Things People With Eating Disorders Wish You Knew
If this is part of your life story, please share your insights! What would you like the rest of us to learn? What should we know about people in this community? How would you like people to interact with you? Should people ask questions? What’s the best way for people to learn about this? Do you have any resources (books, movies, YT videos, etc) that will give us greater understanding and empathy and kindness toward people who experience the same things you do?
If you’re not on this journey, please share insights you’ve learned while interacting with those who are, whether family, friends, or anyone else. Share things you’ve read, and ask if they’re true. Share beliefs that you have, ask questions, and more! This is a safe space where you can learn about things you’ve never experienced. <3
Let’s have a gentle, fun, friendly conversation among friends! As a song in one of the Land Before Time movies says, “It takes all sorts to make a world!” <3
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I’m adding a taglist to start, but this post is open to absolutely everyone! <3
I don't know much about eating disorders but would like to learn more
@jesusredeemedme2425 ARFID here. Please don´t give us food, and if you do, have in mind that we will very likely not end up enjoying it. Also please don´t get annoyed at us when we say a restaurant has nothing on the menu for us because it genuinely doesn´t. And please don´t take us for restaurant dates/business lunches.
Question: Can we give you food if we know it’s on your approved list?
@jesusredeemedme2425 technically yes, but there is still a chance we may bleh it simply because changing recipe or momentary sensory aversions. So while yes you can give us food like that, you still need to be a bit prepared for us ending up not eating it
No no, I meant like @Amanda84 mostly liking nuggies lol. If we bought you nuggies from an approved restaurant, would that be ok? <3
@jesusredeemedme2425 9/10 times yes lol. That one time is a random sensory aversions because they are too cold, not crispy enough or were made in slightly burnt oil
Sigh. I’m getting you ten 10-piece nuggets and hoping you like one of them XD
@jesusredeemedme2425 lol. Amanda will surely appreciate 😁😁😁 I'm personally a 4-6 nuggets and done person 😁
@sadcat13
I do agree thoroughly 😂😂😂💚
@Amanda84 picky eater team unite 😁
I go to nicer restaurants and get… nuggies. Or the “basic safe foods” version of whatever they have lol. I am not adventurous, because, what if I don’t like it? I’m stuck with food I don’t like and I’m STILL hungry lol
@jesusredeemedme2425 yep. That's my problem too. I stick to foods I know are certainly safe and done. I only experiment when I am with someone who doesn't mind and they order something I can eat in case we need to swap (usually done with my dad or mom)
I want to try ALLLLLL the foods, but I don’t want to order a HUGE bowl of it and waste money on food I won’t finish. Just give me a sample. <3
@jesusredeemedme2425 awwww. I admire your openness
Snails actually taste good. Believe it or not. <3
@jesusredeemedme2425 I admire your bravery, I could never 😭 here is your brave person award ❤️
Lollll my mom’s friend bought them for us to share and they weren’t bad lol
@jesusredeemedme2425 well. I still couldn´t, so you are very adventurous
It doesn't go away. I've been dealing with this my whole life. Even in the periods of life where I've been eating healthy and look like I've gained more weight doesn't mean on the inside I'm not struggling with the feeling. It's so hard and I wish people realize that
@jesusredeemedme2425
For me, when i don't eat, it's usually when I'm stressed. So when people tell me "just eat a little" it doesn't help. I need to feel safe first.
I wanted to write one sentence to show how it can be like, but then this came out. So there ya go.
My poem about my Eating Disorder.
How do you recognize a cage
When you have convinced yourself
You built it to keep yourself safe
Drinking tea with the monster inside
he knows all the places i try to hide.
it's almost nice, actually,
having someone who knows you this well.
even if he's the reason you don't feel yourself.
First you learn to recognize him.
But he returns wearing something different.
And he disguises himself as ambition
Making it feel like a decision
Until you can't tell the difference
between his voice and your own intuition.
And slowly, you stop seeing him as strange,
his voice and your own begin to sound the same.
Until you start to question what you know to be true,
how much of yourself is him, and how much of you?
Sometimes I wonder how much of what I consider 'myself' is actually me,
and how much, is just something I've been taught to believe
by an illness that has spent so long pretending to be me.
This is deep and profound. Thank you <3
To please stop asking us if we ate already, asking why our portions are small/or big, saying things like; “that’s the only thing you’ll eat all day?”
Stop policing how and what we eat in random environments, stop it in general even for people without EDs.
It was really hard for me to have lunch with my work colleagues only to hear them comment on what I was eating and the amounts