Autism, Eating Disorders, and Intuitive Eating
Autistics are at high risk for developing eating disorders, but it’s important to understand that being Autistic doesn’t cause eating disorders--ableism does.
Growing up, we Autistics learn quickly that our authentic, awesome selves are judged harshly by allistics. They nit-pick at our differences, always assuming their own superiority rather than a mutual difference.
Authentic Autistic food culture includes:
Same foods, safe foods, sensory seeking foods (click here for explanation of terms)
Routines around how and when we eat
Being affected by sensory and social stimulation
Being affected by anxiety
Having specific utensils, straws, cups, etc.
Working with GI distress due to ableism
Special Interests
Justice Sensitivity
Love of animals
Allocation of executive functioning resources
When we are shamed, coerced, or forced into eating in ways that do not respect our cultural differences, food stops being a natural and enjoyable human experience and starts to become a fight, a struggle, and an obsession.
People of all neurotypes turn to eating disorders to cope with extreme distress, but Autistics are disproportionately susceptible to developing Anorexia Nervosa. While we only make up around 2% of the population, studies suggest that we represent a whopping 27.5% of people with anorexia.
If you have battled AN, you may want to consider if you are Autistic too. Autistics have worse psychological outcomes than allistics with anorexia, at least in part due to a lack of awareness and acceptance of our Autistic culture and a failure to respect our differences in the recovery process.
So why are we extra susceptible?
We’re so desperate to be accepted that we’re willing to break our minds and bodies to conform to what’s expected and to meet gendered beauty expectations. Thin Privilege is real, and it’s understandable that (as an oppressed minority group) we might chase after it.
We are so frequently denied choices that allistics take for granted, that food becomes one area we can find the solace of agency.
We are forced to occupy allistic-centric spaces for most of the day (school, work, errands, etc.) causing us to live on the edge of burnout which increases sensory sensitivities and digestive distress.
We have strong justice sensitivity and are more likely to be vegetarians, vegans, or make other justice-oriented food choices. When a parent says, “You can eat what we’re eating or you can not eat at all,” we will choose our principles over our own bodily needs.
We love patterns and numbers and can make elaborate rules around food with running calorie totals that can feel like permanent fixtures in our minds and which—once started—take diligent effort to let go of.
We get burned out having to live in a world that does not accept or accommodate us and therefore may not have leftover executive functioning resources to shop for or prepare meals.
In my two-decades long battle with anorexia, what is the ONE thing that actually restored a healthy relationship between me and my body? Intuitive Eating (IE) and the greater Body Liberation movement. Unfortunately, I’ve seen some people online say that Autistics should not be able to access or benefit from this healing paradigm shift due to our Autistic traits and the strains of ableism. That’s not only false, it’s pretty ableist in itself.
As you’ll see the tenth principle of IE is “gentle nutrition.” Autistics, like athletes, diabetics, and many others, need to customize our gentle nutrition to best support our unique needs—that doesn’t mean we should be excluded.
Principles of Intuitive Eating:
Reject the diet mentality
Honor your hunger
Make peace with food
Challenge the food police
Discover the satisfaction factor
Feel your fullness
Cope with your emotions with kindness
Respect your body
Joyful Movement
Honor your health with gentle nutrition
To make IE work for Autistics we need to take our cultural needs into account. For example, “Discover the satisfaction factor,” might mean eating alone, with special utensils, while watching a SpIn show—that’s cool. You do you, boo.
Gentle nutrition might look like:
Setting timers to remind yourself to eat on busy or stressful days.
Finding a same food that: a) you really enjoy, b) goes down easy even when anxiety is high, and c) sneaks in some nutrition-dense foods. It’s especially helpful to do this for breakfast so that way no matter what anxieties pop up, or how deeply we go into a SpIn, or how forgetful we may become, we can rest easy knowing that we already gave our bodies a little fueled TLC.
Hiding nutrient-dense fruits and vegetables in your food by blending vegetables into sauces, drinking smoothies sweetened with agave, etc.
Finding ways to enjoy drinking at least eight glasses of water a day. Perhaps you try investing in a filter to improve taste, making flavorful herbal teas (hot or iced), or carbonating water for some texture then topping it with a dash of juice or lemonade for flavor.
The point is gentle nutrition is a part of every person’s unique IE journey. Autistics are more than capable of understanding and utilizing all ten of the IE principles. Over time, with compassion and acceptance, IE can help build interception, reduce GI distress, maintain YOUR BODY’S unique healthy weight, reduce stress, save money, and improve sleep. Plus you get to use all of that freed up time and mental space that you previously spent worrying about food to spend with your SpIns, nature, your pets, your loved ones, and generally enjoying your life.
My morning same-food with hidden nutrient-dense ingredients:
River’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Shake
1 1/2 cups soymilk
2 scoops Simply Orgain peanut butter protein powder (with real sugar not yucky Stevia)
1-2 T cacao powder
1-2 t peanut butter
1/2 banana (*broken into chunks and frozen)
2-3 T frozen chopped spinach
Pinch of salt (trust me, it’s delicious)
Blend ingredients in a high-speed blender like a Vitamix (my fave) or a Ninja Bullet. Add ice if needed, enjoy with a straw.
*I buy one bunch of bananas every week, then peel and chop them up (about 6-8 chunks per banana). Seal in a zippy bag and place in the freezer. Bonus, banana peals make great compost!
Recommended Resources:
BOOKS
The Body is not an Apology: The Power of Self-Love
by Sonya Renee Taylor
Anti-Diet: Reclaim Your Time, Money, Well-Being, and Happiness Through Intuitive Eating
by Christy Harrison
Body-Positive Power: Because Life Is Already Happening and You Don't Need Flat Abs to Live It
by Megan Jayne Crabbe
Radical Belonging: How to Survive and Thrive in an Unjust World (While Transforming It for the Better)
by Lindo Bacon, PhD
PODCASTS
WEBSITES
TV SHOWS
Shrill on Hulu
Survival of the Thickest on Netflix
RECOVERY SUPPORT GROUP
Recovery Dharma: A mindfulness based support group that utilizes secular Buddhist philosophy (like mindfulness and meditation) to help people let go of coping mechanisms (of all kinds) that are no longer serving them. You are not broken—you are suffering. Meetings are available in-person and on-line to meet your needs.
Citations:
Parsons, M.A. Autism diagnosis in females by eating disorder professionals. J Eat Disord 11, 73 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-023-00785-0
Leppanen J, Sedgewick F, Halls D, Tchanturia K. Autism and anorexia nervosa: Longitudinal prediction of eating disorder outcomes. Front Psychiatry. 2022 Sep 21;13:985867. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.985867. PMID: 36213911; PMCID: PMC9533087.