Anyone else have an eating disorder because of fasting
TW for eating disorders
So I was in the EO church for about 10 years, from my early teens to early/mid 20s. My parents took the fasting rules WAY too seriously, especially for kids. This was the 90s so it was also the height of the ”no fat” craze. So in our house ANYTHING with oil/fat was not allowed during fasts. This included avocados and nuts, although that may have also been due to finances (we were poor). Anyway, on all fast days we only ate dinner (no breakfast or lunch), and that was completely nonfat and vegan. This was the case on Wednesdays and Fridays as well as lent, advent, all the random fasts, etc etc.
As I’m sure you can imagine this was TOUGH and my body and brain, and i developed ways to “cope” that I now understand are predictable when going through food insecurity. I developed a tendency to binge, even on “fasting” foods because I was so dang hungry. I also had “mood swings” that my family said were due to “low blood sugar” but turns out it’s hard to manage your emotions when you’re ravenous on top of being a teenager.
Unfortunately even when I left the church, the damage was done. Now I’m my 40s I still struggle to eat “normally” and alarm bells go off in my head if I think my food is being controlled in any way. I notice this a lot more when I’m stressed out.
Anyone else?