Clean Eating vs Islamic Eating and Eating Sugar in Eating Disorder Recovery
Eating Disorders are curable: An early intervention will improve the long-term prognosis– Get help Now!!
Dear Readers,
A reader in recovery from her Eating Disorder from UAE asked me a Question about Eating Sugar in recovery. She also asked me a Question on clean eating. When I was at the Eating Disorder Unit, we had to eat sugar (and this was in fruit juices and desserts) we also had to eat the foods which have the power to shock your senses and make your Eating Disorder weep. I was attending a workshop on Nutritional Approaches to the Management of Eating Disorders and Eating Distress in Richmond with the Institute of Optimum Nutrition (ION), where I found Answers to these Questions.
The Course was delivered by Jane Nodder:
Jane is a nutrition practitioner who works at the University of Westminster, London as Deputy Course Leader, Senior Clinic Tutor and Senior Lecturer for the BSc (Hons) Complementary Medicine, Nutritional Therapy, and Course Leader for the MSc Nutritional Therapy.
According to Jane Nodder if your suffering from an Eating Disorder, are in Recovery or have a. History of Eating Disorder than eliminating a food group from your diet is not recommended. This is because one Eating Disorder behaviour leads to another , cutting out one food group to cut calories will lead to cutting out another food group.
Clean Eating vs. Islamic Eating
What is Clean Eating?
According to Karin Kratina, PhD, RD, LD/N “fixation on righteous eating.” When Healthy Eating Becomes Unhealthy. This is termed as ‘Orthorexia’. Orthorexia is a term coined by Steven Bratman, MD to describe his own experience with food and eating. It is not an officially recognized disorder in the DSM-V, (the manual that is used to determine and define mental disorders) but is similar to other eating disorders. Experts say orthorexia becomes life-threatening when people’s food restrictions make it impossible for them to take in enough calories and nutrients to maintain good health.
According to Jennifer Culbert (SAR’09), a registered dietician at the Sargent Choice Nutrition Center, society’s growing interest in organic and healthy foods, has made some people fearful of ingredients like fat, sodium, and sugar—all of which are important, albeit in moderation, in a person’s diet.
When ‘pure’ eating goes too far, victims’ health suffers.
In Eating Disorder Recovery there is no Clean Eating, You eat a well-balanced meal to bring balance back to your body to repair serotonin pathways in your brain, reverse biochemical imbalances, anosognosia and the malnourishment. By adopting ‘clean eating’, ‘cutting out food groups’, you further prolong your chances of recovery. Your Eating Disorder brain, which is your subconscious brain is expecting these behaviours, that’s why some people after spending months on clean eating, restricted eating find that their mind is still in turmoil and they are still experiencing disordered thoughts. Some ask, ‘but I’m eating all that is pure, all that is healthy, why is my mind in such turmoil’? ‘why am I still experiencing dips in mood?’ Answer is simple: your still malnourished, your neurotransmitter serotonin pathways are still hugely depleted and finally along with your brain your body has also caught up with your disordered ways. Your body no longer trusts you, no longer trusts you to feed her and nourish her, a serious breach of trust has taken place here.
In Islam we don’t have a concept of cutting out food groups, clean eating or extreme diets (Unless advised by a practitioner on medical grounds).
With clean eating people cut whole groups of foods out of their diets. They cut out meat because they think that meat is bad, then they cut out dairy because they think it’s fattening, and then they move on to sugar and then anything that’s processed. Clean Eating leads to development of an Eating Disorder, it leads to malnourishment and ill-health. Anything that is injurious to your health or is out of balance is disliked in Islam.
Qur’an says: “O Messengers! Eat of the wholesome things and perform virtuous deeds”.
A wholesome, balanced diet is an important part of Islamic life. Analysis of various verses from the holy Qur’an clearly show that the foods spoken about in it, will fulfil one’s daily protein, carbohydrate, fat and vitamin requirements.
Qur’anic verses speak about the importance of balanced diet among other things:
| Meat (6;118) | |
| Dates 6;141) | |
| Milk (16;66) | |
| Olives (wat-Teen) | |
| Pomegranates (6;141) | |
| Figs (wat-Teen) | |
| Fish (16;14) | |
| Honey, etc. |
What we are eating now is very different from that of our recent ancestors and from the times of Prophet Muhammad (saaw). Food production and manufacturing techniques, coupled with changing lifestyles and increasing access to processed foods, mean that our intake of fresh, nutritious, local produce is much lower, but this by no means or imply that we go on one of those aesthetic diets or cut out food groups from our diet. We have to stay within balance, eat what is local, fresh and available.
In this area I fully support Jane Nodder’s argument, stick to Structured Eating and round the Clock Eating. Here you simply cannot trust this demon of Eating Disorder that is coaxing you to try one of these so-called clean diets, no fat diets and no sugar diets. This demon is not your friend, is not interested in your well-being or your health. So take Charge and do what professionals and practitioners in this field recommend:
Eat three regular meals and two good healthy protein carbohydrate based snacks in between throughout the day to maintain blood sugar levels. Missing meals, especially breakfast, leads to low blood sugar and this causes low mood, irritability and fatigue.
Feed The Body Free The Mind
Healthy recipes to boost your mind- Download recipes from Feeding Minds guide, including dishes by Anthony Worrall Thompson and other celebrities. Healthy Mind Recipes
Sugar
Sugar can be part of a healthy lifestyle but it should be eaten in moderation. Sugar deprivation is associated with an imbalance of dopamine and acetylcholine in the nucleus accumbens (the ‘reward centre’ of the brain). Sugar detox and No-Sugar Diets can really prolong the chances of recovery, and such behaviors and elimination practises simply make the demon of Eating Disorder very Happy. Also eating three well balanced meals and two snacks in between keep your sugar levels balanced and act as a detterent to Sugar Cravings.
Replacing Sugar with Artifical Sweetner?
Research suggests that artificial sweeteners do not activate the food reward pathways in the same fashion as natural sweeteners, for lack of caloric contribution tends to eliminate the post-ingestive component which acts independently of whether or not you’re ‘full’.
According to Shaye Boddington from Bulimia Recovery:
“Sugar is not the demon that it’s made out to be. Of course eating massive quantities of sugar is not healthy – but when a healthy person eats sugar in moderation, it’s completely okay.”
Enjoy sugar in moderation!
Recovery is about developing flexibility around what you eat – it’s about letting go of the rules. Life is far, FAR more fun that way 🙂 Love Shaye.
A Great Book On Sugar, it dispels many myths on eating sugar. Please download here: Mind Body Sugar.
Download Sugar Link Here
