used to never eat..now i can't stop! - Eating Disorder Recovery Message Board

kendy · 03-03-2002, 05:15 PM

I am just sooo frustrated with myself. I used to starve myself and was hospitalized several years ago for anorexia. I was doing well for a while but lately I seem to be feeding myself such JUNK and just can't seem to stop. I know it is an emotional issue and that I am feeding my emotions, and i see a therapist but I can't seem to stop. I am gaining weight and it makes me feel even worse. EVery day I tell myself I will stop then i break down. i hate it! Does anyone have any advice on how to stop this and suggestions or steps to breaking htis destrucitve cycle?? I know I need to solve the emotional problems but they will not be solved easily so that is no fix for now.. i just need to cope a different way..but how do i stop this?? i'm desperate.
thanks for any suggestions.
kendy

rhody · 03-03-2002, 08:46 PM

It's good to eat. We are supposed to eat. But what we all have to do, is eat healthy nutritious foods.

I know that you said you are eating all that JUNK. If it's high (empty) calorie foods that are high in sugar for example, then it's time to start eating better. You can change those habits.

I'm sure some of the others here can relate to that, and can help you. If you want to know my opinion of what I consider to be healthy foods, I can elaborate further if you would like. It's quite simple, really....

CloudyDaze · 03-04-2002, 04:16 PM

It's the hardest thing to overcome binging. I used to be anorexia and went to uncontrollable binging, too. Take it one day and one hour at a time. Don't even think about later. Not binging will make you so angry sometimes and at other times so sad and depressed you'll just sob. If you can work through it though, it will get better after a while. It never gets easy, it just becomes less of a habit to overeat. You can do it. I don't know what else to say b/c I'm still where you are. I just know that slow progress, although it doesn't seem like progress at all, really makes a huge difference as the months go by. Do whatever you can and get yourself into whatever mindset you can to try and avoid overeating. You could look through past posts on this topic too for more advice. Good luck!

kendy · 03-04-2002, 06:45 PM

thank you both for the advice!
Rhody, I would love for you to elaborate!
thanks again!
kendy

rhody · 03-05-2002, 09:24 AM

Eating healthy is really simple. There's so much difference of opinions of what the ideal foods are, so I'll just explain what I discovered.

Nearly 20 years ago, I was so sick and about 25 pounds overweight. Since doctors could not help me with these fibromyalgia pains (referred to as fibrositis in those days), I decided to just try and do healthy things. It's long story, but eventually after years and years, I got well. Along the way, I found out that I no longer had weight problems too.

I don't have to starve, count carbs, calories, fat grams --- nothing. It took me a long time to figure this out. What I first started doing in the early to mid '80s, was cut out all the JUNK. That was way before I understood anything about nutrition. I cut out ice cream, sodas, cakes, cookies, candies, donuts, pastries, and alcoholic beverages, etc. Did I ever miss those soft gooey homemade chocolate-chip cookies, but they all went out! I found out if I just cut out the bad, then now I would eat the good. So all those hundreds of good foods were still available.... I slowly began to exercise, even though I still had some pain in those early days. But it worked.

I'll limit my answer to that for now, unless you want to know more. There's a world of knowledge out there, on how we can better treat ourselves. We can eat. Exercise is important too. We don't have to worry anymore, if we take the proper steps. Eventually I understood to stay away as much as possible from processed foods (especially those with hidden "empty calorie" sugars), and to stick with natural wholesome foods.

But, I have to say one more thing, along that line. When I flew in from out of town, to visit relatives a few years back, they noticed that I went for a big second helping of food. They hadn't seen me in a long time. Of course, the teasing started, because they knew that I was a big eater, when I was a teenager. And they wondered why I was eating so much. Of course, they didn't know that I ran about seven miles that morning. I was hungry. But the quiet comment I made to them, was this second full plate of food was equal to the dessert that were all having in calories. And then they were silent. The teasing stopped. I was eating about the same calories, but I was filling myself up with nutritious foods. At times, I now can stuff myself that way, and never gain weight.