Black or white. Up or down. Fat or thin.
Extremes.
That’s how many eating disordered persons see the world. And that fact is something that most people who have never had issues with anorexia or bulimia do not intrinsically understand.
For the gal or guy with an eating disorder, there’s no such thing as eating “a little” of something. It’s all or nothing.
There’s no such thing as “just gaining a pound or two.” Even a few ounces is viewed as a ton in the anorexic’s mind.
There’s no “middle of the road” weight. You’re either skinny or enormous.
I believe this is one of the reasons that treatment can be so difficult.
Among so many other issues, patients with eating disorders have to be willing to systematically rewire their brains. They have to begin to see the gray areas, not just the stark darkness or the bright light.
The process takes time.
Though it’s been many years since anorexia wrapped its rope-like arms around my body and soul, I still find myself thinking in extremes. I look at my plate and wonder, “How much should I eat? If I eat it all, have I gone over ‘The Limit’?” Then, I deliberately shake off the sensation.
Little by little, I’m letting go.
I’m conditioning myself to embrace the shadows.
And I’m extreme-ly healthier than ever. I hope you are, too.
sorry for the typos.. My nails are really long!! For more info on intuitive eating & how it works, go to McKenna.com & check out the “4 Golden Rules”. I highly recommend them to anyone that wants to get better or simply lose weight! I am in NO way associated with them & you don’t have to worry about being tricked into anything because it’s no MAGIC PRODUCT.. It’s just a way of eating & changing your relationship with food. Oh, and it’s FREE. No payments required & they have a great support group, so you so won’t do it alone. Particularily for Binge eaters, Disordered eaters & Bulimics.. IT’S PERFECT! If you do chose to read it, give it a chance (don’t dismiss it cuz it sounds too easy or good to be true). It is all simple logic & things that we all know we SHOULD do, but NEVER do. Remember that often we KNOW right from wrong, we just choose wrong (or ignore right!).
I talked about this on the “addiction” section & even used some of the exact same words (black or white!) before I read THIS!! I agree completely. People with EDs (& ppl in general) see things one way or the other.. no in-betweens. As I mentioned earlier, what is important is to establish a BALANCE in our behavior & even the way we view food & weight. The best treatment I’ve come across with is INTUITIVE EATING, which is simply eating WHAT you want, WHEN you want to & AS MUCH as you want. Sounds simply, right? Or perhaps stupid.. Nope, neither. We think we can either eat all there is availabler restrain ourselves completely. What we must try to achieve is to learn to recognize when we are satisfied (not full) & stop eating then. This is regardless of wether what we are eating is full of fat or sugar, because our bodies only ask for what they need to survive. If we still want (even though we KNOW we dont NEED) more, we just need to remember that in a couple hours we’ll be hungry again & we can eat more then.. We should NEVER come to the conclusion that we have already eaten, so we might as well keep going, because this only leads to eating stuff that, not only do we not need, but dobt even WANT!! Changing that mentality of extremes is the way to go!!