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Do you find yourself doing well on your path to eating disorder recovery and then all of a sudden being triggered – sometimes without realizing how or why – and ending up relapsing or having a slip?
It is important to identify and acknowledge your eating disorder triggers as early on in recovery as possible, so that you are equipped to deal with triggering situations, circumstances and other self identified triggers.
Here we look at the common eating disorder triggers, label and identify them and then create an action plan to deal with them effectively as they arise.
What are my eating disorder triggers?
Some examples include:
Diet magazines
Scales
Other people talking about weight loss
Excessive Exercise
Counting Calories
Difficult home environment
Not expressing emotions
Dieting and pseudo dieting
Isolation
Now your turn – what are some of your eating disorder triggers?
- From experience what is it that leads to a relapse in my recovery?
- Can I see how these behaviors/thoughts/actions/people/situations are my eating disorder triggers? List them and describe…
- What actions can I take when I find myself triggered or about to get into a triggering situation?
Here are some examples. Add to this list with particular strategies that you know work for you.
Call someone
Take a long walk
Listen to uplifting music and dance
Write out positive affirmations
Do something creative
Write a letter to a friend telling them how you are feeling
Journal about your emotions
Get out of the triggering environment
Watch positive and inspirational videos
Write out a Vision Statement of what Your Ideal Recovery looks like
Go to a support group where you can talk about your feelings
Take time to declutter your home and environment
Treat yourself to something special like flowers, a manicure or a beautiful scented candle
Now your turn!
Add to this list – add things that work for you and keep adding new ones that you think of. This can act as your “go to” emergency toolkit