Disordered Eating: 2025 Edition
Let’s be honest… wellness is everywhere. It’s in your Instagram feed, in your group chat, on your reusable water bottle with the motivational time stamps. It’s wrapped in words like “optimization” and “biohacking” and “clean living.” But the uncomfortable truth is that some of what we call “wellness” is starting to look a lot like an eating disorder.
This isn’t about villainizing health goals. Wanting to feel good in your body, to have energy, to eat nourishing foods—-those are wonderful, valid desires. But in a culture that monetizes our insecurities, it’s dangerously easy for the pursuit of health to become a socially accepted form of self-control, restriction, and anxiety.
So let’s talk about it. With honesty, with empathy, and without judgment.
The 2025 Remix of Disordered Eating
Back in the day, disordered eating was easier to spot. Skipping meals. Counting calories. Buying low-fat everything. Now it’s subtler, wrapped in the language of “data,” “performance,” and “longevity.” Here’s what it might look like today:
Logging your meals down to the last almond and feeling anxious if you forget.
Fasting until 4:00pm and binging for “autophagy.”
Weighing your food at dinner parties (or avoiding dinner parties altogether).
Wearing a continuous glucose monitor, not because you have diabetes, but because you saw a TikTok that said blueberries spike blood sugar.
Taking 15 supplements a day and panicking if you miss one.
Exercising daily, even through illness or injury, because “rest is laziness.”
Using GLP-1 medications like Ozempic or Wegovy for “maintenance” and skipping meals because “Whoops! I’m just not hungry anymore!”
And the kicker? These behaviors are often celebrated.
“You’re so disciplined!”
“Your willpower is incredible!”
“I wish I could be that healthy.”
But if someone said, “I skip meals and feel guilty when I eat carbs,” we’d call that a red flag. Yet wrap it in a smoothie bowl and call it “clean eating”? Suddenly, it’s aspirational.
When Self-Care Becomes Self-Control
According to the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), disordered eating includes chronic dieting, compulsive exercise, food anxiety, and rigid food rules. These aren’t always full-blown eating disorders, but they can still be harmful, particularly to our mental health. And sadly, they’re becoming increasingly normalized.
A 2018 study in NEJM found that individuals who exhibited orthorexic behaviors, an obsession with healthy eating, were more likely to be praised by others, even when those behaviors were causing distress. That praise can reinforce harmful habits, making it even harder to recognize when something’s off.
It’s like our culture collectively decided: “Sure, it’s disordered… but make it cute.”
Wellness is a Billion-Dollar Business
The pursuit of health has become a full-time job—-and an expensive one. The wellness industry is projected to reach $8.5 trillion by 2027, driven largely by consumer fear: fear of aging (“Oh my God, Debra. A wrinkle! Get me Botox!”), illness, weight gain, “toxins (It’s those damn “parasites”),” and even just being average.
Here’s what’s fueling the machine:
Fitness trackers and apps that reward perfectionism.
Supplements that aren’t regulated by the FDA but are marketed as must-haves. Because Joe Rogan said so!
Influencers who demonize gluten, seed oils, and sugar (while quietly editing their photos).
GLP-1 medications now being prescribed for weight loss in people without diabetes. A 2023 JAMA review raised alarms about potential long-term risks, including nutrient deficiencies and disordered eating patterns. (This article highlights
the concern well)
We’re being sold a version of health that’s often rooted not in care, but in fear and control.
But Isn’t Tracking and Goal-Setting Okay?
Absolutely. For some people, tracking food or workouts can be empowering or helpful—-especially if it’s approached with curiosity and flexibility.
The problem arises when “healthy habits” are driven by shame, anxiety, or fear. When missing a workout ruins your day. When eating a cookie leads to spirals of guilt. When you start to believe that your worth is tied to how “clean” or “disciplined” you are.
And here’s something really important: for many of us, especially those with anxious or perfectionist tendencies, food and fitness rules offer structure in a world that feels overwhelming. That doesn’t make you broken or vain. It makes you human. Our brains crave certainty, and diet culture delivers it in neatly packaged rules and routines.
But those rules aren’t always good for us. In fact, they can make life smaller, not healthier.
Signs Your “Wellness Journey” Might Be Hurting You
Here are some gentle questions to ask yourself:
Do you feel anxious or guilty after eating something “unhealthy”?
Do you avoid social events because of the food being served?
Do you skip meals and call it “intermittent fasting” when you’re really just afraid of eating?
Do you feel proud when you’re hungry—or scared when you’re full?
Do you find yourself constantly chasing a sense of control through food or exercise?
If you said yes to one or more, you’re not alone. You’re also not a failure. You’re someone living in a culture that’s made it really hard to feel safe in your body.
So What Can We Do Instead?
1. Practice Curiosity Over Control
What would happen if you approached food and movement with curiosity? If instead of asking, “How do I control this?” you asked, “What does my body actually need right now?”
2. Watch for the “Shoulds”
“I should work out.” “I should skip dessert.” If you hear the word “should,” pause. Who are you trying to please? And what would it feel like to give yourself permission instead?
3. Make Peace With Your Humanity
You don’t need to be perfect to be healthy. Health includes rest, connection, joy, spontaneity. Sometimes it’s lifting heavy weights, and sometimes it’s staying in bed with a croissant and a good book.
4. Challenge the Cultural Narrative
It’s okay to question why we’re normalizing glucose monitors for people without diabetes while others struggle to access care. It’s okay to say no to expensive supplements, rigid routines, and wellness fads that don’t serve you.
The Final Bite
Wellness doesn’t need to be a full-time job. It shouldn’t make you miserable, or anxious, or isolated. If your health routine is causing you more stress than it relieves, it’s okay to reevaluate. It’s okay to rest. It’s okay to eat the damn sandwich.
You are not your discipline. You are not your macros. You are not a “before and after” photo.
You are a whole, complicated, glorious human being. And you deserve care—not control. Nourishment—not punishment. Connection—not perfection.
So next time someone praises your “willpower,” ask yourself gently: is this really self-care… or have I just gotten really good at managing my fear?
You deserve a life that feels good—not just one that looks good on paper.