Good books on nutrition that won't cause relapse?

jillybean

jillybean

Cathlete
I am a recovering anorexic. Once I finally started eating again, I couldn't stop and literally doubled my weight. I am at the point now where I can go out to eat and not panic and I can eat a piece of cake w/o eating the whole thing or w/o exercising for 3 hours the next day, but I am still confused. I don't know anymore when I'm hungry or when I'm eating out of boredom, anxiety, etc. My husband is terrified of me becoming anorexic again. All I seem to crave and all I seem to keep eating are the foods I deprived myself of for so long; pizza, pastry, fast food. It is so humiliating admitting all of this bad behavior, but eating disorders thrive on secrets, so I thought this might help. Any suggestions from you guys or any good book recommendations? Thank you! This is so helpful and appreciated!
 
Hi Jillybean,
First of all, congratulations on your recovery. That in itself is remarkable. I was bulimic for 15 years, so I understand what you are going through. Your current eating habits are NOT bad behavior, so please don't feel humiliated! This is the way your body is responding to all those years of severe deprivation. Right now the best thing you can do for yourself is listen to your body; when it finally realizes that you aren't going to deprive it again, the need to overeat and to eat "bad foods" will disappear. When I first gave up dieting and legalized all foods I gained quite a bit of weight, but after a while the food party was over and it wasn't fun anymore. This isn't a nutrition book per se, but one book that really helped me get my eating in order was "Intuitive Eating" by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch (subtitled "Make peace with food, free yourself from chronic dieting forever, get to the natural weight that fits you.") These women are both nutritionists, and the book teaches you how to listen to your body and feed it accordingly. The last chapter offers nutrition advice, but they actually want you to focus on that last so that you don't feel like you're still dieting. Hang in there. You are going through a phase, and it will not last forever. You have already proven that you are a very strong woman by overcoming anorexia; you can make it the rest of the way.

HTH,
Jane :)

"Life's mostly attitude and driving." --Jack Ingram
 
[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Feb-24-02 AT 09:22PM (Est)[/font][p]Hi Jillybean,
I was going to recommend the exact same book - Intuitive Eating. It is an excellent, common-sense book.
I am a former anorexic who did exactly the same thing as you - once I started eating, I couldn't stop. Being so out of control with food after controlling every bite/calorie was devastating to me. I went through years of a bingeing/restricting/overexercising cycle after being anorexic. I'm so glad that you have gotten to the point where you are eating and exercising moderately - it's a tough road. I still have a lot of issues with food/exercise, but have improved a lot.
Hope this book (and any others recommended) helps you to having a healthy relationship with food and exercise!! And congratulations on beating anorexia!!
Take care!
Erica
*Edited to add another book - Breaking Free from Compulsive Eating by Geneen Roth
 
Hey! I too am a recovering anorexic, and I wasn't ready to fully FREE myself from food hell until just last week, after reading INTUITIVE EATING by Evelyn Tribole. Man, that book absolutely changed my life. I have only been practicing it for about a week, and every day is still a struggle. My nutritionist says that it will be tough, but that I am headed in the right direction and I owe it to that book. Nothing was able to make me want to take action and actually start listening to my body until I read that book. After so many years of ignoring my hunger and eating by the clock, portioning and measuring meals, eating what I thought I SHOULD eat and completely ignoring what I WANTED to eat, it's very hard to tune into my body to listen for it's signals. But it will happen, and a most important step in being able to tune into your body is to free yourself from food. You have to make peace with the foods you've been depriving yourself of and eat them until they no longer have power over you. That is the only way to gain control of your body and food, and to free yourself from the food controlling you! It will be a long process that takes time, and it's different for everyone. But I can tell you that I wanted to change my obsession and break free from food hell for so long, I just never knew how... until I read that book! Please keep me posted on your progress and what you think about the book! I ordered it from Amazon.com for about 8$! So go for it... and if you'd like to email me, I'd love to hear from you. It's always nice to talk with someone with similar struggles! Healthy regards,
Sara Herzig
[email protected]
 
Thank you everybody! I checked out Intuitive Eating from the library today. I am very excited to make an improvement in my eating and thinking, no matter how small. Thanks again for the encouragement and feedback!!!
 
I share all the congratulations expressed on your recovery. I've been lurking here and a regular at the Firm forum but I had to respond to this post. While I have not read Intuitive Eating I have heard many good things about it. I was anorexic in high school and was obsessed with calories, exercise, etc. It's a world I don't ever care to return to. After I decided to start eating again I gained a ton of weight and reached 160 pounds during college. It's like I was making up for all those times I didn't eat what my body wanted.

While I'm now a much healthier 135 pounds, it was a long road back. But it is so nice to not look at a piece of cheescake as "the enemy". I have found that the best way for me to lose weight (esp. after having a baby) and keep healthy is to eat good foods in moderation. I also don't believe in depriving myself of foods I like. When I finally gave myself permission to eat whatever I wanted I found that I really didn't want to eat that much of it. So don't knock yourself for eating all those foods you deprived yourself of, but allow yourself to eat them until you are no longer hungry. Learning to recognize hunger and fullness are a huge step in the right direction. Hope I don't sound too preachy, but I wish you the best in your journey. HTH :)
 
Your story is very similar to mine. Thank you for your kind thoughts and inspiring words. It is so awesome to see what a healthy relationship you have with food. You go girl!! And cheesecake isn't the enemy, is it?
 
Wow! It is nice to see that I am not the only one out there who has problems with food. While I am not anorexic or bulemic, I do have a distorted body image and am constantly battling with food. I keep track of every calorie, fat gram, etc on a computer program. I do not starve myself though but I do classify foods as good and bad and cannot live by the everything in moderation concept. I have no stop button when it comes to eating in moderation--if I have a piece of cheesecake, it starts a cycle of binge eating and then I undereat and overexercise for a few days to undo the damage. I think that I will check out this bood for myself.
 
I am by far an expert on the subject. Hope you have someone that is informed about this topic to talk to. That is very important to be accountable to someone in any situation like that. But maybe if you eat healthy and feel good about the food your putting into your body, and know it's going to nurish you and help you stay healthy, that might help. Someone on this forum mentioned 2 books. One was not as helpful to me, but the other one was, and is. (I'm still reading it.) It's called, Eat Smart, Play Hard, by Liz Applegate, PH.D.
At least the guilt wont come over you (hopefully) if you know your eatting the right foods.
May God give you the strength to overcome this problem.
Faythe
 
RE: Good books on nutrition...Debra Waterhouse

Hi Jillybean,

Congratulations on being so proactive in dealing with this. I'm on the borderline here too and trying to be less obsessed about it. I've found Debra Waterhouse's book "Outsmarting the Female Fat Cell" to be good - she doesn't believe in dieting and gives a 3 month plan to get rid of the diet mentality and take care of yourself. Her first couple of weeks just focus on getting in touch with your hunger signals. I'm actually doing that right now. I just got off a real low calorie diet that just was bad news for me. My thighs are actually bigger after it! When you diet you get used to ignoring the hungry feeling or I found that I just have come to hate that feeling and now go overboard to try to avoid it. But then when you start eating when you're full then there is no signal to stop because you were already full when you started. It's a tough thing, but I'm sure that we can figure it out. Good luck to you and hope you enjoy all the great books people recommended. Oh, and I think the Spa Deck is good too because you pamper yourself or find some focus besides food.

Peace and love. J
 
RE: Good books on nutrition...Debra Waterhouse

Hey guys! Well as I said before, Intuitive Eating changed my life entirely. But I came across another book that could also be another eye opener... BREAKING FREE FROM COMPULSIVE EATING by Geneen Roth... while I wasn't really a compulsive eater, as an anorexic I struggled with some of the same issues as overeaters, and this book made so much sense to me! You could order Intuitive Eating, Breaking Free, and WHY WEIGHT (a companion guide to Breaking free that's worth buying!) from Amazon.com for very little money, and it is MORE THAN WORTH IT! I thought I was completely hopeless and stuck in a world of measuring and bingeing and restricting and counting... until I read these books. And if anyone wants to talk more about it, PLEASE feel free to email me personally, because if I can help anyone break out of the food hell that I was once stuck in, I would love to. We need to move past our issues with food and LIVE OUR LIVES! Like I've said before, EAT TO LIVE, not live to eat the right thing! Life's too short! And I am still struggling with my disorder and learning new things about myself and my body everyday, but I refuse to measure or count anymore, it's been 5 weeks yesterday since I've stopped counting calories and measuring. And I won't become a slave of the scale. I won't let a number make or break me! So, email me at [email protected]..... I can relate to your issues with food if you want someone to share with.
Healthy regards!
*sara*
 
RE: Good books on nutrition..check-in?

Sara and Jillybean and anyone else interested...

Would you be interested in a check-in? We could follow the principles of the "Intuitive Eating" book and talk about experiences along the way. I love to exercise and the feeling of eating healthy, but I know I have to keep an eye on getting sucked in to diets because I used to be much heavier than I am. I miss the support of a check-in group but most of them are geared towards losing weight as the main goal. I want to work on a healthy relationship to food - eat to feel good and just enjoy exercise. Interested?
 
RE: Good books on nutrition..check-in?

Hi, Jillybean, I have also had trouble along those lines. Nine years ago my weight dropped to 100. As a teenager and in my early twentiess, I often went on starvation diets. One thing I know, is that, for me, it was about control. In a world where I didn't seem to have any, I could control my food intake. Happily, I have learned that this fit lifestyle has given me the tools to deal with any and all the stresses life has to offer. And somehow those stresses have gotten smaller and smaller. It's all a process! I know that if I want to run and lift and do all the things I enjoy so much, I have to fuel those workouts. I agree that Liz Applegate's book is great. While I don't care for sports drinks or bars, but I do love the way she teaches you what to eat before and after you work out. A terrific general nutrition book is William Willetts, Eat, Drink and Be Healthy. He debunks the Food Pyramid, saying it should emphasize whole grains and brown rice since all complex carbs are not created equally! He gives generaly guidelines for healthy eating. Check out books at great prices at www.half.com. I am going to check into Intuitive Eating as soon as I get a chance. You sound like you are on track! Keep up the good work and know that we are all rooting for you. You can conquer your eating disorder! You can do anything you put your mind to!

Bobbi http://www.plaudersmilies.de/chicken.gif Chick's Rule!
 
RE: Good books on nutrition..check-in?

I would be greatly interested! Let's hope others will join in too! Thanks for the terrific idea!
 
RE: Good books on nutrition..check-in?

Hi Everyone,

I would like to join your check-in. This thread really hits home to me. And it makes me sad to reflect on how much of my precious life has been spent counting calories, getting weighed, planning meals, obsessing about size, etc. I too used to be anorexic in early high school. I managed to remain thin until my senior year, when the deprivation caught up with me, and I became a binge eater. I just felt I could not get enough food after years of deprivation during the time when I probably needed the most calories. In college I became bulimic (had to get rid of all those calories I was eating), and then a binge drinker, and for the past 3 years I think I'm finally progressing toward having a normal relationship to food. However, I still go on the occasional fast/crash diet and then, not surprisingly, I binge shortly thereafter. I have not known what it feels like to be a normal eater. It is not unusual for me to gain and lose 25 pounds several times a year. I want so badly to find a normal, healthy weight and to resist the urge to start the binge/starvation cycle all over again! I know I could never relapse into anorexia again (I hate being hungry too much), but I have a far from normal relationship with my body and food.

I guess I just had to get that off my chest. I'm with all of you who are also struggling with these issues. I would love to join a support group.

Holly
 
RE: Good books on nutrition..Hollycat

Holly,

Thank you so much for posting. You're right..I also hate all the wasted time spent because of my poor relationship with food and my bod. There are so many important and amazing things in the world and I want to be able to focus on them more. I'm starting the check-in and look forward to supporting you and myself on this path. It sounds like you're on track but want a reminder that diets suck and are bad for most people (definitely me! :) )
Have you checked out the "Intuitive Eating" book?
 
RE: Good books on nutrition..Hollycat

I have not read the "Intuitive Eating" book, though it is definitely on my list to read next. I hate to say it, but I feel so jaded when it comes to new ideas about food/nutrition/mental health. I have such a cynical "Been there, done that" attitude that right now it's hard for me to open my mind to new ideas. I've read hundreds of books about these sorts of issues (including Geneen Roth's books) but feel like none of them have gotten me anywhere. Rather, I have not had the discipline to practice the principles discussed in such books. I've still been trying to conquer these screwed up ideas for more than 15 years.

Oh well, since so many people have given "Intuitive Eating" such rave reviews, I guess it's worth a shot.

My sanity/insanity seems to run in cycles. The only times I have a completely sane relationship with food are when I'm too preoccupied with other things to worry about food (i.e., work, relationship, school). Unfortunately, right now none of these issues are preoccupying me (in other words, life is comfortable and relatively calm) so the only thing left for me to obsess about is food and my weight.

That was a little more than I intended to share. Thanks for reading.
 
RE: Good books on nutrition..Hollycat

Holly, I haven't walked in your shoes but I think I understand your jadedness a bit. Part of me is thinking, "Yeah, I'll eat like this and then just gain 5 million pounds and be more freaked out than when I started". But you know, I just can't diet anymore. I can't do it. I can't afford not to have enough energy and I've tried enough recently to know that they do not work for me. Cutting cals just slows me down and in some instances gain weight. Ironically, I seem to get more messed up with food when other issues are in my face which is how I lost my balance in the first place I think. A little over a year ago I was in what I now think of as a magic place where exercise was habitual and fun, I didn't think about food much at all, and I was 10-15lbs lighter. I miss the whole feeling and want to get back there again. I, like you, need hope and I can't help but try. Hey, I'm glad to hear that things are good for you in terms of relationship, school, and work! ;) Wishing you the best, J.
 
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