Anyway, somewhere in the middle of college my nutritionist decided that eating disorder recovery was all about “intuitive eating,” and that meal plans and food logs were detrimental to treatment

For someone with an eating disorder, eating is not intuitive. Does eating a piece of pizza excuse restricting the rest of the day? I don’t think so, but my nutritionist felt that trying fear foods was more important than anything. I used to joke that I could eat nothing but a plate of spaghetti one day and my nutritionist would probably pat me on the back for eating scary pasta.

It’s been years since I kept a consistent food log, but I think it can be therapeutic because it helps you keep yourself accountable. I recently moved and changed my entire routine… and that’s stressful. Because eating for me is still not 100% intuitive, I rely on a lot of external factors. Queues from the people around me, usual eating patterns, my daily schedule, etc. When all of that is different, it’s hard to keep myself accountable. Plus, writing down all the food & body image thoughts/fears does a lot to lessen anxiety. It’s easier to be objective when everything is sitting on paper in front of me. (and much easier on my boyfriend — he doesn’t need to hear every time I’m having a freak-out about food/weight).

1. You must abide by “ED recovery etiquette” – By this I mean, no matter how crappy you are doing, when you go out with a friend that you know has an ED or whom you know from treatment, you better suck it up and act as normal as possible… because triggering a friend is not okay.

2. If I can’t get a salad for dinner, neither can you – And I can’t, because then it would be considered eating disordered. So order something else.

3. It’s not fair for you to skip breakfast and skimp on lunch, and then give me crap when dinner isn’t my largest meal of the day – While you were sleeping, I was enjoying the most important meal of the day (breakfast). All meals being equal, your skipping 1.5 of them doesn’t put you in a position to be criticizing my dinner.

4. Please please please don’t order the same thing as me at a restaurant – Because restaurants are challenging enough, and I don’t want to be comparing how much I ate to how much you ate.

5. Don’t eat my yogurt – I’m sure this is unique to me… but there are 100 kinds of yogurt in the world — why eat mine? I think it’s more the switch from a different yogurt to my yogurt that bothers me…

6. Things you can’t say: You’ve lost weight. You haven’t had an appetite lately. Wow grey, you’re always cold — you must have no metabolism. You’ve doubled your workout plan lately. You’re not eating ____ food anymore. Our friend has lost so much weight. Our friend needs to gain weight — she’s too thin.

,,, I could go on, but I’ll stop. feel free to add your own

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anorexia, bulimia, eating disorder, eating disorder treatment, mental health, mental illness, eating disorder recovery, eating disorder rules, logic, losing weight

• Salmon, walnuts, and kiwi protect against depression, mood disorders, and schizophrenia?
• You’re at a greater risk for ADD, depression, bipolar, and even schizophrenia if you have an omega-3 dietary deficiency?
• Omega-3s actually increase verbal intelligence, learning, and memory? (someone should have told me that years ago — maybe I would have done better in organic chemistry…)
• Your diet can effect the mental health of your grandchildren?
• Junk food decreases cognitive function? (and we’re not just talking sugar-comas)

You hear about the physical benefits of omega-3s, folic acid, etc. all the time… but not as often about their relationship with mental health (and illness).

These findings also demonstrate the self-perpetuating nature of eating disorders… eating less can just contribute to depression, which often results in more disordered eating… so, you have the original contributing factors + low body weight (resulting in increased anxiety/depression, OCD, etc.) + malnutrition (and all the cognitive negatives). That’s a lot working against you!

This news also has a lot of potential for “alternative medicine” treatment. I think that psych meds are very over-prescribed… and they come with so many side effects that eating fish sounds like a much better option (or at least a good adjunctive treatment).

Technorati Tags: anorexia, bulimia, eating disorder, mental illness, mental health, alternative medicine, diet and memory, UCLA, food and the brain, diet and mental illness, depression

It’s amazing what you can pass off with the label of “healthy.”

Renfrew’s definition of healthy:

• No food is “good” or “bad.” Everything from pizza to carrots to peanut butter and candy can be part of a healthy menu.
• Eat when you are hungry. Stop when you are full.
• Stay fit by exercising! You can take up a sport or join a class like dance or karate but you don’t have to. Playing with friends can be just as energizing and fun!
• All bodies are different. People of all shapes and sizes can eat well and be healthy.
• Remember that fat does not equal bad and thin does not equal good.

BodyWorks‘ definition of healthy:

• Write things down as soon as possible. Write down everything you eat, even if it’s just one cookie. Be honest. Includes drinks.
• When eating out, the girls are advised to limit fried foods and order the garden salads with low-fat dressings and always pick the low-fat choices.
• Get the smallest serving or sandwich on the menu
• Avoid mayonnaise and use mustard or ketchup because they have less fat
• “try pizza without cheese.”
• Exercise for one hour on most days. “Vigorous active is best for getting and staying fit.” Vigorous was described as so intense you’re “sweating, breathing hard and can’t talk or sing.”

I think that Renfrew’s description is a very “feel good about yourself no matter what” approach and that BodyWorks’ list is probably posted on a pro-eating disorder site somewhere. I can’t help but think that “healthy eating” falls somewhere in the middle.

The website really addresses everything from an “obesity epidemic” standpoint. While this is probably the largest nutrition issue in today’s society, being underweight is just as dangerous as being overweight. No attention is paid to eating disorders or those who are not trying to lower their blood pressure, decrease their cholesterol levels, etc. What’s more, is that this method encourages food fears. People SHOULD be afraid of most foods because they are EVIL, and YES, eating that one cookie will make you fat! I’m very curious as to how Dr. McDougall views anorexia, and even more curious on how nutritionist who fallow the McDougall Program treat those with the disorder.

Anyway, some food for thought, from Dr. McDougall’s Proram:

“Americans have always had a love affair with animal protein – an affair that, unfortunately, is making us sick. What the world needs now is carbohydrates – and lots of them.”

“Osteoporosis is not a disease that results from too little calcium, but rather primarily from too much animal protein animal food derived acids that rob the body of calcium and structural materials, and thus weaken bones.”

“In general fruits should be limited to 3 servings a day. They are tasty, high in simple sugars and easy to over consume.”

“An undeniable fact is that the more you see doctors, the more likely you are to be tested and treated—for better or worse. Therefore, establishing a relationship with a doctor opens the door for you to become an active patient. You don’t want to be a patient. Most major health organizations agree there is the risk for serious harm in establishing a regular doctor-patient relationship and all have agreed that routine annual checkups for healthy adults should be abandoned.”

“Offending a doctor should be your last concern—the issue on the table is your health and your life or the future health of a family member. No sense in investing all your time and money in a doctor who ultimately ends up contributing to your early demise. “

“Sorbitol, one of the most commonly used artificial sweeteners in chewing gum and candy as well as liquid medications, is poorly absorbed in the intestines, giving it the qualities of an osmotic laxative at higher doses (20 to 50 g).”

“Patients who popped 16 to 20 sticks of sorbitol-sweetened gum daily lost about 20% of their usual body weight, reported Juergen Bauditz, M.D., of the University of Berlin here, and colleagues in a case report in the Jan. 12 issue of BMJ. “

Wow, crazy! Especially crazy given all the other negative talk surrounding artificial sweetener and weight. Remember WebMDs article, Drink More Diet Soda, Gain More Weight?.

“Williams detected a “dose-response” effect: Those who drank the most diet soft drinks had the highest incidence of weight gain. This was a particularly interesting finding. After adjusting for age, sex and ethnicity, Williams found that regular soft drinks were no longer significantly linked to the incidence of becoming overweight or obese, but diet soft drinks were.”

Hmm… so, trying to unravel this:

1. With gum, the sorbitol invokes a physical response (due to it’s poor absorption and laxative effect) that results in weight loss (among other things).
2. The the diet soda, the artificial sweetener confuses your body’s hunger / thirst instincts, resulting in overeating and weight gain.

Even with that straight… I would argue that diet coke causes bloating and gas, and probably is bad for IBS. What makes it so different from sorbitol? Any biochemists out there?

On a more amusing note… this SciGuy expressed exactly what I was thinking:

It’s true that this information is clinically useful to physicians, but does anyone else see the great potential for abuse here by those wanting to go on crash diets?

1. Eat 20 sticks of gum
2. Get really sick
3. Lose 20 pounds
4. Fit into that wedding dress

Tags: sorbitol, gum sweetener, gum and weight loss, artificial sweetener