Friday, September 3, 2010
My Journey From Anorexia to the Candida Diet
I was introduced to a whole new reality when I was 13 and developed
Anorexia Nervosa and later Bulimia. Food became my addiction and means
of coping with family and everyday stresses a teenager feels. I was a
perfectionist, lost in a sea of emptiness. I felt a hole deep inside
myself, and I tried to console myself with the feeling of hunger and
control for many years. Throughout the years I worked with
psychologists, a psychiatrist, a nutritionist and in group therapy. Even
after all of this, I found myself unable to live a normal life.
Recovery is one of the hardest things I've ever had to face, and is
still a great obstacle I continue to face daily. Living with an eating
disorder for as long as I have, it made me start to consider the
possibility that I would never be free from its tight grasp. I had tried
to recover so many times without success, and every time was an epic
fail! I am a person that sees things in white and black, so there is
little room for in between. When I had decided it was time to try to
recover, instead of eating healthy, I binged thinking..."I can finally
eat now!" I wouldn't weigh myself for a week or maybe a few days
thinking...."I was told to gain weight, this is good for me....I can
handle this..."but then my eating disorder would creep back making me
crazy, and I had to know what I weighed. So I would weigh myself, only
to discover in horror the most awful number I could possibly
imagine....I had probably gained five pounds or so in a week from eating
so much. Then I would start the roller coaster all over again saying,
"I'm not allowed to eat hardly anything tomorrow!". Needless to say,
recovery didn't work too well for me, and I didn't trust anyone enough
to share what I was doing to myself, because I was ashamed. I could talk
about it as long as I was back on track and it was in the past, but I
was never good about talking about the problems at hand. Anorexia
controlled my life for nearly all of my teenage years.
About a year ago, when I was 19, I started to get more of a handle on my eating disorder. It was a struggle because all the years of starving had completely ruined my metabolism, so I had to stick to a low calorie diet just to maintain my weight. This was frustrating but allowed me to find some sort of balance. This was the first taste of normal eating I had had since I was very young. Although I worked out religiously almost everyday, and stuck to a strict calorie regimen, I was finding a plan that was actually manageable. During this time I did have my ups and downs with my eating, but they were much better than any other time since the start of my eating disorder.
I then stumbled upon a breakthrough called the CANDIDA DIET. I had never heard of candida or the candida diet, so I started researching it and discovered something very interesting. This diet is designed for people who have an overgrowth of yeast throughout their body (systemic), and thus are having many symptoms associated with it. It has a variety of different causes, but things such as long term antibiotic use (such as used for acne), birth control pills, toxins in food and air, and a sugar-rich diet are all contributing factors. There are numerous and diverse symptoms (feeling sick everywhere) associated with systemic yeast (leaky gut): abdominal gas and bloating, headaches, vaginitis, excessive fatigue, weight gain, mood swings, acne, low sex drive, difficulty concentrating, depression, cravings for sweets, diarrhea or constipation, itching, dizziness, athlete's foot, thrush, sensitivity to fragrances and chemicals and much more. Since I was experiencing many symptoms associated with candida, I made a command decision to change my life right then and there (black and white thinking) and went on the diet that day, as unprepared as ever. I would never recommend anyone else attempt this diet in this same fashion, I would suggest preparing for it and reading up on it first. After going on the diet, I was sick at first, because the diet is so restrictive, and I had been addicted to sugar, but after a couple weeks I started to notice a change, plus I lost a few pounds while eating more! I am happy to say that this is my 69th day of the diet....well, perhaps I shouldn't call it a diet, because for me it's more of a lifestyle change. I'm working to repair all the years of wear and tear I did from my eating disorders, and I'm happy to say I feel I'm finally on track!
About a year ago, when I was 19, I started to get more of a handle on my eating disorder. It was a struggle because all the years of starving had completely ruined my metabolism, so I had to stick to a low calorie diet just to maintain my weight. This was frustrating but allowed me to find some sort of balance. This was the first taste of normal eating I had had since I was very young. Although I worked out religiously almost everyday, and stuck to a strict calorie regimen, I was finding a plan that was actually manageable. During this time I did have my ups and downs with my eating, but they were much better than any other time since the start of my eating disorder.
I then stumbled upon a breakthrough called the CANDIDA DIET. I had never heard of candida or the candida diet, so I started researching it and discovered something very interesting. This diet is designed for people who have an overgrowth of yeast throughout their body (systemic), and thus are having many symptoms associated with it. It has a variety of different causes, but things such as long term antibiotic use (such as used for acne), birth control pills, toxins in food and air, and a sugar-rich diet are all contributing factors. There are numerous and diverse symptoms (feeling sick everywhere) associated with systemic yeast (leaky gut): abdominal gas and bloating, headaches, vaginitis, excessive fatigue, weight gain, mood swings, acne, low sex drive, difficulty concentrating, depression, cravings for sweets, diarrhea or constipation, itching, dizziness, athlete's foot, thrush, sensitivity to fragrances and chemicals and much more. Since I was experiencing many symptoms associated with candida, I made a command decision to change my life right then and there (black and white thinking) and went on the diet that day, as unprepared as ever. I would never recommend anyone else attempt this diet in this same fashion, I would suggest preparing for it and reading up on it first. After going on the diet, I was sick at first, because the diet is so restrictive, and I had been addicted to sugar, but after a couple weeks I started to notice a change, plus I lost a few pounds while eating more! I am happy to say that this is my 69th day of the diet....well, perhaps I shouldn't call it a diet, because for me it's more of a lifestyle change. I'm working to repair all the years of wear and tear I did from my eating disorders, and I'm happy to say I feel I'm finally on track!
No comments:
Post a Comment