The Overlap Between Eating Disorders and Chronic Illness
Therapy for chronic pain and disordered eating starts with understanding your body’s story.
At Elevate Therapy Wellness in Boulder, CO, we specialize in supporting those navigating the intersection of trauma, anxiety, chronic pain, and eating disorders. If you’ve ever felt trapped in a cycle of symptoms, food fears, or frustration with your body—not knowing where one begins and the other ends—this post is for you.
When Food Fear and Chronic Pain Co-Exist
It’s not uncommon for people with chronic illness or chronic pain to also develop disordered eating patterns. Whether it’s due to food sensitivities, elimination diets, digestive issues, or anxiety around flare-ups, food can go from being nourishment to something stressful.
People often start with the best intentions—cutting out foods in search of healing—but end up in cycles of restriction, control, and fear that mimic traditional eating disorders.
🎧 Listen to this episode of the podcast for deeper insights:
How Chronic Illness and Eating Disorders Mirror Each Other
Both chronic illness and eating disorders can create:
Hyperfocus on body cues
Loss of trust in your body
Heightened anxiety and fear around symptoms
Cycles of isolation and perfectionism
Chronic pain therapy must consider how the mind-body system processes both pain and food-related fears. Many of our clients report that anxiety, trauma, and pain flare when food becomes a source of control rather than support.
Photo by Mikhail Nilov
Traits That Increase Risk for Both
Some personality traits can make people more vulnerable to both chronic pain and eating disorders:
High achievers with perfectionist tendencies
Sensitivity to stress or criticism
People with past trauma (especially childhood trauma)
Highly empathic or “people-pleasing” personalities
Those who grew up in environments that promoted body shame or food control
This isn’t your fault. These patterns are protective—but they’re also changeable. That’s where therapy for anxiety and trauma therapy become powerful healing tools.
Why Food Rules Can Make Symptoms Worse
Rigid food rules may be suggested in functional medicine or wellness circles. But too much restriction can backfire:
Fear of food activates your nervous system, keeping your body in fight-or-flight
Stress impairs digestion, sleep, and immune response
Food avoidance limits important nutrients and slows healing
You disconnect from hunger and fullness cues, which builds distrust with your body
🧠 Your nervous system needs safety to heal. Constant food fear creates the opposite.
Credit by No Food Rules
How to Begin Healing Both
To heal from chronic pain and disordered eating, your body needs to feel safe, seen, and supported. Here's where to start:
Practical steps you can take today:
Begin tracking symptoms without judgment
Name food rules and notice where fear is driving them
Practice nervous system regulation (deep breathing, movement, grounding)
Work with a therapist or coach trained in trauma therapy and somatic approaches
Focus on curiosity over control with your body and food
Ready to get started?
🔗 Try our Mind-Body Healing Method—a self-study course to help you break the cycle: Mind-Body Healing Method Self-Study Program
Why Therapy for Chronic Pain and Eating Disorders Works
Your symptoms aren’t random. Chronic pain, anxiety, and food struggles often have shared roots in trauma and nervous system dysregulation. At Elevate Therapy Wellness, our integrative approach blends yoga therapy, somatic work, trauma therapy, and chronic pain healing techniques.
Whether you’re navigating:
IBS, migraines, fibromyalgia
Anxiety or panic attacks
Emotional eating or fear of eating
Burnout or PTSD
We’re here to help you reconnect with your body, calm your system, and feel like yourself again.
🧘♀️ Ready to reset your nervous system? Try our Nervous System Reset Course to learn regulation tools that calm pain and anxiety at the root.
You’re Not Alone—And You Don’t Have to Choose Between Chronic Illness Support or ED Recovery
You can heal. You can feel safe in your body again. You can trust yourself.
At Elevate Therapy Wellness, we walk alongside people just like you—those whose symptoms have been dismissed or misunderstood. Through a trauma-informed, body-respecting approach, we help you reclaim your health and rebuild peace from the inside out.
Start therapy, coaching, or one of our healing programs here:
