Why Your Body Still Feels Scarcity (Even If You Don’t Purge Calories)

May 22

Written By Stefanie Michele

I’ve worked with clients who are struggling with laxative or suppository use who ask the question:

“Because I’m not technically “getting rid” of calories and I am just helping my body complete its natural digestive process, how can I be in scarcity? Isn’t it normal to eat and excrete (even with some artificial assistance)?

Here’s what’s important to understand:

Even if calories are technically staying in your body, your system may still be experiencing scarcity and stress. Because what creates safety in the body isn’t just what you eat—it’s how you eat (and process) it.

1. Suppositories don’t remove calories—but they do send a stress signal.

Most digestion happens in the small intestine. By the time food reaches the large intestine (where suppositories act), the body has already absorbed calories and nutrients.

So even though it might feel like you’re not technically “undoing” anything from a calorie perspective, the body is still perceiving:

Intolerance of food and its sensations (and perhaps its psychological meaning) in your system.

Interruption of your body’s natural rhythm.
The idea that eating = something that needs to be fixed.

2. The nervous system doesn’t feel fed—it feels threatened.

If eating is followed by panic, shame, psychological threat, or interference with digestion, your body stays in a fight-or-flight state. That means:

Fullness and hunger cues become unreliable.
Digestion and motility become compromised overall (leading to more discomfort, which is often used to justify continued purges).
Your body might even send you more hunger later—not because you need more food, but because it doesn’t feel safe.

“If your nervous system perceives danger, even if you’re physically safe, your body will prioritize survival over regulation.” —Dr. Stephen Porges, The Polyvagal Theory

3. The body learns what you repeat.

If you consistently override your body’s natural digestion—whether through restriction, vomiting, or forced elimination—it keeps the body in a loop of:

Eat → Panic → Fix → Repeat

Over time, this confuses digestion and makes it harder to trust fullness, satisfaction, and regular elimination.

4. Food kept under stress is not the same as food kept in peace.

Even if you’re eating, your body may still feel like it’s in danger of losing food.

That’s perceived scarcity—not from a lack of calories, but from a lack of trust and consistency. Or even fear of “I need to do this to be safe, and if I don’t do it, I’m unsafe.” That undercurrent is recognized by the body as compliance under duress.

This is what keeps the system stuck.

“The body learns safety not just from what we do—but from how we do it.” —Dr. Hilary McBride

How to Gently Shift the Pattern

Here’s how to start working with your body—not against it—so it can re-learn safety without needing to “undo” food.

Step 1: Pause Before Acting

You don’t have to stop using suppositories right away. But try to create a small pause before doing it. When the urge hits, ask yourself:

Where do I feel the urgency in my body?What do I think this will fix? Place a hand there and say: “I hear you. I’m staying with you.”

This can begin to rewire your body out of panic-response mode.

Step 2: Offer a Competing Safety Cue

Try giving your body a different kind of relief that doesn’t override digestion. Try:

A warm heating pad or hot water bottle
Gentle belly massage in clockwise circles
A phrase like: “I get to keep this. This is mine. My food will digest.”

Step 3: Track What the Behavior is Doing for You

What am I afraid will happen if I don’t use it?
What am I trying to prevent?
What part of me is scared to keep the food?

Step 4: Plan for After You Eat

Often, people feel most alone or unsafe after the food is ingested. That’s when support is most needed.

Ask yourself: What or who can help me digest with more peace?

Step 5: Shrink the Frequency Instead of Going Cold Turkey

If quitting the behavior feels too abrupt, focus on small reductions:

Can you try this approach once this week?
Delay it by an hour?
Use it one fewer time than usual?

Each time you interrupt the loop, you are building new neural pathways that say: “I don’t have to be afraid of keeping food.”

Final Thought: You are not doing this because you’re broken. You’re doing this because your system is trying to protect you the only way it knows how.

A note that these behaviors do not have to be driven by body image fears to be considered bulimic tendencies. Dependency on purging to feel safe in one’s body is a hallmark of this disorder.

Stefanie Michele

Binge Eating Recovery and Body Image Health Coach. I help women stop feeling out of control with food and find body neutrality. Intuitive Eating Counselor and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner with weight neutral content.

https://www.iamstefaniemichele.com

Why Your Body Still Feels Scarcity (Even If You Don’t Purge Calories)

I’ve worked with clients who are struggling with laxative or suppository use who ask the question:

“Because I’m not technically “getting rid” of calories and I am just helping my body complete its natural digestive process, how can I be in scarcity? Isn’t it normal to eat and excrete (even with some artificial assistance)?

Here’s what’s important to understand:

Even if calories are technically staying in your body, your system may still be experiencing scarcity and stress. Because what creates safety in the body isn’t just what you eat—it’s how you eat (and process) it.

1. Suppositories don’t remove calories—but they do send a stress signal.

Most digestion happens in the small intestine. By the time food reaches the large intestine (where suppositories act), the body has already absorbed calories and nutrients.

So even though it might feel like you’re not technically “undoing” anything from a calorie perspective, the body is still perceiving:

Intolerance of food and its sensations (and perhaps its psychological meaning) in your system.

Interruption of your body’s natural rhythm.

The idea that eating = something that needs to be fixed.

2. The nervous system doesn’t feel fed—it feels threatened.

If eating is followed by panic, shame, psychological threat, or interference with digestion, your body stays in a fight-or-flight state. That means:

Fullness and hunger cues become unreliable.

Digestion and motility become compromised overall (leading to more discomfort, which is often used to justify continued purges).

Your body might even send you more hunger later—not because you need more food, but because it doesn’t feel safe.

3. The body learns what you repeat.

If you consistently override your body’s natural digestion—whether through restriction, vomiting, or forced elimination—it keeps the body in a loop of:

Eat → Panic → Fix → Repeat

Over time, this confuses digestion and makes it harder to trust fullness, satisfaction, and regular elimination.

4. Food kept under stress is not the same as food kept in peace.

Even if you’re eating, your body may still feel like it’s in danger of losing food.

That’s perceived scarcity—not from a lack of calories, but from a lack of trust and consistency. Or even fear of “I need to do this to be safe, and if I don’t do it, I’m unsafe.” That undercurrent is recognized by the body as compliance under duress.

This is what keeps the system stuck.

“The body learns safety not just from what we do—but from how we do it.” —Dr. Hilary McBride

How to Gently Shift the Pattern

Here’s how to start working with your body—not against it—so it can re-learn safety without needing to “undo” food.

Step 1: Pause Before Acting

You don’t have to stop using suppositories right away. But try to create a small pause before doing it. When the urge hits, ask yourself:

Where do I feel the urgency in my body?What do I think this will fix? Place a hand there and say: “I hear you. I’m staying with you.”

This can begin to rewire your body out of panic-response mode.

Step 2: Offer a Competing Safety Cue

Try giving your body a different kind of relief that doesn’t override digestion. Try:

A warm heating pad or hot water bottle

Gentle belly massage in clockwise circles

A phrase like: “I get to keep this. This is mine. My food will digest.”

Step 3: Track What the Behavior is Doing for You

What am I afraid will happen if I don’t use it?

What am I trying to prevent?

What part of me is scared to keep the food?

Step 4: Plan for After You Eat

Often, people feel most alone or unsafe after the food is ingested. That’s when support is most needed.

Ask yourself: What or who can help me digest with more peace?

Step 5: Shrink the Frequency Instead of Going Cold Turkey

If quitting the behavior feels too abrupt, focus on small reductions:

Can you try this approach once this week?

Delay it by an hour?

Use it one fewer time than usual?

Each time you interrupt the loop, you are building new neural pathways that say: “I don’t have to be afraid of keeping food.”

Final Thought: You are not doing this because you’re broken. You’re doing this because your system is trying to protect you the only way it knows how.

A note that these behaviors do not have to be driven by body image fears to be considered bulimic tendencies. Dependency on purging to feel safe in one’s body is a hallmark of this disorder.

Disorganized Attachment & Food

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