Hi, I’m reading your book and I’m surprised how often I find myself again in what you write. I’m at the chapter on Hummers and Beckoners, and I find this approach very interesting and logical. Unfortunately, I have to forego relatively many foodstuffs due to health reasons (for instance dairy products, sugar and flour). For health reasons, it is better if I stick to a type of “paleo diet”. Do you have any suggestions for me on how to escape the vicious cycle of eating disorder despite the fact that so many things are prohibited? Naturally, we always crave even more what we cannot have. Many thanks in advance, and many thanks for your great and helpful book!
Dear Ms.:
If you continue a little longer in the book, you’ll find a paragraph on the issue of food allergies and intolerances. And if you go on a bit further, you’ll learn that I, too, was lactose intolerant. Moreover, there is an entire page on the topic of sugar 🙂
During my time with eating disorder, I consumed every day at least a half-liter yoghurt (non-fat, naturally), at least one package cottage cheese (low-fat, of course), in addition to having at least one whey beverage (also low in fats). I would have died if they had taken all of this away from me, because I was thinking, how am I to eat a healthy and low-fat diet, if I can’t have these things?! At the same time, I frequently suffered from painful flatulence.
Nowadays, I have dairy products as a “treat”, meaning not as part of my diet, but in order to enjoy them. My digestion has improved markedly, and I no longer react to ice-cream with abdominal cramps. I believe that even long-standing intolerances may improve once we introduce regularity into our diet, and the digestive system has recovered.
It is extremely difficult to do without dairy products, flour AND sugar when we suffer from eating disorder. The important question is how great the degree of suffering is: If you have a disease, such as rheumatism or Crohn’s disease, it is absolutely necessary to adjust your dietary habits accordingly. I would recommend looking for foods that resemble those you must forego in terms of consistency and taste. In cases of serious disease, nutritional habits must be changed in order to achieve improvement.
If, however, you “only” have a bloated abdomen, or “only” pimples on your back, or “only” skin blemishes in your face, you might think about whether you deliberately put up with these things and don’t eliminate everything strictly on account of the eating disorder, but try to find some form of compromise, in the knowledge that, as the disorder diminishes, you’ll gradually be able to adjust your eating behavior, lovingly and patiently. Whenever the need to act is not that great (meaning there is no acute serious illness), I find such a compromise to be better than leaving out everything for a couple of days, and subsequently wolfing down everything “forbidden” during a binging episode. The latter is a much greater shock to your body’s system, compared to consuming small amounts of the foodstuffs you don’t tolerate so well.
By the way, my tastes have changed completely over the years. If I today would have to consume half a liter of yoghurt and a pack of cottage cheese plus a whey beverage, I would scream and leave 🙂
Hopefully, my answer was of some help to you. Best regards from Vienna,
Olivia Wollinger
(translated by Ulli Wiesner)
