Never in my life would I have thought that I would have an eatign disorder. I thought that anorexia and bulemia were the only eating disorders, never thinking about over eating or compulsive eating as an eating disorder. But, you know what? I think that I am a compulsive/over eater. I have, for as long as I can remember, had a really hard time knowing when to stop eating. I have had issues with eating until I get sick. Now I don't mean that I force myself to get sick, I just eat so much that there is no where for it to go. I have never really been more than 25 pounds above the high end of my weight range and currently I am about 8 pounds above the high range. The thing is, I feel better when I am about 25 pounds less than I am right now.
I have been attempting to change my eating habits. I have written about havign a food addiction for certain foods. If you read Dr Neal Barnard's book "Breaking The Food Seduction", it makes perfect sense why I am addicted to the food that I am. My problem is that I need to stop eating those foods and like an alcoholic or a drug addict, I crave, really really crave them. It's time. It's really time to stop all this nonsense and do what I need to do.
I have a multitude of reasons for going plant strong. My husband's doctor recommended that he eat that way. I have cancer and heart disease in my family and going plant strong is one way to fight that history. I also have issues with high blood pressure. I have been pregnant twice and both times I ended up with pre-eclampsia. With my twins, my blood pressure was 188/111 the day I delivered them and that was on blood pressure medication. I just read some information that stated if you had pre-eclampsia you are more at risk for having cardiac issues even after you deliver your baby. Given that I have heart disease in my family and my only uncle (myu mother's brother) died when he was only 42, just 4 years away from the age I am now, I really need to get focused and make the changes I need to.
I really believe that going plant strong is the best way to go. I love my meat, but can't stand how animals are treated. I have a really hard time believing that it is ok to eat some animals and not others. I also have areally hard time sometimes eating meat when I think about my science courses that I have taken in the past. I often have the hardest time when I am preparing my own meat. If someone else has prepared it, I am more removed from it and don't think about it as much. That just goes to show you how important it is to be a part of the preparation of your food!
So I am here to admit that not only do I have food addictions, I more than likely have an eating disorder in the form of compulsively over eating. I need to get this undercontrol before I end up causing more health problems. I have to give credit to this blog post for getting me to think this way: http://healthygirlskitchen.blogspot.com/2011/06/hop-on-over-to-choosing-raw-and-catch.html
Hopefully I can start posting some of my healthy plant based recipes that I will be cooking for my family!
Amy
As of the end of August we have been vegetarians for a year. We love it. I can tell you that a lot of my food cravings have gone (I was also a huge emotional eater). I am still in no way close to my ideal weight but I have noticed that we all are losing weight without trying. We noticed that a lot of the issues we were having before have gone. The bloating after eating, the heartburn, the heavy feeling etc have all gone. Granted I still get heartburn but I love my hot sauce and spicy foods. LOL We allow eggs and dairy in our diet but I can say we are slowly weaning those out (especially since I am lactose intolerant.) Right now our kick is almond milk.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to reading some of your plant based recipes...
it's amazing how addictive food can be. I learn it most when I give up certain things and then have such a craving for them until the detox time passes- for me this is mostly over Lent when i give things up like coffee or bacon or after vacations when we've been eating more unhealthy and I'm trying to get back to our healthier ways.
ReplyDeleteI struggle with just that and it's only small examples compared to you, so I offer you a huge pat on the back for recognizing what your body is trying to tell you and for making an effort to change it!!!!
thank you for writing this....i have this addiction as well...it's easily passed off by being labeled as 'craving' or 'emotional eating' but addiction is addiction. imagine if you were a heroin addict but could never quit shooting up because all humans need some heroin to survive? i think food addiction is the hardest and most complex, and as someone whose father died from complications related to obesity, i feel it so much right now at 40 lbs over where i should be (society would say 60 or 70 but i'm a fan of the size 10 figure, i'd like to keep my booty!). how they judge us when we do not fit in the mold, as someone who used to be stick thin, my whole world changed when i gained weight, from how i felt about myself to how others treated me.
ReplyDeleteok enough of a tangent on myself, thank you :)