How do you cope with eating ‘scary’ foods during recovery?
Know that your body needs food, that it is like medicine to make you better. Try hard not to focus on the content of the food, or the texture or taste, focus on the positive aspects of what you are eating such as the vitamins and nutrients that your body needs to survive. Keep reminding yourself that it is normal to eat at least three times a day, and in order to get your life back and put the pieces back together, to realise your dreams and live your life, eating is very necessary and must become a regular part of life.

How do you change the mindset that is telling you you are fat and worthless?
Take one day at a time, learn how to shift your focus away from those spiteful voices driving you to self destruction. Learn to counter each negative thought with a strong, positive thought. Although this is difficult to do at first and will take much persistence and perseverance, once you have been doing this for a little while, it gets easier and you will find that it doesn’t take as much effort as it did at first. This shift in focus will help to change your perception of yourself as well as your perception of the illness that you are slowly breaking away from and leaving behind you.

How do you learn to give yourself credit instead of wanting to punish yourself or hate yourself?
It is important to try to tell yourself positive things instead of negative things, in order to reinforce to yourself that you deserve to be happy and deserve to be loved. This goes back to countering negative thoughts with positive thoughts, and learning how to like yourself again. It is important that when you have done something worthy of praise to pat yourself on the back and enjoy the feeling of achievement and success when it is attached to something worthwhile and important to you.

When does the warped body image go away?
It is important during recovery to try not to look at yourself in the mirror, as this will lead to scrutinising your body and trying to find the weight you have gained. Although weight gain is a very necessary part of recovery, doing the ‘mirror thing’ can be harmful to your body image and detrimental to your recovery. It is also important to try to wean yourself off the scales for the same reason. The true indication of a healthy body is knowing that you are at the ideal weight set by your Doctor, and learning how to stay at that weight without losing any kilos. Eventually, when you have learnt to like yourself again, you will no longer look at yourself in the same way and therefore, you will have a healthier body image and be able to feel satisfied with the way you look.

How long does recovery take?
The recovery period can be a long and difficult process and in some cases can take three to five years. However, the period of recovery is different for everybody and depends largely on the severity of the eating disorder. From my own experience, after the first year it gets much easier and it is a matter of continuing the eating routine and monitoring yourself in terms of what you are feeling and thinking. You know yourself better than anyone, and therefore you are the best judge of whether you have truly recovered or are still harbouring frustrations about your weight. If this is the case, a regular daily session with your therapist will help put you back on the recovery path. It is just as important to deal with the mind issues driving the eating disorder as it is to stabilise the weight. The two go hand in hand, and unless the mind issues are properly addressed, recovery will be unlikely.

Do you just keep putting on weight because you have to eat all the time?
As hard as it is to believe, you do not keep putting on weight because you are eating regularly. Once at the ideal weight, the body will stabilises by itself, and will maintain this weight for as long as you continue to eat healthy food on a regular basis.

How does your life change after recovery?
After recovery, it is common to want to change your life so that it is different from the one you used to know. It is common to want to rid yourself of any reminders of your eating disorder or the person you were during that tumultuous time. People who have experienced eating disorders and recovered, know themselves very well. By channelling their energy into something positive, amazing things can happen because their desire to succeed is so strong. Usually you will find new and different challenges and begin to put yourself to the test and take risks. You will get to know your own limitations, and you will probably succeed in whatever you choose.

Is there anyone that can help you through recovery?
It is so important to have a good relationship with a therapist, someone that you trust implicitly that you can be honest with. You need to listen to them and take heed of their advice, for they can help you through this period in your life. They understand what you are going through better than anyone else, and have the ability to make sense of your thoughts and feelings. A trusting relationship with a therapist will definitely help you on your journey through the recovery period.

What do you eat once you have recovered?
During the recovery period, you are made to eat all foods including scary foods such as butter, bacon, cream and full fat products. Once recovered, it is a matter of eating foods of choice i.e. foods that you deem healthy that you enjoying eating. Of course, a healthy diet incorporating all five food groups is important, however, you will have the freedom to choose what you want to eat at any given time, and make your own decisions.

How do you know when you are recovered?
Usually, you know you are recovered when you have the ability to look back at the last few months and realise that you have been eating routinely without really thinking or worrying about it. It is at this stage that shifting focus and countering negative thoughts with positive thoughts has become like second nature, something you do automatically. As you are not aware of this at the time it is happening, this is why one day you look back and realise that everything is so much easier, and you feel better and happier than you have in a long time.

How do you know what you want to do with your life?
If you don’t know what you want to do with your life, and the prospect of recovery is frightening, it is important to remember that you do not have to know what you want to do to be happy and fulfilled. Once you have recovered from your eating disorder, you have the greatest opportunity to explore many different things and work out for yourself what you enjoy best. This will give you renewed challenges, and new and different experiences which will highlight the enjoyment factor. This is what makes life fun!

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