Avoiding Eating Disorder Relapse During the Holidays

Written by Sarah Poling RD, LDN

Edited by Sarah Criscuolo MS, RD, LDN, CSN, CPT

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The holidays are full of excitement, celebration, and fun with family and friends, but if you’re recovering from an eating disorder, they can be a time full of dread, uncertainty, and anxiety. Oftentimes, when we’re faced with change or situations that increase stress, it is very common to resort to old behaviors and patterns that help you, albeit temporarily, avoid uncomfortable feelings. Most people experience setbacks in their recovery, and this is to be expected at times. We’re here to let you know that you are not alone and deserve support as you navigate this time of year. We’ve put together some guidance on how to bring awareness to the warning signs of relapse and ways to continue to honor and protect your recovery while finding celebration and joy during the darker months of winter.

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Warning Signs

What some warning signs that may indicate turning back to previous maladaptive eating disorder behaviors? It’s important to remember that it’s still possible to seek recovery even if you’ve had an eating disorder for a long time or have experienced multiple setbacks. If you are experiencing any of these behaviors or thoughts, it is okay to reach out for help!

Intake-related:

• Binging and purging cycles resurface
• Restricting food intake – this can happen slowly and might be easy to “normalize” and hide
• Dictating when, what, and how much you eat based on the number on the scale
• Calorie counting frequently and feeling out of control around food
• Skipping meals and avoiding them

Behavioral:

• Not using coping skills or seeking support
• Hiding food behaviors or eating/using behaviors in secret
• Compulsive or over-exercising to manage anxiety, guilt, or shame
• Using laxatives/diuretics
• Looking in mirrors often, weighing yourself frequently, and other forms of body checking
• Isolating yourself and avoiding events with food

Emotional:

• More feelings of guilt and shame after eating
• Increasing belief of you can only be happy if you’re thin
• Feelings of needing to escape from stress or perceived problems
• Perfectionistic, black and white thinking returns or becomes more prevalent
• Increasing need to control food and other aspects of life and recovery

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Release Prevention Strategies

What are some strategies for protecting and maintaining your recovery to prevent relapse?

Identify your triggers – a “trigger” is anything that can cause you to return to your eating disorder behaviors. Triggers are unique to every person and usually are caused by stress, anxiety, depression or loneliness. Traumatic experiences can often trigger someone to turn to using eating disorder behaviors to escape or “numb” from that experience. It’s very common to experience relapses during specific times of the year, such as during the holidays, change of seasons, or big changes like going to college, having a baby or experiencing empty nest syndrome. It’s important to identify triggers in order to plan for potential relapse events.

 

Create a relapse prevention plan – after identifying your triggers, it’s helpful to create a plan for managing each trigger in healthier ways. Your relapse prevention plan might include calling a friend, increasing meal support, taking a walk, or writing in your journal. Your plan may also include strategies that were helpful during higher levels of treatment, like returning to your meal plan, having more help with planning and preparing meals/snacks, having help with challenging negative thoughts, or increasing visits with your providers.

 

Dealing with setbacks in a healthy way – setbacks are common and sometimes to be expected in recovery – what’s important is to remind yourself that a lapse/setback in recovery is very different than a relapse. How you view your setbacks can help you heal and move forward, so instead of beating yourself up or believing that you’re a “failure” or “have undone all of your recovery”, we can shift into a more curious and compassionate mindset that will help you meet your needs in a better way.

 

Continue to eat consistently and regularly – eating at regular intervals will help ensure you maintain your recovery by providing your body with adequate nourishment and energy, supporting optimal cognitive functioning, emotional distress tolerance, and maintaining your physical health. Following the ‘Rule of 3’s’ meal plan can be a good start if you’re struggling with eating enough. This type of meal plan encourages you to have three meals a day, three snacks a day, and to eat every three hours. Speak with your dietitian for more specific recommendations.

 

Lean on your support system! Having a support system is imperative in early phases of recovery and can remain helpful throughout your journey. It’s important to have family, friends, or care providers who are safe and supportive that you can count on during difficult times, as they can offer you comfort when you’re struggling. It might not always be easy to reach out for help, but you should work to normalize this during your recovery. It can be helpful to plan to reach out to your support system a few times a week to check in and reflect on your needs and progress.

 

Have realistic expectations – it’s important to realize that recovering from an eating disorder isn’t perfect or linear – accepting that there will be times of increased ED urges and negative thoughts will help you in the long run. Being on the lookout for early warning signs when behaviors re-emerge will help you manage any setbacks.

 

Use your coping skills – just like it’s important to identify your triggers, it’s also very important to have a coping skills toolbox that you can use whenever you’re struggling. This can look like having fidgets on hand, using a weighted blanket at meal times, useful helpful forms of distractions after eating, or other tools established in therapy.

 

Try new interests and hobbies – eating disorders thrive in rigid routines and rules and it can be liberating and empowering to continue to participate in your favorite activities while also trying new ones that nourish your inner child and soul.

 

Make time for yourself – there’s a difference between isolation and solitude – seeking solitude and making time for yourself during recovery is essential. It will allow you to renew, rest, and tap into your creativity and power.

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If you or anyone you love needs additional support with healing from their eating disorder and need relapse prevention plans that will actually make a difference, you may be interested in working with a trained eating disorder dietitian at Karuna Wellness Studio. Use this link to schedule a free intake call today!

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Sources:

1.McGuire J. 5 Relapse Prevention Tips For Eating Disorder Recovery. Eating Disorder Hope. Published October 4, 2017. https://www.eatingdisorderhope.com/blog/5-relapse-prevention-ed-recovery
2.Eating Disorder Relapse Prevention. The Meadows Ranch. Published September 9, 2015. Accessed December 7, 2023. https://www.meadowsranch.com/family-program/eating-disorder-relapse-prevention/