Featuring insights from Jenny Sisco, RDN, LDN, Director of Nutrition
Conversations about food often focus on what’s on the plate — calories, nutrients, or the latest “superfood.” But beneath the surface lies something more profound: how food makes us feel, the rules we attach to it, and the relationship we build with our bodies. For many, that relationship can become strained, tangled with guilt, shame, or fear.
Jenny Sisco, Director of Nutrition at Haven of Hope Eating Disorder Care Center, works daily with individuals who are learning to reconnect with their bodies and rebuild trust with food. Her approach moves beyond diet trends and restriction, emphasizing compassion, balance, and education. Through her lens, recovery is not just about eating differently — it’s about thinking differently, living differently, and rediscovering the simple act of nourishment.
Recognizing the Early Signs
The early warning signs of an eating disorder can appear subtle at first. They often emerge as behaviors that seem harmless — skipping a meal, exercising more intensely, or deciding to “eat cleaner.” Yet these habits can quietly evolve into rigid patterns that disrupt both physical and emotional well-being.
Behavioral signs may include preoccupation with food, calories, or dieting; cutting out entire food groups without a medical reason; or avoiding meals with others. There may also be excessive exercise, frequent weighing or body checking, or even a sudden desire to cook for others without eating.
Physically, someone might experience noticeable weight changes, dizziness, digestive issues, or feeling unusually cold. Emotional shifts such as increased irritability around meals, guilt after eating, or withdrawal from social events often appear alongside these physical indicators.
Eating disorders are complex, they’re rarely about vanity or willpower. They often represent deeper emotional struggles, a need for control, or an attempt to manage anxiety. Recognizing these early signs opens the door to help before the patterns take stronger hold.
Understanding Food Noise
“Food noise” has become a popular phrase on social media, but in clinical practice it describes a very real mental experience: the constant, intrusive thoughts about eating, calories, or body image. It can sound like a running commentary that never quiets down what was eaten, what shouldn’t have been eaten, what needs to be “worked off.”
When this mental chatter interferes with daily functioning disrupting concentration, social connection, or peace of mind, it can signal a disordered relationship with food. While it’s normal to think about meals during the day, constant preoccupation can point to underlying anxiety or restriction. Recognizing this “noise” as distress rather than discipline is often the first step toward healing.
Establishing a Rhythm of Nourishment
Nutrition recovery begins with consistency. Eating regular meals and snacks throughout the day roughly every three to four hours, supports energy stability, mood regulation, and cognitive clarity. Skipping meals can trigger blood sugar fluctuations and reinforce a cycle of deprivation and overcompensation.
Jenny emphasizes that nourishment should also include flexibility. On college campuses, where schedules shift and food options vary, balanced eating might mean choosing what is accessible rather than what feels “perfect.” Nourishing meals exist beyond salads and smoothies — a hearty sandwich, warm grain bowl, or protein-rich snack can provide both comfort and sustenance.
The ultimate goal is to rebuild trust between body and mind: to teach the body that food will arrive consistently and that its hunger cues will be honored.
Navigating Triggering Environments
Diet talk and body shaming can surface almost anywhere, from friend groups to social media feeds. Learning to manage these triggers is vital for maintaining recovery and self-compassion.
Setting boundaries is a powerful tool. Redirecting conversations, changing topics, or using humor can defuse diet-centered discussions. Protecting one’s environment is equally important: unfollowing body-shaming accounts, muting triggering group chats, and taking breaks from social media can all help create mental space for healing.
Processing these experiences afterward, with a therapist, trusted friend, or support group — allows emotions to move through rather than build up. Grounding activities like deep breathing, journaling, or spending time outdoors help restore calm when triggering moments arise.
Shifting the Narrative Around Eating Disorders
A common misconception is that eating disorders are primarily about food or appearance. In reality, they are complex mental health conditions shaped by biological, psychological, and social factors.
Recovery is not simply a matter of eating “normally” again. It involves addressing deep emotional wounds, challenging cognitive distortions, and building new coping mechanisms. It requires patience and persistence as individuals learn to separate self-worth from body size or control over food.
Another critical truth: eating disorders do not discriminate. They affect people of every body size, gender, age, and cultural background. Many struggle in silence because they don’t fit the narrow stereotypes often depicted in media or healthcare. Broadening public understanding is essential to ensure that more people receive the compassion and treatment they need.
The Influence of Social Media
Social media plays a powerful role in shaping perceptions of body image and health. Its impact can be both harmful and healing.
On the harmful side, curated images, filters, and algorithms amplify unrealistic beauty standards. Once a person interacts with diet or fitness content, algorithms often respond by flooding their feed with more extreme versions of the same material. This reinforcement loop can lead to obsession, comparison, and in some cases, exposure to dangerous “pro-ana” or “thinspiration” content.
Yet social media also holds promise. It can connect individuals to recovery-focused communities, promote body diversity, and increase access to education and support. Many people find treatment resources, body-neutral influencers, and uplifting stories of recovery online.
The difference lies in awareness and intentionality. Developing media literacy — questioning what messages are being promoted and who benefits from them — empowers users to curate their digital environments and protect mental well-being.
Relearning Body Trust
Rebuilding a sense of trust with the body is one of the most profound aspects of recovery. Years of restrictive eating or body criticism can disconnect individuals from their internal cues — hunger, fullness, fatigue, or satisfaction. Relearning to interpret and honor these cues takes time.
Consistent nourishment lays the foundation. Regular, balanced eating patterns help restore reliable hunger and fullness signals. Over time, the body learns that food is consistent and safety returns.
Gentle awareness practices like mindful breathing, yoga, or body scans can also support this reconnection. These techniques allow individuals to observe sensations without judgment and build a non-critical relationship with their physical self.
Professional guidance plays a key role. Working with dietitians, therapists, and medical providers helps navigate the process safely and compassionately.
Limiting body-checking behaviors, constant weighing, measuring, or mirror comparisons — helps redirect focus inward. Noticing improvements in mood, energy, and clarity instead of numbers on a scale reinforces that progress is about well-being, not weight.
Celebrating non-scale victories, such as improved sleep, concentration, or confidence, strengthens the internal trust that recovery depends on.
Confronting Diet Culture in Everyday Life
Diet culture surrounds us, from casual conversations to advertising campaigns — often disguised as “wellness.” Challenging it requires awareness, language, and courage.
A simple but effective approach is reframing. When someone labels food as “good” or “bad,” responding with neutrality (“Food isn’t moral — all foods can fit”) introduces a more balanced perspective without confrontation.
Redirecting the focus of compliments also matters. Shifting from appearance-based praise (“You look great, did you lose weight?”) to well-being-based acknowledgments (“You seem energized lately”) reinforces that joy and health are not measured by size.
Curiosity is another powerful tool. Asking open-ended questions — like “What makes you feel that way about carbs?” — invites reflection instead of defensiveness.
Ultimately, challenging diet culture begins internally. Recognizing personal biases, examining self-talk, and extending self-compassion create the foundation for meaningful change. The more we model that balance and kindness, the more we normalize it for others.
The Broader Impact of Eating Disorders
Eating disorders extend beyond the individual. They often affect relationships, academic or work performance, and overall quality of life.
Social withdrawal, secrecy, or avoidance of shared meals can lead to isolation. Friends and family members may sense something is wrong but struggle to know how to help. These misunderstandings can create tension or distance.
Daily functioning also suffers. Malnutrition and obsessive thought patterns can cause fatigue, irritability, and difficulty concentrating. Simple activities like attending class, driving, or maintaining routines can become exhausting.
Physically, eating disorders affect nearly every organ system — from the heart and kidneys to the brain and bones. Complications can include low heart rate, electrolyte imbalances, hormonal disruptions, digestive issues, and bone density loss. Even when outward signs seem minimal, internal systems may still be compromised, underscoring the need for ongoing medical monitoring.
Understanding the Roots
There is rarely a single cause for an eating disorder. Rather, it develops from a mix of genetic, biological, psychological, and environmental factors.
Family history of anxiety, depression, or obsessive-compulsive tendencies can increase vulnerability. Perfectionistic or highly sensitive personalities may be more prone to internalizing societal pressures. Traumatic experiences, transitions, or life stressors often serve as triggers.
Social environments also play a significant role. Exposure to diet culture, body-focused activities, or comments about weight and appearance can all contribute.
Recognizing these factors helps destigmatize eating disorders. They are not a lifestyle choice but a coping mechanism for deeper emotional or physiological pain.
Supporting a Friend or Loved One
Approaching someone who may be struggling requires empathy and care. Expressing concern based on observation, rather than appearance, opens the conversation without judgment. Statements such as “I’ve noticed you seem stressed around food” or “You don’t seem like yourself lately” invite dialogue rather than defensiveness.
Listening is more powerful than fixing. Offering presence, patience, and encouragement to seek professional help often has a greater impact than advice. If safety concerns arise, guiding them toward medical or mental-health support is essential.
Recovery is most successful when individuals feel seen and supported rather than pressured.
Redefining Recovery
Recovery from an eating disorder is not about returning to an old version of oneself — it’s about building a new, more peaceful relationship with the body and with food. It is nonlinear and deeply personal, marked by both progress and setbacks.
True recovery involves rediscovering joy in eating, spontaneity in social life, and gratitude for what the body allows rather than how it looks. It’s a process of unlearning fear and control, and replacing them with compassion and trust.
When individuals begin to focus less on food and more on life — their goals, relationships, and passions — they start to see that healing is not only possible, but profoundly liberating.
A Path Forward
The work of recovery lies in small, daily acts of nourishment: eating regularly, resting without guilt, speaking kindly to oneself, and allowing imperfection.
The conversation around food and body image is evolving, and professionals like Jenny Sisco are helping to lead that shift. By centering compassion, evidence-based guidance, and a respect for individuality, her approach reminds us that healing is not about control or punishment. It’s about learning to listen again, to hunger, to emotion, to the quiet wisdom of the body.
For anyone struggling, the message is clear: you are not alone, and you do not have to wait until things feel “bad enough” to seek help. Recovery begins the moment you believe you deserve peace, and that belief, nourished day by day, can grow into a life reclaimed.
