I don’t know about you, but I’ve often read and been told that eating disorders are all “in our heads” or psychological conditions that result from a heightened concern for having a perfect body, being thin or being in control. While I do believe this is true, I also wonder why other people who are highly concerned with weight and dieting don’t develop disordered eating, while a percentage of us do.
In my own experience, well in advance of developing bulimia, I had digestive issues, which made me feel a bit ill after eating. For this reason, I did not like to eat out at restaurants because I felt the worst after restaurant meals. I tended to stick to “safe” meals that allowed me to feel better after eating, which consisted mostly of bread-type foods.
I had other digestive ills like constipation and blood sugar issues. I’d have high and low moods throughout the day and after working with a nutritionist, learned to eat smaller meals throughout the day to balance my blood sugar. It may not be surprising to also learn that there was diabetes in grandparents on both my mother and father’s sides of the family. Since my whole family has issues with blood sugar, manifesting as irritability when hungry and in other behavioral ways, I became convinced that sugar sensitivity was an issue — even though diabetes is not present.
How is it that no doctor ever looked at my issues and symptoms within the context of a big picture? Why did no one ever ask me about anything other than one or two symptoms?
The Body As A System
I have studied systems theory in business and read a bit about systems theory in science. Quantum physics, which is being discussed as teaching us much about life, points to a need to see systems as wholes rather than merely dissecting them into their simplest components. I’ve been to many doctors over the years and I’ve been in therapy for bulimia — and each time, I’ve felt like a part of me has been cut off from the whole in my diagnosis.
I’ve been researching eating disorders and the causes for about 18 years now. I’ve seen all kinds of theories about how to help us heal — anti-depressants, a device attached to the vagus nerve (more on this in another post), therapy, gall bladder removal, etc. Except that each time I went to a doctor, I was treated like there was one answer to one issue, rather than looking at my body & mind (most didn’t even consider my spirit!) as a whole.
So if I am constipated, my doctor gives me fiber pills — never asking me how much water I drink, how much fiber I eat or anything else about my nutrition or lifestyle (they never worked, by the way). If I don’t have my period and I’m not really underweight, it must be that I need to take the pill to regulate it (I declined and my period regulated after a couple of months). If I am depressed, I must need an anti-depressant and if I have bulimia, I need to have psychological treatment.
Being naturally averse to pills all my life, I declined to take any, thankfully — because I have often heard that drugs can have as many adverse reactions as they do good reactions. At the same time, they tend to mask what is really going on in the body — so how do you heal unless you are also taking action to heal the whole body?
What I noticed was that each doctor diagnosed me according to their own specialty, rather than looking at my body & mind as a system. This is why I think it takes a team of doctors — or possibly doctors who understand the body as a system — in order to heal from an eating disorder. I will outline the team I put together so that you can see what finally helped me. Perhaps if I had this kind of help in high school, I could have alleviated my digestive issues and avoided my biggest trigger for an eating disorder in college.
***Keep in mind that this was MY experience and does not reflect on the many excellent medical and health professionals that are out there! I hope you have a better experience than I did!****
Finally, A Whole Body Solution
When I got serious about recovery, this is the team of professionals I sought out:
A Medical Intuitive - can “see inside” your body and do a bioelectric scan to see what physical, emotional or psychological issues exist for each individual. The medical intuitive I went to specialized in curing addictions and it was supposed to work even if the patient wasn’t completely bought into the process (I was skeptical, but willing to take a leap of faith).
- Not only did this give me a clean slate, it was also the first time I felt like someone looked at my whole body-mind-spirit system.
- She let me know what to get checked by doctors, told me what foods I was allergic to (couldn’t digest well & had sensitivities to) and gave me a list of foods and a nutritional plan to heal my body.
- She also told me what vitamins, minerals and supplements I was missing and pointed me to high quality sources for buying what I needed.
- She pointed me to things like yoga, pilates and t’ai chi that would be healing for my body, rather than the high impact workouts I did.
- She gave pointed me to other things that would be good for my spirit (specific essential oil scents, meditations, books, etc.)
An Ayurvedic MD - Ayurvedia is a 5,000 year-old Indian wellness practice. The idea is to focus on the person as a whole to create wellness. This doctor practiced medicine from both an Eastern & Western perspective — Eastern being more whole-person-wellness focused and Western being focused on acute illness. Both are important, but for some illnesses that are not acute & require repair of the body, Eastern practices can offer a lot of non-drug benefits.
- This doctor treated me as a whole person. His first question to me was “What is your big dream?”
- He treated me as an equal in my health care.
- He asked me to describe how things felt, so he could understand what type of pain & potential illness I had.
- He worked with me on my nutrition and helped alleviate the IBS symptoms I had (typical for those recovering from eating disorders).
- He taught me about stress management through mediation.
- He cared enough to know I needed a bone density test, when it was previously refused by another conventional doctor (because I’m too young). Thankfully I got the test, because I had osteopenia — and in just over 2 years with this Ayurvedic doctor, I have increased my bone density).
- He asked me about stresses in my life and we worked on a whole-health system of mind, body & spirit.
A Dentist Who Studied Alternative Methods - the first thing this dentist did was look at how I was standing and tell me my left leg was shorter than my right (later corrected by a chiropractor).
- He was the first dentist I had seen in over 10 years – I was scared, but thankfully my teeth were ok.
- He cared about me as a whole person and an equal.
- He could tell by my “bite” that I had IBS and digestive issues (he understands how posture, bite and alignment can contribute to health).
- He gave me a device that fixed my sleep apnea so that I could finally get a whole night’s sleep — for the first time in my life (sleep deprivation is part of what contributes to overeating — again, the body as a system…why did I binge? Obviously multiple & complex reasons).
A Chiropractor/Naturopath - he worked with me to fix my alignment and posture.
- He treated me as a whole person & an equal.
- He showed me how my posture contributed to pain in my neck & shoulders.
- He showed me exercises to fix my posture.
- He worked with me on the level of mind, body & spirit (some sessions were to balance spiritual issues).
- He pointed out where I may have organ weaknesses to be checked by a doctor.
An Environmental MD - she worked with me on the final stages of my digestive health related to bulimia (she knows all about the body’s need for vitamins & supplements, nutrition and how the body as a system heals).
- She treated my body & mind as a whole system.
- She had me keep a food diary for a week & list all vitamins & supplements I took before the exam.
- She took a full medical & symptom history — which included areas from all body systems (digestive, endocrine, physical, etc.).
- She asked about my environment (ventilation in home/office, damp basement, proximity to chemicals for cleaning or otherwise, etc.).
- She did blood, urine & stool tests (Great Smokies Labs) to find out how I was metabolizing vitamins & digesting – this was very enlightening.
Two Life Coaches
- One taught me to release my negative past conditioning & use my mind and spirit to create the life of my dreams.
- One worked with me on the psycho-spiritual issues I was facing & questioning as I recovered from bulimia. I still work with him today in order to continue with my recovery journey.
- Both were kind, caring, knowledgeable & intuitive.
Not All In My Head
Working on my body, mind and spirit (I also read a lot of books, joined spiritual discussions and did all the things you see in my free Actions for Recovery workbook — so it really was a body, mind & spirit journey to recovery!) — and getting help from these unique professionals made all the difference. The key is that I was treated as an equal in my healthcare and wellness. They took me seriously and worked on ME as a whole, not me as a brain, me as my colon, me as my teeth, etc. What I learned over these years is that there are many paths to wellness. I chose one that did not include drugs or operations. I chose the slow & steady rebuilding of my body, mind & spirit instead.
Before Drugs, Know This
Depression may come before or after bulimia — there are a lot of things about bulimia and depression that are related. The bingeing & purging can trigger depression due to MANY things. Here are some of them and you may want to try these first, before going the drug route (if it is appropriate for your situation and if you find the right doctors to help you).
B Vitamins
- Folate – low levees are associated with mood disorders, neurological problems and diseases associated with vitamin B-12 disorder.
- B-12 – activity depends on folate function. Low levels can interfere with chemical functions in the brain (e.g., serotonin requires B-12 and we often hear that bulimics lack appropriate levels of serotonin). Low B-12 can also contribute to depression. Depression can cause many of the electrolyte and hormone imbalances characteristic of bulimia — so bingeing & purging sets up a vicious cycle of mind & body war.
Essential Fatty Acids
Many people with eating disorders are on low fat diets don’t get enough healthy fats due to purging or have problems digesting fats. This can lead to depression as well.
Regarding Vitamins
Please don’t attempt getting vitamins on your own. I did the whole GNC thing for a couple of years until my doctor looked at each of them and told me the vitamins I was taking were low quality & I had the wrong combinations of things. Quality vitamins are a little expensive (try Your Prescription for Health for good prices — after getting help from a qualified professional), so knowing exactly what you need is important so you don’t waste your money. Also, they are less expensive than binge food!
Sugar Sensitivity
The biochemistry of sugar sensitivity is a bit complex, but involves 3 things: (1) blood sugar, (2) serotonin and (3) beta-endorphin.
Blood Sugar
The idea is that when you eat carbohydrates (sugars & starches), your blood sugar rises & the hormone insulin is released to create fuel from the sugar. In a sugar sensitive individual, blood sugar rises too quickly, too much insulin is released & the sugar is absorbed into the blood. (Hmmm, and some say diabetes in the family has nothing to do with it, huh????) This is different from hypoglycemia because the sugar sensitive individual may run out of energy even more quickly after the initial sugar high. This can set up a need for sugar throughout the day that causes highs and lows — resulting in stress on your body (not to mention your mind, as I experienced in high school!).
Serotonin
Sugar sensitive people have low leves of serotonin. Serotonin is the brain chemical that allows you to feel at peace. With low levels, you may find that you are irritable, have a short fuse, act out or feel like there’s a monster inside who is not you. Bulimics are known to have low levels of serotonin. Changes in diet can counteract this problem.
Beta-Endorphin
Beta-endorphin is a brain chemical that protects us from pain and allows you, for example, to keep running from an attacker even if your lungs hurt. Sugar sensitive individuals have low levels of beta-endorphin, which means that they feel pain more dramatically. This can include emotional pain as well, impacting confidence levels. Some are saying that low levels of beta-endorphin is linked to low self esteem.
Source: Is Your Child Sugar Sensitive?
And Much More
The nervous system and endocrine system are also involved in moods and health. Eating disorders impact these systems and can result in imbalances of all sorts. These can also serve to continue the vicious cycle. To heal, your health professionals must be able to help you repair your body, mind & spirit — in the context of a system. The whole system needs to be healed and it’s a step-by-step process. I not sure that there is any drug that doesn’t have side affects. Side affects of one drug could upset, mask or inhibit the repair of another of your body’s functions witching the whole system. A doctor who understands the body as a system (or team of doctors) may be able to help find a solution that works best for the whole system, even if drugs are part of your recovery.
So Where Am I Now?
Any of those pro-eating disorders sites that tell you taking vitamins will keep you healthy are on the wrong track. Stopping the viscious cycle is the only way to get healthy. I know this because while my medical intuitive got me on the right path with vitamins and healthy eating, I still had issues with my digestion — leading to not metabolizing fat or B-vitamins (my tests showed this)….Keeping me in the cycle of depression and relapse.
Since starting The Body Ecology Diet (BED), my digestion has improved dramatically. I no longer crave sugars, I eat normally and my digestive system is slowly returning to regularity & health. I will be getting tested again for metabolism of fats & B-vitamins and I’m expecting this to improve as well. I’ll let you know.
Trust Your Own Voice
The funny thing…after all the relapsing & having trouble in recovery — WHY — why does everything get better once my digestion is better? Why was my painful digestion triggering me to binge & purge? Is it all in my head?????? No, I honestly don’t think so. I think it’s the final piece of the whole system that needed to be healed. I’m not a doctor — but I have a degree called experience — and I’m learning to trust my own inner wisdom, while being guided by professionals. The trick is to find professionals who are willing to let you take ownership of your health & participate as an equal in the process.
Everyone heals in their own way. Some of us in blog world, like Michelle Hope and I, took alternative routes for recovery. Therapy and treatment centers were clearly not the right path for us. Others have been helped tremendously by these avenues. There is no right or wrong for the masses — there is only what works for YOU. As you work toward your recovery, keep in mind that you are a beautiful, individual and complex creation — made up of body, mind & spirit. The healing process that takes this whole picture into account, with you taking full ownership for the process, can go a long way in real recovery.
