Recovery is not a linear process

Posted on January 26, 2021April 28, 2021 by jbdietetics

The pathway of recovery requires great vulnerability, patience, openness, courage and determination. There’ll be times when you feel hopeful and encouraged as you see tangible progress. This progress might give you strength to keep going. And then at other times you may feel stuck or weighed down by eating disorder thoughts and/or negative body image thoughts and feelings. These might cloud any previous progress you have made. Doubts may arise and the hope you once held may fade a little. This is a time to respond with compassion, not judgement.

What I’d like you to keep in mind is this: recovery is not a linear journey. It is full of ups and downs; all are moments to learn from. Feeling stuck is a hard place to be. It could be hard to get in touch with your motivation. In this moment, please remember that you’re not going backwards and you are not failing. You are experiencing a normal part of recovery. Be kind toward yourself, and reach out for more support. Offer yourself statements of compassion such as, “In my struggles and in my pain, I deserve compassion and kindness”.

Your present struggles in recovery do not discount your past progress. Nor do they determine your hope for recovery. Your present struggles don’t mean you’re failing. Again, recovery is not a linear process. When difficult emotions arise and eating disorder thoughts are loud, you may feel like turning towards eating disorder behaviours. Instead, this is a time to be with your emotions and sooth yourself with compassion. In addition, you can reach out for help, allowing others to support you. We are going through difficult times at the moment, so it is even more important than ever to reach out for help, showing yourself compassion whilst clinging onto your motivations for recovery and to hope.

What foods are guilt free?

Posted on January 26, 2021April 28, 2021 by jbdietetics

_{Do you find yourself bingeing on ‘guilt’ free food?}

Food is often marketed as ‘guilt-free’ because it is low in calories, fat, or sugar. This highlights the way food companies use diet culture’s messages to sell their products. It’s important to remember that the bottom line for those companies is making money. Marketing often uses the latest wellness trends to promote products and make more sales.

The trouble with using ‘guilt-free’ slogans is that it reinforces the idea that we need to follow food rules and that some foods are inherently bad. Remember that following food rules and labelling food with moral judgements doesn’t promote healthy eating patterns. Instead, they introduce shame and guilt into our relationship with food and our bodies. This often triggers chaotic eating patterns.

Along with attaching moral judgement to food, ‘guilt-free’ labelling can lead people to overeating rather than responding to their appetite. Alternatively, you may eat it and still feel deprived because these types of substitute are less satisfying than the ‘real’ version.

The real definition of guilt-free food is simply food without judgement. If you’re wanting to eat without guilt, maybe it’s time to challenge your food rules and begin a journey of making peace with food. If you want help with this, please don’t hesitate to email me for support.

Can I have a guilt free sweet snack?

Posted on January 26, 2021April 28, 2021 by jbdietetics

_{Do you find yourself eating patterns are chaotic?}

Just a reminder that you can enjoy something sweet as a snack – guilt-free! Many people experience guilt when eating food, and struggle to give themselves unconditional permission to enjoy it. I’ve heard many people say, “I really shouldn’t be eating this” or “I’m being naughty today”. Where did we get the idea that eating certain foods makes us ‘naughty’? Here’s a hint: DIET CULTURE and its detrimental food rules.

You may be thinking, “But don’t food rules and judgements help me eat a healthy balanced diet?”. Or maybe you believe that some foods are just ‘bad’ or ‘unhealthy’. Yes, foods possess varied nutritional quality, but that doesn’t mean we need to laden them with moral judgements. Such judgements simply leave you with guilt and shame, and consequent efforts to avoid the ‘offending’ foods only succeeds in making you feel unsated. So rather than eating cake and moving on with your day, you might eat cake and become trapped in the guilt-and-shame cycle. This often triggers chaotic eating patterns, and increases one’s preoccupation with food. Diet rules and moral judgements not only fail to help people create healthy eating patterns; they also do everything to create a distorted relationship with food.

Remember: food is food. You aren’t doing anything wrong by enjoying a sweet food for a snack. You haven’t committed a crime. In fact, you don’t even need a particular reason for having a sweet food for a snack. If your body is asking, say, for a piece of chocolate cake, that is a sufficient reason to take pleasure in it.

Are you ready to reject the diet-mentality and learn to eat guilt-free? If ‘yes’, please don’t hesitate to email me to book in your session.

Why is self-compassion important after a binge?

Posted on January 13, 2021April 28, 2021 by jbdietetics

_{How does judgement keep you trapped in the binge cycle?}

We all deserve a compassionate response whenever we’re in the midst of pain and suffering. But for many of us, responding compassionately to ourselves may seem almost impossible, beset as we sometimes are with self-recrimination. For instance, do you notice judgemental or critical thoughts arising about your progress in recovery? Do you notice that judgemental thoughts arise if you are struggling with a particular eating disorder behaviour? They might just be keeping you trapped in your eating disorder cycle.

Clinging to these highly critical thinking patterns can be paralysing, making it far hard to hold onto hope. Labouring under their weight, a person may find it hard harder to take the necessary steps towards recovery; in fact, they may trigger a slide into eating disorder behaviours.

Here’s an example. After bingeing, you may experience many negative, berating thoughts, combined with feelings of shame and guilt. These thoughts and emotions may trigger restrictive eating patterns, but that only sets you up for another round of bingeing. Learning to respond to yourself with compassion can help you acknowledge your feelings in a judgment-free manner, while also offering an effective means of self-soothing. This will help you to shift from self-condemnation to a place of self-care. From that place you may be able to confidently continue with your recovery goals of regular eating, thereby breaking the bingeing cycle.

What would it be like to respond to your struggles with compassion? To activate your ‘self-soothing’ system? It may be hard at first as you may not feel like you deserve compassion. It may take time to open yourself up to the practice, as it may feel unnatural. But self-compassion enables us to remember that we are not alone in our suffering and that each person deserves compassion in his or her pain and suffering. Responding gently to yourself can also help you to acknowledge your pain and suffering rather than berating yourself or constantly foregrounding critical thoughts. A compassionate response is a source of comfort, and may ultimately provide the robust foundation you need to continue your recovery journey.

How can I feel better in my body?

Posted on January 13, 2021April 8, 2021 by jbdietetics

_{Do you speak to yourself with kindness or judgement?}

Have you noticed the tone and content of your negative body image thoughts? Are they harsh, disrespectful, judgemental? Is this the sort of tone you’d use when speaking with a friend?

Often people think they need to talk to themselves in this manner in order to create change and to feel better about themselves. They believe that harsh criticism will help them to eat healthier or exercise more. But does it? Or does it just perpetuate the very beliefs that sustain a person’s negative body image?

It’s common for people to say, “I’ll be kind to myself once I reach my goal weight. Everything will feel better once I’ve reached my goal weight”. But at what cost?

You don’t have to wait until you feel better about your body to start speaking to yourself with kindness and respect. What would it be like to adopt a more compassionate tone? Or to speak to yourself like you would speak to a friend?