...food stuff, sorta

[ysobel]

cw: food shame, food-health relationship, things like that

so one of the groups I'm in on ravelry has a handful of people that are doing Whole30, which is a crazy-ass diet where you eliminate shit-tones of things (because food is bad) for 30 days, and then add stuff back in as desired (but since your digestive system is all "reset" and everything, you can tell if you react to things that you add back in).

the sensible part of my brain is just saying "put the relevant thread on ignore, and forget about it". because I have a weird relationship with food anyway, and I don't need to be poking at my issues tyvm.

but the rest of me is going ... there are people in the group, in the sub-group of the forum, that have done W30 before and found it ~amazing~. better health, more energy, better sleep, less depression, more stamina, etc.

so obviously (according to the asshole part of my brain) I need to do this, and since I'm not, all my health problems are my fault. well, maybe not the FOP, but everything else -- depression, anxiety, fatigue, sleep issues, pain, etc -- could all be fixed with ~magic diet~ and it's 100% my fault that they aren't fixed.

never mind that I have problems getting myself to eat lunch as it is (sometimes I forget when my afternoon aide is around, sometimes I don't want to decide, sometimes I'm not hungry yet and so choose not to eat even though I know I will get hungry before dinner, whatever), which is why I let myself do frozen meals despite Zomg Sodium, and adding restrictions would make it hella harder. never mind that the only reason I eat breakfast regularly is that I have the same peanut-butter-on-toast every day that gets me through to lunchtime without getting hollow-stomached and hungry, and both peanut butter and bread are expressly forbidden. never mind that I have issues with being seen as a burden, and making dietary changes of this level would be a problem for my roommate and for my aides.

never mind all that, because ~other people got healthier~ and so everything is my fault because I'm too weak to give up things that taste good. or something.

...I just can't.

except that I keep going back to the thread, for the current W30 people and also looking through the earlier archived threads related to it.

halp?

Comments

[azurelunatic]

Thaaaaaaaaaaaaat's the sort of Terrible Food Wackiness that I feel like should only be recommended for people with Immense Bowel Sadness, ideally overseen by a doctor. (One of my friends else-IRC has had Terrible Things Happening Down There and is discovering that all sorts of delicious things will send her innards into Painful Woetimes, so she has been doing similar, with very close doctor oversight and all kinds of support from her partner. And the one thing it's sort of fixing is the specific Wacky Bowel Woe; she's still depressed, anxious, sleep schedule busted to hell and back with attendant fatigue, and a nice buffet of pain. There's something very wrong there that the Magic Diet isn't fixing.) So, like, it's great that this sub-group there has the sort of relationship with food that they're able to do this without fucking themselves in the head, and has the sort of food security that they can radically disrupt their food habits like that, but those are positions of such *incredible fucking privilege* and FUCK THE WRITERS OF THOSE RULES FOR PRETENDING THAT IT'S WILLPOWER ALONE THAT'S REQUIRED, FUCK THEM STRAIGHT IN THE EAR.

[ysobel]

Yeah, I get doing this sort of thing for bowel woe, but just as funtimes? Hell to the nope.

Also thank you for the last bit. Because yes.

[shoaling_souls]

While elimination diets can be good if you suspect you have food allergies, they really need to be done with the help of a doctor or dietitian who can make sure you're still eating balanced, can monitor you for reactions, can check you for vitamin/mineral deficiencies with blood tests. It works by cutting out a food for a while, seeing if you get better, reintroducing the food, seeing if you get worse, and going back and forth a few times to see if there's a noticeable difference.

Also, the list of things they list that you should cut out is kind of weird. For example they don't suggest cutting out eggs, though that's a much more common allergen than MSG. They don't suggest cutting out tomatoes, which are a natural source of MSG. They don't suggest cutting out tree nuts, which a lot of people react to. So they're not actually dividing it along lines of what the common allergies are; they're hitting some common allergies and some really rare ones (and those imperfectly) and it doesn't seem to be about allergies. They suggest cutting out pancakes, even if the pancakes are made of only bananas and eggs (two allowed ingredients) because the concept of pancakes is forbidden, not the ingredients, which is weird.

Any food is better than no food. Not eating breakfast will make the depression harder and will make it harder to think and harder to focus and you'll feel crappy too. Peanut butter and toast is working for you. Trying to find something else that works for you when there might not be an easy something else can lead to just skipping breakfast because it's too much work.

[ysobel]

♥

[rydra_wong]

My take, FWIW:

Mental health is health too. And restrictive diets (and this one is very restrictive) can really fuck with people's heads if you have any potential tendency to food/eating issues.

Even if dietary changes might theoretically benefit you physically, you are allowed to put your mental health first. Indeed, should, because if doesn't matter if you're in awesome shape physically if your mental health's fucked.

Also: eating is better than starving. It sounds like you are already doing the best you can with the spoons you've got, by finding food that you can manage to eat.

If you wanted to experiment with any dietary changes at all to see if they work for you -- and you really, really don't have to, and for many people it's safer not to even open that can of worms, this is an if you are interested and would find experimenting interesting/enjoyable -- it would probably be much safer to experiment with adding things (focusing on eating more of whatever, trying new foods, etc.) as opposed to restricting things.

Also, things that taste good and bring pleasure are important.

(Please excuse the italics abuse.)

[rydra_wong]

Also, do you know of The Fat Nutritionist? She is magnificent as an antidote to food-related insanity, and very good on managing food with limited spoons.

And, coincidentally, about to start this: http://www.fatnutritionist.com/index.php/upcoming-an-analysis-of-the-whole30/ (obviously might be triggery or helpful, use your own judgement)

[ysobel]

Yes, I follow her blog - she is fucking awesome. And I'll be interested to see what she has to say. (I don't think an analysis of that nature will be triggery; what gets me more is the group-think "this is so awesome it's the best thing ever everyone should do it" rah-rah that gets me doubting myself. Most of the time I am more or less at peace with a) having a wacky relationship with food such that making sure I eat takes precedence over making sure I eat the "right" stuff, and b) knowing that there is a significant chance that one of these days my jaw will lock up and I won't be *able* to eat, so I damn well am going to enjoy it while I can.

[sapphireblack]

What other people said - that kind of diet really should be done under supervision of doctor or dietician! I know things like that are recommended for some types of IBS, and I'm really hoping my doctor doesn't suggest I try any kind of elimination diet because I just couldn't handle it either. Always find it hard to eat when depressed, anxiety upsets my stomach, and I have a constant sense of mild nausea, so making myself eat at all is good. I know I have too many microwave meals and pizzas, but seems like least of my problems.

I'm sure various diets can help some people - also sure there's some placebo effect going on, where successfully sticking to something difficult makes you feel good about yourself purely because it's a challenge. But the couple of people I know who've done this kind of thing and then declared they were full of energy and health were both people who were already pretty energetic. Which doesn't mean it didn't give them more energy, but it's not like they went from depressed and fatigued to sudden health. And generally those systems take no account of things like access to whatever foods they do recommend, ability to make meals, and so on.

I have little faith that there's enough evidence the diets are really that certain to be life changing. Certainly not enough faith to give up eating what few foods do give me pleasure, like chocolate eclairs.

But the feelings still suck, so hugs to you, and remember you're awesome. :)

[ysobel]

I don't feel particularly awesome, but thank you ♥

And mmm, chocolate eclairs...