Eating disorders

liz545

Again, as a recovered anorexia sufferer, I want to echo people's words of support! It sounds like you're doing a great job anyway just being there for her.
How about adding things like nuts and seeds to stuff, they add lots of good nutrients and will be good for her hair/skin etc...
Cereal bars, or homemade oat bars are good too. Maybe add some berries to the cereal in the morning, just for the extra vitamins.
The pasta sauce idea is great, especially if it's homemade - the ones you can buy in jars are often quite high in sugar and can lead to feelings of nausea which are not helpful!
Have you contacted the national eating disorders association? They can be very helpful.
It's likely that she does know, realistically what's a healthy diet, but it's just about making the connection with it being healthy for her, and putting it into practice. It sounds like she's well on her way to that, so it'll just take time.

Steph
x

Chemgirl

I don't know if she likes spicy foods but you can make a big batch of veggy chilli and it freezes really well. There are probably lots of recipes out there but I use: 1 tin tomatoes
1 tin kidney beans (or any other beans you like, like butter beans, chickpeas)
1 tin sweetcorn
1 onion
1 pepper
1 carrot (any veg really)
garlic or garlic puree
chilli powder (put some in, taste, and add more if necessary)
1 cup rice (so didn't need to cook separately)
1 cup water ( I tend to add some then add more if necessary)
dry fry the onion and pepper (and garlic) with some water or use olive oil then add all the other ingredients and cook until rice is tender (30 mins at most)
This has loads of things that are good for you, it's balanced and has virtually no fat.
Good luck and I hope it all works out, I used to have a problem with bulimia (for 2 years) but now I'm totally fine, i can now have any food in the house and it doesn't stress me out, I don't binge and I can eat anything at all without feeling too guilty. It just takes time and alot of support. Carry on the good work.

Mirtos

Hi Jon. What about something like lentil soup? Lentils are high in protein, which she'll be low on if she doesn't eat meat/ or too much fish. You can bung lots of veggies in there too, and can make up a big batch at a time to freeze; Here's my recipe (i know i've posted this before, before I get told off! I just thought it was helpful here too!)
250 gr Lentils,
1 large roughly chopped onion,
1 large tomato (beefsteak) or 2 medium - roughly chopped,
1 clove garlic,
1 tblsp olive oil,
1 veg or chicken stock cube,
salt to taste
(sometimes I add a finely chopped chilli or squeeze of chilli puree if I fancy some spice, but it's just as good without)
Boil it all up in a pan until the lentils are mushy, and serve, with crusty bread if she fancies it

- I hope that helps.

CFC

Hi Jon,

I think you need to plan the eating around the things she likes. With three 'normal and healthy' meals a day on a menu board in the kitchen, she'll have some structure. You may also want to consider with her making sure that there's nothing around of the kind which may tempt her to binge - so there's stuff for meals each day, but no excess.

Places you might want to consider getting some help from:
Anorexia Bulimia Careline (Northern Ireland), 84 University Street, Belfast BT7 1HE, UK. Tel: +44 (0)2890 614440. Telephone help.

Eating Disorders Association, 103 Prince of Wales Road, Norwich NR1 1DW, UK. Adult Helpline: 0845 634 1414 (8.30am - 8.30pm Mon-Fri). Youth Helpline: 0845 634 7650 (4pm-6.30pm Mon-Fri). Email: info@edauk.com Website: https://www.edauk.com Provides telephone helplines, information sheets, leaflets and newsletters and runs a nation wide network of self help groups for people affected by eating disorders, in particular, anorexia and bulimia nervosa.

Headintheclouds_3

It's comforting to know that she is getting so much support to overcome her bulimia :T

Having suffered with it for about 5 years, the best advice I can offer is to ensure that you avoid having her 'trigger foods' (ie the food she is likely to binge on) in the house.

I also found that making small portions of homemade soup (small so as to prevent binging) suited me - recipe planning and cooking got me back into being comfortable around food, and soup is hearty and healthy and not too heavy on the stomach. Perhaps a light fish soup or one with some veggies of her choice.

But as previous posters have suggested - what's best is what suits her and allows her to eat without guilt.

Best of luck and keep us updated!

nabowla

I was going to recommend the Eating Disorder Association but CFC's beaten me to it! The EDA is absolutely fantastic at supporting the whole family, not just the sufferer, and should be able to give you plenty of advice about supporting your stepdaughter. Good luck.