them to find you.
Something can show up in your social media feed. You can overhear a conversation. An advertisement can catch your attention. Someone can make a comment without realizing how it might land.
That's part of what makes this so difficult.
You can't always get away from the messages, even when you're working hard to protect your recovery. Recovery happens in the context of the world around us, and sometimes that world is going to bring things into our awareness that we didn't ask for.
Being Triggered Isn't the Same as Going Backward
This is something I talk about often in sessions.
One of the examples I like to give is trying not to think about a white rabbit.
Go ahead. Try not to think about a white rabbit.
Now you're probably thinking about one. However, if I never mentioned thinking about white rabbits, you most likely wouldn't have had the thought in the first place.
We don't always get to control the thoughts or feelings that show up for us. Sometimes, trying really hard not to think or feel something can actually make us pay more attention to it.
The same can be true when we're exposed to something that feels triggering.
A thought can show up. A feeling can show up. Something can catch you off guard. That doesn't automatically mean you are going backward in your recovery.
The thought or feeling itself isn't necessarily the problem. What matters is how we respond to it.
What Happens Next Matters
So, what happens next?
When a trigger shows up, are we responding in a way that supports our recovery?
Are we noticing the thought without automatically acting on it?
Are we reaching out for support when we need it?
Are we giving ourselves some grace when something catches us off guard?
Those responses tell me much more about where someone is in their recovery than whether or not they were triggered in the first place.
This is where I think about the difference between reacting and responding. How do we shift from a reactive response to a response where we are actually responding mindfully and with intention?
Again, we can ask ourselves: How do I respond to this in a way that supports my recovery?
Recovery doesn't mean that nothing will ever bother you again. It doesn't mean that an old thought will never cross your mind.
It means continuing to make choices that support your recovery, even when the world around you isn't always making that easy.