This year I plan to address some hot topics each day from the 1-7 Feb 22 for National Eating Disorder Awareness week. As someone who struggled with anorexia for years, and who is currently happily in recovery (shout out to my therapist), the discussion around eating disorders and our compassion for those fighting them is something that is near and dear to my heart.
Hard learned lessons from an Anti-Dieter:
1) Our bodies are naturally wired against restriction. Diets and restriction will ALWAYS result in your body trying to push you off your diet or out of your disordered behaviours with increased hunger and cravings.
2) Most diets or your eating disorder call for us to eat WAY WAY less than we need. 1200 calories is the requirements of a 2 year old. Not you. Anyone that tries to convince you or sell you a diet or “wellness regime” that comes in around 1200 calories is causing you harm. Sidenote: I spent an ABSURD amount of money on “diet coaches” to help me macro plan (I’m talking into thousands) and all that did was dig me deeper into anorexia. Fuck companies like @strongerU and @eattoperform. Come at me bro.
**Thank you to my CrossFit coach, @seandesjardins for stepping in during my sickest times to remind me that I needed and deserved to eat. CFQS 7:30 crew and coach helped save my life.
3) Diets make you crave food that you actually wouldn’t crave if you had healed your relationship with food (anyone crush PB out of the jar and feel like they cannot stop after a week of “eating clean?” – that’s a restriction induced binge my homie). Heal your relationship with food, and you will be able to keep any and all foods in your home. Even the scary ones.
4) Diets and your ED promise a weight loss that will supposedly result in you having a happier life lolololol. Diets end up doing the opposite of what they promise and consistently lead to weight gain, often above where we started in the first place. A huge part of my recovery was learning the science that is WILDLY different than the absolute non-sense that diet culture pumps out. (Ref: https://nutritionj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1475-2891-10-9) – any dingus that wants to preach their Beach Body program can get bent.
5) Dieting and Anorexia makes you miserable. And you deserve a life full of happiness and peace, and you cannot find peace when your mind is spinning about macros, calories, hating yourself and trying to fulfill unrealistic beauty standards.
Now listen, when it comes to privilege I am pretty stacked (CIS, white, able bodied, hetero blah blah). I fully acknowledge that my privilege allowed me to recover because I had the time, Doctors, money and support to recover. If you are stuck out there knowing that you are dark and twisty about food, there are ways to find support for yourself:
– “The Fuck It Diet” book by Caroline Dooner
– The “Food Psych” podcast by Christy Harrison, MPH, RD, CEDS
– “Beauty Sick” by Renee Elgeln
These three absolute saints will help you to help yourself. However, therapy is a helluva drug and I fully support and recommend anyone with an eating disorder to find (or ask a loved one for assistance in finding) a Health At Every Size informed therapist in your area.
#NEDA
#Whole30isWhollyFullOfShit
#MacroTrackingIsDogShit
#WeightSetPointIsReal
#Recovered