#I need more protein in my diet but other then that I'm fine

[sageofthestarz]

I thank my autism for giving me the "you can only eat these specific foods" as healthy food. I watch my roommate who's also autistic est Mac and cheese and ramen every day and I swear I would die and she agrees the other way around with my own safe foods

[megpricephotography]

It's so tough watching dogs get older... Flynn's had to start a new medication today & oh boy, I'm stressing out about it - hopefully unnecessarily! More under the cut - discussions of blood tests, urine samples, kidney issues, medication...

*UPDATE* 20th Dec also under the cut!!

Longtime followers may remember Flynnie only has 1 kidney. The other one was removed when he was 2.5 yrs old but it'd been effectively non-functional from when he was around 5 months old (due to an abscess forming in it). So for the vast majority of his life, Flynn's had 1 functioning kidney & it's worked like a champ! But. At 11.5 years old, age is perhaps catching up with him. Flynn's last blood test was done a couple of weeks ago & overall, his kidney function is, to use the vet's description: "great". However... for over a year now, we've been monitoring an issue with Flynn's urine. He has protein in his pee & that's not great - it means the fine structures in his kidney aren't filtering properly & as this issue continues, it will inevitably cause kidney damage. So, while Flynn does not currently have "chronic kidney disease"... it's a concern, particularly given at best his kidney function is 50% of a normal dog.

Unfortunately, Flynn's UPC level (the measurement of protein in urine) has risen recently. Not scarily high but vets feel drugs are now needed - especially as, although bloods were generally good, Flynn's blood albumin level (protein in the blood) was really quite low - indicating the loss in his urine is having an impact. He's already on a renal diet, so trying meds is the next step.

Anyway, the drugs are ACE-inhibitors - same stuff as humans take for high BP. The hope is they'll lower blood pressure in the kidney & that will help reduce protein loss. Sadly, meds won't fix the problem 100%, the aim is just to slow things down. I do think starting Flynn on the meds is for the best but I'm stressed because there's a small chance it could actually make things worse. Very occasionally dogs don't react well to ACE-inhibitors & the meds actually cause kidney damage. I'm going to monitor him closely & he'll be having bloods/urine rechecked in a couple of weeks but it's scary! Also... we've had to stop giving Flynn regular NSAIDs for his arthritis pain. He can take paracetamol (tylenol) but regularly combining ACE-inhibitors with NSAIDs increases risk of kidney damage. Once he's hopefully stable on the ACE-inhibitors, I'll ask about trying alternative painkillers - but I don't want to start him on multiple drugs at once. It's tough trying to juggle multiple different factors! I'm aware I'm more twitchy than I used to be about all this because in May 2023, Flynn had an appalling reaction to Librela (actually, that was when we picked up on the issue with his pee). Librela is a new-ish medication & usually a safe way to treat arthritic pain in dogs. It's given as a monthly injection. Flynn had 1 dose & unfortunately, it made him very sick. His bloods were checked a week prior & everything looked good - but within days of the injection, his kidney, liver & pancreas were struggling & he suffered kidney disease type symptoms. Luckily, everything - except the high protein in his urine - fully resolved within 2-3 months but the entire ordeal was awful & logical or not, I felt so guilty about it. I do not want to go through that again!

Anyway, if you've made it this far - thank you! I just needed to write my thoughts down really! For now all I can do is monitor Flynn until he has his next blood test, hope the ACE-inhibitors work well & help his kidney stay relatively healthy & that we can then also find a safe, effective way to keep him physically comfortable for a long time to come. It's just hard because there are no perfect solutions...

*THE UPDATE* Soo… Flynn's been on the new ACE-inhibitor for about 2.5 weeks now. He went in for a blood test on Tuesday & we also checked his urine this week. I got the results today (Dec 20th)… Good news is that his blood work is OK & his worryingly low blood protein level has risen. However… we started him on the new meds specifically to LOWER the amount of protein in his urine & unfortunately, his UPC level has actually gone UP!!! It's higher than ever… It's possible this is a blip, or the meds haven't had time to improve this issue but very occasionally, dogs react badly to it & it can actually reduce kidney function (& increase protein in urine) instead of helping. Anyway, physically, Flynn seems to feeling alright in himself, so that's something. He's actually coping very well off the NSAIDs - paracetamol/tylenol is keeping him comfortable enough. We've been told to carry on with the ACE-inhibitors for now & Flynn's got to go have his blood pressure checked on Dec 30th & I will request they check his pee again then. Guess if he's got worse, we may need to change the type of meds he takes at that point. I am just so stressed - really hoping things have improved by the time we go back to the vets!Gah!!! Pets… why do they get problems over the holidays?!! Think good thoughts for Flynnie!

[pinkboxess]

vent post that contains discussion of eating disorders

Sooooo I am spending time with my mom this week, and she is the type of woman with a long history of a broken relationship to food who then makes tons and tons of comments about her own eating.

Literally EVERY MEAL so far she says something about "needing to be good" or "what can [she] have that's okay for [her] diet" or "if [she] orders this [she's] being bad" or "[she] hasn't had a french fry in months and months!" or like, any other iteration of that type of comment you can imagine.

And it's so grating on me just to hear that language all the time. Even though it's not directed at me, it makes me feel shitty hearing it. And I've been eating a lot on this trip because we've been eating out and having treats as one does, and it makes it hard to do that without feeling so bad about myself just for eating bigger meals and feeling full and wanting to enjoy special food that I don't usually have.

(And then also every picture of me I hate because I just feel like I look big in all of them unless it's like a very specific angle)

Other than this issue I have been having a great vacation though!

Yummy foods I have eaten so far:

garlic naan with hummus and babybell cheese

protein pancakes

cheesy baked ziti and garlic bread!! (LOVED this)

scrambled eggs and more of the naan

a burger at In N Out which is very rare for me because i'm usually vegetarian but i'm with meat eaters so i decided to just not make a fuss about it and it was fine but i also am kinda like eeeuuuuggghhhh i ate animal meat that makes me feel icky

peanut butter m&m ice cream

cheese pizza with pineapple

But unfortunately as I said all of this was accompanied by mom's icky comments :(

[silvermaplealder]

Vampire Feed Requirements (informational)

I wanted to go into some depth about feed requirements for vampires in the same sort of strategy that I use for livestock. I wrote a whole funny kinda guide on fanfic .net , but since I don't like that site anymore I wanted to edit my original guide and put it here for you guys to see (also no one called me out on my mathematical mistake where I flipped two numbers rip). I'm also adding a section on using a replacer blood.. Please enjoy my terrible sarcasm and humor. You have no clue how many times I have to write little guides like this for people on Facebook who obtain animals and have no clue how to feed them.

Before I can get down to the numbers of how much blood a vampire would have to drink to survive, I need to state several assumptions:

Since lore does not cover this, I am assuming that fully fledged vampires require blood as their sole nutrient source and are unable to derive nutrients from other foods (though they can eat it and it makes them feel “full”, they will not be able to get their nutrients from it and thus eating it would further starve them). Half vampires seem to be able to digest food just fine, so they can consume and get nutrients from human foods. 

I don’t know the internal anatomy of the vampires, but I am assuming that they have 1 stomach. A human stomach can hold up to about 1 gallon of liquid at max. 1 gallon of blood = around 8 pounds. However, in the bonfire feeding scene the vampires were gorging on blood. It's unclear to tell how much blood they ingested verses just killing for fun.

 I am assuming after they are turned into a full vampire they have new enzymes and proteins that help them with getting the nutrients out of blood.

We are doing all calculations based on bodyweight. I’m going to be using 180ibs as the weight of our vampires, though I'm terrible at judging weight. You can adjust this number for whatever stories you may need to in the future.

The first thing we need to do to get an accurate understanding of how much a vampire should be eating is we need to figure out their weight. When dealing with potentially dangerous critters, it’s okay to estimate to get a general idea if you don’t have a safe management plan to contain and weigh them. Judging from a distance using David and his boys as a general guide, I will assume they weigh between 150ibs - 180ibs. Since they are most often seen feeding together, we can put them into a single feeding group assuming that each will eat their own fill. As a general note, remember that there is usually a pecking order for pack animals, so be aware that one may get more than another. If this is a prolonged issue, consider separating during feeding. 

Now that we have a general number for their weight of 180ibs, we need to figure out another crucial piece of information: what kind of diet are they in need of? There are several main types of diets such as: growing stock, maintenance, and production. Growing stock is for young critters that need the extra energy to grow. Maintenance is for critters that are fully grown and are not putting extra energy out in production. Production is for critters that are actively putting energy towards things such as reproducing, lactating, or other work. Our four vampires here would be considered needing a “maintenance” diet since they are fully grown, and they are not putting energy towards some sort of production (though if they are actively being worked, consider that they will need more calories to help perform these activities). Most maintenance diets need for the animal to have around 2.7% - 3.0% of their body weight in nutritional food per day. 

Seeing the four vampires in question are moderately active and don’t exert too much energy in hunting (looks like a majority of their food comes to them/does not put up very long fights), we will be using 2.7% of their body weight for intake per day. We can determine 2.7% of their body weight with simple math: 

180ibs x 2.7% =  4.86ibs 

Reminder: when multiplying percentages, remember to move your decimal point two spaces to the left! So when you input it into a calculator it should look like this: 

180ibs x .027 =  4.86ibs

Great! So we’ve found out that 2.7% of our 180ibs vampire  is 4.86ibs. But here’s the catch: you can’t just feed out 4.86ibs of blood to the vampires since they require 2.7% of their body weight in caloric intake. Blood is around 55% water, which has 0 calories. 45% of blood is nutrient dense for them to digest (all according to a thing I found on Google). So in reality, feeding a vampire 4.86ibs of blood only gives them 2.187ibs of actual digestible content. Time for some more math! We will need to set up two fractions and cross multiply to find the amount of blood required for the vampires. 

Our first fraction is as follows:

2.187ibs of digestible content

 -------------------------------------

4.86ibs of blood

The fraction above tells us that we currently are only getting 2.187ibs of digestible content out of the 4.86ibs of blood we’ve given them. We will need to set up another fraction to show the amount of digestible content we want to get and find the number of how much blood will that require. 

That fraction is as follows: 

4.86ibs of digestible content

-------------------------------------

X amount of blood

Now it’s time to cross multiply the fractions, but due to the formatting it will not look pleasant on here. If you don't know how to cross multiply, feel free to look it up.

Remember: multiply the 4.86 of blood to 4.86 of digestible content, and then multiply the 2.187 with X to look as follows:

23.62 = 2.187X

Now just isolate the X! Divide both sides by 2.187

10.8 = X

We have now found that each vampire (estimated weighing around 180ibs) will require 10.8 pounds of blood PER day. For 4 adult male vampires, that is 43.2 pounds of blood PER day!

As a little conversion, 1 pound of blood is just about 1 pint. So we’re looking at around 1.3 gallons of blood per vampire per day, or 5.2 gallons for the feeding group.

Now, you may be saying to yourself, "Geez, that's a lot of blood and I don't know how I'm going to get that much to feed them." The first thing I'm going to say to you is that you shouldn't have gotten a vampire in the first place if you cannot adequately feed them. However, there is a replacer you can use. Animal blood can work to feed a vampire, but it will require more energy for them to convert the digestible calories into usable energy. They will require more caloric intake because their bodies have to work harder to convert the blood to usable energy. I would add an extra 1.35% (which is half of the 2.7%) of their bodyweight. Using the same conversion we did earlier, that looks like:

180ibs x 1.35% = 2.43ibs

Which, remembering that only 45% of the 2.43ibs is digestible (1.09ibs), we need to do the same ratio that we created earlier to determine that we would need an extra 5.42ibs of blood on top of the 10.8ibs we calculated earlier. In total, for a 180ibs vampire to be drinking animal blood, they would need 16.22ibs of blood, or 2 gallons, per day.

Don’t forget about other requirements for the proper care of your vampires. Ensure that they have free choice minerals and consult your local vet to see what kinds of mineral deficiencies are in the blood of your feed. You may need to give periodic vitamin or mineral injections.

[strwbrrypoundcake]

I wanna rant about something ed related

All of those people who say "exercise so you are thin not skinny fat" first of all, those of us with a high sw are gonna have loose skin, it's unavoidable when you lose a large amount of weight in a short amount of time. So there's that. Also, skinny "fat" is still skinny, which would be a great improvement for me already. When you're "skinny fat", that's the time to tone and work on your muscle. It's incredibly difficult to weight lift when you're on such a restricted diet. The best thing to do is to focus on getting to your ugw, then slowly working your calories up to maintenance. Once you are consuming your maintenance calories, then start weightlifting to tone your muscles. Of course while losing weight you should be active because it just makes sense, even if it's only a little bit. And if you can lift weights while eating 600 cals a day and fasting for 3 days at a time go right ahead, more power to you. But no one should feel bad because they don't have the energy to weight lift. I know I don't. My exercise is walking and working with kids, which does me just fine when I can handle not binging. I find that extreme workouts make me hungrier, so I don't workout until I drop because it doesn't work for me. Yes we give advice on how to lose weight here, but it is not "one size fits all" as ironic as that is. Don't listen to people who tell you to push yourself beyond your limits. You don't need to lift weights or fast endlessly to lose weight. Calorie deficit and somewhat balanced eating habits will do you just fine.

If you want some advice on how to lose weight, increase your protein intake and reduce empty calories (fast food, white bread, sweets, etc. look up what foods have empty calories for more). Protein keeps you fuller longer and I'm a living example of that. Last night my mom bought me my favorite sugary cereal, and normally I'd have 1, 2 up to 3 large bowls. But instead I made myself a marshmallow protein shake for 160 calories. It both satisfied my need for something sweet and made me so full I couldn't comprehend the idea of having anything else. And for my stoners out there, stick to sativa/sativa dominant hybrids, it will reduce munchies (learned that from another Tumblr user). Never feel bad because you aren't starving the same as the little miss "perfects" who say if you binge you're not valid. Because EVERYONE has binged at some point, especially people with ednos/bulimia/BED. Those are all eating d1sorders. Fun fact, people with ADHD can be more predisposed to binging because food gives dopamine. So find what works for you and stick with it, always learn more about nutrition. Because when you reach your ugw, you shouldn't go lower even though it's hard. Slowly increase to maintenance and increase your activity as well. And for the love of all things unholy work through your trauma, emotional eating is real and without working through stuff it'll be harder to stop binging. This whole thing is trial and error.

Most of this stuff is extremely hard, I know, it's taken me 10 years to learn everything I know and actually put it to use. And I still struggle, but I will never say I'm perfect or put others down because they aren't doing this "right". I can share my knowledge and give safety tips, but I only know what works for me. As a bigger person with an ed who has been told I don't have an eating disorder I know how hard it is out here.

In conclusion, don't tell others how to starve, don't listen to those who try to dictate your eating d1sorder and be as safe as you can. Ultimately it is you who decides how you go about things, when you recover and how you live your life. No one else. I love all of you, without Tumblr I'd have no one to relate to.

Rant over, sorry it's so long. I was affected by people who said there was one way to do this, I felt like a failure for years and no one deserves to feel that way, it's hard enough having an ED, it's unnecessary to add on to people's stress

[mono-red-menace]

this is just like. my belief,

but like honestly also a bag of potato chips isn't going to kill you, but it is kinda a nutritional void. you're getting a few nutrients, yeah, you're getting fat (which your body needs) and carbs (which your body needs) and sodium (which your body needs), but you're just getting those.

you're not getting something that's filling, so if you don't monitor your intake you'll go over on those, which can have negative effects on your health.

but like the potato chips aren't going to kill you. they're a good source of energy. maybe not the most nutritionally dense one, but they give you salt which can help you retain water you drink, and they've got lots of fat and carbs which are a good source of energy. they're like energy bombs.

they're fine to eat. just not in excess.

some things are easier to eat in excess than others, though. these things tend to be things like potato chips or candy or other things which are void (or nearly void) of nutrients your body needs, and full of nutrients that you can easily get elsewhere, while also lacking things such as fibre which make you feel full.

now, it would probably be best to avoid having these snacks around if you're prone to overeating them, and instead keep other foods around, which you enjoy, which you can snack on, which fill the same purpose.

for example, if you snack on a lot of candies, having strawberries or grapes or blackberries around can be beneficial, because they provide you with sugar, alongside other nutrients (i honestly prefer strawberries for snacking because they're high in fibre too and can be pretty filling)

but like, just not eating when you're hungry isn't good for you for that, yk?

like for one it makes you feel bad, which can cause you to want to eat these foods that aren't good for you even more, and it becomes a willpower game, and you're not changing anything like that.

but also like. hunger is your body saying it needs something. certain nutrients, more energy, something, and denying it that isn't good for you.

so like. there isn't shame in what you eat. if you eat too much of a certain thing, and you want to stop because it's impacting your health, try to think of alternatives which can fill a similar role as your snacks, while providing things like fibre/protein, which can have a filling effect, and other nutrients, to ensure you're meeting your nutritional needs.

:)

DISCLAIMER: this post is made in opinion, and is based only on what was taught to me in my food science class in high school. i'm not a dietitian or a doctor or anything, my opinions are based on that of my food science teacher from over 10 years ago.

ADDITIONAL DISCLAIMER: dieting is bullshit and i'm not advising people do any of this to "lose weight" or anything like that. i am saying this as my opinion as to what encourages good mental and physical health, and i think weight is more often than not unrelated or at least indirectly to physical health.

[lalalimace]

I wish that I had just brushed my teeth. I don't want this inside of me. I want to be cleansed!!

I'm not sure what I want out of this endeavour. I certainly do not want to waste my life endlessly planning diet techniques and reading food labels-- what is my purpose? To be 'skinny'? Why? I'm 49-50kg... isn't that enough?

I think my problems come from 'emotional eating'. I've struggled with body image since forever and I think I value thinness disproportionally. And also eating; food has been abundant for me, I just don't feel its weight (pun intended) in the heat of the moment.

I am certain I will love myself more, or at least hate myself less, if I was the body I wanted to be. And what is that?:

bony hands (already quite bony, but i think there is still too much fat)

very slim torso with visible ribs (probably my biggest bodily insecurity)

slim legs and arms, but not too scrawny. You get the idea.

I have a feeling I would reach this at 40-45kg, more with muscle. This is still quite healthy for my height, so if i just ate 1600 cals a day, i would eventually get there and maintain it (i think). Which is achievable and healthy. IF i am in the right mental state.

Which I am not, because of my unhealthy relationship with food that incites me to eat in excess!! I just want to starve in peace. I feel good when I limit myself. I feel in control. I dont know why I eat if I just feel sh1tty doing so. If I had a better relationship with food, if I just understood that it is meant to serve me, to nourish me, I would be fine. I control what goes into my body, and what goes in must be nutrients, fibre, protein. Not empty sugar fat carb bs.

So I know what I need to know, I just ignore my knowledge to binge (how I hate that word!) because of some stupid other need(s) I am trying to fufill and I lose control and just disappear into a bags of crisps and melt into a bar of chocolate to feel like nothing and despair about it later as I corrode my gums in toothpaste and vow to starve the next day, knowing damn well it's just going to happen again. and again. and again.

[khizuo]

is it possible for me to be vegan when im so picky? i hate most all beans due to texture issues etc but i really wanna be vegan, im just worried I will hate most of the things and struggle to get enough calories

Hi anon! I'm really happy you want to make the choice to go vegan. While I personally never struggled with picky eating, I know that many vegans have, and it's totally possible to be vegan with food-related sensory issues.

Disclaimer: I am not a dietitian, I am just some vegan on the internet reading the opinions of other vegans on the internet. Please do not take any suggestions I make as some sort of vegan nutritional law and make sure to do your own research and, if you need further help, talk to a trusted medical professional (like a vegan dietitian).

Here are some suggestions that I've picked up from my personal research:

If you can identify any foods you like that are already vegan, make note of them and look out for them! Even if that list is tiny, it's a great starting point. Remember, vegan food isn't just vegetables — consider doing some research onto accidentally plant-based processed foods you can find in a store, too!

If there are foods that you like that aren't vegan, try making vegan substitutions for the animal-based ingredients. Some swaps are pretty easy to make—dairy butter for plant-based butter, for example. Some may be a little more difficult and require more experimentation. I can't promise you that every vegan substitution will always taste exactly the same as the non-vegan version, but, keeping that expectation in mind, I think they still may be able to help with the cravings for those foods, and lots of meat/cheese substitutions are pretty good. Also, the options and recipes out there for foods often conceived of as 'non-vegan' (i.e. burgers/cheese/creamy pastas/desserts) are endless. As with everything, take it slow and find what you like!

If cooking is a pain, try looking for convenient vegan foods. I'm personally a big fan of the vegan Nongshim ramen as a quick meal. Lots of store-bought breads are accidentally plant-based—add some nut butter for protein and that's a meal for me. If you're a soup person, look for for vegan ready-made soups.

Take supplements if you need them! Lots of vegans take a B12 supplement. Consider adding protein powder to some dish that you like if you don't like beans and you're worried about your protein intake. (Of course, please stay safe, do your due research, and talk to a doctor or dietitian if you can.)

Finally, this isn't really a tip, but I do want to say that not liking certain foods is something that's perfectly fine. You might try something and dislike it and that's okay. Vegans have no obligation to like every vegan food ever and diet culture can go to hell.

Above all, make the transition in a pace that is sustainable and healthy for you. It's much better for you and for the animals if you make a slow, sustained shift rather than trying to go vegan overnight and getting overwhelmed. Make gradual swaps, do your research, talk to a trusted medical professional, try to cook some vegan versions of your comfort meals, and of course, stay educated on animal liberation and anti-speciesism.

Below are some articles that I read that were helpful when researching this topic:

Here is a pretty straightforward article with tips on going vegan as a picky eater. Fair warning that parts of this article promote the anti-fat and ableist misconception of "vegan for weight loss/health", which is of course harmful diet culture stuff unrelated to veganism's literal stated intent. Fat vegans and disabled vegans are awesome and a vital part of the community. I really wish there was an article with this information out there that didn't promote these ideas, but I couldn't find one, so I will share this article with this heavy disclaimer. Take the good tips and leave the rest.

Here is an article by a vegan woman with ARFID about accommodations she's made to make eating more accessible for her. I know that ARFID is an eating disorder and not every instance of picky eating is ARFID, but I'm sharing this because I still think it was quite insightful and because I'd love to hear more from vegans with ARFID, as someone who doesn't have ARFID myself.

Also, not an article but I read a lot of stories from vegans on reddit who shared their experience going vegan as a picky eater. I'm sure there are also vegans on tumblr who also have food-related sensory issues, and if anyone who has wants to share their experience or add on to this post please feel free. As stated above, I personally did not really struggle with picky eating when going vegan so I'm very much open to receiving constructive criticism and other additions to this post.

[starstrike]

A few ways to maintain gut health from a tummy ache survivor: The gut and the brain are way more heavily connected than we thought. Having chronic deficiencies in your gut bacteria is highly co-morbid with adhd, and I believe it also is with autism. This causes tummy aches, unpleasant bowel movements, and other GI issues.

Probiotics = real, not a health scam. You want a variety of different bacteria. The more the better. My staples are fermented cabbage(sauerkraut and kimchi) and probiotic yogurt. Green tea also has trace amounts of probiotics. If I'm feeling indulgent, I'll splurge for some kombucha. Actual supplements are the best way to go, but they're kinda out of my price range atm. Basically go for fermented things!

You also want to make sure you're feeding your gut bacteria. If you aren't eating enough of a varied diet(fruits+veggies) your best little inner friends will start to die out. This means it's harder to get the nutrients you need. Thankfully, store-bought is fine!

I found a huuuuuge improvement in my chronic pain and energy levels after bacteriamaxxing. I strongly recommend bacteriamaxxing.

Also, you're(royal you) almost definitely not eating enough fruits and veggies. Get em in wherever you can! People joke about their nachos being "healthy" because of the salsa but like. Enough salsa is actually a serving of fruit! It isn't "cheating". Onions, shallots, and garlic are vegetables. Putting them in your eggs adds some vital vitamins.

Another thing is I recommend learning what different things(carbs, proteins, sugars) do for your body and preparing for the day with them. Example: eating a lot of sugar all at once can spike your blood sugar and make you feel low energy later in the day. Taking little sips of sugar(especially a natural sugar like in a fruit juice-- your hunter-gatherer body loves that shit) or sucking on a piece of candy while you work can improve focus. This goes doubly for folks with adhd-- you, biomechanically, have a sugar-starved brain. Give it little sips of sugar to run on. That tip comes from my therapist.

Searching for nutritious food tips online is a nightmare I don't care about losing weight I care about feeding my body what it needs to feel good!! RAHHH!!!!

[if-im-being-honest]

trying to eat a bit healthier

so recently I've started to try and improve my health I started by drinking more water and now I'm working on getting 60 minutes of physical activity everyday the next thing I want to do which I am a bit nervous about is improve my diet, I do not eat the healthiest food since recovering from disordered eating last year my meals have mainly been about making sure I am eating 3 meals a day plus a few snacks I haven't worried to much about what it is that I'm eating but I want to start eating food that actually has some degree of nutritional value obviously I'm going to need to be careful that I make these changes to my diet in a healthy safe way so I've decided to write down a few steps of what I want to do. I'm going off the NHS recommendations for what makes a good diet

-eating 5 portions of fruit and veg a day-I usually get around this number but I'd like to get at least 5 portions I think this is a good place to start because it's about adding to my eating habits rather than taking away I'm going to try and have two portions of fruit/veg in every meal

-base every meal on high fibre starchy food i usually do this at home but when I'm at sixth form I will sometimes just grab the most random stuff and be like yeah that looks like lunch so I think finding good stuff to eat at college would be a good plan

-have one dairy or dairy alternative food product every day-now I know i really need to have more dairy stuff because I literally have none I have this weird thing about never eating white foodstuff I don't really know why but I'm sure if I have a look I can find dairy/dairy alternative that works for me

-next protein again I probably don't get enough of this especially considering I want to try and build muscle so I'm also going to try find some sources of protein I like (I used a protein calculator thing that says I should aim for 50g of protein a day)

-next eating less fat sugar and salt I mostly eat food thats high in this stuff because I don't know what else to eat so I feel like once I start eating more of the nutritous stuff i'll probably be eating a reasonable amount of fat sugar and salt

-the other thing is processed food I eat so much processed food because its so much easier to just grab and go but I definitely feel the difference between eating super processed food and homemade stuff and I'd like to try reduce the amount of processed food I'm eating

Update: ok I was going to wait another week for the exercise habit to take but I was able to go food shopping with my mum today so I decided to grab some fruit and veg that I will definitely eat so today was my first day of eating 5 portions of fruit and veg

Another update: so I've tried eating dairy products and honestly it's just not going to happen I've read mixed opinions on the benefits of eating dairy so I think it's fine if I continue eating the occasional bit of cheese or tiny amounts of milk in my coffee but the drinking water, eating fruits and exercising and eating starch based meals have been coming along well I'm planning to spend this next week without any additional changes to make sure the current changes stick and then I'm going to start working on eating more protien Andy im also going to ask my gp if I can get tested for a b12 deficiency

Update 3: so I am going to get myself a protein shake at some point I'm trying to get one with 30g of protein but I don't have money to buy it right now so I'm going to see about getting some in January in the meantime I'm going to track how much protein I'm already eating and seeing how much more I'll need ok so I've had a look at my meals and I think adding a protein shake should definitely get me to my goal of 50g of protein a day

While I wait to have enough money for a protein shake I'm going to start trying to eat less saturated fats and sugar the main time that I am eating lots of fats and saturated sugars is when I'm snacking and through tracking my meals I've found that a lot of the time when in having these snacks I'm not hungry I'm just bored so I'm going to try and listen to my body and not eat just because I'm bored to reduce how much saturated fat and sugar I'm getting

[weighinonfriday]

I literally can't my cousin just made fun of me for being tall

I'm currently 171 and after i ate less than the portion she ate. She started saying that the house was shaking and she could hear my loud thumps from the protein i ate.

She literally thinks I'm this thing ⬇️

Need i say more?

I freaking hate that i build muscle so easily and the fat layer on top makes me look even bigger

I'm cutting protein out of my diet so my body can feed on the muscles. I just wanna be bones and skin. 🎀

Her saying that i was going to gain back four pounds after eating is horrible. And she's younger than me

How is it that a younger girl has more self control and can control her eating better than me?

I'm also lowkey upset with this girl in my class who keeps clinging to me and touching me everywhere. She can feel bulging lower belly and I'm so afraid she's going to smell the fat people smell on me. She wanted me to eat wingstop(one piece of chicken there is at least 100calories) but i managed to convince her to eat something else.(Thank god) But already she keeps asking me to go out and eat and we just sit there in silence. I don't even try that hard to distract them from my eating because her clinging is getting annoying so we just sit in silence. I avoided eating with her so many times already but this time i just couldn't. I'm going to use the cup method and find other ways to avoid eating with her from now on.

Her clinging is fine but i hate that it's interfering with my fasts and eating with her triggers me to binge. And i also hate that her coming close to me makes her feel more of my body that i try to hide.

Food log:

Breakfast:

Water(0 kcals)

Himalaya salt mint (9kcals)

Lunch:

1:30 Lontong 2 cubes(28.8kcals)

Cabbage 25 kcals

A few spoons of laksa soup(rounded up counted as 100g-134kcals)

Egg with yolk(56kcals)

1 piece of Fried tofu(35.4kcals)

5 pieces of Long beans(47 kcals)

Dinner:

7:00 braised chicken with potatoes(255kcals)

20g of rice(26kcals)

Total calories: 616.2kcals

But i rmb calculating 848 calories..

[meditating-dog-lover]

Health update

My skin is getting better. My face was red and itchy not too long ago but is getting better. My neck as well, I'm applying antibiotic and anti-fungal ointment on 3x a day. Like I said, strict dieting makes me susceptible to skin inflammation and infections. I understand where the infections and rashes came from, I just want them to go away.

My hands have a few inflamed spots. Again I'm not too upset about it given that I'm in a recovery process and I haven't been using any steroids. I used to use steroids weekly. If I need to use them every 2-3 weeks, that's also fine. The fact that I'm not using them weekly and my skin looks better than it did when I was using them weekly is a move in the right direction. So I'm not too hopeless.

The rashes and eczema should subside with the recovery process. The infections will go away with the ointments, but shouldn't come back as I recover.

Like I said I want to find a way where I can balance my diet and fasting without gaining my weight back. I don't want to experience anymore inflammation, but I worked hard to keep the weight off. So I want a balance between the 2. I quit fasting 3 weeks ago and have been eating well. Again I'm in a recovery process, but I've been eating well in the morning (a light snack of peanut butter and cheese/banana and seeds or nuts). So even on my fast days I'm having a high fat snack before noon which apparently doesn't break your fast.

I used to eat breakfast everyday last year. But there are days n my cycle where fasting would be a better option. Even then having a light snack in the morning (rather than breakfast) and not eating past 8 is a good plan to follow. Again, what I do/don't eat will depend on where I'm at in my cycle. I'll get the hang of it, but I'm not fasting 24/7 anymore. I know for this reason, quitting my fast won't ruin my weight progress. I'm just sick and tired of the inflammation and fatigue, but I am getting better.

I did a mineral scan today. While I do take supplements and eat an anti-inflammatory diet, I do have issues with absorbing nutrients. My doctor recommends I take a digestive enzyme with each meal. It's a good thing I asked because I've been thinking about enzymes and have spoken about it here. I know a lot of people benefit from them and doctors recommend them in general. A lot of people have issues with digesting things like protein and dairy. So they really can come in handy. I have the Codeage fermented enzymes. I think the serving size is 1, but I might push it to 2-3x a day. They say to definitely take it with a large meal, and my largest meal I think is my dinner. So taking one before dinner can help. I was recommended to take one before I take my first meal and multivitamin. The supplement also has probiotics, so I don't need a seperate probiotic supplement. I feel like enzymes are much more useful than probiotics. Again given that my scan showed deficiencies even though I do supplement and eat a lot of foods with certain nutrients I was low on goes to show I do have an absorption issue. Taking enzymes and making sure I'm not struggling with intestinal permeability helps.

One thing I like about that enzyme supplement is that it contains phytase, which helps break down phytic acid, which is a certain form of how phosphorus is stored in certain foods. Nuts, seeds, grains and other plant-based sources of phosphorus are stored in this way. Unfortunately, it makes it harder to absorb, unlike animal-based sources of phosphorus (cheese, yogurt, eggs, fish, chicken, red meat, and organ meat), which are not in phytic acid form. I'm not sure why but I'm not absorbing phosphorus. It could be for this reason or just the general fact that I have malabsorption as a whole. Taking a supplement with a complete enzyme profile can help regardless. I don't know much about the science behind phytic acid, I just know that dentists (the ones who are more nutrition focused beyond floss and fluoride) don't like it. I've heard that soaking foods with phytic acid is a good option, but that's too much effort and I'd much rather just take an enzyme.

I was told gluten causes intestinal permeability. Unfortunately I love bread so I don't want to quit that. I eat healthy sources of bread like oats and sprouted grains. I don't eat white processed bread unless I'm eating out/special occasion. I know that processed stuff is inflammatory. Like the enzymes, I'm going to continue drinking aloe juice to support my gut health. Enzymes for digestion, aloe for intestinal lining support.

I'll see how often to take the enzymes. Taking it before I take my supplements helps too, as well as my first and my largest meals. I'll figure a balance out. I hope aloe will help with my intestinal health as well. Again I don't want to cut out gluten because cutting out foods will just lead to more food fear and anxiety.

I also want to prevent reinfection, so I'll do an h pylori breath test every year as part of my annual physical. I want to make sure I don't experience downstream infections as well like staph and strep (really it's the h pylori and low stomach acid that causes it because low stomach acid levels = no sterilization process = gut infections). I will continue to chew slowly and drink aloe juice, as well as add in the enzyme 2-3 times a day. I'll figure out how to take the enzyme because it's a new thing I recently implemented. Then I'll worry about HCl and reinfection (stomach and intestinal). I feel like enzymes combined with the aloe juice, supplements, and anti-inflammatory diet can really help.

I'm confident I will heal. I don't mind not being perfect health, I just don't want to feel sick, hopeless and like I'm declining and don't have any support.

[snowmuttgetsweird]

8/9/24, morning

Roommate comes home today I'm so relieeeeeved

It's boring and lonely without him. Just feels like a massive bleak void in my life when he's not here. I'm bored he's not here, I'm lonely, I'm anxious I can't see him, and I get stir-crazy and lost and don't really know how to conduct myself. I would just be standing around thinking about what I should do and then end up doing push-ups or something just to work out some nervous energy.

In the meantime I picked up a handful of groceries yesterday to make sure I can make a nice brunch for him when he arrives, including a couple 5lb bags of rice. I washed out an empty 30lb bucket of cat litter cause it already has a lid and a handle and it seems to work just fine as a rice bucket- not for food storage but as a workout device.

Gave it a shot- get very much covered in rice starch, and the workout is definitely exhausting. Theoretically, it helps strengthen all the micro muscles in your forearms to help protect you from carpal tunnel, tennis elbow, etc; really good for keyboard warriors, artists, heavy lifters- pretty much anyone that uses their hands and fingers for a lot of strenuous or continuous activity. If nothing else, it sure does a hell of a job exfoliating my hands lol. Maybe this will finally fix my fucked up cuticles. Prolly gonna start wearing a mask while using the bucket though- I dunno how much dust it kicks up but I'd hate to develop a rice allergy this way.

Pretty disappointed I couldn't pick up that Gallantmon stuff the other day, but really I should have tempered my expectations more. I'm not as hung up on it now- I'll get it eventually, I just hate waiting for it to happen.

Dunno if I mentioned already, but I started taking metamucil too. I'm not a big milk drinker, but overnight oats and protein shakes and cottage cheese have me consuming a lot more dairy than I usually do, and diets with a lot of meat and dairy tend to cause GI issues, so I figured the extra fiber would probably be a good idea while on a high protein diet. The first few days suck- not particularly painful or uncomfortable, but really gassy, which is just kinda embarrassing and annoying to deal with. It passes after the first three or four days though, and I DO notice that I seem to have more consistent BMs, feel less bloated, less gassy, and a bit lighter. My appetite means I'm trying to pack as much protein into as little actual food as possible too given how hard it is to eat as much as I'm expected to, so I'm actually overeating a lot less, which also probably helps.

That said, I haven't been particularly strict on myself about food- more for philosophical reasons than anything. The goal is just to get the protein I need, and nothing else really matters atm. There's no point in eating anything I don't enjoy, and any goal that's completely miserable to achieve is phyrric. As long as I'm getting my protein and I'm lifting to the end of my sets every time while steadily increasing the weight I lift, I WILL build muscle, and those muscles will burn more calories, which will result in weight loss. As long as I stay on top of it at least 3 times a week (ideally more, but 3 is my bare minimum atm) and don't eat a GROSS excess of calories, all I need otherwise is trust, time, discipline, and patience- all things my ADHD-addled brain struggles with, lol.

I haven't been to the gym the last three days. Skipped one day cause I got home especially late and I was wiped, skipped the next cause I was depressed, skipped last night cause a bit of time-blindness had me going out to the grocery store pretty late at night, etc, so this week has been pretty bad for gym-going, but I'm gonna get back on it. Maybe not tonight cause I close at work and my roommate is finally back home- which does mean I'll be cooking dinner for both of us when I get back- but tomorrow I'm getting back into it with a vengeance.

Wish me luck.

[nathank77]

5/27/24

6:22 a.m

I could be going hyper I'm not sure:

I mean I barely ate the other day and felt fine. But let's disregard the banana. It's weird that I was hungry after eating a 20 gram Protien bar at 3:41 a.m and was hungry at 5:30 a.m...

I mean I could be the high end of normal. I am glad I write all this out everyday it's helpful. I mean imma monitor my symptoms. I haven't been losing weight like crazy or anything. Which i would be on this diet. I let myself actually get hungry before I allow myself to eat. Other than right before bed.

Yesterday:

I was starving at like 10 but had that whole chicken incident... but then I wasn't hungry until 4:30 a.m and I waited until 5:30 bc it was so close.

Yesterday was not abnormal. Today it kinda was. Only cause of 3:41 a.m the protein bar only keeping me full until 5:30 a.m.

I hope I don't go hyper. I may have to get my bloodwork sooner than the 15th of June if my hunger persists. As I want to stay in the normal range. It could legit just be starting. Based on all the days before this- I was normal.

I haven't been pooping more than normal. I haven't been hungry more than normal. I haven't had an elevated heart rate but I have metopolol incase I go hyper. We would have to adjust my dose. It sucks not ever being sure... I really want to go into remission...

If I go Hypo then I'm going into remission. If I stay normal I still need Methimazole. If I go hyper we got to do something like take 2.5 mg a day.. instead of 5mg every other day cause when I was on 5mg everyday I went Hypo.

It sucks that it's like a science experiment. I'm going to let myself stay hungry other than at bedtime cause I can't sleep if I'm starving. I'm going to try to keep it to 4-5 meals a day.

I'm a little worried. I could also be at the high end of normal? Idk. If I keep getting hungry fast imma do the bloodwork at the end of the week. I poop like 3 times a day. When I was hyper I did like 6 times a day. When i was Hypo it was like 2 or once a day. Being in normal range it was like 2-3 times a day.

So idk. I got to keep monitoring myself it won't be hard with my sleep tracker.

[lafortis]

just gonna say, any kind of "caloric deficit" is bad for you. if you are feeling the sensation of hunger, you need food. if you find yourself eating a lot, you are probably burning more energy than you realize and you need it. just saying this as a rando who's done a ton of research on this stuff and had an eating disorder for a looooong time that i thought was "being healthy". take care friend <3

Oh for sure, like I said, careful and moderate. Macrofactor (the app I'm using to track such thing) will after seven days produce a calorie expenditure estimate, after which my deficit will be a lil more accurate, and in fact I may find I don't want one at all. But yes, it may just be wise to calibrate that expenditure estimate without a deficit on, but hey, I'm doin fine in reality. Truthfully the other half of this sensation is kinda similar to when I did keto for a while, which is believable because I've reduced my bullshit baked goods intake pretty substantially (overall carbs are still normal tho, just like, y'know, not as many cookies and tarts and various other things because my diet was that of a wealthy Victorian child) so it may also be my body demanding I put those back into it, which is fair enough but I'm not gonna do that. Anyway I appreciate the concern, and I'm being careful, worry not 🫡

truly I know it's unrelated to the choice to maintain a caloric deficit, but I feel meaningfully better than before I was tracking my macros etc, simply because now I'm eating enough protein to maintain the tiny little muscles I currently have, rather than like my hand shaking when I held it up lol. Like obviously you can just do that and still be at your maintenance caloric intake but like, the two happened at the same time so I conflate them, and I feel much healthier rn than I did three days ago lol, almost exclusively simply because my health was and still is largely a mess

[athenam]

I also have a lot of food opinions, so I'm curious to hear what yours are?

hooray!! I get to type my nonsense :)) first of all, chocolate is better than vanilla, I will die on this hill. I say this first cause this is one of the many things that me and my partner have different opinions on.

the rest of this is gonna go under a cut tho cause I have a lot to say and I am someone who needs to give context before I say just about anything so I end up going on tangents

I am a really picky eater and that is mostly because of my severe texture and smell aversions and also sometimes my misophonia gets in the way of that stuff too aka making me lose my appetite or ability to eat because of the effect it has on me

I am such a picky eater that my dad got me a shirt that says "I'll just have the chicken tenders" cause that is one of my only safe foods and it's like the only thing I get at restaurants and I honestly think that most foods, however good they may be, are vile purely because of their texture or smell

I also have a big problem with foods mixing and the clash of textures so that makes me not like a lot of foods like soup, tacos, and salad, there are exceptions to this tho, but there are exceptions to everything

I don't like cheese, in any form besides pizza, mac and cheese, and like goldfish and stuff like that. I think it's because I used to have a slice of cheese every day in my lunch and i had it to much, but one day it just started to absolutely disgust me. I also don't like milk, idk why it just is bad

I don't like most meats, specifically red meats, and that's one of the main reasons I have an iorn deficiency, among others. but I just can't deal with them and idk if it's the look of it, the texture, the smell, or the noise but I can't eat it. I think it also might have to do with the thought of steak being cooked to different degrees and some people basically eating it raw because raw meat is another thing that will actually make me throw up if I have to touch it

I actually like broccoli, but I hate peas and green beans are only good if it's a specific kind

my iorn deficiency controls some of the things I like, such as my habit of sometimes just eating ice or my need for everything to have twice as much salt on it as normal. (this is reminding me to go take my iron pills) I get most of my iron from almonds and raisins, in fact I have a whole bag of almonds that I snack on just randomly in my room rn

I also lack protein in my diet, so I eat protein granola bars and yogurt almost every day, thankfully I like more things with protein in them than iron

sour candy is superior I'm every way. I LOVEEEE sour candy so much, it's amazing, also nerds gummy clusters are so gooddd

Reeses are overrated and the peanut butter in them makes me want to throw up because of the texture, also the ads always have whispering and chewing in them and it makes me want to rip my ears out of my head

Eggs are by far one of the worst textured things in the world, it doesn't matter how you cook or prepare them cause they will ALWAYS feel bad in my mouth and I will spit them out

I don't understand some people's hatred for peanut butter, I think it's fine, but that might be because I grew up on pp&js so idk

anyways, thank you for coming to my ted talk about my food opinions congrats on getting to the end of something that is about as many words as like a 2 page essay please share your thoughts, I would love to hear them :)