How to Start an Eating Disorder Recovery Journal

Content Warning: eating disorders

As a society, we’ve gotten really good at reading books or blogs and listening to podcasts about general wellness, self-help and feeling better in our bodies. I think reading and listening to wise words from many different sources is a great way to help change up our internal dialogue and learn about healthier thought patterns.

However well-intentioned, this can be a lot of incoming information. Have you ever considered how you truly felt about any of these topics or conversations? Have you ever taken a moment to sit with any of the information that you learned? What if you interviewed yourself on these topics, just like your favourite podcasters?

If you answered ‘no’ to any or all of the above questions, I invite you to consider the following eating disorder journal activity.

At Libero, we love journaling and have written about its benefits before.

Journaling can be a great way to process your thoughts and provide an outlet for your ongoing internal dialogue (positive or negative).

Journaling can be as simple as writing out your thoughts as they flow in or as creative as writing poems or stories about your experiences. Journaling is something we do purely for ourselves. A journal will not judge, will not cut you off mid-sentence, and will not stare at their phone while you try to speak.

Like any strategy, this doesn’t work for everyone, but many find it very powerful.

Getting in touch with your thoughts through eating disorder recovery journaling can feel scary at first.

Some people don’t know where to start, so they avoid it altogether. That’s where journaling prompts come in. These are questions to start you off and provide some structure.

Starting Your Eating Disorder Recovery Journal

Here are ten eating disorder recovery journal prompts that I have found helpful both for clients struggling with eating disorders and for myself. I hope you use these as a start and create your unique rhythm in journaling!

10 Journal Prompts to Start Your Eating Disorder Recovery Journal:

1. What is your first memory of food or eating? Was it a positive or negative experience? What did this experience teach you?
2. If you are able to, how do you celebrate food? If you do not, how would you like to celebrate food?
3. Who is your role model for the type of relationship with food you want? How do they nourish themselves? If you were that person, how would you nourish yourself?
4. Describe something you feel positively or even neutral towards. How would it look if you felt that way about your body?
5. If your experience with and relationship with food were a story, how would it go? If you had full power to control the rest of the story, how would it end?
6. If you were to write a letter to your body, what would you say? What might your body say back in response?
7. Imagine your eating disorder does not exist. Describe a typical day. What from this imaginary day can you make happen in real life today?
8. Imagine your eating disorder is another person or thing, separate from yourself. How does it look?
9. How can you best support yourself and your recovery today?
10. What beliefs are no longer serving you? How can you acknowledge that they may have previously served you but still let them go today?

Related: 8 Journaling Prompts for Eating Disorder Recovery

Have you ever used an eating disorder recovery journal?

What did you learn from that experience? Let us know your favourite eating disorder recovery journaling prompts, and let’s add to this list of thought-provoking questions for self-reflection!