Struggled with Bulimia in Ramadan? 12 Keys to Recovery By Ali Kerr

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Recovery is a Life Changing Journey

We want people to understand the following

 

1. Eating Disorders are chronic diseases.

2. All Eating Disorders can be successfully treated: Treatment Works and People Recover.

3.Recovery is to be celebrated. Individuals in recovery become active and contributing members of their communities.

Dear Readers,

 

Ramadan is now over and this year has been very hard for many people suffering from Eating Disorders. This year War Against Eating Disorder was mentioned in several media outlets, namely BBC and BuzzFeed, this resulted in lots of traffic to the blog and lots of requests for help.  I am trying to respond to as many Emails as I possibly can, please bear with me. Post Ramadan, I encourage you to seek help for your ED. Meanwhile, please find below a brilliant post from Bulimia Help  on 12 Keys to Recovery, written by brilliant Ali Kerr.  I hope it will help you in your journey to recovery and will put into perspective some of the stages of recovery.

 

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I want to share with you the 12 key points for lifelong recovery (all scientifically backed up).

So grab a cup of coffee (or herbal tea) and lets get into this…

I suffered from disordered eating and bulimia for 10 years (from 1994 to 2004). Together with my husband, we pioneered an alternative approach to bulimia recovery. Since then we have helped thousands of sufferers worldwide.

The good thing about this approach is that it is action based. Meaning it is very practical and doable. You can start today and see the benefits within a week or two. Although everyone is different, following our method it can take around 6 months for your binge urges to fully disappear and a further 6 months for you to rebuild your confidence around food. Many of our members feel as though they are fully recovered around the 12-18 month mark.

Now before we go any further I do want to point out that this is in no way a “quick fix” solution, because unfortunately those just don’t exist. Believe me, I’d love nothing more than to snap my fingers and magically cure you of your bulimia, but we need to get real. Recovery is a journey and change happens gradually with plenty of ups and downs along the way. Recovery requires a sustained effort and a lot of perseverance, but ultimately it will lead you to a life you never even dreamed would be possible.

So with that said, let me share with you the 12 keys behind the Bulimia Help Method and how it works… (This is where we start to get into the science bit of recovery. It will help if you can set aside any preconceived ideas you may have about bulimia and recovery.)


Key 1: Research shows us that food restriction is the primary trigger for eating disorders (Thompson & Sherman, 1993).

Did you know that food restriction (which includes dieting) is the number 1 cause of bulimia nervosa?

In fact,

  • Severe dieters have already begun the process of developing an eating disorder (Patton, G. C., et al. 1999).
  • Girls who severely diet are 18 times more likely to develop an eating disorder within 6 months than those who do not diet (Patton, G. C., et al. 1999).
  • It doesn’t even have to be a severe diet – 2/3 of new eating disorder cases come from those who diet moderately (Patton, G. C., et al. 1999).
  • Dieting and starvation are believed to be a trigger which switches on the biology and changes in the brain associated with the development of eating disorders. (All Party Parliamentary Group on Body Image ”Reflections on Body Image”, 2012).

This leads us to the simple conclusion that food restriction or dieting precedes the vast majority of eating disorders. Put simply, dieting causes bulimia!


Key 2: Anyone can get bulimia irrespective of their mental state.

If you restrict your food intake then you are susceptible to becoming bulimic. Even if the healthiest, happiest person on the planet restricted their food intake, they would make themselves susceptible to becoming bulimic. Keep in mind, this has nothing to do with upbringing, personality or emotional state. This isn’t conjecture, this is a scientifically proven fact.

If you are malnourished, you will binge, this will happen to anyone. This has nothing to do with who you are as a person. You are not weak, broken or faulty because you cannot stop bingeing on food.


Key 3: Bingeing and then purging your food is a form of food restriction because it keeps you in a chronic malnourished (starvation) state.

This is important to keep in mind… bingeing and then purging your food is a form of food restriction in itself. I know you may feel like you are eating a lot of food with each binge, but if it’s followed by continual purging, either through fasting, excessive exercise, laxatives, or vomiting, there is a good chance that you’re still malnourished.

By purging you are not giving your body the chance to properly digest your food, this means that you are not getting the nutrition your body craves. Your body goes into starvation mode and your metabolism slows dramatically. This can sound crazy, considering bulimics tend to eat a lot of food, but it’s true.


Key 4: Research has shown that a restrictive diet (bingeing and purging on food is a form of restriction) can lead to every single symptom of bulimia.

ancelkeysIn 1944 a famous physiologist Ancel Keys conducted a semi-starvation experiment where 36 volunteers were starved for 24 weeks. This is still the leading study into semi-starvation and its effects. The results were remarkable and showed that many of the symptoms that might have been thought to be specific to anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are actually the results of starvation (Pirke & Ploog, 1987) and that the effects of starvation are incredibly similar to that of eating disorders (Polivy & Herman, 1976).

Let’s look at some of the side effects of a restrictive diet. (Do any of them look familiar?)

  • Extremely powerful urges to binge on food (so every cell in your body is screaming out for food)
  • Powerful cravings for energy-dense foods (ice cream and chocolate never looked so good)
  • An increased taste response to sugar (you can eat a LOT of sugar before you get sick of it)
  • An insatiable appetite (that’s why you never feel full)
  • Food obsession (including food dreams)
  • Cravings for stimulants (is that your 5th can of diet coke today?)
  • Depression (as though your soul is being leaked out of you)
  • Anxiety (including social anxiety, increased worry, paranoia)
  • OCD (including perfectionism).

Bear in mind that these are side effects of food restriction… NOT the side effects of bulimia.


Key 5: A restrictive diet (that includes bingeing and purging folks!) makes you miserable.

brainWhenever you restrict your food intake you suffer from a host of mental side effects too. Large-scale studies from reputable universities such as Harvard and Oxford have noted that people on diets can significantly deplete their serotonin levels within three weeks of dieting.

When your serotonin levels drop, so do your feelings of self-esteem and overall happiness. Over time this can lead to outbreaks of unpleasant psychological problems such as obsessive and compulsive behavior, depression, anxiety, cravings, general moodiness and poor motivation.

Simply put… food restriction can, and will, make you miserable.


Key 6: Your body is in “starvation mode” and it is doing everything it can to get out of it.

You might think it is strange that your body creates what seems like a huge “hunger monster” inside you that just wants to gorge on a ton of food.

Well, this is actually a basic and natural human survival mechanism. There is nothing wrong or weird about this type of hunger. In fact, it is healthy for your body’s survival mechanism to kick in when it detects that something is wrong. This is happening because your body thinks that you are in the middle of a famine (remember bingeing and purging has put your body into starvation mode) and it is doing everything it can to ensure you are eating enough food.

(Think of it this way, if we didn’t suffer from food obsession and binge cravings when we were malnourished, then it is very unlikely we would have survived as a species past the Stone Age.)


Key 7: Bulimia is mostly a physical/biological condition and not a mental one.

From the previous 7 keys (you did read them, right?) we can conclude that bulimia nervosa is mostly a physical/biological condition and not a mental one. This means it can be helpful for recovery to treat it like a physical condition rather than a mental one.

Science agrees. You may be surprised that studies show…

…no scientific evidence supports the idea that resolving underlying psychological problems leads to recovery (Walsh & Cameron, 2005).

This might help to explain why traditional treatments that focus only on the mental aspects of eating disorders aren’t super effective. If bulimia is mostly a physical condition, you cannot possibly “think yourself” better. Try “thinking” a broken leg better. It won’t get you very far.


Key 8: To escape from the “binge/purge cycle” you need to undo the damage that restriction and malnutrition has caused.

bulimiacycleTo recover, we need to remove the starvation state and you need to teach your body that the famine is over. To do this you need to provide your body with regular, balanced, adequate food. One of the best ways to do this is to follow a structured eating plan.

By doing this you can expect a DRAMATIC reduction in your binge urges.

Structured eating has many, many benefits and will help you to:

✓ Undo the damage of malnutrition.
✓ Stop restricting food.
✓ Feed your body the nutrition it needs.
✓ Rebalance your blood sugar levels.
✓ Kickstart your digestive system.
✓ Increase your metabolism.
✓ Normalize your hunger.
✓ Normalize your satiety.
✓ Dramatically reduce your urge to binge on food.
✓ Relearn normal eating habits.


Key 9: We’re not quite there yet.. your brain may still be conditioned to binge under certain conditions.

Bingeing on food (especially those with high sugar and fat combinations) causes a flood of “feel good” chemicals (including endorphins and serotonin) to surge through your brain. This can temporarily infuse you with a sense of numbness or euphoria. This chemical rush can provide a temporary relief from uncomfortable thoughts and feelings.

Over time your brain can become conditioned to crave binge eating as it is an easy way for you to (temporarily) change how you feel about an uncomfortable situation. This is similar to smokers who crave a cigarette when they feel stressed, or drinkers who crave alcohol to calm their nerves. They were not born with this desire, but over time their brain was conditioned to crave cigarettes or alcohol under certain conditions.

Eventually you may wonder how you could possibly cope with life without your binge fix to quiet the mind or to eliminate any uncomfortable feelings

In reality we have very little control over this type of brain conditioning. This craving comes from the unthinking part of your brain that reacts automatically based on instincts and habit, rather than logic and reason. We could try to argue against this binge urge with logic and reasoning but it wouldn’t be very effective.

To overcome these binge urges we need to undo the conditioning. We teach a powerful combination of distraction, delaying and acceptance to help you to undo this conditioning.


Key 10: As well as removing the binge urge we want to remove the urge to purge.

As well as removing the binge urges, we also want to remove the urge to purge. This urge is mostly created by the fear and anxiety of potential weight gain due to eating food. The good news is that purging is extremely ‘ineffective’ for weight management. It is possible to stop purging and not gain any weight.

You were not born with this fear of food, this is something you picked up over time. In the Bulimia Help Method we teach some powerful strategies to remove the fear induced by eating food.


Key 11: If you are not bingeing and purging… you are recovered.

Once we remove the urges to binge and purge you won’t binge and purge. If you aren’t bingeing and purging then you are no longer bulimic. And then you are recovered.


Key 12: Let’s make sure this is a LIFELONG recovery.

But that’s not all… some of you may have been struggling with weight/food issues for years prior to the onset of bulimia. Some of you may have never had a “normal” relationship with food. Perhaps you fear going back to your old eating habits, as you know they caused you the trouble in the first place.

To ensure your recovery is life long we teach you how to become an ‘Intuitive Eater’. In this advanced stage of recovery you will learn how to stop relying on calories, food plans and food rules to dictate how you should eat and instead you will rely on your intuition. Intuitive eating is an extremely powerful and simple way to eat food that will allow you to maintain a healthy weight for life without any pain, suffering, rules or plans. I consider this stage to be the secret key to lifelong recovery from bulimia.

So, in a nutshell….

To recover from your eating disorder you need to remove the starvation state, remove any residual brain conditioning and get back in touch with your hunger to become an intuitive eater.

So what does this mean for you?

Think back to when your bulimia began. Were you restricting your food intake? If the answer is yes, then perhaps it’s time to accept the fact that food restriction is responsible for trapping you into the “binge/purge cycle” of bulimia. To escape from the “binge/purge cycle” and to recover from bulimia you need to undo the damage that restriction and malnutrition has caused.

Chances are there was nothing “wrong” with you before you restricted your food intake. If you had never restricted your food intake, you would never have felt compelled to binge on food in the first place and you wouldn’t have developed bulimia.

Please take a moment to consider the fact that there is nothing wrong with you, that you are absolutely perfect and that you are just experiencing the natural and very normal side effects of a restrictive diet.

  • How does this make you feel?
  • How does this change your view of yourself?
  • Can you see how empowering this approach is?

I love this quote from one of our members Shanna…

“There is nothing WRONG with you! You are not broken, weak, disgusting, or crazy.  This is a problem – almost like a broken foot.  It needs to heal, but it doesn’t say anything about you as a human being. It feels like it does, but that is a LIE! It’s not your fault (this was huge for me).”

So, there you have it. The Bulimia Help Method in a nutshell!!

Ok, I know I have given you a lot of information here. Don’t worry if it all sounds a little unfamiliar at this point. I know some of these concepts can be hard to grasp at first (that’s why we wrote a book about it). I just wanted to give you a simple brief outline of what to expect.

Would I love for you to try the BHM?

OF COURSE! I believe in the BHM with all of my heart and soul and I’ve seen what it’s done for so many people since we started this website in 2007.

I sincerely believe it works better than anything else out there and the feedback from our members backs this up. If you are interested in getting started, you can purchase our book or  better yet…

I can personally coach you directly on the phone each week. I will be there, supporting you, guiding you, holding you accountable, every step of the way, ensuring your recovery success. Coaching is my life’s work, and there’s nothing more important to me than helping people like you overcome bulimia. To get started with private coaching please fill out the application form on this page. 

I hope you found this email helpful!

To your recovery,

Ali
Nutritional Therapist – Author – Recovery Coach
Bulimiahelp.org

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Islam and Eating Disorders founded in 2012 – run by Maha Khan, the blog creates awareness of Eating Disorders in the Muslim world, offers information and support for sufferers and their loved ones.

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