Nourishment & the Self: Exploring the Role of Identity in Eating Disorder Recovery

When we talk about eating disorder recovery, we often focus on behaviour: eating more regularly, reducing compensatory actions, rebuilding trust with food. These are vital, but they’re not the whole picture. For many people, especially those from marginalised or minority communities, recovery is not just about food or weight. It’s about identity.

What Do We Mean by Identity? 🔍

Identity is the lens through which we see and understand ourselves, shaped by our gender, sexuality, race, culture, religion, disability status, and more. It includes how we feel in our bodies, how we relate to others, and how the world reflects (or doesn’t reflect) us back.

In eating disorder recovery, identity can influence:

• Why the eating disorder developed

• How it functions or is maintained

• What recovery looks like and what is getting in the way of it

It’s impossible to separate someone’s relationship with food from the context of who they are and their experience of being in the world.

Eating Disorders as Tools for Coping with Identity-Related Distress 🧷

Many clients I work with describe their eating disorder not as something that began with a desire to achieve a certain body type, but as a way to manage pain - rooted in exclusion, shame, disconnection, or feeling “othered.” For LGBTQ+ clients, this might mean:

• Restricting to suppress gendered features or delay puberty

• Compensating for the discomfort of inhabiting a body that feels misaligned with identity

• Using food behaviours to gain a sense of control in a world where their identity is constantly scrutinised

Similarly, clients from racialised or culturally diverse backgrounds may struggle with ideals of beauty or health that do not reflect their lived reality and feel invalidated in recovery spaces that centre white & Western norms. In these cases, the eating disorder is not just about food. It’s an attempt to manage identity-based distress. And recovery must hold space for that reality.

Recovery as Identity Work 🌱

Recovery often involves coming back into the body but for many people, especially those who have experienced trauma, oppression, or dysphoria, that’s not a neutral process. For some, being in their body can feel unsafe or overwhelming.

That’s why effective, sustainable recovery needs to affirm a person’s identity, not erase or minimise it. It means creating spaces where someone can:

• Be seen in their full self, not just their symptoms

• Reclaim nourishment as a right, not something to earn

• Explore body trust in a way that aligns with their gender, culture, or values

• Navigate food freedom without abandoning the parts of their identity that make them feel safe or whole

This also includes acknowledging the deep grief and loss that may come with letting go of an identity built around the eating disorder itself, especially when it has provided structure, community, or purpose.

The Role of Affirming Support 🤝

Supporting identity in recovery isn’t just about being “inclusive.” It’s about being specific, intentional, and affirming. This can include:

• Using someone’s correct name and pronouns

• Validating how identity shapes their experience with food and body

• Offering flexibility in food plans and language to avoid gendered or triggering frameworks

• Recognising the ways systems (e.g. racism, transphobia, fatphobia, ableism) impact access to care and healing

When people feel seen, they’re more likely to stay engaged in treatment. When care is culturally and socially responsive, it’s more likely to lead to long-term healing.

Unlearning Assumptions in Eating Disorder Narratives 🔄

To truly centre identity in recovery, we also need to challenge the dominant narratives about who gets eating disorders and what they look like. The thin, white, cisgender girl model not only leaves many people out, it actively harms those who don’t fit.

People of all genders, sizes, sexualities, and backgrounds experience disordered eating. And yet, many delay seeking help because they’ve been told (directly or indirectly) that they don’t “look sick enough,” or that their struggle isn’t valid.

Part of identity-affirming recovery is saying: “Your experience is real. You deserve support. You don’t have to change who you are to heal.”

Final Thoughts 💬

Eating disorder recovery is not just about food and weight. It’s about coming back to yourself and sometimes, discovering yourself for the first time. For those whose identities have been marginalised, erased, or misunderstood, recovery is also about reclaiming space: in your body, in your community, and in your own life.

That process is not always linear. It can be uncomfortable and complex. But it is possible and it is worth it.