Eating Disorder Recovery Tips From A Dietitian

Sharing is caring!

Last updated on September 24th, 2025 at 09:51 pm

Recovery from an eating disorder is not a straight line, it’s a journey filled with challenges, breakthroughs, and moments of growth. Whether you’re just beginning the process or have been walking this path for some time, it’s normal to feel overwhelmed by the changes recovery brings.

The good news is, you don’t have to navigate it alone. With the right support, strategies, and mindset, recovery can become less about fear and restriction and more about healing, nourishment, and freedom. In this blog, we’ll explore practical, compassionate tips to help you through the ups and downs of recovery and remind you that progress, no matter how small. matters.

These recovery tips can help you to have a lasting eating disorder recovery, prevent an eating disorder relapse, and stay on track when emotions feel difficult.

Eating Disorder Recovery Tips

Stop Trying To Recover Like it’s a Race

A hallmark of eating disorders is perfectionism.  If you’re in eating disorder recovery you might think it’s all about getting things done as fast and efficiently as possible. There is no finish line and recovery is not linear. Resist the urge to want to just “get recovery over with” Having this mentality will likely lead will likely lead to short-term recovery success or relapses.

Try this instead:

  • Let go of the desire to “recover quickly.” This will likely take you further backwards rather than forward. Go at the pace you need to to recovery fully- not quickly.
  • Let go of the desire to be “the best” in recovery. This come from the perfectionist mindset
  • Think of recovery like a puzzle rather than a straight path with a finish line. We’re slowly finding the pieces and creating the puzzle as we go and theres no certainty with which piece you’re going to master next.
  • Think of recovery like playing a song. The experience of playing is where all the joy and emotions are experienced and you don’t play a song because you want to “get to the end.”
pot it note with the words your body is the one  piece of the universe you've been given

Build A Solid Support System

Having a support system during eating disorder recovery is crucial because recovery is not just about changing behaviors around food, it’s about healing the mind, body, and relationships that have been affected by the disorder. A strong support system provides accountability, emotional validation, and practical help. keeps the eating disorder around. Challenge your eating disorder thoughts by sharing them with people you trust.

A support system in eating disorder recovery can help you: 

  • Plan out meals and snacks
  • Disrupt thoughts of body dissatisfaction and interrupt body checking
  • Make sure you are eating enough and following your recovery meal plan
  • Have someone to sit with you when difficult emotions come up 

Use Recovery Books, Podcasts and Quotes

Using tools like recovery books, podcasts, and even Bible quotes can be powerful in eating disorder recovery because they provide both practical strategies and emotional nourishment outside of therapy sessions. These tools can be a huge motivation for eating disorder recovery on those days you just feel like giving up.

Here’s how to use these recovery tools:

  • Find a recovery podcast you enjoy and listen to an episode daily. Save your favorite episodes for replay and low days.
  • Read eating disorder recovery books or listen to audiobooks
  • Create an eating disorder recovery playlist
  • Be an engaged reader/listener, write down motivational takeaway
  • Write down and recite inspirational bible quotes that can help you in difficult times in recovery
  • Use your mirror, post it notes, or your cell phone screen saver to make inspirational recovery quotes the most visible
infographic of anorexia recovery tips in green, blues and purples

Keep a Journal 

Journaling can be an incredibly helpful tool in eating disorder recovery because it allows individuals to process their thoughts and emotions in a safe, private space. By writing down feelings, triggers, and experiences, people can increase their self-awareness and begin to notice patterns that may contribute to disordered behaviors. Journaling also provides an outlet for emotions like fear, shame, or anxiety, helping to release tension instead of internalizing it.

Here’s how journaling can help you in ed recovery:

  • Use body positivity prompts if you struggle with what to write about
  • Reread what you have written on difficult days for inspiration
  • Commit to 5-10 minutes of daily journaling. 

Change The Word Relapse To Relearning

Sometimes it might feel like you are taking one step forward and two steps back during recovery.  However, this is simply not true.  

It’s important to remember: 

  • New challenges don’t undo the work you’ve already done 
  • You might be experiencing old eating disorder behaviors but you have a new set of skills that weren’t there before to work through it 
  • Reframing the way you think about a challenge will help you get through it faster

Create A List Of Rewarding Activities 

Restricting food can give you a sense of control over your life that can feel very rewarding.  This destructive behavior can be difficult to find healthy behaviors to replace food restrictions with. This is why it is important to keep a list of activities you can do when the urge to restrict strikes.It’s also important to celebrate non-scale victories like challenging fear foods or doing a social media cleanse.

Keep a list of activities that: 

  • Make you feel good immediately such as playing an instrument or knitting. 
  • You can commit to practicing regularly so you get the biggest reward
  • Are not difficult to access (for example, something like snowboarding often has high costs and can only be done during certain times of the year)
its just a potato eating disorder recovery pdf

Keep A Box Of Wins 

In eating disorder recovery, it can sometimes feel like you are constantly failing because the end goal seems so far away.  You probably have a habit or looking at all the things that still need to change rather than the progress that you have made. 

Here’s how you can create a box of wins

  • Write down accomplishments on a Post-it note
  • Put each Post-it note into a box with a lid
  • Pull out notes on days when you feel discouraged 
Want A Free PDF of This Blog? 
Enter Your Email and I’ll Send It Right Along!
Thank you for subscribing!

Practice Yoga 

Yoga can be an excellent way to peacefully move your body.  Your eating disorder has likely interrupted intuitive movement. Yoga should only be used when your healthcare team tells you you are okay to do healthcare. 

Yoga is a useful recovery tool because it helps: 

  • Teach you breathing skills to help reduce anxiety during recovery
  • Helps you learn to move your body not for the purpose of weight loss
  • Can help you connect to your body 

Separate Facts and Feelings

Your eating disorder voice has a way of making feelings associated with eating disorders seem like facts. A helpful anorexia recovery tip is to really separate out the facts and feelings. When these types of thoughts come up, challenge them.  Write them down and list out the reasons why you believe them. This will help you separate facts and feelings. 

Anorexia feelings might include:

  • If you keep eating this food, you’re going to be 500lbs
  • If you start eating your fear foods you will never stop
  • People don’t really think you look good, they’re saying that just to be nice

Don’t listen. These are feelings-not facts.

anorexia feelings infographic

Coping With Eating Disorder Recovery

When you have an eating disorder, recovery can sometimes feel impossible.  Give yourself grace in the process. It will take time to heal your relationship with food and your body image.

Here are a few tips to cope with an eating disorder: 

 
Stop Humoring 
Body Image Bullies!
Whether it’s your great aunt Sally or the itty bitty shitty committee in your own head- messages that threaten how you feel about your body suck.
 
 Subscribe and i’ll send you the ultimate guide for battling the bullies that make us feel like our bodies are something to be “fixed.”
 
Ditch body checking and respond to weight focused comments like a champ.
Thank you for subscribing!
Shena Jaramillo. Registered Dietitian
Latest posts by Shena Jaramillo. Registered Dietitian (see all)