Bach Flower Remedies for Eating Disorders

Carl Anderson, BFRP, BFRAP • May 21, 2022

“There is a commonly held view that eating disorders are a lifestyle choice. Eating disorders are actually serious and often fatal illnesses that cause severe disturbances to a person’s eating behaviors. Obsessions with food, body weight, and shape may also signal an eating disorder.

Common eating disorders include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder and affect approximately eight million Americans.


Anorexia nervosa is characterized by a significant and persistent reduction in food intake leading to extremely low body weight in the context of age, sex, and physical health; a relentless pursuit of thinness; a distortion of body image and intense fear of gaining weight; and extremely disturbed eating behavior. Many people with anorexia see themselves as overweight, even when they are starved or severely malnourished. Anorexia nervosa has the highest mortality rate of any mental disorder.


Bulimia nervosa is characterized by binge eating (eating large amounts of food in a short time, along with the sense of a loss of control) followed by a type of behavior that compensates for the binge, such as purging (e.g., vomiting, excessive use of laxatives, or diuretics), fasting, and/or excessive exercise. Unlike anorexia nervosa, people with bulimia can fall within the normal range for their weight. But like people with anorexia, they often fear gaining weight, want desperately to lose weight, and are intensely unhappy with their body size and shape.


Binge eating disorder is characterized by recurrent binge eating episodes during which a person feels a loss of control and marked distress over his or her eating. Unlike bulimia nervosa, binge eating episodes are not followed by purging, excessive exercise or fasting. As a result, people with binge eating disorder often are overweight or obese.”


-excerpted from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) website and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) website.

Several Bach Flower Remedies may be helpful to address some of the root causes of eating disorders.

There are 39 Bach Flower Remedies in all. They can work on every emotional imbalance imaginable. By a single remedy or combining up to eight different remedies, more than 61.5 million combinations can be made.


Since there are numerous emotions that may be contributing to an individual’s disordered eating, they may need any combination of the following remedies:

  • Crab Apple helps with body image, body shame, and low self-esteem.
  • Cherry Plum helps with a fear of losing control. Over-eating is a form of losing control.
  • White Chestnut helps with obsessive thinking, whether thinking about food or thinking about one’s appearance.
  • Star of Bethlehem helps process traumatic events, whether recent or from the distant past. Many sufferers of eating disorders may have experienced critical remarks or being shamed for their appearance.
  • Rock Water helps moderate people’s rigid or unrealistic standards of perfection.
  • Aspen helps eradicate feelings of anxiety, or a sense of impending doom.
  • Elm helps eliminate feelings of being overwhelmed, which many people experience as anxiety.
  • Gentian helps people overcome feeling down after a setback.
  • Gorse helps people overcome feelings of hopelessness and suicidal tendencies.
  • Sweet Chestnut helps people cope with grief.


It is best to seek out a Bach Foundation Registered Practitioner (BFRP)—a professional who is trained to ask the right questions—to formulate the ideal blend for your specific needs.


In 2017, Carl Anderson left a successful career as an aerospace engineer to dedicate his life to helping people and animals full time. In addition to working with clients one-on-one, he is now lecturing and teaching the official Bach Centre classes throughout the Puget Sound region. Carl is available for consultations in person or remotely. He can be reached by phone at 415-420-7800, by email at CarlAndersonBFRP@gmail.com, or visit his website at www.CarlAndersonBFRP.com.

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