Eating Disorders: Support, Recovery and Tracking
Understand eating disorders, why early professional support matters, and when food or weight tracking may be unhelpful during treatment and recovery.
Food can become a source of distress rather than comfort, and asking for help can feel difficult. Your experience deserves to be taken seriously, whatever your body size or eating pattern.
Understanding Eating Disorders
Eating disorders are serious illnesses involving disturbed eating behaviours and distress around food, body shape or weight. They can affect physical and mental health and may be life-threatening. They are treatable, and early assessment matters. [1]
Care and everyday food decisions
Seek help from a qualified healthcare professional and an eating-disorder team where available. Treatment should address nutritional, physical and psychological needs. Do not start an elimination diet, fasting plan or weight-loss programme as a substitute for eating-disorder treatment. [1]
Deciding whether tracking helps
Detailed food, calorie or weight tracking may be unhelpful for some people. Discuss whether any record is appropriate with your treating team. One Food Forward is not an eating-disorder treatment tool; if you and your team choose to use it, agree what to record and stop if it increases restriction, checking or distress.
Related reading: Anxiety Disorders; Depressive disorder.
Do I have to use a food diary to recover?
No. There is no requirement to use One Food Forward. Follow the approach agreed with your team, including their preferred record or no tracking at all. Care comes before collecting data. [1]
Your care plan comes first
Discuss whether any food or weight record is helpful with your treating team. You do not need to use One Food Forward to receive care, and tracking should stop if it increases distress or restriction.
Sources and further reading
Your healthcare team should guide diagnosis, treatment and changes to your diet or medicines.
Spotted something that needs correcting? Contact One Food Forward support and include this page’s address.