Brain
True or false: disordered eating may eventually lead to changes within the brain.
TRUE: Undernutrition causes blood glucose to drop, triggering stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. These can impair concentration, working memory, and decision making (within hours). Hunger can cause irritability, distractibility and cognitive fog. Chronic restriction can also cause structural changes in the brain, in regions like the frontal lobes, temporal lobes, and parietal lobes.
What foods contain glucose?
Carbohydrates (starchy vegetables, grains, fruit, foods with added sugar).
Malnutrition can cause hormonal balances. Disturbances in which hormone leads to dysregulation of appetite, mood, and impulse control?
Serotonin
Myth or Fact: Carbohydrates are bad for you and should be minimized
MYTH. Carbohydrates are the body and brain's primary and preferred source of fuel. Restricting them forces the body to break down muscle and organ tissue for emergency energy.
What is the fine, downy hair that the body grows during prolonged starvation to help conserve heat?
Lanugo.
What molecules does the brain primarily run on?
Glucose for energy and fat as cell structure.
What foods are rich in omega 3 fatty acids?
Fish, oil, nuts, soy, tofu
True or False: Restoring nutrition and correcting for deficiencies should be one of the first approaches to eating disorder treatment.
Restoring nutrition first will lead to optimal brain function and successful treatment.
It will also lead to improved mood, better sleep, ability to focus, fewer obsessions around food, and more resiliency to stress
Myth or Fact: Restricting food and purging actually create the exact biological and psychological conditions that force the brain to binge again.
FACT. When you restrict, your body enters a perceived famine, triggering survival signals (like intense food fixation and spikes in certain hormones) that physically drive you to binge. Purging then creates a false sense of a "clean slate," which deprives the body of needed calories and removes the fear of future binges—locking the brain into a continuous, self-fulfilling loop.
How does chronic undernourishment impact the cardiovascular system and heart rate?
The heart muscle weakens and loses tissue mass, leading to bradycardia (abnormally low heart rate), low blood pressure, dizziness, and cold extremities.
What specific nutrients are important for the brain to function normally?
Zinc, omega 3 fatty acids, folate
What are macronutrients?
Macronutrients are nutrients your body needs in large amounts—carbohydrates, proteins, and fats—that provide energy and support essential bodily functions.
What is "mental hunger," and why is it just as valid as physical hunger signals?
Mental hunger includes persistent thoughts about food, looking at recipes, or planning meals. It is the brain's biological response to undernourishment, signaling that the body needs energy even if physical stomach cues are absent or muted.
Myth or Fact: You can accurately assess a person's health or level of nourishment just by looking at their body size or standard blood work.
MYTH: MYTH. Severe malnutrition, organ strain, and eating disorders occur across all body sizes. Standard blood work often remains artificially "normal" until extreme medical crisis due to homeostasis.
What are the dangers of purging to the body?
Purging drains the body of essential fluids and minerals—especially potassium, sodium, and chloride. Potassium is critical because it acts as an electrical conductor that regulates heart rhythm and muscle contraction. Low potassium (hypokalemia) can lead to severe fatigue, muscle weakness, kidney strain, and dangerous cardiac arrhythmias.
Why are omega-3 fatty acids important for brain function?
They are needed for all cells in the body because every cell is composed of fat. Fat manufactures and repairs cell membranes and is needed for brain function, mood, growth and development. Deficiency leads to psychiatric conditions such as depression, ADHD, and bipolar disorder.
True or False: The body stores zinc, therefore we do not need to eat zinc-rich foods every day.
FALSE. The body does not store zinc, and therefore we need daily repletion in the form of food (oysters, beef, chicken, yogurt, fortified cereals).
True or False: Feeling full or bloated after eating a normal meal means you ate too much.
FALSE. Malnutrition causes delayed gastric emptying (gastroparesis) and digestive slowing. Early in recovery, fullness and bloating are signs that the GI tract is rebuilding and adapting, not that you overate.
Myth or Fact: Bone density loss (osteopenia/osteoporosis) is completely reversible with nutritional rehabilitation.
MYTH. Unfortunately, bone density loss can be permanent if not addressed early.
What transformation happens to your digestive system, gut microbiome, and metabolism when you feed your body consistently every few hours?
The body quickly begins rebuilding GI tissue, increasing digestive enzyme production, and diversifying the gut microbiome! Consistent nutrition restores normal gastric motility, reduces bloating, and signal to the metabolism that it is safe to increase overall energy, warm the body, and restore natural vitality.
What did we learn from the Minnesota Starvation Experiment, and how brain changes caused by restriction reinforce disordered eating over time?
In the Minnesota Starvation Experiment, previously healthy participants were placed on a semistarvation diet for six months, consuming about half their caloric needs. Over time, their brains underwent measurable physiological and neurochemical changes that made them more likely to continue restricting food-- rewired the brain to become obsessed with food, disrupted mood-regulating chemicals, and altered brain structure. These changes made restriction more compelling and harder to reverse, illustrating why extreme dieting can become self-sustaining and difficult to break without proper nutritional rehabilitation.
What macronutrients should every meal contain?
Balanced meals should contain carbohydrates (veggies, fruits, starches, grains), protein (meat, fish, beans, eggs), and a fat source (olive oil, butter, etc).
Why is mechanical or scheduled eating necessary in early recovery, rather than relying solely on "intuitive eating"?
Malnutrition disrupts hunger and fullness hormones and dulls awareness of your senses. Mechanical eating provides consistent energy to restore physiological stability until natural cues reliably return.
Myth or Fact: Full recovery is entirely possible because the brain can physically repair itself and build brand-new, healthy pathways—no matter how long someone has struggled with an eating disorder.
FACT. Thanks to neuroplasticity, the brain remains adaptable throughout life. Just as disordered habits were learned, consistent nutrition, therapy, and new behaviors physically rewire the brain—extinguishing old obsessive loops, restoring natural hunger cues, and making peace around food feel automatic again.
How does full nutritional rehabilitation restore the nervous system, sleep cycles, and the body's natural capacity to feel calm and present?
Adequate energy intake reduces chronic cortisol and adrenaline spikes, allowing the parasympathetic nervous system ("rest and digest") to turn back on. This restores deep REM sleep, stabilizes body temperature, balances serotonin levels, and enables the body to experience genuine relaxation and emotional groundedness.