Adaptive eating in recovery.

Many people consider it “normal” behavior to anxiously monitor their weight every day, to worry about their amount of exercise, to obsess about whether to eat dessert. But is a lifetime of guilt about food and weight really normal? Is this how we want to live our lives? Is our physical appearance the only way we measure our success in the world?  – Mary Anne Cohen, Recovery Warriors.

Adaptive eating;

How to adapt your eating habits and stick to it;

When you first enter treatment for anorexia one of the first things they will touch on is adjusting your eating schedule. When inpatient you are given very little choice in this but as an outpatient you are left to decide what you eat, when and whether or not you go along with it. I strongly advise that you cooperate and, as hard as it can be, listen to the voice of the ones trying to help you and not the eating disorder. I am no saint, I still stumble and fall when it comes to listening to the light over the dark, but please know that cooperation is the better path even if it’s the harder one.

Currently I am following a recovery meal plan wherein I eat more times throughout the day than most would consider ‘normal‘. I have touched on this before in  a previous blog post but in order to become weight restored I must first begin to eat 6 times a day:

• 3 meals – Your 3 meals must be balanced nutritionally. At the start you might want to start small to allow your body to adjust and then up the portion sizes until they are of an adequate size. 
• 3 snacks.
• No longer than 4 hours between each. 

Remember to eat a balanced breakfast. Now I am no morning person, I hate daylight, I hate being awake and a previous version of me would reach straight for the coffee rather than water and toast, BUT breakfast is important. The morning is when your blood sugars are at their lowest due to fasting for 8 hours while asleep. Not only this but it is also when the stress hormone (cortisol) is at its highest. Eating a nice breakfast allows our energy levels and mood to be lifted so that we can better focus. 

Make a list of your fear foods starting with the easiest to face to the more difficult ones. Leave room beside each to ask yourself the following question;

Why am I afraid?

By doing this we are aiming to rationalise our thinking around those foods so we can start to introduce them back to our bodies.

For more information on facing fear foods and for a nice challenge montage have a look at Recovery Warriors post. Make sure and listen to the podcast!

Learn to cook. Once you engage with cooking it’s almost as if you are shaking hands with food and saying ‘okay, let’s get to know each other from the beginning.’

I should note my boyfriend is the chef in the house. I literally love a quick grab and go, no work meal / snack but this often would be low in calories so I need to step up to the plate and become one with my kitchen. I am getting there though, I can help peel potatoes and make soup now without shying away. This, like everything else, takes time to work up the courage, motivation and passion.

Talk to a dietitian if you have one handy. I have yet to talk to one but I honestly think it would be so helpful to understand what I need and what each nutrient and vitamin does for my body. Yes you could google it or read a book but if you have access to a dietitian use them! (If not learn about nutrition on your own! It’s not only interesting but helpful to recovery). 

Keep a food journal. This is something they will want you to do in treatment anyway but if you’re not in treatment try keeping one even if it’s just for yourself. The purpose of keeping a food journal is to explore the thought/ situation / feelings surrounding a meal or snack time. It can be useful for all eating disorders and not just anorexia as it helps us to identify if we are using food as an emotional cane or if we are triggered by certain things.

It also helps your therapist if in treatment see what you are eating and what, if anything, needs changed. At the start it might take some alterations to your diet to get it right so don’t be surprised if they want to add things in, take things out etc.

If you are eating out take your focus elsewhere. Eating in public can be a bit of a trigger for people and it can be frustrating to choose from a menu, but try to focus on the company you are with rather than your food. It can be easier said than done, especially if you are out with people you don’t know, but by taking our focus away from the food then it can be more of a tolerable (or enjoyable)  experience rather than a terrifying moment.

Plan ahead. I am bad at this – I will hold my hands up and come out with it. I sometimes bring along a snack, other times I forget to even have any in the house. It’s just my brain still going on auto pilot from all those months that I barely had snacks in the house. It’s handy to have grab & go snacks either in the drawer or with you in your handbag / pocket / back pack etc as it makes snack times easier, especially if on the go.

Stay hydrated. Drink your water folks!

♥♥♥

At the start this can all seem a bit daunting and you will find that your body tends to get full quickly. This is when our self soothing comes in to distract us from a feeling that, let’s be honest, we don’t necessarily like.

This is only temporary until you readjust yourself so go forward with the knowledge that this too shall pass.