More Food = Better Body Image? Part 2

In Part 1 of this blog series, I shared some musings about self-esteem, self-love and acceptance, as well as confirmation bias. In this second part (2/2), I am going to explore how and why eating more can play a wonderful part in supporting self-perception (and body image). The first reason I will cover relates to our psychological state when we are in an energy-deprived state.

Before I do, if you haven't already accepted my invitation to grab a snack, off you trot!

1)  Your Nervous System Can’t Feel Safe in a Starved State.

When survival is perceived to be threatened, you know what happens. Our wonderful sympathetic nervous system activates the body’s ‘fight-or-flight’ response and we find ourselves highly reactive and 'on edge'. There is no doubt at all that our brain interprets not getting enough food as one of these significant threats to survival.

Having a fight, flight, freeze response in the face of true threat, was, for our ancestors, far better in evolutionary terms than a slower, more considered prefrontal context response. But, associated with this sympathetic response is increased symptoms of hypervigilance, hyper-fixation and obsessive thoughts — especially in the presence of change. In our history, change was quite understandably less welcome, for it only posed disruption to the homeostasis that was understood to be safe.

In the context of body image, when one has an existing fear of weight gain and these aforementioned traits are heightened, we can understand why body distortions increase. Vigilantly and perhaps obsessively scanning for threats (real or perceived), especially in periods of change becomes essential to... survive. In the modern world, the body is an easy target for hyperfixation and obsessionality and this spiral can sometimes feel like a runaway train when fuelled by more and more mental attention. For me, the intensification of intrusive thoughts and self-criticism grew so loud that I often found myself feeling that I couldn't bear to be inside my own skin for a moment longer. Experiencing this level of visceral discomfort is certainly not unique to me.

For this reason, part of body image healing is about creating safety for our nervous system. We aren't talking about trendy surface-level regulation tools here. We are talking about security that runs much deeper, including...

• Certainty within employment, housing & healthcare

• Freedom from discrimination

• Co-regulation within solid interpersonal relationships

• Access to choice in alignment with needs and values

• A sense of purpose

• Unconditional permission to rest

• Access to food and nourishment

Eating enough (consistently) is one of the key components in the foundational matrix of our inner sense of safety. To put it succinctly, rebuilding safety requires providing your body with consistent, adequate nutrition so that it no longer has to be on "guard", hypervigilant and obsessive by nature.

Summary:

• Everything will feel heightened when you are underfed due to the extreme disruption that a lack of energy has on the hormonal and nervous system.

• An energy-deprived brain is an obsessive and hyper-observant brain. A well-fed brain is a more chilled-out and grounded brain.

• As your body gets consistent nourishment, distortions soften, making space for a more neutral, realistic view of yourself.

  
  

2)  Body Image Healing Happens By Taking Action

I would guess that an eating disorder’s ideal version of recovery is it not happening. But, its second best version of recovery is recovery happening, without there being any physical 'consequences' (aka. changes). Due to fear, I think most of us attempt to straddle these lines at one point or another in our journey.

Eventually, we do come to see that merely trying to ‘think’ ourselves better is a fool's pursuit, of course. We recognise we are not getting anywhere trying to convince our brain that a burger is safe by cognitively reframing a burger into carbohydrates, protein and fats with our therapist and are left with the undeniable conclusion that if we are to remove the fear of the burger, we have to actually eat the burger. Probably multiple times.

This ‘doing’ concept pertains to body image healing, too, as you will well know if you have ever tried to improve your body image by thinking "better" thoughts. A shift in cognition alone is just not enough. Don’t get me wrong, there is significant value in noticing and shifting the language we use with our body. But ultimately, our brains learn by doing. We cannot think, read, listen or talk-therapy ourselves into better body image. Our actions speak louder than words.

The consistency of action is an essential facet here. We must be carrying out the actions that show our body compassion and respect even when we don't feel like doing so. If we do not, the brain receives mixed messages about the importance of body image, resulting in the disordered pathways still firing.

We know without doubt that the behaviours involved in food restriction lead to preoccupation with appearance and weight. Nourishing our body with sufficient rest and nutrients helps break that loop, shifting our day’s focus away from controlling how our body looks and reallocating it to the other aspects of our life that align far more closely with our true value system.

Summary

• Granting yourself permission to eat is an observable behaviour for the brain to see. Eating regularly, allowing enough food and honouring hunger are all examples of ways to show your body that it is unconditionally acceptable.

• If you consistently avoid the behaviours of giving yourself the basic essentials of adequate rest and ample nourishment, your brain will not shift towards better body image.

• You must provide long-term evidence to your brain that existing at your unsuppressed weight is safe, and not something you bend over backwards to try to avoid.

  
  

3)   Energy Through Food = Emotional Resilience

Our brains rely on food to manage emotions. This is rooted in how food supports us at a neurochemical level —  enabling the production of neurotransmitters that modulate our emotions. Therefore, the food we eat significantly influences the type of body dissatisfaction that derives from our mood and stress levels.

• Eating enough food in general assists with glycemic regulation. Glycemic regulation assists with reducing irritability & anxiety.

• Enough carbohydrates support serotonin production. Serotonin influences sleep, mood and pain receptivity — affecting how we feel.

• Enough protein supports dopamine production. Dopamine influences sleep, pleasure, motivation & focus— affecting how we feel.

  
  

• Enough fats support fatty acid production. Fatty acids (+ compounds) stabilise mood & help to alleviate depression.

Additionally, studies show that not eating enough can impair the function of the prefrontal cortex, which is a region of the brain that helps with critical thinking skills and managing social expectations. This means that a lesser nourished state leaves us less equipped to reframe our thoughts, including those related to our body image.

Summary

• Your level of nourishment directly impacts your levels of body image distress on a cellular level.

• At a neurochemical level, long-term deep nourishment supports emotional flexibility. This then supports self-perception.

4)   Full Nourishment Frees Up Mental Space & Allows For the Reprioritisation of Values

This final point links to Part 1 of this blog series, and is, I believe, the most essential to aspect of body image healing.

Food restriction keeps us mentally stuck on two things: food and body. When we are undereating, our hyperfocus on food is a biologically ingrained survival strategy that cannot be outsmarted. Our attention on our body is also woven into our nature, as described above, but also nurtured through reinforcement via daily behaviours. When restricting, these daily behaviours clearly say: what my body looks like is important.

Even if we consciously don’t believe that our body's appearance is important, when we are living under an eating disorder's tyranny, our actions strongly suggest otherwise at an unconscious level. Why would we be engaging in such behaviours and enduring such discomfort otherwise?

There are 2 main ways that eating more food helps with widening ones values:

1)   Acting directly in the face of fear (for example, fully nourishing whilst having bad body image) is a form of exposure therapy. As the section, 'Body Image Healing Happens by Taking Action' discussed, this act of consistent exposure sends a message to the brain that feeling and being well nourished is now taking precedence over the pursuit of smallness and control. It is a decisive statement that shouts: MY COMFORT MATTERS.

2)   Offering ourselves abundant food allows us to engage in wider segments in our ‘life orange’ outside of being the smallest version of ourselves. An abundant intake leaves potential for our mental energy and attention to be spent engaged in more joy, seeing more colour, being more present. This all directly feeds into how we feel in our body, not just how we see it. Ultimately, all of this builds neutrality and appreciation because when are using our body as a vessel to experience the world, it becomes so much more than just an ornament to behold.

As an example: On a beach trip, your well-energised body can participate in a family debate on the car journey there. You are there to enjoy the picnic. To laugh at the dogs tearing around. To play frisbee. To recline and soak up the warmth of the sun. To natter about frivolous things. For feet to be wading in the water and toes dug into the sand.

You are there to be... present, fully and wholly, in that moment.

In my experience, none of these very meaningful things that forge connection or presence  — debating, frisbeeing, watching the dogs  — were nearly so inviting when the world is filled with ED greyness and fatigue. For me, everything just felt like a burden; a tax; a bother. As well as these occasions feeling undesirable on a biological level due to my limited spare energy availability, the ED made every aspect of a trip outside of my usual routine a complete inner war. Which picnic items would I eat? How will I keep my lunch dessert yoghurt pot chilled? Could I squeeze in a walk before? How much movement could I slip into this game of frisbee without anybody noticing? Shall I research the which ice creams the beach hut has, even though I will probably not have one?

In the end, the fuss didn't feel worth it. It would probably be simpler for me to just remain at home.

Summary:

• When you are well-fed, you have more energy to live your life in a fulfilling way — engage in passions, connect with others, be present.

• Full nourishment means you can engage in activities that shift your focus from aesthetics, and towards functionality and joy.

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Conclusion

Providing ourselves with consistent unconditional permission to eat enables our cognitions of self-perception to shift at a psychological and physiological level.

Even if you don't believe it:

1)   Your body is more resourced to handle moments of body image distress with proper nutrition.

2)    Your relationship with your body fundamentally changes to one of respect and worthiness — since your brain can see you working with and for it, rather than perpetually against it.

I know that your EDs preconception of this blog post is that this is all a load of codswallop. I also guess that its second suggestion that these might well be reasonable, but just not for you. If you feel like the unicorn who this won't work for, please acknowledge how this narrative very much suits the eating disorder, and derives from the (lack of) esteem that you can begin to build, starting now.

You can and will have a wholly positive self-perception again. But, you are going to have to strongly resist the bias that your head is going to be hell-bent on asserting.

Your body is the least interesting thing about you.

The narrative that a smaller you is a sustainably happier you is categorically false.

A suppressed body will mean a smaller world and a terrible, terrible relationship with yourself.