This is Diet Culture

*I am not a dietician nor a nutritionist. I have no backing of these statements beyond my own experience and google education.

 

I want to talk about undereating.

Undereating? Is this bitch for real? I know, talking about undereating in a world focused on overeating seems unnatural. But is so important and not talked about enough, especially in a community of women geared towards poor relationships with food.

 

What do you mean a POOR relationship with food? I mean someone who overeats because of emotion. I mean someone who obsessively thinks about eating, or skips meals. Someone who yo-yo diets, calorie restricts or feels anxiety of any kind when thinking about eating/food in general.

Okay, so what is your history? For years I yo-yoed in weight, oscillating between calorie restricting diets and binge eating. Eventually I reached my heaviest weight ever because I used food to numb my emotions. Tired? Eat. Angry? Eat. Sad? Definitely eat. Happy? Celebrate with food. Bored? Eat all of the food. I grew up around people who had a disordered relationship with food, so it was one I came by honestly.

How or why did you realize you were undereating? I started a meal plan that put me at about 1200-1300 calories per day. At this time, I was working out little to none at all so I did not feel overly hungry and I was coming off of a diet where I had been gorging myself with food for months and months. It felt good to eat this amount, it allowed me time to detox what I had been putting my body through for so long and it also allowed me to develop cooking habits and portion control. When I started working out a lot more I began to notice I was hungry more often, but ignored it because I did not want to put weight back on, DUH! I would find myself going to bed hungry, waking up hungry. I found  myself obsessing over food, I wouldn’t be able to focus because all I wanted to do was think about when my next meal was. I had so much anxiety over food - not eating too much, making sure I hit my macros, planning my meals a week in advance so I could tweak as needed, meal prepping, eating out in restaurants. My bowel movements became very difficult and painful and were sometimes spaced out days at a time. My sex drive evaporated. My period disappeared (I also stopped taking my birth control for the first time in ten years, so I don’t attribute the lack of period to undereating)  

 

Why are you sharing this now? I’m sharing this now because I want this community to realize how easy it is to go from one extreme to another for some women. Or maybe it’s just me. I don’t want anyone to feel like a slave to their food, I don’t want anyone to feel tired or run down or end up hurting their body in the long term by not getting enough food. Food is nourishment. Carbs are energy. If you are only eating 1200 calories a day, do you really think you are squeezing in all of the macro and micronutrients that your body needs to be fully healthy? Probably not. Look into metabolic damage. Please realize that when your body is telling you it is HUNGRY and you choose to ignore it, you are not honoring your body. I have been seeing and hearing more women sayings things like, “I saved my calories for this meal” or “I skipped snack so I could eat this now” or “I didn’t work out today so I will have to eat less”. It’s worrying me and I just felt obligated to put this out there into the Universe, just in case someone needs it.

 

I ignored my body's natural cues for so long that I almost forgot how to listen. Over the past few months I have been intuitively eating so that I can remember what it means to be hungry, how it feels to be comfortably satiated and full, and how to listen and honor those triggers. I began to truly have a healthy relationship with food for the first time in my life. My research of a plant based and whole foods lifestyle is what finally, truly, opened my eyes to what I had been (literally) buying into, and how I could adopt a lifestyle, rather than a diet, that would not only make me my healthiest but also be something that I would be able to sustain for my entire life. Going vegan has healed me in more ways than one, and I would totally love to float you some literature or documentary suggestions if you are into reading more about it!

 

A more comprehensive list of symptoms that could be brought on from undereating:

Low energy

Insomnia

Mood swings

Brain fog or poor concentration

Depression or anxiety

Hair loss

Feeling cold

Loss of menstrual cycle

Infertility

Constipation

Low sex drive

Sugar (or other food) cravings

Undereating for an extended period of time has the potential to damage you physically and psychologically. Just be aware of the information that is out there, know you aren’t alone, know you can always evolve. Don’t be afraid of food. Don’t be scared to feel full. Listen to your body, it may need more or less food than someone else based on body type, height, activity level and just your own metabolism. You shouldn’t feel obligated to match your nutrition to someone else’s.

I go with love,

*if you have any questions about going vegan, tracking macros, foods for micronutrients, questions about your specific needs, etc. please feel free to reach out to me here, Instagram, or you can find my email address in the bio of my IG as well.