This article is part 2 of a mini-series on disordered eating in naturopathic practice. Over three parts, we’ll explore the eating spectrum, the red flags you need to know, and how to avoid accidentally fuelling diet culture in clinic.
Whether you’re a naturopath, herbalist, or other holistic practitioner, this series will start giving you the frameworks to support clients safely and effectively - without causing harm.
Through a naturopathic lens, this is Primum non nocere (First, do no harm) and Tolle totum (Treat the whole person). We’re not here to police plates; we’re here to restore healthy relationships with appetite, body, food... and essentially, oneself.
Whether you’re a naturopath, herbalist, or other holistic practitioner, this series will start giving you the frameworks to support clients safely and effectively - without causing harm.
Through a naturopathic lens, this is Primum non nocere (First, do no harm) and Tolle totum (Treat the whole person). We’re not here to police plates; we’re here to restore healthy relationships with appetite, body, food... and essentially, oneself.
The 5 Red Flags (and how to respond)
I’ve spent years trying to capture what disordered eating looks like in real life. The problem was, my lists kept getting longer and longer: the client who avoids carbs after 6pm, won’t eat until 11am, keeps boxes of weight loss supplements stashed away, cooks high-calorie meals for everyone else but won’t touch them, body-checks every time they pass a mirror, or spends 75% of their waking hours thinking about food and weight.
The truth is, disordered eating shows up in endless ways. And when I focused on every possible detail, it was easy to miss the bigger picture.
So instead of a looooong checklist, I now group these patterns into five broad families. I won’t list every symptom under each, but if you know the gist of these five, you’ll be much better equipped to spot disordered eating in practice... without losing sight of the person in front of you.
So here are my five red flags, in no particular order of importance:
The truth is, disordered eating shows up in endless ways. And when I focused on every possible detail, it was easy to miss the bigger picture.
So instead of a looooong checklist, I now group these patterns into five broad families. I won’t list every symptom under each, but if you know the gist of these five, you’ll be much better equipped to spot disordered eating in practice... without losing sight of the person in front of you.
So here are my five red flags, in no particular order of importance:
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