Disordered Eating

So, thanks to a few friends' facebook status updates and fitness tweets, I learned that it is the official Eating Disorder awareness week. Eating disorders are a huge topic, and FAR more complex than many might think.  People throw around the terms "ano", "bulimic," "binger", but often don't realize that Eating disorders go WAY beyond the realm of anorexia and bulimia. Hiding food from friends and family for fear of being judged because you're off your "diet"...that's dysfunctional too. Eating a calorie-counted meal, then going to the gym for the sole purpose of burning off more calories to put you into deficit...that's dysfunctional too.  I could go on and on for days with examples. Be it starvation, vomiting, overeating, et cetera...disordered eating affects more people than we would like to think.  If I were to observe all of my closest friends and family, I'm sure I'd detect disordered patterns of varying levels of severity among nearly all of them.
I used to struggle with dysfunctional eating habits.  During my adolescent and early teen years,and throughout highschool, I always felt like I was the one who didn't weigh 95 pounds.  Unlike most girls my age, I couldn't sit down with 3 pieces of pizza and some twizzlers confidently, knowing it wouldn't stick onto my frame.  I developed a habit early on of eating well the whole day, getting salads or whole wheat turkey sandwiches in my school cafeteria, and then coming home to cabinets full of fun.  I grew VERY close to my honey nut cheerios. One bowl with some skim milk. yum. But wait, there's more milk left, gotta add some more cereal. Oh, poured too much, now I need some more milk. You see where I'm going with this?  I never ate my 3 or 4 bowls of cheerios in front of anyone.  Always by myself.  Looking back, I'm not sure if it was entirely intentional or not...but I'm sure it wasn't a coincidence that my cheerio parties were in solitude.  Then, skippy joined the party. Give me a big old spoon, some skippy, and some whole grain bread. Ohhh would I just love every bit of that. And every bit of the next 3 pieces of whole grain bread with more peanut butter. 
Foods like cheerios and peanut butter and edy's no sugar added ice cream became TRIGGER foods for me. One bite .. harmless. My problem was that I just couldn't stop. I would eat and eat until I nearly felt sick, and would hate myself (temporarily of course) afterward for not stopping with one portion. I would feel like I had ruined my entire day of healthy eating, and feel defeated. Might as well snack the night away, because I'd just start up again tomorrow. It became a vicious cycle, and I lived with those dysfunctional eating habits for YEARS, clearly in denial as to why I was not losing weight.  While I was blessed with an hourglass shape, and weight that tends to spread itself out evenly, I was never really happy with the way I looked. especially in dance class, where i spent 4 hours every afternoon. 
Fast forward to about a year ago when I realized that it's not about dieting. It's truly about living a healthy LIFESTYLE. "Cheating" with a protein bar was a first step. Now I don't go NEAR those just because I'd rather have an ounce of dark chocolate, or my amazing chocolate chia pudding. Every single day, I eat things that have direct benefits on the function of my cells and organs. 
In order to combat borderline eating disorders and 1 week diet failure, you need to make a commitment to yourself, to your body.  Think about how hard you work out, and how much your muscles do for you on a daily basis.  Don't they deserve to be rewarded with anti-oxidants from blueberries, and protein from egg whites, and fueled with unprocessed carbs like oat bran? Why would you put your liver into shock by feeding it TOXINS like high fructose corn syrup in lots of candy AND many FIBER ONE products (WTF!) Stimulate the burning of your fat tissue by eating the correct , healthy fats...as opposed to tempting your body to produce more fat cells with the trans fats in products containing partially hydrogenated oils (beware: if a product contains less than 1 g of trans fats per serving, the label can still red 0g. check the ingredients for partially hydrogenated soybean/cottonseed/safflower oils, because TRACE amounts STICK TOGETHER...on your lumps!!)
It starts with you. YOU have the choice to choose chobani greek yogurt with fresh berries over yoplait with fake added sugars and artificial ingredients.  YOU have the choice to buy 100% natural peanut butter instead of good-old skippy. YOU can drive PAST McDonald's and replace the burger and fries with home-made lean beef and a sweet potato. It's an entire lifestyle change that ANYONE has the ability to make. Start to CARE about how the FOOD you eat affects your body. DO NOT count calories and carbs if you're still going to eat pretzels, candy, and soda...it's useless. Maybe you're only eating 1500 calories a day. You need to understand that those calories should ALL be involved in making your body stronger and healthier on the inside and outside. 240 calories in a 20oz bottle of coke is going to raise your blood sugar, make you crave more sugar, and then all of it will just be converted to stubborn FAT tissue if not used immediately for energy. 240 calories from quinoa, veggies, and a lean protein like chicken, are going to STABILIZE your blood sugar, fuel your body, keep you full for longer, help your body to create new amino acid chains to comfort muscle tissue....see where i'm going here?
One more thing I have to say with regard to the topic of eating disorders, is that I DO NOT HAVE ONE. People who plan their meals, measure everything into tupperware simply exercise discipline and passion for keeping the body as clean and fit as possible. My nutrient timing is specifically organized so that my body burns off fat instead of muscle during my workouts, and is able to repair itself and replenish glycogen immediately after being torn apart during a workout. The way I (along with most people in the fitness industry) choose to eat and live is a choice. It's a choice, just like its YOUR choice to fill your fridge with veggies instead of jello and frozen pizzas. 


Help someone you know with problematic eating habits.
Share this blog with them. 
Means a lot to me .
Thank you for reading.
XOXO