How Eating Disorders Impact the Body—And Why It’s Never Too Late to Heal

As an eating disorder specialist and therapist, I’ve worked with many individuals who believed they “weren’t sick enough” to deserve help. Many of these beliefs come from common cultural misconceptions about what someone with an eating disorder “looks like”.

People often believe that for someone to have an eating disorder, they must have rapid and extreme weight loss resulting in a visibly underweight body type. This is wildly inaccurate. While it can happen this way, the vast majority of people with severe eating disorders are in bodies of all shapes and sizes. Many have not experienced a significant shift in weight because their bodies have adapted to the change in food patterns.

Let’s break down how eating disorders affect different systems in the body, and why it’s never too late to seek eating disorder treatment and start the healing process.

The Heart: A Silent Victim

One of the most concerning impacts of eating disorders is on the cardiovascular system. Malnutrition, whether from restriction, purging, binge eating, or binge-purge cycles, can cause heart irregularities, including atrophy. This means the heart muscle literally shrinks. It becomes weaker and more vulnerable to arrhythmias (irregular heartbeats) and even sudden cardiac arrest.

Bradycardia (a dangerously slow heart rate) is a common finding in those with anorexia nervosa. It’s often seen as a sign of “fitness” by the individual. In reality, it’s a protective mechanism of the body conserving energy in the face of starvation. In Sick Enough, Dr. Gaudiani describes how even mild to moderate restriction can cause heart complications. Even in those who do not appear medically underweight.

But here’s the good news: the heart is remarkably resilient. With nutritional rehabilitation and sustained treatment, heart function can improve dramatically.

The Gastrointestinal System: Slowed and Suffering

Many people with eating disorders experience chronic constipation, bloating, early fullness, and abdominal pain. These symptoms are not “in your head.” They’re the result of slowed gastrointestinal motility due to malnutrition. The stomach empties more slowly, the intestines become sluggish, and digestive enzymes decrease.

Laxative abuse, often present in bulimia nervosa, can cause long-term damage to the colon and electrolyte imbalances. Purging through vomiting not only damages the esophagus but also disrupts the normal acid-base balance in the body. Sometimes dangerously so.

Dr. Gaudiani emphasizes that gastrointestinal distress is often a key driver of continued eating disorder behaviors. Patients restrict or purge to avoid painful bloating or discomfort. Treatment that addresses both refeeding and symptom management is essential for healing the gut and breaking the cycle.

Hormonal Chaos: Disruption Across the Board

One of the body’s first responses to starvation is shutting down non-essential systems to conserve energy. This includes the reproductive system. Many people with eating disorders experience amenorrhea (loss of periods),

The absence of menstruation is not just about fertility. It signals that the body is in survival mode. Low estrogen levels also contribute to early-onset osteoporosis. Dr. Gaudiani’s work underscores that you don’t need to be underweight to experience hormonal dysregulation. Even in larger bodies, chronic restriction can disrupt hormones like cortisol, thyroid hormone, and sex hormones.

With adequate nutrition and consistent treatment, hormonal health can return. However, the longer the restriction continues, the more difficult it becomes to restore. That’s why it’s essential to seek and maintain eating disorder recovery.

Bone Health: Damage That Starts Young

Bone loss is one of the more insidious consequences of eating disorders. It often occurs silently and becomes irreversible if not caught early. Peak bone mass is typically achieved in the late teens to early twenties. This window is often compromised in individuals with eating disorders.

As Dr. Gaudiani outlines, restrictive eating, amenorrhea, and low body weight are a dangerous combination for bone density. Unfortunately, lost bone mass is difficult to regain, even after recovery. This makes early intervention especially critical in young patients.

But even in later years, stopping bone loss and improving stability is possible. Eating disorder recovery includes nutritional rehabilitation, weight restoration, and sometimes medication. It’s not too late to care for your bones.

The Brain: Cognition, Mood, and Identity

Perhaps one of the most misunderstood effects of eating disorders is their impact on the brain. Starvation alters brain function. Individuals often become obsessive, anxious, and depressed. They may experience brain fog, poor concentration, and a distorted sense of self.

Dr. Gaudiani describes the “eating disorder voice” as a neurobiological phenomenon. It gets louder the longer the brain is malnourished. Thoughts become rigid, fear-based, and compulsive. It’s not weakness or vanity—it’s biology.

The beautiful part? The brain, like the heart, is incredibly neuroplastic. With adequate food, compassionate support, and therapy, people can reconnect to their true selves. Their cognitive flexibility returns, emotions stabilize, and joy becomes accessible again.

You Don’t Have to “Hit Rock Bottom” to Deserve Help

A pervasive myth in eating disorder culture is that unless you're severely underweight or hospitalized, you're not "sick enough" to seek treatment. But the reality is: if your relationship with food is interfering with your life, your joy, your health, or your identity, you are sick enough.

Eating disorders are the second-deadliest psychiatric illness after opioid use disorder. They do not discriminate by weight, age, gender, or race. And they are treatable.

Hope for Healing: Thoughts From an Eating Disorder Therapist

Recovery is not easy. It often means confronting fear foods, gaining weight, resting more, and grieving the identity the eating disorder gave you. But it is possible—and it’s absolutely worth it.

Your body is more resilient than you think. Your brain can rewire. Your heart can heal. Your gut can recover. And your life can become joyful, free, and full again.

Start Eating Disorder Treatment in Utah

Whether you’re just beginning to question your relationship with food or you’ve been struggling for years, it’s not too late. You are not beyond help. And you are absolutely deserving of care through comprehensive eating disorder treatment.

If you’re ready to take the first step, know that there is a team of eating disorder professionals—physicians, therapists, dietitians—ready to walk with you. Recovery isn’t just about food. It’s about reclaiming your life. Here’s how you can get started:

• Book a free consultation or contact us at 801-699-6161

• Meet with a caring and experienced eating disorder therapist

• Start supporting your mental and physical health with Inside Wellness!

Other Services Inside Wellness Offers in Provo and Salt Lake City, UT

Eating disorder treatment is not the only service offered by Inside Wellness. We are happy to provide a variety of other mental health services, including anxiety counseling, body image therapy, and online therapy in Utah. Discover the support and benefits that in-person or online therapy can offer by visiting our blog or FAQ today.

What Is The Most Common Eating Disorder?

Anorexia nervosa may be the most well-known eating disorder in the world. Bulimia nervosa has also seen increasing recognition in the past few decades.

However, you may be supposed to know that the most common eating disorder in the US is binge eating disorder. 

Eating disorders can have multiple causes and triggers. Any stressful or traumatic event, such as divorce, a breakup, physical illness, death of a loved one or any significant life change can all trigger an eating disorder.

The specific kind of disordered behavior around eating and food is an external expression of disordered thinking in the mind. How that manifests can vary hugely between individuals.

Individuals suffering from binge eating disorder often lose control over their eating, but they don’t show the purging behaviors that mark Bulimia nervosa.

Binge eating disorder is most often seen in individuals who are obese, compared with individuals of average weight (seen most often with bulimia), or underweight (seen most often with anorexia).

Although the dangers of binge eating are different to those associated with bulimia or anorexia, they can be just as difficult to deal with and can be just as life-threatening. 

If you think you or someone you know may be suffering from an eating disorder, reach out for specialist support today. 

At Inside Wellness, Utah, our warm team of therapists specializes in caring for sufferers of eating disorders in Salt Lake and Utah Counties . We want to give you the best care possible, so we are constantly training in new therapy modalities and the latest research surrounding eating disorders.

Get the expert help and support you need by scheduling a call with our experienced intake coordinator today.

Do Eating Disorders Affect People of All Ages?

Eating disorders have been stereotyped as a ‘young person’s challenge’. As a result, eating disorders in middle-aged, and older individuals can easily go undiagnosed and even unnoticed.

When you consider the factors that can go into the emergence of an eating disorder, it’s no wonder that increasing numbers of people (of any age) are being recognized to have one or multiple eating disorders. 

The group affected by eating disorders has expanded to affect even more individuals in midlife and beyond. Why is this?

Even though an eating disorder may not be recognized or diagnosed until later in life, the disorder is often developed while a person is still very young, often before age 18. 

Forty, thirty, and even twenty years ago, there was much greater social stigma surrounding eating disorders, and many individuals hesitated to reach out for help. This has resulted in some individuals, especially women, seeing their eating disorder as almost a ‘personality characteristic’, as many define themselves by the eating disorder.

It’s not uncommon for psychologists specializing in eating disorders to see clients in their 50s, 60s, and 70s coming forward with disordered eating behavior. Sufferers seeking help are most commonly women, but not always - men suffer from eating disorders too.

If you think you or someone you love might be suffering from an eating disorder, what can you do?

Reach out for help from a mental health therapist who specializes in eating disorders. Some older individuals hold back because they’ve been told that therapy doesn’t really work, it’s ‘pyscho-babble’, or that it’s for ‘weak’ people who ‘just want to talk about their feelings’. 

This is simply not true, and there is much data to back this up. A therapist who specializes in eating disorders has focused experience and training working with different therapy modalities that are proven to improve everyday life for sufferers of eating disorders, regardless of age.

You don’t need to suffer or try to figure this out alone. Reach out for help today from one of our gentle, supportive therapists at Inside Wellness, Utah. Schedule a call with our caring intake coordinator by simply Clicking This Link

Can You Have Multiple/More Than One Eating Disorder?

Everyone is unique and individual, and a person’s experience of eating disorders is no exception.

The disordered thinking that results in an eating disorder can just as easily cause two or more overlapping eating disorders, or cause one to morph into another over time.

It is completely normal for an eating disorder sufferer to experience two or more eating disorders at once, or to see one eating disorder they’ve grown accustomed to ‘managing’ change into a different eating disorder entirely. 

The mind is a fascinating, complex, and powerful place, and the point where thought crosses over into action can is fluid and can easily change with time.

Getting professional, expert help with an eating disorder is important for regaining control of your life. But if you feel you may be dealing with more than one eating disorder, or if it’s changed over time, you really need to get someone involved who knows what they’re dealing with.

The key is to look for a qualified mental health therapist who specializes in the management of eating disorders and all the unique challenges and complications that come along with that diagnosis.

At Inside Wellness, Utah, our caring team of therapists are constantly undergoing training to stay up to date with the latest advances in science and treatment modalities for eating disorders. We have the experience and knowledge to support you and help you heal.

Reach out for support today by scheduling a call with our experienced Intake Coordinator.

Do You Have ARFID?

Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID), previously referred to as ‘Selective Eating Disorder,’ is a relatively new entry to the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (the standard classification of mental disorders used by mental health professionals in the US).

However, ARFID behavior is not new - individuals have suffered from this eating disorder for a long time.

ARFID is similar to anorexia nervosa in that both disorders involve limiting the amount and/or type of food eaten. However, ARFID typically does not involve any distress or fears about body shape or size.

Children are known to often go through phases of ‘picky eating’; however an ARFID sufferer is different. In children, the disorder results in not consuming enough calories to grow and develop physically; in adults, the restriction in calories results in a struggle to maintain basic body function. 

If you’ve been diagnosed with ARFID, what can you do? Do you feel trapped by how your eating disorder affects, your daily life, your relationships, your job? Is there any hope for improvement?

Thankfully, yes - help is absolutely available and there IS hope that things can improve for you.

Although mental health therapists are trained in a general understanding of disordered thinking and the behaviors that can result from that (eg. an eating disorder), an experienced therapist who specializes in eating disorders will have access to the latest science, training, and therapy modalities relating to eating disorders, including ARFID.

Your specialist therapist can guide you through the process of reframing your thoughts and addressing any underlying issues or past trauma that may have contributed to you developing ARFID.

Help IS available and you CAN get better. At Inside Wellness, our therapists are highly-trained and experienced in helping individuals just like you to take control and regain their inner peace.

Take the first step today by scheduling a call with our caring intake coordinator. 

Can I Have An Eating Disorder If I Am In a Larger Body?

You may have been diagnosed with an eating disorder, or maybe you suspect you may have one, and yet you feel like your body size is not “small enough” or that you are “too big” to have an eating disorder.

Western culture has a very unhealthy and unbalanced perception of weight and health in general. Put those two together and our society loses the plot altogether. 

It’s a sad & erroneous belief that most people don’t equate being in a larger body or anything short of an “extremely thin” body with also having an eating disorder. Yet, these misconceptions get in the way of people getting help.

In their book ‘Radical Belonging: How To Survive & Thrive In An Unjust World (While Transforming It For The Better)’, Lando Bacon, Ph.D., says: “It’s important to acknowledge that the ability to make personal behavior changes is a class privilege. …No matter how you change your eating or activity habits, the factors that make up your lifeworld—challenges like discrimination, stigma, job insecurity, poverty, and caregiver responsibilities—will remain unchanged.”

Many factors, such as genetics, chronic stress, illness, and available food options, can affect your weight, shape, and size

The factors that can lead to simultaneously having an eating disorder involve your deep psychological reactions to these and other factors, such as the crushing pressure of society’s judgmental views.

Shame, loneliness, guilt, fear, and anxiety only make things worse. And suffering from an eating disorder while also feeling stigmatized for your appearance can drive you into a deep depression and feelings of hopelessness. 

It can feel like the odds are stacked against you and it can be hard to know where to turn for meaningful help, and what that help is even for. Do you constantly feel like you need to lose weight? Do you feel that if your body was a different shape or size your life would be dramatically better? Do you find yourself thinking that if you just exercise more or lose “x” amount of weight you’ll then be able to get your life back? Or do you know that this hasn't worked before, but you are scared you’ll be dismissed or judged for having an eating disorder because of your body shape or size?

Questions like these only add to a sense of despair and loneliness. But you are not alone in feeling this way!

Many others have felt the same as you but have found help and relief. At Inside Wellness, every one of our caring, compassionate counselors believes strongly in the Health At Every Size principles. We know that eating disorders occur in bodies of all shapes & sizes. We believe that all bodies and all people are deserving of help and respect! We will work with you to help you identify and challenge the thoughts and beliefs that are hurting you, and help you set and reach behaviors that support your body & mind moving the focus away from your current negative beliefs & eating disorder behaviors into a way of coping that will bring hope & balance to your life again. This is where you’ll find the support and guidance you need.

Begin Eating Disorder Treatment in Provo, UT

Our team of caring therapists would be honored to support you in navigating the stressors of eating disorder treatment you may face. We are happy to offer support from our Provo, UT-based practice and across the state. You can start your therapy journey by following these simple steps:

1. Schedule your free, private consultation by clicking this link.

2. Get to know a caring therapist

3. Start receiving the help and respect you deserve!

Other Services Offering with Inside Wellness

Our team understands you may experience a number of mental health concerns in addition to eating disorder treatment. This is why we are happy to offer support with a variety of mental health services. Other services offered include body image counseling, anxiety treatment, and online Therapy in Utah. Feel free to visit our blog for more helpful information today!