Bloating and Other Digestive Issues in Eating Disorder Recovery

I have yet to meet someone in recovery that has not experienced digestive issues. Bloating and other stomach problems are a very difficult part of the eating disorder recovery process, but they can definitely be healed! In today's post, you'll learn why you may be experiencing gut problems as well as what actions you can take to reduce them.

One of the most common questions I get asked from people struggling, or who have struggled with disordered eating is how to combat bloating as well as several other digestive issues. Examples of such issues are gas, diarrhea, constipation, acid reflux, frequent bowel movements, indigestion, and feeling overly full. Being someone who has experienced every single one of these, I feel ya! Stomach issues are NOT fun and can be rather painful, especially in such a tough and sensitive time when you feel like you're already working so hard on the mental aspect of recovery from an eating disorder. 

I'm here to tell you that you are not weird or different or crazy for feeling the way you do; I've been in your shoes. I've gone through it and come out stronger and healthier, with so much more knowledge about the human body than I had before. Whatever you're going through is valid, and whatever you're feeling around it is valid, too! YOU ARE VALID. Remember that always. But your eating disorder, or whatever it tells you about what's happening and changing in your body, is not. That's a really important distinction I had to make in accepting the discomfort and pushing through with full recovery, even when it felt impossible.

What Causes Digestive Issues in Eating Disorder Recovery?

I remember when I started eating normal amounts of food after my first long period of restriction. I was put on a meal plan with exchanges in the hospital, and was told that the quicker I would get healthy vitals again, the quicker I could get out; so I followed the rules and ate my meal plan. I am grateful that I never had to experience any type of force feeding such as the tube, as I can only imagine how traumatizing that experience must be...the idea of force feeding seemed so scary to me that I always did everything I could to avoid it, even if this meant eating everything that was put in front of me.

But this definitely does not take away the truth of how difficult it was to start eating again. I had been living off of a starvation diet for the last couple of months, so it's an absolute understatement to say my body was not used to normal portions. I would feel so incredibly full after finishing a meal, so full to the point where I felt I would vomit if I took another bite!

Aside from feeling overly full during the weight gain process, this fullness seemed to last forever. I would eat breakfast and the fullness would only escalate with every meal and snack. Of course, I didn't really have much of a chance to let food fully pass through my system as there were multiple meals and snacks planned throughout the day, but there was a good reason for that. When you restrict food for a prolonged period of time, your body goes into starvation mode and will slow down any processes that cost energy. Your heart rate slows, you feel tired, cold, and weak...your body is trying to do everything it can to conserve energy.

Why Eating Disorders Weaken Your Digestive System

We, as mammals, need fuel to function. Just like a car needs enough gas to drive and a battery needs enough charge to work, our bodies need enough food to perform (including the execution of vital processes such as keeping your heart beating, pumping blood, regulating metabolism, and all the other automatic tasks your body has going on). Just like any other process in the body, digestion costs energy. If your body is not receiving that energy, your stomach and intestines cannot work properly: gastric emptying, or the emptying of contents from the stomach, will slow down.

In order for your digestive system to work again, you need to train it to work again: your digestive system needs to know there's an ACTUAL REASON to digest, this reason being the presence of food! What's also key in proper digestion is a healthy gut microbiome. When you are restricting your intake and do not have enough variety in your diet, you create an imbalance in your microbiome, which leads to a reduced ability to break down nutrients. Just like eating more is important in training your digestive system, eating a variety of foods is just as key!

Aside from a weakened digestive system, your stomach itself is also weakened after prolonged periods of restriction. Known as functional dyspepsia, the elasticity of the stomach decreases which can result in quickly feeling full, bloated, and experiencing abdominal discomfort when you start eating (more) again. This system too, you have to train! The stomach will accommodate and gain back its function to stretch if it has a reason to. If you want more of a deep dive into digestive issues and how to heal them in eating disorder recovery, make sure to grab a copy of my book How to Beat Extreme Hunger!

The Mental Impact of Physical Digestive Issues

Whereas the healing of digestive issues may seem purely physical, it's just as much a mental game. For people struggling with disordered eating, eating more can cause incredible anxiety. When you're anxious, you activate your sympathetic nervous system, which is the same system that activates the fight-or-flight response. We are not designed to digest while in our sympathetic nervous system, as all of our energy is to be used for survival mechanisms when activated. Just imagine being chased by a wild animal; all your body needs to focus on is escaping the danger, so it doesn't have time to be focusing on digestion!

Next time you sit down to eat, activate your parasympathetic nervous system by taking slow, deep breaths.Deep breathing increases the supply of oxygen to your brain, signaling safety (trust) and permission to (literally) rest and digest. Furthermore, it can also be helpful to repeat the mantra that food is something that will nourish you rather than hurt you. As I explain in How to Beat Extreme Hunger, the gut-brain connection is incredibly powerful. When we tell ourselves a certain food will hurt is, it most likely will. In contrast, when we tell ourselves a food will nourish us, we're much less likely to experience negative symptoms. 

Is Your IBS Real?

For a long time, I was convinced that I was intolerant to several different foods. Gluten, dairy, eggs...they were all on my "bad" food list. I told myself I was intolerant to them so that I wouldn’t need to fight the mental battle of whether or not to eat them. By putting them on the bad list, I could simply push those foods aside and eat all the foods I had labeled as "good."

Whenever I ate these so-called "bad" foods, I experienced all the symptoms of an intolerance to them. This confirmed my belief that I had IBS and thus had to avoid these foods at all costs. However, something wasn't adding up. Why was I suddenly intolerant to a vast array of foods I had perfectly capable of digesting prior to my eating disorder?

When I finally made the commitment to fully recover, I started approaching life from a place of curiosity rather than judgment. Allowing myself to be curious about the root cause of my digestive issues rather than judging certain foods as "good" or "bad" caused me to understand that my negative reactions were largely founded on the belief that these foods were causing harm.

Think about it: if you wake up saying you’re going to have a bad day, you’re most definitely going to have a bad day. In many cases, digestive issues are no different. If you tell yourself food is going to harm you, it will. Only once I started seeing food as nourishment rather than poison, could I start making real progress on my healing journey.

Reducing Digestive Issues In ED Recovery

While working on your beliefs is a critical aspect of healing digestive issues in eating disorder recovery, there's obviously a lot of physical repair work that has to happen, which takes time. This is one of those aspects that's somewhat beyond our control, along with the time it takes to get your period back (if you are someone who gets periods). Although it's tempting to throw your hands in the air and give up when you're uncomfortable, you have the responsibility to recover. This responsibility includes stepping out of your comfort zone and doing things that bring up fear.

Choosing to engage in new habits such as eating more and allowing your body to change are hard. If you've read my memoir Rainbow Girl, you know I've been there! But once you face your fears and do the things, a whole new world opens up for you. One that you perhaps, didn't even know existed. One that perhaps, you thought you were incapable of creating for yourself...but that world is there, waiting for you to pave the path towards it. Everyone has their own journey and must learn what works for them, but below I have outlined some ways in which you can reduce bloating and other gut issues in eating disorder recovery.

1. Eat regularly and eat adequately

This is probably the most important part of healing your gut! Like I mentioned above, your body will slow down any processes – including digestion and metabolism – if there is no adequate nutrition to fuel these processes. You need to re-train your system to properly and effectively digest food by eating!

2. Cut down on the fruits, vegetables, and protein bars

SAY WHAT?! Doesn't diet culture tell us these foods are healthy? Health is subjective. If you're recovering from a restrictive eating disorder, your idea of "health" is likely distorted. For example: if you take a plate of broccoli and a plate of mac n' cheese, most people will say the plate of broccoli is "healthier." But for a malnourished body, the plate of mac n' cheese is most definitely the more nutritious option! One of my biggest behaviors during my eating disorder was to load up on fruits and vegetables so that I would feel physically full and thus, was less afraid that I would "lose control" around sweets and other higher calorie foods. Ditto with protein bars; the high amount of fiber and volume may fill your stomach, but that's exactly what's also contributing to your bloating! Plus, I'm willing to bet these high fiber foods are not truly satisfying your mental hunger :)

3. Avoid artificial sweeteners

Eating foods ridden with fake sugars and additives was a way in which I tried to "satisfy my sweet tooth" without giving myself full permission to honor mental hunger. I was so afraid of eating a real cookie or candy bar that I would eat protein bars that mimicked the flavor. But just like with vegetables as mentioned above, these protein bars often contain loads and loads of fiber as well as artificial sweeteners that our bodies cannot digest. And what happens when we can't digest? Bloating and discomfort! While it can be terrifying to use natrual sweeteners including cane sugar, maple syrup, and honey, these products will not only help you overcome your fear of sugar, but they also make digestion easier AND can be utilized by your body to do internal repair!

4. Use the "nourish not punish" approach

Settle into your parasympathetic nervous system and approach food as a means to nourish yourself instead of convincing yourself it will hurt you. This is mind-over-matter to the max: if you say it will hurt you, it probably will. If you say it will nourish you, it will! Take deep breaths and repeat this mantra a couple of times before eating.

5. Wear comfortable clothes

As I mentioned in my Coping with Weight Gain post, wearing comfortable, loose-fitting clothing is a GAME CHANGER in eating disorder recovery. Super tight clothes can create tension around the stomach area, which I have found increases my sensation of bloating! Plus, it's hard NOT to focus on our stomachs when we're wearing something that's practically digging into it, haha! Make things easier for yourself by wearing clothes that are easier on your body.

6. Give yourself grace

There's a lot of repair work that needs to be done, and this takes time. Don't expect everything to change immediately, and don't put yourself down for being upset about it. Bloating is NORMAL for anyone and there is no "magic cure" – despite what influencers and online articles will have you believe. You don't need to go on a cleanse or drink celery juice...in fact, this will just send you back to square one and you'll have to start the process of healing digestive issues all over again! Restricting may give you temporary relief, but in the long run you're just doing more damage and making it harder for your body to trust you again.

I hope this post helped you gain insight into what may be causing your discomfort, and perhaps gave you some ideas to relieve it! If you want to dive even deeper into healing your digestive issues in eating disorder recovery, grab a copy of my book How to Beat Extreme Hunger!