Long before I was diagnosed with PTSD, I studied eating disorders.  I learned from watching my grandmother talking about how she was fat when she weighed 80 lbs. (36 KG)  She would feed her steak to the dog under the table.  She ate better than anyone else and she fed it to the dog.  I resented her doing this because my mother expected me to go hungry so someone else could eat more.  It was crazy.  When I went back to college, I took English 102 research processes.  I studied anorexia and wrote a paper on it.  The first recorded instance of self starving was around the 1700’s.  At that time is was to prove how religious they were by fasting 40 days and nights.  Food, self-image, and emotional health have a long history of being mixed up together.  In Psychology Today, they shared the link between PTSD and eating disorders.  https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/when-food-is-family/201303/ptsd-and-eating-disorders

It is hurtful to the person with an eating disorder to assume you know what happened in their childhood because they struggle with food issues.  Let’s face it, when you are hungry food is comforting.  There are chemicals in certain foods that do create a feel good feeling.  Comfort food is a category of cooking because it works.  Sadly, treating the disorder without treating the cause sets up a person to spiraling back into the same pattern.  Changing my attitude towards food is a constant struggle.  I am learning to not reward myself with food.  However, popcorn dipped in milk is yummy.  So is chocolate.  And Pasta.  yea…..me and food go way back with issues.  Choosing to be healthy still gets trumped by chocolate ice cream.  I remind myself I am a work in progress.