Easter Egg Regret? Remove the Remorse

Just as night follows day, those who battle an eating disorder know that there’s an inevitable follow-up to any period of self-serving or self-soothing.

Festivities such as Easter shine the spotlight on this – just as with Christmas, family celebrations and periods of extended vacation.

Today, as we wake up in the after-glow of Easter Sunday, many of us will be inclined to question how many chocolate treats, hot cross buns or portions of roast potatoes we consumed throughout the festivities.

Know this – remorse is the single most unhelpful trait in eating disorder recovery, and one which keeps you stuck and sorrowful.

Your body needs and wants food.

Your body, and indeed mind too, craves the nourishment and the sustenance you’ve been denying yourself.

Life is not about compromising or sacrificing every time you’ve allowed yourself a treat or a slight indulgence.

Your eating disorder voice will be full of those debilitating messages about how you should counteract your Easter treats with reduced food consumption, increased exercise, self-loathing, restriction and denial.

None of this will help you overcome your illness.

None of this will aid the restoration of your mental and emotional clarity.

Remember that no matter how many times you’ve had the call of nature to pop to the toilet during the day, no-one dictates that you should then cross your legs and hold off going for another wee for X many more hours.

You go when you need to – because you should.

The same applies to refusing any kind of nonsensical trade-off around food.

No-one should dictate that just because you ate yesterday, you should compromise today, or the day after, or the one after that.

If your body continues to feel hungry, or your mind continues to be thinking about food, that’s nature’s way of telling you you’re in need of something more.

These are tough times where your mental health will battle continually, and question your intake decisions – but the victory is in refusing to allow the eating disorder dialogue to win.

You will conquer the sooner and more swiftly you allow your body and mind to ignore societal attitudes to food and calorie trade-off.

Instead, think only of what YOU and YOUR BODY needs.

Ignore the plates of others. Ignore the remorse about the Easter eggs you ate yesterday (and eat another one!). Ignore the exercise levels of your friends, the diet behaviours of your colleagues or the media hype which suggests a new regime.

Your only focus must be the maintenance of your determined health journey.

You’ve got this. Keep going.