‘You can’t live a full life on an empty stomach.’
When you’re in recovery from Anorexia, it’s likely, perhaps even inevitable, that you’re gonna experience extreme hunger at some point in your recovery. Extreme hunger refers to the feeling you get when it feels like you could eat literally everything in sight, and still nothing could satisfy your hunger.
The difficult thing about extreme hunger for people with Anorexia is that they don’t want to eat. They associate eating with losing control or getting fat or being weak or all of those things, so they avoid eating like the plague. This only makes their body demand food even more, thus making the extreme hunger even more extreme.
But here’s the thing you’ve got to remember. Eating doesn’t make you weak, it makes you human. Food won’t make you fat, it will keep you alive. You won’t lose control by picking up your fork, you will be gaining control back from your eating disorder. So, I know its hard, believe me, but try to ignore that voice in the back of your head telling you eating will make you weak and fat, it is lying to you. Your eating disorder, although it might feel like it is your best friend right now, doesn’t have your best interests at heart. It doesn’t want you well, it wants you dead. Don’t let it get its own way. I on the other hand, I want you well.
The best thing you could possibly do when you experience extreme hunger is eat. Nourish your body. Satisfy your cravings. You don’t need to punish yourself, for even criminals are given food, so why are you an exception? You’ve got to ask yourself this; if a baby was in obvious distress because they were so hungry, would you deny them food? The answer of course is no, you wouldn’t. Food is a basic human right that is necessary for survival, so what right does anyone, or anything, have to deprive you of it? They don’t have any right, and that includes your eating disorder. It has no right.
So, next time you feel your tummy rumbling, feed it. It’s telling you it wants food, so give yourself permission to eat. Don’t let your eating disorder convince you that you’re not hungry, or that you don’t deserve to eat, because it’s all nonsense. Pick up your fork and honour your hunger. Honour your body.
Take care of yourself.
Lisa
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