The Itchy Jumper

The metaphor of the itchy jumper in disordered eating (Waller et al., 2007)

A disordered relationship with food is akin to wearing an itchy jumper. A cheap, itchy jumper.

When you first put it on, it keeps you nice and warm. However, it is not made of very good wool, so it starts to itch after a while. Sometimes, you might feel like taking it off, but you know that if you do, you will be cold, so you put up with the itchiness.

With time, however, the itchiness gets harder and harder to tolerate. The jumper gets increasingly uncomfortable, and although it keeps you warm, you start to wonder whether there might be better ways to keep yourself warm.

If you decide the time has come to take off your jumper, it is important first to explore the other ways that you might be able to keep yourself warm (the “planning” state of change). However, at some point, you will have to take the itchy jumper off and be cold while trying other ways of keeping warm. This may feel more uncomfortable in the short term, but in the longer term it will allow you to keep warm in an itch-free way.

If you don’t feel able to change your eating behaviours, this might be because your jumper has not yet become itchy enough for you to want to risk being cold. If this is the case, you may have to continue wearing your jumper longer. At the same time, however, exploring other ways to keep warm could be helpful – maybe ones you can practice while still wearing your itchy jumper or with one arm out.

If you would like support exploring other ways to keep warm, unravel the threads of the itchy jumper, and be free of the discomfort of your disordered relationship with food, you can contact me here.