Connecting Hunger, Housing, and Healing: Rethinking Eating Disorder Care
How We Can Bring Conversations About Food and Housing Into Eating Disorder Care
If you are anything like me, you’ve been feeling distressed about the national and global conversations about food and the number of people who simply don’t have enough of it. It’s National Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week. How do we talk about healing our relationship with food and body when, for so many people, food and housing are not a given?
In the United States, recent USDA data suggest that roughly 47 million people, about 1 in 7, live in households that are food insecure, including nearly 14 million children. Food insecurity isn’t just a policy issue “out there”; it’s woven into the lives of our clients, our communities, and perhaps your own history.
Over the past decade, research has begun to catch up with what many people with lived experience have known all along: food insecurity and eating disorders are deeply connected. A 2020 review found that adults experiencing food insecurity are more likely to report higher levels of eating disorder symptoms, binge eating, compensatory behaviors, and diagnoses like bulimia nervosa and binge-eating disorder.
Longitudinal and population-based studies suggest similar patterns for adolescents: when young people grow up without reliable access to food, disordered eating behaviors and higher weight can emerge and persist over time.
More recent cross-national work in five countries and a meta-analysis both point in the same direction: greater food insecurity is linked with more frequent binge eating and related behaviors across age groups.
Additionally, November 20th marks the Transgender Day of Remembrance. Given that being transgender/gender non-conforming increases one’s risk of houselessness, food insecurity, and the development of an eating disorder, I’m reminded that affirming care and structural protections are essential, not optional, in supporting true recovery. According to The Trevor Project, “Transgender and nonbinary young people have 73% greater odds of ever having been houseless compared to cisgender lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) young people.”
Although my work is grounded in the U.S., we are all aware of how these issues are showing up globally. A recent United Nations report estimates that more than 2.3 billion people worldwide are moderately or severely food insecure, and over 700 million are experiencing hunger. Conflict, climate change, economic inequity, and racism all shape who is most affected both here and around the world.
For me, this research doesn’t say anything negative about the people experiencing these behaviors. Instead, it confirms what our bodies have always tried to do: survive unpredictability. Eating past fullness when food is available, feeling preoccupied with food, or hoarding groceries are not character flaws. They are understandable responses to scarcity and uncertainty.
So what do we do with this during a week like this, especially in a field where many of us are already talking (rightly) about policy, SNAP, and federal funding?
Here are a few possibilities I’m sitting with:
For professionals
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Bring food and housing into the heart of assessment
Just as we ask about the influence of diet culture and familial food relationships, we must inquire about past and present food access. - •
Name survival strategies without shame
When we frame bingeing after not having enough food, skipping meals to make groceries last, or relying on low-cost, energy-dense foods as survival responses, we create space for compassion and problem-solving rather than self-blame. - •
Adapt treatment to real-life constraints
Meal plans, exposure work, and relapse prevention look different if someone is living in a shelter, sharing a small kitchen, or has no reliable access to transportation or refrigeration. Planning together around these realities is compassionate, person-centered treatment.
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For folks in recovery
If you’re trying to heal from an eating disorder while also worrying about how to pay for food, rent, or medicine, I want to say this clearly: you are not failing at recovery. You are navigating conditions that would stretch anyone’s nervous system to the limit.
You deserve providers who are willing to talk about money, housing, race, disability, and class alongside food and body image. When something in your recovery plan doesn’t fit your reality, that’s not a personal failing. If you can, let your team know what you’re carrying so you can collaborate on next steps that honor both your recovery and your material circumstances.
If you experienced food insecurity in the past, consider sharing this with your providers if you haven’t already. All of us are impacted by the circumstances of our developing years. This may bring greater opportunity for insight into current-day struggles and illuminate possibilities for further healing.
For all of us
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Weave food insecurity and homelessness into everyday conversations
We can integrate these realities into how we talk about eating disorders—in presentations, supervision, social media posts, and team meetings—not just during this week but all year. - •
Support community-led efforts
We can uplift local initiatives that connect food, housing, and mental health—especially efforts led by people with lived experience of both hunger and eating disorders. - •
Remember that advocacy is relational
Checking in with a colleague who is quietly struggling, making room in a group for someone who feels “too poor” to belong in ED treatment, or acknowledging our own complicated feelings about money and food are all part of the work.
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National Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week invites us to look honestly at the conditions in which recovery unfolds. My hope is that, together, we keep moving toward a world where healing from an eating disorder never has to compete with questions like, “Will there be enough to eat?” or “Where will I sleep tonight?” Those questions should never be the price of survival for any of us.
If you are like me and have plenty of concerns, but getting enough food is not one of them, please consider making a financial contribution to a local food pantry or community organization if you haven’t already. Showing up for one another has never been more necessary.
In solidarity and with compassion.
And if you are looking for extra support with your nutritional needs, Anita has a couple of spots open on her calendar for individual nutrition counseling, and there are also spaces in the next cohort of her Resilient Voices Support Group, which just opened for registration.
The group is starting on January 13th, 2026 and will meet every other Tuesday until March 24th, 2026. All the details are here, and you can learn more about Anita on our website. You can also reach out via email to request an appointment.