Unrestrict-ED

This week, Emily and Han answer the question ‘how do I deal with boredom in recovery?’

The key takeaways are:

- Remind yourself it is short term.

- Question whether irritation at boredom is associated with resistance to fully engaging in recovery.

- Find passive activities that are are accompanied by food.

- Allow yourself to enjoy it.

We hope you find this episode helpful!

In this episode, Emily & Han discuss the topic of honouring hunger when out at work, school, college or university.

The key takeaway points are:

- Make the most of occasions that you do have unrestricted access to food

- Be recovery-wise with snacks

- Communicate your needs to your managers / tutors to ensure appropriate permissions are made

- Pack snacks in Tupperware

- Ignore ED excuses

- Eat anyway

In this episode Han and Emily discuss how fear presents itself. Beyond physical signs of being in the sympathetic nervous system, there are a multitude of more subtle ways that fear can show up. In recovery, it’s incredibly important to have awareness of your own fear reactions to enable you to identify what you are most scared of, what you are avoiding and what therefore requires most direct action.

In this episode Emily & Han discuss some tips to help navigate clothes shopping in recovery. The main takeaways are: Go fuelled. Go supported. Go without expectations. Go well-resourced.

In this episode, Han and Emily discuss how cues to eat go far beyond a stomach rumble.

Some of the signs are:

- Mental hunger and food preoccupation

- Finishing every last crumb

- Hyperawareness of food in nearby environment

- Feeling threatened when large food shops are brought into the house (due to high potential to eat).

- Being drawn to environments with food

- Dragging out the eating experience

- Annoyance when disrupted

- Stress & overthinking

- Food hoarding.

It is really important to identify these for ones self, as they are often subtle and highly individualised.

In this episode, Emily & Han discuss the question: “I’m Eating 3000kcal But Still Tracking, Is This Ok?”. Emily and Han discuss the risk of overly specific calorie maximums, which limit the possibility for full nutritional rehabilitation with concurrent neural rewiring.

In this episode, Han goes solo, answering the question “I’m eating slightly more. What’s next?”

Han mainly discusses how to further provide evidence to your brain that you are in an area of food abundance, rather than one of food scarcity. Han speaks through 10 methods to show this abundance.

1. Genuinely reaching a point of fullness after eating

2. Stopping portion limitation via measuring, weighing etc

3. No retracting permission after a decision/action has been made

4. Applying the concept of ‘And not Or’

5. Avoiding slowing down eating

6. Carrying snacks everywhere

7. Ordering large options

8. Using large bowls, plates, full glasses

9. Finishing your plate. Always. Minimum.

10. Consistent, full and timely response to mental hunger.

In this episode, Han and Emily discuss night hunger. When you have been restricting, it is far from a ‘condition’ to worry about. In actuality, it is a simple cue for you to eat more without delay, so that it can reach a point of sensing food abundance. Han and Emily discuss their own experiences with night hunger through different times of their recovery, ultimately providing one key message: The only recovery-orientated solution here is to get up and eat to satiation - irrespective of all of the ED excuses that may arise.

In this episode, Han and Emily discuss the question ‘Why Am I So Obsessed With Chocolate Digestives?’.

The 3 key takeaway points are:

1) Your body is very, very smart. It knows what you need.

2) How it is perfectly normal to have food phases and highly intense cravings in recovery.

3) Identifying hidden restrictions may be key to alleviating food obsession.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

After a few months break, Emily & Han are back for series 2 of the Unrestrict-ED Podcast!

In this episode, they discuss navigating buffet-style eating.

The 5 key tips to takeaway are:

1) Upon arrival, sweep the area to identify true recovery orientated choices

2) Action abundance, directly confronting disordered rules

3) Practice buffet style eating beforehand, rather than waiting until the event itself

4) Arrive nourished, rather than low on energy

5) Focus on your own plate and own needs.