How to Rebuild Trust with Your Body After an Eating Disorder

If you’ve struggled with an eating disorder, you might feel completely disconnected from your body. Hunger, fullness, cravings, and body signals might all feel confusing or unreliable.

Why Trust Gets Broken

• Ignoring hunger for too long can make your body stop sending signals.

• Obsessive food rules replace internal cues with external ones.

• Bingeing and restricting cycles create distrust in your ability to eat ‘normally.’

• Weight changes can make body acceptance feel impossible.

Ways to Rebuild Trust

1. Eat regularly, even if you don’t feel hungry – This tells your body food is coming.

2. Listen to small cues – Start noticing subtle hunger/fullness signs.

3. Challenge food fears – Your body can handle variety. Test it in safe ways.

4. Let go of external rules – No more ‘shoulds’—your body knows what it needs.

5. Show your body respect – Nourish it, rest it, and speak kindly to it.

   
   

Trust takes time, but your body wants to work with you, not against you. With patience and consistency, that trust can be rebuilt.