A Key Factor in Healing an Eating Disorder

For years I struggled with a pretty severe eating disorder. 

Let's be clear - the journey has been a ride that I don't regret becasue I learned countless important lessons.

But, after losing friends, distancing myself from intimacy, pushing away my family, spending ungodly amounts of money on food, and crafting my

life around a destructive daily behavior I decided it was time to muster up as much inner strength as I could possibly hold and start heading down the healing path. For real.

And I'd like to highlight the single most important factor that helped me move beyond my disordered eating: FOOD.

I grew up eating a standard american diet, so lot's of meat, dairy, processed food, refined sugar, etc. I believe that many women who become susceptible to eating disorders feel disconnected from this way of eating; this was definitely true for me.

And when I tried to eat more healthfully, but without an informed perspective, I quickly became obsessive and restrictive.

Then about six years into 'my journey' I was introduced to a plant-based diet. I, like many other women, found that eating plant-based food contributed immensely to my healing process.

The exploration of eating food that was alive and full of intelligence (instead of manufactured ingredients) made me feel - well, alive and more intelligent. I have more energy, more even-keeled moods, better digestion and a more clear mind.

For the past two years I've been teaching myself how to prepare raw food, learning about using spices and herbs as medicine, how to grow my own food, and have been letting go of the Stand American Diet bit by bit. I try to stick with at least 51% raw foods each day (because research says our bodies have to work in overdrive if our diets contain less than 51% raw food). 

I've found there's a very high incidence of eating disorder histories in the plant-based community of eaters - myself included. I think it goes to show that eating a plant-based diet helps people overcome their struggles, and redefine their relationships with food in a positive and productive way (I could go off on a long tangent here about why this is true, but I'll save that for another post).

The traditional attitudes within recovery circles say that any sort of strong selectivity about food (such as eliminating animal products from one’s diet) or overt emphasis on food’s significance is at odds with the recovery process. I totally disagree.

My goal here is explore the notion that eating a diet with a significant amount of raw, local, seasonal & organic foods may actually heal, rather than hurt, people with traumatic histories with food. 

When I started eating food from a nearby farm & found ways to prepare it raw, my consciousness shifted. I began syncing up to natures rhythms and my local environment. We (my local ecosystem and I) started looking out for each other. I would make the extra effort to use the ingredients it had to offer and in exchange it would protect my immune system, energize me + synergize me.