Disordered Eating

Specialist care for disordered eating: Empowering you to break free from the cycle.

What is disordered eating?

Disordered eating refers to a wide range of irregular or unhealthy eating behaviours that may not meet the full criteria for a diagnosed eating disorder – but still cause significant distress and impact a person’s life.

It can include patterns such as chronic dieting, skipping meals, rigid food rules, compulsive exercise, emotional eating, or feeling out of control around food. People may not always realise these behaviours are harmful, especially if they’ve become normalised in everyday culture.

Disordered eating often stems from attempts to manage uncomfortable emotions or gain a sense of control. While it might seem focused on food, underneath there are often deeper emotional struggles – such as anxiety, low self-worth, or a need to feel safe – driving these behaviours.

Despite not always fitting into a specific diagnosis, disordered eating deserves recognition, compassion, and care. Without support, it can escalate into more severe issues and affect every area of a person’s wellbeing – physically, mentally, and socially.

If you’re looking for specialist support for disordered eating in the UK, or want to understand how to help a loved one, we’re here to help.

Do I have disordered eating?

Disordered eating can be deeply distressing, even if it doesn’t meet the criteria for a formal diagnosis. It affects people of all sizes, genders, and backgrounds and you don’t have to “look” unwell to be struggling or to deserve support.

There’s no single way to experience disordered eating. Some people may find themselves skipping meals, obsessively tracking food, feeling out of control around certain foods, or using exercise to compensate for eating. Others might follow rigid food rules or experience intense guilt after eating. What unites these experiences is the emotional burden and the sense of being stuck in an exhausting cycle.

You might be functioning well in other areas of your life (at work, at school, in your relationships) but still feel consumed by thoughts about food, your body, or your worth. This can be incredibly isolating, especially when the behaviours are secretive or minimised by others.

If this sounds familiar for you or someone you care about, it might be time to explore whether support could help. You don’t need a diagnosis to deserve care. Disordered eating is valid, real, and treatable.

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Disordered eating page: A woman sits alone at a table looking anxious.

It’s not just about food

Disordered eating isn’t really about food. It may look like it’s about calories, control, or cutting out certain foods, but underneath, it’s often a way of coping with difficult thoughts, feelings, or experiences.

You might find yourself eating to soothe stress, restricting to feel in control, or obsessing over food to quiet anxiety. These behaviours can become deeply ingrained, and while they may feel like they’re helping in the moment, they often come with guilt, shame, and exhaustion.

It’s also common to feel out of control around food, especially during times of emotional overwhelm. That doesn’t mean you’re weak or broken – it means your body and mind are doing their best to protect you in the only way they currently know how.

Recognising these patterns is the first step. Support can help you understand what’s driving them – and guide you towards safer, more sustainable ways to cope.

Common symptoms of disordered eating; do these feel familiar?

Preoccupation with food, eating, or body image

Strict food rules or rituals (e.g. cutting out food groups, only eating at certain times)

Skipping meals or delaying eating despite hunger

Feeling out of control around certain foods

Guilt, shame, or anxiety after eating

Secretive eating or hiding eating habits from others

Emotional eating – using food to soothe stress, anxiety, or low mood

Compensatory behaviours such as excessive exercise, restriction, or fasting

Low self-esteem or feelings of worth tied to weight or food control

Perfectionism or a strong inner critic

Co-occurring mental health struggles, such as anxiety, depression, or OCD

Avoidance of social situations involving food

Body checking or frequent comparisons to others

A sense that food and body thoughts are taking up too much space in daily life

You deserve to break the cycle of disordered eating.

Disordered eating often develops as a way to cope with overwhelming emotions, difficult life experiences, or a deep sense of self-criticism. Over time, these patterns can feel impossible to escape, but with the right support, change is possible.

At Orri, we work with individuals to gently explore the emotional and psychological roots of their disordered eating. Our team supports clients in developing new, healthier ways of coping, while also addressing any co-occurring issues such as anxiety, low self-worth, or perfectionism that may be maintaining the cycle.

We believe that recovery is possible – and that support for disordered eating should be holistic, person-centred, and rooted in compassion. No matter where you are in your journey, you deserve to feel free from the grip of disordered eating and to reconnect with a life that feels authentic and nourishing.

Approximately 22% of children and adolescents worldwide engage in disordered eating behaviours

JAMA Pediatr. 2023

What we understanding about disordered eating

A large global review found that about 22% of children and adolescents worldwide engage in disordered eating behaviours – such as excessive fasting, bingeing, or avoiding entire food groups.

However, it’s important to remember that while not everyone with disordered eating will have a diagnosed eating disorder, understanding the difference can help people get the right support before things get worse.

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