Flexibility and the Food Log

Eating disorder treatment needs to include some focus on food and eating patterns. Even though these illnesses are primarily psychological, restricting, binging or purging all cause disturbances in thoughts and emotions. Addressing the eating patterns is still critical to recovery.

In most treatment, the expectations around how to monitor eating is standardized. There are clear methods to track food: food logs or apps like recovery record. But many people don’t find these strict programs to be useful. They can feel limiting, infantilizing or restrictive. Even if someone has an eating disorder, that doesn’t merit being treated like a child.

In these circumstances, it’s easy for treatment to focus more on the eating disorder thoughts and frustrations of having a chronic illness while sidestepping the need to track food and eating behaviors. However, no one seeking treatment wants to avoid a necessary part of success. Instead they need help finding a different and more palatable way to monitor food.

A clinician needs to try to meet the patient where they are and respect their needs. Revealing the details of daily food intake is incredibly exposing for someone with an eating disorder. Nothing is more personal since food is at the center of their lives. Accordingly, they need enormous respect and understanding about setting up a way to follow food. It may seem simple to the clinician but could not be more difficult for the patient.

A conversation about food journals needs to start with flexibility. There are so many ways to track food: written logs, spreadsheets, apps, emails, texts, photos, voicemail. Given the options, people are more likely to think about what would make a regular log possible. Often people would prefer to send it off daily in some form so they don’t have to review their food for the last few days or weeks. Ease of communication is central too. Many people have trouble overcoming the idea of spending a lot of time on a log.

Also the flexibility of how to make a log sets the tone for treatment. It implies there is not just one way to do things. Overall the idea is for someone to recover. There is no right way, just the way that works.