As much as eating is a personal thing, I have noticed the deep controversy about whether it is acceptable or recommended to be vegan in Eating Disorder Recovery. I am not a medical professional and do not provide treatment, so you need to make the decision with your Eating Disorder treatment team. I wrote this because I have lived experience with an Eating Disorder and being vegan was a detriment to my recovery. As someone who lives in a household of vegans and vegetarians, I have found it extremely easy to slip into eating that way and it being written off as "acceptable." However, just because something feels acceptable, it does not mean it's beneficial.
Being vegan makes it easier to justify restricting food groups. I know it's allowed my Eating Disorder to use the excuse if I eliminate certain foods, I can just continue limiting food. The Eating Disorder doesn't understand the concept of just doing the Eating Disorder a little bit. My therapist used the house analogy: when I'm struggling, the Eating Disorder has taken over my entire house, but in recovery it takes up less and less space in the house. However, by allowing the elimination of a few foods I am still allowing my Eating Disorder to take up space in my house. Therefore, I have to start to incorporate MORE foods, not eliminate more.
Being vegan can exacerbate deadly medical complications from the Eating Disorder. Plant-based proteins are processed differently in the body, so if you have a history of medical complications, it can be difficult for the body to handle. It affects hormone levels, so it can delay return of your period as well.
Being vegan promotes the good and bad mentality and creates moralization around food. I have noticed the connotation of 'vegan' has a certain moral hierarchy associated it especially due to the high propensity of plant-based ads in January. Moreover, a huge part of recovery is viewing food as food and it's more difficult to do that when I view food through a moralizing lens.
It's more difficult to check intentions around food choices when you are still struggling with an Eating Disorder. Your Eating Disorder self might try and convince you it's for the environment or for animal-rights, but this might just be its way of hijacking intentions and increasing urges to cut out food groups. If it really is about animal rights or the environment, you can go back to it when you understand your intentions. In the early parts of recovery, navigating intentionality is extremely difficult.
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