Life without Anorexia

My motto is






Thursday, April 27, 2017

Answering your comments - nutrition/food related

It has been FAR too long since i have replied to comments and i apologize for that, but i will try do these weekly posts when i can just answer in a post if i dont get around to answering in the comment section!!

If you go too long without food/between meals why do you loose that feeling of hunger? What causes the body to give out the signal that you don`t want to eat, when the truth of it is that you do and you need to? 
One of the bodies curiosities and I really wondered about this!

I am not fully sure about the answer to this question but i read an article before that it might have something to do with survival in the past. For example when you are so hungry it can be hard to concentrate on anything else, all you think about is food and wanting to eat... but in the past that might have inhibited them from actually finding food (??) so instead to function properly other hormones kick in and the hunger goes away so that you can actually do something else rather than just think about food and unable to do anything due to the hunger. Something like this, but im not fully sure.... But i think its also like with pain receptors in the body, when they get too strong they can almost shut off so you dont feel the pain anymore. Or for example say you hit your little toe and it really hurts but then you end up banging your elbow 5 minutes later, then suddenly your toe doesnt ache anymore and instead you just feel the pain from your elbow. Something like this... but if anyone knows the actual answer just comment below :)

Hi Izzy - have you any recommended recipes for making vegan burgers? I`d like to try making my own - if you make your own could you post how you do it or if theres a tried and tested recipe post the link?

There are lots of ways to make vegan burgers and you can use all different types of ingredients such as black bean burgers, sweet potatoe burgers, chickpea burgers, quinoa burgers, lentil burgers etc The important ingredients are the actual taste/main ingredients such as what type of bean or grain you want to use, then some form of flour, chiaseed egg/flaxseed egg/no egg replacement/corn flour as a binding agent, some form of milk or aquafaba. I never really follow recipes when i make food so its mostly trial and error so i dont have any recipes to share but you can just be creative and mix together ingredients.  But HERE is a link to 16 different veggie burger recipes .

This is such sound advice. When I was well, before my ED began my weight was more or less stable and what I ate reflected on how hungry I was at the time and what I fancied! Now though it feels that I have to re learn the whole eating thing over again. Will this have happened by the time I am weight restored or does it really start when you are off the meal plan and begin eating intuitively? At the moment my body hasn't a clue what it wants or needs and eating is somewhat "robotic"
When you are in recovery and when you have either been restricting, binging, purging or all of them then your hugner hormones are all over the place and cant really be trusted, so it is a relearning process. That is why a meal plan is recommended in recovery because you cant really trust your bodies signals not to mention portion sizes can be off. Eventually your body will adapt to your meal plan and you should start feeling hunger around your meal times as well as feeling full after your meal and that makes it easier to eventually start eating more intuitvely when you have regular meal times and start feeling hunger and fullness again, so then you can start to eat more freely and trust your body that somedays you might feel extra hungry and other times you feel less hunger - but it balances itself out. Just trying to listen to your body in recovery is not the best idea because your signals are all over the place, so give it time and you should be able to trust your body again.

What is the best way of getting more calcium into your diet? A calcium supplement or food? If its through diet, which foods are best for calcium?
Im not sure if you mean calcium through a vegan diet or through a mixed diet?

Calcium on a vegan diet comes from beans, green leafy vegetables,  almonds, tofu, fortified oat/soy milk,  soy products, edamamde etc However it is also important to have an adequate D vitamin status/intake, but also to eat enough calcium as its not absorbed as well as non vegan sources. 

And in a mixed diet you can get calcium through milk, cheese, yoghurt etc 
Image result for calcium vegan

I have been getting problems with my blood sugar levels and I was wondering what I am doing wrong with regards to my diet and what I can do to prevent the nasty "dips" that I have been getting. In between meals I have started feeling very headachey,nauseous and really quite unwell but I am reluctant to eat anything because its almost time for my next meal and I don`t want to ruin my appetite. I always find though that by the time I have eaten my meal I feel 100% better, all the symptoms disappear for a few hours. I don`t know what to do. I am drinking enough fluids and don`t tend to eat many sweet things so I`m guessing its not a "sugar crash" like you get after eating something like a chocolate bar. But I am so fed up with feeling like this as its having a huge impact on my daily life.
Any ideas?

I would suggest you eat when you feel that way... either you move your meal times so that you eat earlier (you might be going too long between meals) and you eat more meals throughout the day, or you add in a snack such as a handful of nuts, some rice cakes/sandwich, some fruit etc to get your energy up until it is your meal time. When you feel that dizzy, headachy dip it is most likely due to needing food, so eat!! Dont wait until your meal time... thats not how a healthy diet looks - you should eat when your hungry, not just when the clock says its time to eat.
It can also be due to caffeine if you are someone who drinks alot of caffeine? Then it can be a dip from that... but it does sound alot  like it is food related and that maybe you are a little too strict with your food intake?

Eat more frequently/add snacks or move your meal times earlier to avoid that dip!! Try it, see if it works :) 

Hi Izzy - when you make baked jacket potatoes can you re heat them and have them another day? I ask because I make baked potatoes in the oven and they take ages, so I was wondering if I could batch cook some and keep them for later? Also if this is possible how long do they keep for?
Thank you!

It depends what type of potatoe you cook... some potatoes work ok for reheating, but i generally find that potatoes dont work so well for reheating. .So when i make potatoes in the oven i make a whole batch and they last me 1-3 days and i just eat them cold usually. And even if potatoes might not have alot of bacteria such as meat does, i wouldnt reheat and then cool and reheat again just incase, haha. But like mentioned potatoes can last 1-3 days in the fridge, but somepotatoes dont work well being kept cool after being cooked they can turn a little floury and dry.

Do you eat sweets everyday ?
Not everyday :) Just when i feel like it... but usually i like having something sweet everyday whether its a square of dark chocolate, some oreos, some raisins or raw food bars etc :) 


  1. Hi Izzy - when you make your roasted chick peas do how do you do them? Do you use tinned or dried, and if using dried do you soak them first then put them in the oven or do you have to boil them first then put them in the oven to roast? I would really like to try these but I`m unclear how to do them.
    Many thanks!
    ps - its great to hear from you I know you are super busy so really appreciate you posting xxx

    1. I usually buy dry chickpeas which I soak 8-12+ hours and then cook until they're ready, then let them cool down before putting them on a baking paper, add oil, salt and whatever seasoning I'm using at the time and into the oven for c.a 15-25 minutes :)

    2. Thank so much for this - can`t wait to try them now, guess what I`m having for tea tomorrow!

  2. How about running another "random facts about me" post or a random fact collection about veganism??
    I love posts like this

    1. There's one coming soon haha. :) or random thoughts maybe!

  3. Hey I have a question please. I was wondering what you thought about the guideline percentages of different food groups on the general recommended intake thingy? Like is it important to make sure you get all the right amount of grams of different stuff?. I make sure that I get at least enough grams of protein, but I was wondering do other things matter as much say like amount of carbs or amount of fat or whatever. And just like as a nutritionist student how accurate and good do you think guideline intakes are?

  4. How is your new job going? Are you managing to fit it in ok around going to uni? I hope it is all working out for you!

  5. I know you said you weren't going to write so much about your day to day life and your new job - but I hope everything is going well for you and you are enjoying your work. I will say that you`ve got me intrigued as to what your job actually is!
    Hope you are having a good weekend - Is it May Day Bank holiday in Sweden too? Its a three day weekend here so its going to feel like two Sundays, which isn't a bad thing :) Means going back to work on Tuesday makes for a shorter week!
    Have fun if you are celebrating too :)