Eating Disorder Recovery

Hello dear friend, in this episode, we will talk about how you can recover after an eating disorder and which are the steps which are the most important things you need to address. The information which I will share with you will be beneficial both for people who really struggle with eating disorders, but also for those who are not technically having a real disorder, but also recognise that they have some unhealthy patterns, maybe every now and then you are emotionally overeating. Even if it's not extreme, even if it's not an actual bulimia. Or if you feel like you constantly need to control your portions. If you feel like you need to eat very little, but you don't really have the anorexia, it's also very helpful. And actually, I think that this are some great tools for prevention, not only for handling and recovery. So let's talk about the most important. And this area, when you are trying to recover from an eating disorder or unhealthy eating patterns. The most important is to avoid anything extreme. Because people who really suffer from the eating disorders, they are extreme about something, they are either extremely controlling their food and their portions. Or they are excessively over eating, again, extreme impulses, extreme amount of food. So very often those people have this as a personal characteristic that they're kind of radical. And when they decide to make something about this problem and handle with that, they can also use the same man mindset that things should be radical. From today or tomorrow, I'm entirely changing everything I do everything I am. There's my friends rarely works. Because it puts you under huge stress. And when you're under huge stress, the response of the brain is to go back to the well known to what you are doing in the first place. And if you make a radical decision that from today, you will decrease your portions to the healthiest recommended amount of food and not by more than that. Chances are it will be very difficult to be consistent. Because when you put yourself in this stressful situation, and it will be stressful because it's an extreme change. Eventually it will reinforce the initial problem. And the same can be true Also, if you are eating a little if you are struggling with anorexia, or you just feel like you constantly need to be slimmer and slimmer. Again, if you try to go to the opposite, and have the healthiest diet over one night, again, you may have this feeling like you're losing control. And that may reinforce the initial condition. So I need to get back my control. How do I do that? Well, let's stop eating or go back to basically whatever we are used to and whatever really feels normal for us. So the first step, avoid anything extreme, small steps, my friends, this is one of the most important things. Don't try to change things over one night. So that you put yourself under this huge stress. Instead, think about what can be the tiniest improvement, the smallest improvement I can make and go from there. Also, another very important direction to explore is related to interrupting the patterns you have. In order to be able to do that you need to observe and analyse yourself very well. And you may totally do that on your own. But you can also really benefit if you work with a professional. And of course, I think that it goes without saying that, if you really struggle with a serious health condition, you should always always consult with a specialist. So of course, a therapist can help you with that. But you also need to participate. And the main thing you need to start with is self analysis and self observation. So, what are you doing on a daily basis? How do you feel before you overeat? Or before you make the decision that you won't have a dinner? For example? What are the most typical thoughts? What are your habits, and all of that represents your pattern. So you have to be very familiar with your patterns. And you will find that there is a consequence, that there is a model, there is a pattern, or a couple of them, but it's kind of the same, or at least very similar. And one of the most important things, this comes from NLP is to interrupt the pattern. So once you know what exactly you're thinking, what you're doing, what is the natural process, then you need to change something. And there are different ways to make the changes. And you can be very creative with that there isn't one way that you should follow. But when you interrupt the pattern, the whole process changes. For example, if you are, let's say overeating with cake, or chocolate, it may sound logical that the first thing you should do is actually stop eating the chocolate. But another kind of like smarter idea is to change something about this pattern. For example, eat your chocolate, but also before that committed to eating something healthy, let's say some carrots or fruit or something else, which you know, is healthy and good for you. So you don't have to jump straight into forbidding yourself something and totally giving up on something. Instead, try to change the pattern. For example, you can have a big salad with your dinner, first have your salad, then eat the rest. So this can really, really help. And it's not only about the actual food that you eat, you can also change other things about your patterns. For example, change the place where you eat, or ask someone else to keep you company. And again, you can be very, very creative with this. And also the more you know about your own patterns, the more ideas you may get about what you can change, how you can interrupt those patterns. And for example, another thing that you may try is if you are right handed it with your left hand. It sounds simple, but again, you are changing the whole pattern, the whole experience will be different. So when you do that, you can make also bigger changes after that, because the brain gets the message that, okay, something changed. But you know what, everything is still fine, we are not in danger. So the brain becomes more tolerant to changes. And then over time, you can make even more significant changes like at certain point, maybe even giving up from your chocolate or cake. But first you have to calm your brain and let him know that it's okay. Change isn't necessarily something bad or dangerous.

 
So we do that by interrupting the pattern. And again, the first step before That is to actually know very well, your own patterns. Another also very big topic is relate that to, of course emotions. Because eventually, that's kind of like the universal problem. Some kind of negative emotional state that we cannot tolerate.

 
Maybe you say, Okay, I just can't tolerate the hunger, I feel it's so uncomfortable. Or I really want to have this control of eating as little as possible. So there is a negative emotion, which you are trying to avoid, it doesn't matter whether you're
overeating under eating or anything in between, there is an emotion that is problematic. And I have actually another episode, which is about how we feel about our feelings. And it's mainly about learning to accept and tolerate the unpleasant emotions. Sometimes it could be sadness, it could be anger, it could be grief, it could be boredom, as well. One of the main problems is that people can't handle with their emotions. And if you focus on that, learning to accept the possibility that sometimes you may not feel so amazing, and that's fine, that is totally fine. Then of course, value improves everything that you do. And eventually, it even changes how you feel. So I make the sound very simple. Of course, it is not that simple. And sometimes you do need help from professionals. But you can also do many things on your own.
 
Like learning to process your emotions. Of course, a great tool here is the EFT tapping technique, which works amazingly well, both for present acute emotions, like feeling irritated or feeling like you can control yourself. And also working with past emotions, emotions that you feel stuck with for a very long time. This can also help you tremendously, because again, at the bottom of the eating disorders, there is always something emotional, something which has not processed. And one more direction to explore as well. It's about the topic of love, and the connection with our mother. Think about what food represents, and where is the food coming from. The food comes from the earth. And we also call the earth our Mother, Mother Earth. vegetables, fruit. If you're eating meat, then again, those animals they are still nurtured by the earth.

 
So food represents the nurturing connection. Also with our mother. And if you don't want to eat if you want to limit your food, and your weight from one side, you're also rejecting your mother, you need, you want less connection with her. You are rejecting Mother Earth, which means you're rejecting your own mother in some way. Or if you are overeating, you're trying to compensate something that you haven't received from your mother. And you're probably a fully grown a person right now. And probably you don't need your mother to do something for you Even though you may sometimes. I mean adults also need connection with a nurturing mother. But for children, it's much more important and usually, the problem is somewhere there in your childhood. Was there ever a problem a period Did you feel like you're not receiving enough love from your mother? Because symbolically, the food may represent this. Wanting to eat more food, because you want to receive more nurturing energy from Mother Earth. So it's a big one. Anything that has to do with childhood is usually a big topic. And yes, you can definitely benefit if you work with a professional. But even on your own, if you analyse things, if you try to process those things, admit them recognise them, you can still help yourself tremendously. And it's a huge step in your recovery or health improvement as well. So, of course, there are many individual cases, and it's important, what's your very own story? What are your very personal reasons for having some kind of eating disorder or unhealthy eating patterns as well? That will be very important, but those are some very good starting points that you can use in order to recover or improve your health. So I will summarise again, the most important points that we discussed. First of all, avoid anything extreme, extreme changes, extreme commitments. Make small steps as small as you can until you feel comfortable, give yourself enough time. interrupt your patterns first, analyse, observe. And then think creatively, what can you change so that things are different, and eventually move in the direction to change more and more important things. But first, start from
something that doesn't seem so logical or important whatsoever, just to get used to making changes and to interrupt the
pattern.
 
Then over time, you can make bigger changes, and they won't feel so stressful. But again, they should not be extreme. Take your time. Also look at your emotions. Is there something you cannot process? Can you tolerate emotional discomfort? If you learn how to do that it will help you tremendously. And also explore how do you feel about your mother and love overall? And do you feel like you have received enough love, especially from her and especially in your childhood? So that my friends was a brief analysis of some good ideas that can really help you with eating disorder and recovering. And again, you don't need to really struggle with a real disorder. It could be just an unhealthy eating pattern. The same steps can totally help you as well. Thank you very much for joining me. I hope I have inspired you to make some positive changes and I will catch you next time.