Overcoming An Eating Disorder

Hello,

Might as well get straight to it! I am a 29 year old male vegan from Devon, England and since the age of 10 (or so) i have been living mostly of bread based foods (with not the most healthy or varied fillings) and junk such as crisps and chocolate. It's something that has obviously left me in not great shape, i've always been pretty thin as a result of this diet and since going vegan in 2011 i've lost more weight and i am keen to beat this problem of mine once and for all! For not only health benefits but also social ones.

I feel like it is a mental health issue, i'm not worried about gaining weight but some part of my head must be a little messed up somewhere in the fact that the urge/want to try new foods, tastes and textures puts me off rather than excites. It would be easy to blame others for the fact it got this far but it is essentially my fault for getting stuck in routine i can't shake but it's time to grow up and confront the issue head on!

In the next few days i am hoping to enter the world of smoothies as way of starting the road to a better diet and i was wondering if anyone here has any simple, and i guess proven recipes for a vegan protein shake i can use to help put on a bit of weight as i slowly introduce new foods to my system and start the road to better health.

Thanks in advance for any support and help you can offer me :) Of course i'll any questions and stuff, no idea if what i've written makes a great deal of sense, i've only recently been speaking about the issue with friends, etc.

Hi Devon! That is a huge step to come forward and talk about your struggles with food! Good for you! Please do not be too hard on yourself though. It is not your fault. I have been battling with an eating disorder for many years and have done some refeeding as a vegan to gain weight. My eating disorder is a bit different than yours, but I can offer some ideas for healthy smoothies that can help put on weight without filling you up too much.

I love to chop bananas and put them in containers in the freezer for future smoothies. Frozen bananas make smoothies very creamy. I might add a tablespoon or two of chia seeds, maybe some leafy greens such as kale or collards or spinach, and another fruit or two. I like cantaloupe, berries, honeydew melon, peaches, or kiwi in smoothies. I do use a pea protein powder sometimes in mine too, or maybe a tablespoon or two of cocoa powder. You can even add some oats or cooked quinoa to it to make it richer and more calorific. Some favorite vegetables I like to add to smoothies are carrots (I have a high speed blender that blends them raw but if you have a low end blender you can cook the carrots first), beets, cucumbers, and tomatoes (I guess that is more of a fruit). Avocado is great too, especially with banana and cocoa powder. Sometimes I mix frozen banana, pumpkin, and molasses and some water or a plant milk for a nice smoothie. Dates can be used to sweeten your smoothie. I like to add mint leaves to mine. Flax meal is another ingredient you can add.

I hope this gives you some ideas to play around with. Smoothies are a great way to add calories without too much bulk and they can feel safe compared to other foods. They tend to be easier to digest also. I find that they give me a lot of energy in the mornings.

Best wishes to you! Perhaps, since it is a mental health issue, you might need to surround yourself with supportive people to help you overcome your struggles. It is very hard to overcome an eating disorder completely on your own. I just came from a mental health support group right now. It helps. Best of luck!

I forgot to mention that I work in medical records with various types of charts and I have come across people with eating disorders similar to yours a few times. Where they were down to only eating three or four foods and struggling with lack of desire and turned off by the tastes and textures of other foods. They were introduced to foods with similar textures to what they were already eating, very slowly and one at a time over the course of a week each. It seemed to be a slow process but one that worked for the patients because they were not overwhelmed or overloaded with sensory experiences.

So for instance, if you like bread products, you could try bread pudding, adding a little plant milk and maybe some pumpkin or squash or banana. If you like chocolate types of treats, you could try mixing it with a little peanut butter. Just a thought. I have no personal experience but working in the medical field I have run across this so thought I would share without getting into specifics due to confidentiality issues. Hope this helps!