What? Me Afraid?

Of course not. Who is ever actually afraid of food? Well, I am. Such a silly thing to admit, mostly because no one who hasn’t struggled with an eating disorder could understand it as clearly as we do.

When I was reading about Jane Fonda’s battle with bulimia and anorexia last week, I was particularly struck by what she said about fear. In describing her personal battle with the eating disorders which plagued her personal and professional life for a quarter of a century, she said, “For 25 years, I could never put a forkful in my mouth without feeling fear, without feeling scared. ”

I’m in recovery from my eating disorder and mostly doing really well. The problem is, I went out of town this weekend, and away from my pretty rigid plan, I found myself getting panicked. Of course, in hindsight, I can see now that it would have been easier had I trusted my friend with whom I was traveling and let her in on my struggle, then I wouldn’t have had to pretend everything was fine and that I could handle real restaurant food.

Problems always seem so much worse in the dark, and when we’re alone.

Maybe the first steps in overcoming fear is in speaking the truth.

Eating Disorder Self Test. Take the EAT-26 self test to see if you might have eating disorder symptoms that might require professional evaluation. All answers are confidential.

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