So fascinating about the weight loss and healing. I did not know that. When I was on a very strict anti-inflammatory diet I lost 3.5 stone over 6 months, the weight just dropped off. But as soon as my gut healed enough that it no longer hurt to eat, it was much harder to eat well. I haven't had gluten or caffeine in a year, alcohol consumption is incredibly rare but my sugar cravings are through the roof! Also my phone addiction has grown exponentially which is interesting in terms of swapping one habit for another. I definitely found myself eating more intuitively tho. I would feel drawn to buy certain foods like asparagus, mangoes or kiwi fruit and then read something which aligned what they are good for with specific symptoms I was experiencing. It was amazing!
Ahhh so that’ll by why it’s stated you can’t lose weight doing it the way that I did. You can, but it’s longer term gains vs going all in strict and the weight coming off quickly.
The biggest difference I’m noting is that taking my time - enjoying it - and letting go of any outcome was its biggest support in creating a sustainable way of eating.
That is incredible on the gluten and caffeine!
Sugar is so addictive. Reflecting back, I think it was the steady decline of cutting out one thing then another before moving on to the next thing that helped with cravings. Allowing myself to eat what I wanted when I wanted to satisfy cravings (& whatever is in excitably going on emotionally beneath those cravings).
Massive screen addict here! My screen time has just come out at 5hrs 46mins a day last week. This is low for me. I’ve given myself week long breaks this year (3 so far). And I have a 2 year plan to bring in week long breaks every month (to align with winter week of my menstrual cycle).
Love the intuitive eating! I did not know that about mangoes - I buy them sometimes too and love asparagus. Just bought 3 packs on offer at Lidl 😆
What I understand now but didn't at the time was that a lot of the weight loss was inflammation disappearing and was a positive thing. I think if I had known that at the time it would have made a big difference because what actually happened was that weight loss became stressful and worries arose as to whether it was due to something more serious - it wasn't! And so I could have enjoyed it more and relaxed more into my body if I'd known why it was happening so fast x
Oh wow, that’s a big insight! I remember that one coming through some months In where I realised all this emphasis we have on weight, the number of the scales, dress size, etc is actually inflammation in our body’s and we will benefit from switching our focus to that than telling ourselves we’re too fat - or like you say, worrying when rapid weight is coming off. Losing ten pounds overnight is a huge amount and it never occurred to me that the flip side is that this could be worrysome when we don’t understand the purpose of what’s happening.
Yes absolutely. Losing 10 pounds overnight is a huge amount, feels impossible almost. Such a wonder how our bodies work. It's funny recently I was with a friend who worries about her weight and I just thought it's inflammation and I could really sense that if she made some dietary changes she would shift it quickly. I never would have felt that before.
It’s tricky because we don’t understand what’s driving the inflammation, our addictions and the patterns of behaviours that we have to break or contend with as part of all these dietary/other changes.
I used to spend all day everyday thinking about food and what I was going to eat next -obsessing over it compulsively. I think my next part talks about this and exactly what my binge pre attack would consist of.
Handling it the way I have - which goes completely against the grain and what we’ve been told is/isn’t possible - really created the space for me to contend with all that (even though I wasn’t fully consciously aware of it at the time - I was letting my body lead).
Literally spending the last 6+ years going against the grain here from every angle, disproving all that we believe isn’t possible 😆; diet, hormones, healing, recovery. Pretty sure my work and findings are going to go down in history!
I've been caffeine free, and mostly alcohol free for a long time (very occasional glass of red wine) I use soya milk (but do have some dairy in food) my weakness is still chocolate, I've tried dark chocolate but it doesn't help with insomnia, too much caffeine. Have cut down on meat and increased veg. Have found magnesium spray helpful for muscle pain. I'm definitely supporting my body as much as I can and I hope for improvement but I'm definitely not beating myself up over lack of progress, ME is such a complicated whole body screw over, it can be beyond these changes. I think having control over some supportive changes is helpful but I also think it is so important that people don't feel it is their fault if they don't get better. Sometimes it is what it is whatever you do. I love your attitude Amber, and it is a good reminder to carry on putting my health first, and I really appreciate all your support too xxx
I already have a 6th part to this (not yet written). It’s turned into a subject I could go on and on and on about. And it’s important. So I’m psyching myself up to continue.
This “ME is such a complicated whole body screw over, it can be beyond these changes.” 💯 needs talking about so I will conclude this series with this.
You’ve helped me realise one other reason I have delayed writing on this topic….its been (in part) due to simply making dietary changes alone being far from ‘it’. Its a help. How much it helps varies. In what way it supports our health and over what timeframe is ambiguous. (Its def not a cure, fix all, one size fits all approach - I hope this is coming across in what I’m sharing)
How do we make the changes whilst trusting in the unknown? How do adopt approaches that support our health irrespective of the outcome? A couple of questions I will ponder.
I think it takes a long time to get aspects of all the pieces working. At one point I was great at supplements, at other points diet, when getting back to moving, I seem to abandon both. But the one thruway throughout that needs to keep building on top of itself is probably mindset. Thank you for this breakdown
Glad it helped give a little perspective. It really does take a long while. And the more pressure to get it right that we ease on ourselves, the longer lasting the changes will be. It is tricky nailing one thing then another falling by the wayside.
Food is more than medicine, food is (can be) pleasure too. In discovered in our long Melbourne lockdowns of 20/21 that cake is important to me. I don’t mean I eat it every day, but probably most weeks. But so are salads, fwiw. Just having enough energy to shop and prepare food is huge... as a dietician has told me, “fed is best”. I’m also unusual that carbs suit me. I have bircher or porridge (oatmeal) often. My only supplements are oral rehyrdration solution (for POTS) which has reduced my summer craving for crisps (chips) and vitamin D for deficiency. I barely drink (5 drinks per year on average) and coffee usually tastes like industrial waste since I had covid 1 year ago. I learned this past year that caffeine is not causing my lack of sleep but does contribute to an overstimulated mind. And also it really helps me focus and have concentrated energy when there is something I HAVE to do (or really WANT to do) in a day. Its all messy and complicated. Following our bodies is paramount, after we’ve learned to listen to them.
So much insight! I love that the supplements for POTS has reduced crisp cravings 😃 I might have the odd drink once every couple of months too. I never knew the point of anything less than getting legless, it’s a whole other world to me now😆
“Following our bodies is paramount, after we’ve learned to listen to them.” Absolutely 💯
Brené Brown’s work around ‘numbing’ and ‘taking the edge of’ widened my ideas about all this. Work, exercise, cleaning, ‘over functioning’ (getting in other people’s business), alcohol and other intoxicants, food... its not so much the thing itself, its how we use it to self-regulate ourselves to numbness. There’s chunks of my 20s and 30s I have little memory of because I was always working, including turning socialising and hobbies into work. I did have some great times, but my day to day is a vague blur. Despite the essential sameness of my days, they don’t feel as blank now because I experience them!
*mention of ED, feel free to delete this comment if it's triggering to some*
We can never emphasise enough the intuitive lifestyle. I second the suggestion of not taking everything all at once. Our body heals in slowness, gradually. I used to enjoy the extreme approach to anything such as a ketogenic diet and/or vegan. Needless to say, my body also responded by swinging to the other extreme end—autoimmunity illness. Fun fact, I'm of enneagram 1 and ESFJ—personalities prone to ED and black-white thinking by being a stickler to a rule, so it didn't take long for me to swap the binge-restrict carb habit into another restrictive eating pattern after I discovered anti-inflammatory lifestyle. This harsh inner critic is what makes me sick. I'm still practising moderation to recover from this orthorexia business. Not getting my period also sent me down the rabbit hole of girls going "all-in" to heal HA (hypothalamic amenorrhea). Which is stressful.
But I know I'm getting better. I try to enjoy what I eat. Thank you, Amber, for sharing your cycle-breaking experience.
I may feel tempted to turn one of your prompts into a full post as it has something in common with my coming schedule, as usual I'll tag you later.
Too many poignant messages in here to delete. Before I found myself disabled by illness I was a slimmers world dieter - loved it. But couldn’t maintain it so it was yo-yo style every year to get thin for summer. Everything changed when I prioritised my health above EVERYthing.
Glad to hear you are getting better and shifting focus onto enjoyment over control 😃🙏👌🏼
So fascinating about the weight loss and healing. I did not know that. When I was on a very strict anti-inflammatory diet I lost 3.5 stone over 6 months, the weight just dropped off. But as soon as my gut healed enough that it no longer hurt to eat, it was much harder to eat well. I haven't had gluten or caffeine in a year, alcohol consumption is incredibly rare but my sugar cravings are through the roof! Also my phone addiction has grown exponentially which is interesting in terms of swapping one habit for another. I definitely found myself eating more intuitively tho. I would feel drawn to buy certain foods like asparagus, mangoes or kiwi fruit and then read something which aligned what they are good for with specific symptoms I was experiencing. It was amazing!
Ahhh so that’ll by why it’s stated you can’t lose weight doing it the way that I did. You can, but it’s longer term gains vs going all in strict and the weight coming off quickly.
The biggest difference I’m noting is that taking my time - enjoying it - and letting go of any outcome was its biggest support in creating a sustainable way of eating.
That is incredible on the gluten and caffeine!
Sugar is so addictive. Reflecting back, I think it was the steady decline of cutting out one thing then another before moving on to the next thing that helped with cravings. Allowing myself to eat what I wanted when I wanted to satisfy cravings (& whatever is in excitably going on emotionally beneath those cravings).
Massive screen addict here! My screen time has just come out at 5hrs 46mins a day last week. This is low for me. I’ve given myself week long breaks this year (3 so far). And I have a 2 year plan to bring in week long breaks every month (to align with winter week of my menstrual cycle).
Love the intuitive eating! I did not know that about mangoes - I buy them sometimes too and love asparagus. Just bought 3 packs on offer at Lidl 😆
What I understand now but didn't at the time was that a lot of the weight loss was inflammation disappearing and was a positive thing. I think if I had known that at the time it would have made a big difference because what actually happened was that weight loss became stressful and worries arose as to whether it was due to something more serious - it wasn't! And so I could have enjoyed it more and relaxed more into my body if I'd known why it was happening so fast x
Oh wow, that’s a big insight! I remember that one coming through some months In where I realised all this emphasis we have on weight, the number of the scales, dress size, etc is actually inflammation in our body’s and we will benefit from switching our focus to that than telling ourselves we’re too fat - or like you say, worrying when rapid weight is coming off. Losing ten pounds overnight is a huge amount and it never occurred to me that the flip side is that this could be worrysome when we don’t understand the purpose of what’s happening.
Yes absolutely. Losing 10 pounds overnight is a huge amount, feels impossible almost. Such a wonder how our bodies work. It's funny recently I was with a friend who worries about her weight and I just thought it's inflammation and I could really sense that if she made some dietary changes she would shift it quickly. I never would have felt that before.
It’s tricky because we don’t understand what’s driving the inflammation, our addictions and the patterns of behaviours that we have to break or contend with as part of all these dietary/other changes.
I used to spend all day everyday thinking about food and what I was going to eat next -obsessing over it compulsively. I think my next part talks about this and exactly what my binge pre attack would consist of.
Handling it the way I have - which goes completely against the grain and what we’ve been told is/isn’t possible - really created the space for me to contend with all that (even though I wasn’t fully consciously aware of it at the time - I was letting my body lead).
Literally spending the last 6+ years going against the grain here from every angle, disproving all that we believe isn’t possible 😆; diet, hormones, healing, recovery. Pretty sure my work and findings are going to go down in history!
I've been caffeine free, and mostly alcohol free for a long time (very occasional glass of red wine) I use soya milk (but do have some dairy in food) my weakness is still chocolate, I've tried dark chocolate but it doesn't help with insomnia, too much caffeine. Have cut down on meat and increased veg. Have found magnesium spray helpful for muscle pain. I'm definitely supporting my body as much as I can and I hope for improvement but I'm definitely not beating myself up over lack of progress, ME is such a complicated whole body screw over, it can be beyond these changes. I think having control over some supportive changes is helpful but I also think it is so important that people don't feel it is their fault if they don't get better. Sometimes it is what it is whatever you do. I love your attitude Amber, and it is a good reminder to carry on putting my health first, and I really appreciate all your support too xxx
Love your insight and reflections 💙 thank you🙏🎃
I already have a 6th part to this (not yet written). It’s turned into a subject I could go on and on and on about. And it’s important. So I’m psyching myself up to continue.
This “ME is such a complicated whole body screw over, it can be beyond these changes.” 💯 needs talking about so I will conclude this series with this.
You’ve helped me realise one other reason I have delayed writing on this topic….its been (in part) due to simply making dietary changes alone being far from ‘it’. Its a help. How much it helps varies. In what way it supports our health and over what timeframe is ambiguous. (Its def not a cure, fix all, one size fits all approach - I hope this is coming across in what I’m sharing)
How do we make the changes whilst trusting in the unknown? How do adopt approaches that support our health irrespective of the outcome? A couple of questions I will ponder.
Thanks Amber, yes absolutely to all of this! I look forward to reading the 6th part! Xxx
I think it takes a long time to get aspects of all the pieces working. At one point I was great at supplements, at other points diet, when getting back to moving, I seem to abandon both. But the one thruway throughout that needs to keep building on top of itself is probably mindset. Thank you for this breakdown
Glad it helped give a little perspective. It really does take a long while. And the more pressure to get it right that we ease on ourselves, the longer lasting the changes will be. It is tricky nailing one thing then another falling by the wayside.
Food is more than medicine, food is (can be) pleasure too. In discovered in our long Melbourne lockdowns of 20/21 that cake is important to me. I don’t mean I eat it every day, but probably most weeks. But so are salads, fwiw. Just having enough energy to shop and prepare food is huge... as a dietician has told me, “fed is best”. I’m also unusual that carbs suit me. I have bircher or porridge (oatmeal) often. My only supplements are oral rehyrdration solution (for POTS) which has reduced my summer craving for crisps (chips) and vitamin D for deficiency. I barely drink (5 drinks per year on average) and coffee usually tastes like industrial waste since I had covid 1 year ago. I learned this past year that caffeine is not causing my lack of sleep but does contribute to an overstimulated mind. And also it really helps me focus and have concentrated energy when there is something I HAVE to do (or really WANT to do) in a day. Its all messy and complicated. Following our bodies is paramount, after we’ve learned to listen to them.
So much insight! I love that the supplements for POTS has reduced crisp cravings 😃 I might have the odd drink once every couple of months too. I never knew the point of anything less than getting legless, it’s a whole other world to me now😆
“Following our bodies is paramount, after we’ve learned to listen to them.” Absolutely 💯
Brené Brown’s work around ‘numbing’ and ‘taking the edge of’ widened my ideas about all this. Work, exercise, cleaning, ‘over functioning’ (getting in other people’s business), alcohol and other intoxicants, food... its not so much the thing itself, its how we use it to self-regulate ourselves to numbness. There’s chunks of my 20s and 30s I have little memory of because I was always working, including turning socialising and hobbies into work. I did have some great times, but my day to day is a vague blur. Despite the essential sameness of my days, they don’t feel as blank now because I experience them!
*mention of ED, feel free to delete this comment if it's triggering to some*
We can never emphasise enough the intuitive lifestyle. I second the suggestion of not taking everything all at once. Our body heals in slowness, gradually. I used to enjoy the extreme approach to anything such as a ketogenic diet and/or vegan. Needless to say, my body also responded by swinging to the other extreme end—autoimmunity illness. Fun fact, I'm of enneagram 1 and ESFJ—personalities prone to ED and black-white thinking by being a stickler to a rule, so it didn't take long for me to swap the binge-restrict carb habit into another restrictive eating pattern after I discovered anti-inflammatory lifestyle. This harsh inner critic is what makes me sick. I'm still practising moderation to recover from this orthorexia business. Not getting my period also sent me down the rabbit hole of girls going "all-in" to heal HA (hypothalamic amenorrhea). Which is stressful.
But I know I'm getting better. I try to enjoy what I eat. Thank you, Amber, for sharing your cycle-breaking experience.
I may feel tempted to turn one of your prompts into a full post as it has something in common with my coming schedule, as usual I'll tag you later.
Too many poignant messages in here to delete. Before I found myself disabled by illness I was a slimmers world dieter - loved it. But couldn’t maintain it so it was yo-yo style every year to get thin for summer. Everything changed when I prioritised my health above EVERYthing.
Glad to hear you are getting better and shifting focus onto enjoyment over control 😃🙏👌🏼