EATING DISORDER

If you know or think that you have an eating disorder, please know that you are not alone. The reason and/or trigger behind an eating disorder are as many as there are people having them, and in most cases the disorder doesn’t even start with food and weight being the issue- but food is something that you can control, when everything else is slipping. So food is, and becomes, a big part of the picture, no matter if that was what started it or not. Stress on your body, like an eating disorder is, can cause different disturbances in the menstrual cycle, a short luteal phase being the mildest version, to ANOVOLATORY cycles as the more severe, followed by AMENORRHEA as the most severe. Anovolatory cycles, is a menstrual cycle in which ovulation did not occur, while amenorrhea is a total loss of periods, and a sign that your body is under huge amounts of stress. The majority of young women with amenorreha (lost periods) do have an eating disorder of some sort, whether they are aware of it or not. (Always exceptions, of course)

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Here’s some ideas to follow, for both people struggling with food, as well as those who don’t

  • Unfollow any social media accounts that glorify undereating or skinny bodies.

  • Hang out with friends who enjoy eating and are comfortable with food, and be careful around people that talk about the amounts that they eat, how much/little they eat, how full they feel after eating etc. First and foremost, talking that way about food reflects an disturbance also in that person, secondly, that’s not what you need to surround yourself with right now as you are trying to heal. Put yourself first. NO MERCY.

  • Try not to use the word ‘bad’ when you refer to food or eating.

  • Let go of being perfect at everything; including your diet. Being perfect all the time is exhausting, boring and not even possible.

  • Split your days into 3, instead of 1, which means that if you start off on the wrong foot, or that something didn’t go as planned, all hope are NOT out for that particular day. You don’t have to wait to the next day to ‘start over’.

  • Be gentle with yourself.

  • Seek help if you need.

  • Practice self-love.

    You are loved.

Trine Kristiansen