What does it
mean to listen to Your Body?
I can tell you that
listening your body can be quite tricky. The main reason is that we
have been fooled by the eating disorder’s rigid rules of:
restricting, over-exercising, the binging and purging cycle, and
binging/over-eating. We have lost our normal hunger cues and we no
longer trust our bodies to tell us when we are truly hungry or full.
In this time, of healing we have to relearn what our body tells us
when we need to eat when our body requires energy.
In this early process, we
may require an outside source to help us with this. This help can
come from a nutritionist writing out meal plans for us to follow. I
know when I was entrenched with the eating disorder, I had hunger
pains but I tried to over-ride them because I thought being thinner
was more important than the health aspect and it didn’t help that
Dong Quai, a herbal pill to alleviate menstrual cramps left me not
feeling hungry most of the time that I forgot to eat. During this
time, my therapist had to look over my food journal and tell me to
add more food to it. It scared me but the alternative of being
inpatient at the hospital frightened me more so I added more food to
my meal plan slowly.
When I used to
over-exercise and not listen to my body, I risked injuring it. I also
had the tendency to exercise after eating. This isn’t good for the
digestion process. The blood flow is restricted and areas such as
digestive system, muscles and bones can’t get adequate supply and
won’t be able to function. The challenge is not to exercise after
a big meal because the eating disorder thinks I should. I have to
distract myself with doing puzzles or reading my textbook during this
time, so I don’t give into the eating disorder’s wishes. I know
another thing is when I am doing things around the house, if there is
something that is either too heavy that I can’t pick up safely, I
have to ask Terry to do that.
We all need to rest our
bodies so the cells can repair themselves. There are times when the
eating disorder tries to tell us we can go on with no rest or sleep.
We can’t go without either. I have been known to take some naps
during the day to recharge my brain and body.
Another way we can listen
to our bodies is when we are hurting, is get some medical help for
when we are in pain. I had to do this a few weeks ago when my
stomach was hurting and nothing that I was doing at home was helping.
I really didn’t like the idea of going to the hospital but living
with the pain wasn’t an option either. I am glad that I went
because I have some answers for me. I now know that having coffee,
spicy foods, onions, and greasy foods could bring on a painful
attack. I now order sandwiches without onions. If it does have onions
in there, I can give them to Terry. Another thing I am learning limit
my acids; I need to take an easy on lemon juice. If I have lemonade I
have to limit to two cups. This new modified meal plan is a learning
process to me. I have to listen to my body and stop when I feel a
GERD attack coming on. I can also have my medication with me or take
it before I eat if I feel it may trigger a possible attack.
In closing, I would like
to say, listening to our bodies is a process. It may take sometime
before we learn or relearn our body’s cues. If we make mistakes
while learning, the important thing is to keep trying and learn from
our speed bumps. We are victorious because we have decided to listen
and honor our bodies even after being through eating disorders that
told us to treat our bodies badly to get to elusive goals that would
never be reached! I would like to say to the eating disorder, I am
not going to bully my body anymore and will listen to it and take
care of it as should be honored because this body is a beautiful
being!
