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Anonymous.
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March 4, 2016 at 9:19 am #97993
AnonymousGuestDear Saxsia:
You asked for practical advice:
1. Aim at healing the excess, ongoing fear (anxiety) that is fueling your disordered eating. It will take time and ongoing work, in the context of psychotherapy with a competent, caring, hard working psychotherapist, if possible for you. Joining 12 step groups/ self help groups meeting in person to help each other with anxiety and disordered eating can also be helpful.
2. Every day, aim at simplifying your life that day the best you can so to not overwhelm yourself with “things to do”- take into account the anxiety in you and plan your day with it in mind. View yourself as an anxious child and plan that child’s day in a way that will be the least overwhelming for the child.
3. Aerobic daily exercise (limited and safe, not as a way to burn,burn, burn calories and compensate for bingeing!)
4. Slow, calming exercise like yoga and Tai-Chi (slow, slow movements that slow down the brain!).
5. Interacting with supportive people, staying away from critical people.
6. Posting here anytime.
anita
March 4, 2016 at 10:32 am #97998AnonymousGuest7. No restricting certain kinds of foods, “bad foods” – no banning foods, such only triggers craving for the banned foods. Eliminating certain foods as in most diets triggers bingeing (proven through research, i believe).
anitaMarch 5, 2016 at 6:05 am #98067
SaxsiaParticipantThanks for the reply Anita 🙂
I think definitely chilling out a bit and trying to appreciate the present moment is important, because I am causing myself so much stress just worrying about my own problems. Everyone has problems and things they would like to fix, and even though I feel somewhat broken it definitely doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy life to the fullest. If I sat around waiting for my ‘best self’ before going out with friends… I think I’d be waiting quite a while.
You’re very right about normalizing my intake rather than restricting the ‘bad stuff’, as my goal is to be able to eat like any “normal” person and enjoy unhealthy stuff occasionally. The exercise I do is really solely for pleasure, I find it extremely meditative and fulfilling, it really calms my nerves and brings me back to reality. I should get back into doing yoga, as well!!I know I need a sense of personal direction in my life right now, I think I’ll start reading a bit of basic beginner texts on Buddhism in the evenings. Then I get something nice and relaxing to think about before I fall asleep, too 🙂
I’m going to work on some nice daily routines (nothing too taxing), to add a bit of stability and focus.I’m feeling a lot more hopeful after sleeping on things.
March 5, 2016 at 7:51 am #98073AnonymousGuestDear Saxsia:
You sound positive and indeed hopeful in your post above. Feelings are like the weather: they change. It is wonderful when you are calm and it will not last. The … good news about feelings changing is that when you feel very anxious- that too will not last: that too will change. Part of a mindful meditation I did and still do (only a few minutes ago) is when you feel anxiousness, you pay attention: where in the body do you feel it? Do you feel heat? pressure in your chest? A feeling like vomiting? Feel it, be in that sensation and observe/ feel it lessen, increase, change… and so you learn, over time, to endure uncomfortable feeling, trusting in them changing… and trusting that you will survive them yet again without automatically reacting to them.
When you learn to endure those feelings without automatically reacting with destructive behaviors, you build trust in yourself and that is priceless!
Please do post again, anytime!
anita
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