In this podcast, Tabitha talks to a person in recovery who shares some information about how treatment has made her even more confused about how to eat.
It is important that people in recovery are encouraged to listen to their bodies and eat what they want to eat.
omg this me same age same time in recovery I am like your client petrified of eating and of getting recovery wrong I am not sure how I could get it wrong or fail but I have been told like her if you eat too much 1 in 3 anorexics become bulimic hell I don’t want that! so we stick to the plan the plan will save us but it doesn’t it just makes you absolutely petrified of food and failing thank you for this at last I am not alone ps did she eat if she did there is hope for all of us!!
I can empathize as I am 48 and same position other than being in a petite frame. I just keep looking for the right answer or doctor to help me vs trusting myself.
Wow. This has really opened my eyes to what people go through in treatment. From all of these stories that you share with us, it makes it seem like many of these places are reinforcing the idea of overthinking food. If the point is to recover from a RESTRICTIVE eating disorder, what good is “exchanges.” She mentioned the 40 exchanges that she has. What!? Our bodies don’t function on a set number of calories, nutrients, or exchanges.
Thank you for recording this conversation, Tabitha.
If the person who you interviewed is reading this, I have a message:
In order for me to truly let go of my restrictive mindset, I had to completely let go of any notion of what I “should” eat. I 100% had to do what Tabitha says and feast eat. I had to clear my mind of carbs, fats, and proteins, and just categorize food as one thing: food. We need as much food as possible in ANY quantity we want. Please give yourself the freedom to do that.
It has changed my life for the better. I’m not fully there yet, but I feel better than I have in 2 years. Our bodies are capable of telling us exactly what it needs to repair. Nobody else has the right to tell you “Nope, your body is wrong.”
Again, thank you for your work Tabitha. You are truly a guiding light for this community.
Totally agree. When let go of all restrictions recovery starts. Feast eating – the ability to allow yourself is so empowering and has given me the platform to feel recovery albeit slowly. Treatment centres for me offer me no help at all. I’m still looking for a doctor too but o know that they just don’t know. Thanks
I had a very similar experience at a treatment center (inpatient) in Belgium. Patients (including those with restrictive anorexia and have severe underweight like me) were not at all encouraged to eat more outside the offered meal plan. Increasing the supervised meal plan wás allowed, but also this received a lot of frowning and suspicion amongst the staff. Also your fellow patients gave you a funny look and became very suspicious (“why are you doing that?” “that’s not right, you’re doing this for the wrong reasons!” “how can you do this? we already have to eat so much and are so full and you eat even more on top of that!?”).
I now very much regret I ever got introduced to something like a meal plan in treatment because it’s only more rules and “laws” in my head!
But also other professionals, like my doctor, make mistakes in this regard. For instance, when I confessed I had a Milky Way Mini ‘extra’ before going to bed and felt horrible afterwards, the feedback of my doctor was that Milky Way perhaps wasn’t the best option because it’s unhealthy and, if I do extra’s, perhaps I should try more healthy alternatives. (and you must know I am still very much underweight and have been for 10 years now …) That was plain aweful to hear and confusing and ED-confirming …
ps. pardon me my poor English writing skills!
I am from Germany, so sorry for my maybe incorrect English.
What really f*s me up is, that doctors so often put their own mindset on us underweight patients. I´ve been suffering from a restrictive eating disorder since I was 15. I´m now 51. I´ve been in recovery since I quit treatment, age 16. Higher weight, lower weight, ups and downs but never again severely underweight.
Whenever I felt brave enough to leave my “shame zone”, whenever I tried to get help from a doctor they looked at me as if I´d lost the rest of my brains: “Why do you want to gain weight? Others would give all their money to look like U only for one day in their life. You are healthy, you are one of these persons with a lower setpoint.”
I have had my periods regularly, all my medical parameters are ok, but: I have an eating disorder! I restrict. I tell my doctors about it and they don´t believe me. They put their mindset on me because especially the female Docs want to look like me, they envy me of my tall and lean muscular figure. They tell me I should not eat peanut butter because it is not healthy! By the way: so do most of my friends. Nobody can understand why I need! to gain weight. Sometimes I think me bodyimage is better than theirs and sometimes I´m totally confused and don´t know whom to trust!
With this reactions they all give the ED voice inside of me permission to go on like that. They kill the rest bit of my motivation to go through that recovery process which I personally find even harder with an almost normal weight and a shape others desperately want to look like. I think you all know what I mean. It is really hard to pull away from what we should look like, be like but it is even harder if the so called Experts tell you, your own perception is wrong.assani0168@gmail.com
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