The Connection Between Disordered Eating & Mental Health: A Holistic Approach

If you’ve ever found yourself stuck in a cycle of food obsession, rigid eating rules, or emotional eating, you’re not alone. Maybe you’ve struggled with your body image, or felt like your worth was tied to a number on the scale. Maybe eating is your go-to when you’re anxious or stressed out. Or maybe it’s the first thing you try to control when life feels chaotic. No matter what brought you here—this blog is for you.

First, What Exactly Is Disordered Eating?

Let’s clear this up from the jump; disordered eating is not the same thing as having a diagnosed eating disorder like anorexia or bulimia. But they do live on the same spectrum as each other. 

Disordered eating includes patterns that aren’t necessarily extreme enough for a diagnosis but are still damaging. You might find yourself skipping meals to “make up” for something you ate earlier, exercising to punish yourself after eating, or feeling like food is always on your mind.

Disordered eating isn’t about appearance. It’s about your relationship with food, your body, and your emotions. When food becomes more about guilt, control, or anxiety than nourishment, it’s a sign you may need to pay attention to. 

Disordered Eating & Your Mental Health

Disordered eating is often a coping strategy, a way to feel in control when life feels anything but. Many people use food to regulate emotions, numb discomfort, or manage anxiety and depression. But like most unhealthy coping mechanisms, over time, they start to backfire.

Disordered eating fuels anxiety and obsession. Food “rules” spiral out of control and lead to high levels of stress and a preoccupation with food, guilt, and fear around eating. 

Then there’s the shame—eating in secret, canceling plans to avoid eating in public, or hiding your habits from friends. On a biological level, restricting food or not getting enough nutrients disrupts your brain chemistry. It can mess with serotonin levels (the stuff that helps you feel happy and stable) and make it harder to focus, regulate emotions, or even stay awake and alert.

On top of that, disordered eating is often linked to co-occurring mental health issues. Many people who struggle with food also experience depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive tendencies, trauma, and substance abuse. It’s not always clear which came first, but they tend to feed off each other, creating a cycle that’s hard to break without the right kind of support. 

But Why Is This So Common for Young Adults?

Young adulthood is a time of massive change. You might be living away from home for the first time, figuring out your identity, navigating relationships, or dealing with new pressures around school or work. These transitions can stir up stress, insecurity, and a whole lot of uncertainty—and many of us haven’t yet learned how to cope in healthy ways.

Add to that a social media culture that bombards us with impossible beauty standards, “wellness” trends, and gymfluencers, and what started out as getting healthy turns into disordered eating. 

Add in a lack of real mental health education and support, and it’s easy to see why disordered eating is so common among people in their late teens and twenties. It’s not about weakness—it’s about survival in a system that doesn’t always make space for balance or emotional well-being.

A Holistic Approach: Healing From the Inside Out

Mental Health Therapy

Therapy is one of the most powerful tools in healing disordered eating because it helps you understand the why behind your behaviors. It’s not about telling you what to eat—it’s about helping you make sense of what’s eating you. In therapy, you can explore emotional triggers, examine beliefs about food and your body, and develop healthier ways to manage stress or anxiety.

Nutritional Support (With No Diet Talk, Promise)

Healing your relationship with food often requires some help from a registered dietitian who understands disordered eating. This isn’t about calorie counting or weight loss goals. It’s about learning to nourish your body, listen to your internal cues, and let go of food rules that don’t serve you. A dietitian can help you stabilize your eating patterns, normalize all types of food (yes, carbs included), and reframe how you think about hunger, fullness, and satisfaction.

More importantly, nutritional support helps repair the physiological damage that disordered eating can cause—like low energy, nutrient deficiencies, or blood sugar crashes that mess with your mood.

Body-Based Practices

When we’re disconnected from our bodies—or when our bodies have been a source of shame or discomfort for a long time—it can be hard to know how to take care of ourselves. That’s where body-based practices come in. These aren’t about changing how your body looks. They’re about helping you feel more grounded, safe, and connected in your skin. When you start caring for your body out of respect rather than punishment, everything starts to shift. 

You Are Not Your Eating Habits

A holistic approach to disordered eating and mental health means looking at the full picture. It means taking care of your brain and your body. It means finding support, tools, and practices that actually work for you. Most of all, it means treating yourself with the kind of compassion you’d offer to a friend going through the same thing.

Give us a call today to learn more about your options for a holistic approach to treatment.