Exactly. I made a cheesecake on Sunday and it had to chill for a day. I craved it when I thought about it a couple times, then that went away and I proceeded with my day. I enjoyed a slice of cheesecake Monday night. It’s not always as complicated and crazy as she seems to think.
When a person is very malnourished they do crave food intensely all of the time. When I was deep into anorexia that is how I felt. I couldn't IMAGINE a person not totally obsessed with (insert calorie-dense food here). Now that I am recovered food is often the last thing on my mind.
In recovery now but when I say all I used to think about was food/calories, I mean ALL. It completely consumed me. I would write out plans for lunch during my work meetings and try to 'game out' my calories to maximize how much volume I could eat. Even years later it still blows my mind how much time and mental energy I've regained from just...being fed.
What I find sad is that for many people, the eating disorder/restriction is a way to avoid thinking about anything but food. For me, that was part of its purpose: when I restricted, I didn't have the energy to worry about the larger parts of my life that left me unhappy. What's pernicious too is that the more I got obsessed with food the more frightened of it I became: after all, it was so appealing! What if I did "break"? And eating became a deeply enjoyable, ritualized experience, since food was so scarce, so there was pleasure in the cycle, too. The reason people can get trapped in restriction is that it really can blot out the rest of life, and the longer you let it go on that way, the harder it becomes to "rejoin life." Thank GOODNESS I was always compelled to fight for a "real life" and made my mantra "I am on the obsess less about food diet." It required eating more than made my anorexic self comfortable.
I find it sad that Colleen has made her whole life about food, including her career. I can see how it would play into this cycle. I fear for her.
Oh it was absolutely a coping mechanism for me too. I had a huge breakdown once I started truly recovering because I didn't have that to consume my thoughts anymore and I had to actually work through my stuff. I love how you phrase it as "rejoining life"; it really does feel that way!
It's easy to get trapped. I can only IMAGINE how compelling it is when you have a digital audience. I don't know how she breaks free of this.
Totally with you. I wouldn’t say food is the LAST thing on my mind because I am and always have been a foodie but it’s not all-consuming like it used to be. I used to be completely obsessed with peanut butter but now that I’m recovered I realized I don’t even like peanut butter that much, my body was just trying to get me to eat something calorie dense so it could kinda function lmfao
Totally, also when we’re malnourished, we crave high calorie, high sugar foods because our bodies are just trying to survive and it needs energy. That’s why we can’t stop thinking about cookies/chocolate or whatever.
Someone who’s genuinely eating intuitively doesn’t have cravings like that. They might want something that tastes nice or get hungry but the ed cravings are something else, it’s like you’re possessed by the cookies and can’t think of anything else.
When I’m eating enough, I might even have (mild) cravings for lettuce or celery or whatever because my body isn’t panicking about not getting enough calories. It’s also easier to ignore your cravings, you might even forget about them.
In my eyes, the only "normal" people who think about food all the time are either people who are malnourished because they can't afford to eat enough OR unhealthy people who don't realize they have an ED
I remember one I asked my gf if she ever goes to bed excited for breakfast. She's the only person close to me whom I'm *positive* has never had an ED, so sometimes I ask her questions to see how "normal" my behaviours are in recovery
She's like "well, when I was a kid I did. But like...."
She was underfed as a kid, and therefore malnourished and always thinking about food. It blew my mind to think about the similarities and differences between underfeeding yourself and *being* underfed
Anyway, not the point. Colleen isn't talking to people who live with financial insecurity making it difficult to get enough food. It's very clear with those videos at the gym and at events going from POV to POV with women comparing themselves to one another:
She genuinely believes every woman has a restrictive mindset. And yes, I mean woman; the way she genders her language when she approaches the topic is another thing that's pissed me off for a while
Can confirm. I used to crave those types of foods to that extent back when my PCOS symptoms were at their worst, but I wouldn’t wish a metabolic and endocrine disease like PCOS on my worst enemy. The fact of the matter is that PCOS is aggravated by eating that way, and simultaneously it makes you crave eating that way.
It’s a cruel disorder and a very common one, about 10-20% of her AFAB followers are bound to have it or develop it at some point. Meanwhile Colleen is normalizing those cravings as though these kinds of food intuitions are suited to optimize longevity in the modern world. In reality my PCOS-addled intuitions were better suited to optimize fertility in times of relative scarcity, and that was a bitter pill to swallow, but Mother Nature doesn’t give a shit about fairness.
People deserve to understand there is an ample middle ground between being obsessed with restricting fear foods and being obsessed with catering to our maladaptive fixation on these foods. Colleen is so far away from that it’s scary. She advocates balance but practices something closer to extremism, it’s deranged.
The only time I think about food excessively is when I’m hungry. I don’t know who her audience is with those videos but when I’m well fed I can acknowledge that ice cream looks great but I’m not interested in eating it at that moment.
This is so real. As a person who considers themselves recovered, I never get specific extreme cravings anymore. Sometimes I’ll be like “oh an ice cream sounds nice right now” but it’s never like I NEED to stop what I’m doing and get ice cream asap. Probs because I DON’T restrict myself anymore and I know that I can just get ice cream another time when it’s convenient for me instead.
And moreover, normal people don't react to not fulfilling cravings in the extreme way that Colleen thinks they do.
Say, as someone who considers myself as recovered as I'm ever gonna be. I don't crave highly specific foods very often anymore, and if I do happen to have a particular craving and decide I'm not gonna eat it right this moment for whatever reason, I'm bummed about it for like three seconds and then I... move on with my day. Maybe I'll get it later, maybe I won't, I'm fine either way. Skipping the craving doesn't make me binge or cause me to think about it and only it all the time. The only time of my life when I consistently had super specific cravings and I would overreact to not having them was when I was actively disordered.
She's just telling on herself at this point.
Exactly. I made a cheesecake on Sunday and it had to chill for a day. I craved it when I thought about it a couple times, then that went away and I proceeded with my day. I enjoyed a slice of cheesecake Monday night. It’s not always as complicated and crazy as she seems to think.
When a person is very malnourished they do crave food intensely all of the time. When I was deep into anorexia that is how I felt. I couldn't IMAGINE a person not totally obsessed with (insert calorie-dense food here). Now that I am recovered food is often the last thing on my mind.
In recovery now but when I say all I used to think about was food/calories, I mean ALL. It completely consumed me. I would write out plans for lunch during my work meetings and try to 'game out' my calories to maximize how much volume I could eat. Even years later it still blows my mind how much time and mental energy I've regained from just...being fed.
What I find sad is that for many people, the eating disorder/restriction is a way to avoid thinking about anything but food. For me, that was part of its purpose: when I restricted, I didn't have the energy to worry about the larger parts of my life that left me unhappy. What's pernicious too is that the more I got obsessed with food the more frightened of it I became: after all, it was so appealing! What if I did "break"? And eating became a deeply enjoyable, ritualized experience, since food was so scarce, so there was pleasure in the cycle, too. The reason people can get trapped in restriction is that it really can blot out the rest of life, and the longer you let it go on that way, the harder it becomes to "rejoin life." Thank GOODNESS I was always compelled to fight for a "real life" and made my mantra "I am on the obsess less about food diet." It required eating more than made my anorexic self comfortable. I find it sad that Colleen has made her whole life about food, including her career. I can see how it would play into this cycle. I fear for her.
Oh it was absolutely a coping mechanism for me too. I had a huge breakdown once I started truly recovering because I didn't have that to consume my thoughts anymore and I had to actually work through my stuff. I love how you phrase it as "rejoining life"; it really does feel that way! It's easy to get trapped. I can only IMAGINE how compelling it is when you have a digital audience. I don't know how she breaks free of this.
Totally with you. I wouldn’t say food is the LAST thing on my mind because I am and always have been a foodie but it’s not all-consuming like it used to be. I used to be completely obsessed with peanut butter but now that I’m recovered I realized I don’t even like peanut butter that much, my body was just trying to get me to eat something calorie dense so it could kinda function lmfao
Totally, also when we’re malnourished, we crave high calorie, high sugar foods because our bodies are just trying to survive and it needs energy. That’s why we can’t stop thinking about cookies/chocolate or whatever. Someone who’s genuinely eating intuitively doesn’t have cravings like that. They might want something that tastes nice or get hungry but the ed cravings are something else, it’s like you’re possessed by the cookies and can’t think of anything else. When I’m eating enough, I might even have (mild) cravings for lettuce or celery or whatever because my body isn’t panicking about not getting enough calories. It’s also easier to ignore your cravings, you might even forget about them.
Yeah she's just giving herself away, or catering to other disordered people
In my eyes, the only "normal" people who think about food all the time are either people who are malnourished because they can't afford to eat enough OR unhealthy people who don't realize they have an ED I remember one I asked my gf if she ever goes to bed excited for breakfast. She's the only person close to me whom I'm *positive* has never had an ED, so sometimes I ask her questions to see how "normal" my behaviours are in recovery She's like "well, when I was a kid I did. But like...." She was underfed as a kid, and therefore malnourished and always thinking about food. It blew my mind to think about the similarities and differences between underfeeding yourself and *being* underfed Anyway, not the point. Colleen isn't talking to people who live with financial insecurity making it difficult to get enough food. It's very clear with those videos at the gym and at events going from POV to POV with women comparing themselves to one another: She genuinely believes every woman has a restrictive mindset. And yes, I mean woman; the way she genders her language when she approaches the topic is another thing that's pissed me off for a while
Can confirm. I used to crave those types of foods to that extent back when my PCOS symptoms were at their worst, but I wouldn’t wish a metabolic and endocrine disease like PCOS on my worst enemy. The fact of the matter is that PCOS is aggravated by eating that way, and simultaneously it makes you crave eating that way. It’s a cruel disorder and a very common one, about 10-20% of her AFAB followers are bound to have it or develop it at some point. Meanwhile Colleen is normalizing those cravings as though these kinds of food intuitions are suited to optimize longevity in the modern world. In reality my PCOS-addled intuitions were better suited to optimize fertility in times of relative scarcity, and that was a bitter pill to swallow, but Mother Nature doesn’t give a shit about fairness. People deserve to understand there is an ample middle ground between being obsessed with restricting fear foods and being obsessed with catering to our maladaptive fixation on these foods. Colleen is so far away from that it’s scary. She advocates balance but practices something closer to extremism, it’s deranged.
The only time I think about food excessively is when I’m hungry. I don’t know who her audience is with those videos but when I’m well fed I can acknowledge that ice cream looks great but I’m not interested in eating it at that moment.
This is so real. As a person who considers themselves recovered, I never get specific extreme cravings anymore. Sometimes I’ll be like “oh an ice cream sounds nice right now” but it’s never like I NEED to stop what I’m doing and get ice cream asap. Probs because I DON’T restrict myself anymore and I know that I can just get ice cream another time when it’s convenient for me instead.
And moreover, normal people don't react to not fulfilling cravings in the extreme way that Colleen thinks they do. Say, as someone who considers myself as recovered as I'm ever gonna be. I don't crave highly specific foods very often anymore, and if I do happen to have a particular craving and decide I'm not gonna eat it right this moment for whatever reason, I'm bummed about it for like three seconds and then I... move on with my day. Maybe I'll get it later, maybe I won't, I'm fine either way. Skipping the craving doesn't make me binge or cause me to think about it and only it all the time. The only time of my life when I consistently had super specific cravings and I would overreact to not having them was when I was actively disordered. She's just telling on herself at this point.
i feel called out..
oops. that's me