How Do I Begin Eating Disorder Recovery How Do I Make A Meal Plan

Am I able to build muscles while recovering from anorexia? If so, how? If not, how do I get my strength back?

Yes, you can.**unless your doctor has advised you against ot because your weight is too low or you are experiencing other health complications.** You need to be mindful of how you are working out, how often, and what emotions are associated with it. If you are doing it out of a compulsion to burn calories or as an alternative means of purging that is a sign your eating disorder is doing the thinking and acting. More importantly, doing so will hinder you physiological and emotional recovery. I strongly believe that exercise needs to be part of most recoveries from ED. But ideally you can work with a trainer or mental health professional who is well versed in the signs of compulsive exercise and / or can help you reprogram your approach to physical activity, which includes adjusting how much you eat to fuel yourself adequately and not lose more weight than you already have. Be wary of personal trainers who actually use disordered tactics to maintain clients..many will reward pathological physical activity out of ignorance. Not necessarily their fault. More a flaw in how they are trained and also incentivized by gyms to bring in more and more clients.If you're exercising to improve your health and get stronger, those are good signs. I recommend looking into Jodi Rubin 's Destructively Fit, which trains trainers to be aware of eating disorder signs so they don't lead exercisers with EDs astray or exacerbate their condition. Additionally, you may also find some guidance in my book :).

Can eating healthy treat/prevent mental disorders?

Eating a healthy diet won’t hurt anyone and may help to treat depression and anxiety in some cases. A healthy diet is not going to help a psychotic disorder, Bipolar Disorder or a personality disorder. In the case of depression and anxiety some people may feel relief from their symptoms by taking in Omega-3 fish oils. This can be obtained through several food sources or in supplements.Some studies in adults suggest that omega-3 fatty acids may be beneficial in the treatment of mild to moderate depression, but more research is needed.Fish oil is a good source of omega-3 fatty acids, which play an important role in brain function. People with depression may have low blood levels of brain chemicals called eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). EPA and DHA can be found in fish oil.Eating fish a few times a week may provide your body with these healthy oils. Examples of fish high in omega-3s include sardines, salmon, herring, trout and canned white (albacore) tunaWhile it's generally true that the best way to get nutrients is through healthy foods, this is one example where a supplement may help. Some studies have shown that contaminants such as mercury do not appear to accumulate in fish oil, but remain primarily in the meat of the fish. So if you're concerned about mercury, a high-quality fish oil supplement may help with depression, but ask your doctor for advice.Although using fish oil is generally safe, taking too much can increase your risk of bleeding and might suppress your immune response, so take fish oil supplements only under a doctor's supervision.Fish oil isn't considered a replacement for treatment of depression, but it may be helpful as an addition to prescribed medications or other treatment. Although more studies are needed to determine exactly what role omega-3s play in depression, it's possible that fish oil supplements high in omega-3s may help lower the risk of depression — and omega-3 fatty acids help reduce high triglyceride levels and may help protect heart health.

Have you overcome an addiction to food, and if so, how did you go about it?

Yes, I did overcome my food addiction.The first change I had to make was about my mindset.One of the major problems with food addiction is that it is still not widely acknowledged as legit addiction. It's hard to accept because it's “just food”.Unlike alcohol or drugs food addiction provides delusion that it can be taken under control by sheer willpower any time you decide to do it.It's not the case.Food addiction needs a serious comprehensive approach. And the first step is to be completely honest with yourself and accept that there is no quick fix for it.Another tantalizing emotional issue (which is mostly in our mind) that if you give up certain addictive food, you are going to miss something.That can't be farther from the truth.It's next to impossible to believe this when you are just starting recovery from food addiction, but you can take my word.And the changes in mind need to be support by adjustments in nutrition, eating behavior, and daily routine:Addictive food has to go. There is no way around it. You know your addictive foods - the ones you start eating and can't possibly stop.Eat nutritious regular meals. Don't skip meals even if you are not hungry. Make sure you eat protein with every meal.Identify your triggers and danger zones - places, activities, time of the day. For me cravings started at 4 p.m. like clockwork, so I had to be proactive about it.Plan ahead. I can't stress enough how important planning is. Why? Because you have to get your defense ready while your mind is still clear. And when first urges hit the stage of “I don't feel/act like myself” has already started and logical thinking is pretty much shut down.Those are the basics which put foundation to long-term recovery.There is more, but I am not overwhelming your with too much information right now.Be well.

How do I stop my maladaptive daydreaming?

Well, it depends on why you are daydreaming. The bad news is that there isn’t an easy or fast solution.Most mental health professionals think of maladaptive daydreaming as a symptom, rather than a mental disorder on it’s own. Most people who turn to it are doing so because of trauma of some kind—the real world is so terrible, scary, and impossible to understand that we seek shelter in a world of our own. It gives us respite & a chance to rest & process, so we can leave our minds in short bursts and function in the ‘real world.’It does not need to be something as obvious as blatant physical/emotional/sexual abuse—mine is probably the result from an anxiety disorder. I was so terrified as a small child I retreated into myself—and I grew up in a loving and stable middle-class home.If this is the case for you, looking for a cure for daydreaming, without addressing the cause, is going to be fruitless. It would be like trying to deal with nearsightedness by squinting all the time. It may work, sort of, but it is not a long-term solution, and it’s better to just admit you need correctives.After working on my anxiety disorder through therapy and medication, I don’t need to daydream anymore. I used to require 4+ hours of it a day to function at a basic level, and now daydreaming is pleasant, but it’s not a requirement.It’s like my daydreaming went from a need like sleep, into something more like eating a really nice meal. I like it, but I’ll be fine without it.Suggestions:if you aren’t already, get some guidance from a mental health professional. I’d probably start with someone like a therapist, and see who they recommend from that point.If you have the option, I’d probably start with a therapist who has experience processing childhood trauma. Most of us have been daydreaming for a VERY long time, and it usually starts for a reason. Also, people who help with childhood trauma are the kindest bunch of folk I have ever met—most of the people they are working with know ‘something’ happened, and need help trying to process it, but aren’t quite sure what to do or where to start.depending on why you are reliant on daydreaming, you may also need some help from a psychiatrist. there are a few medications that are recognized to help with daydreaming, and they can give your mind some extra assistance while you do the hard work of therapyGood luck my friend—if you want to talk further please feel free to ask.

How effective is not eating for losing weight?

It depends on how you do it, but the short answer is: the longer you go without calories, the harder it becomes to consume enough calories to replace the weight you lost when you weren’t eating. The key term in the research literature to look for is “intermittent energy restriction.”The simplest effective starting point is an 8 hour daily feeding window, commonly referred to as 16/8, the number of hours you should not eat anything, vs the number of hours in which you are free to consume food. You can go up to 18/6, 20/4, or even 23/1. As the feeding window narrows, it becomes more and more difficult to consume more than you can expend.Alternate day fasting is another technique that has been researched and is very effective. (Improvements in coronary heart disease risk indicators by alternate-day fasting involve adipose tissue modulations.) There are several ways of implementing this, but it has the same feature of restricted daily feeding windows: it’s very difficult to eat enough to hold onto excess weight.Longer fasts are also very effective. Many people will periodically fast for multiple days, 5 is a number I hear frequently. Once you have adapted to the fasting state, long fasts are not difficult at all.The idea that the body breaks down significant amounts of muscle during a fast is not supported by the evidence (Starvation. George F. Cahill). During fasting, growth hormone increases in order to preserve muscle mass. Protein breakdown drops by a factor of 4–6, and it would take between 12 and 36 days to lose one pound of muscle (assuming I’m doing the math correctly). If you’re worried about muscle loss, you can take branch chain amino acids (BCAA) to slow the process of muscle loss well beyond the body’s own preservation mechanisms. If you happen to lose muscle or strength during a fast, you will probably regain it quickly, as is seen in “muscle memory” studies. (E.g. Dynamic muscle strength alterations to detraining and retraining in elderly men.)