Anorexia Long-Lasting Recovery Tips

Different seasons in life bring different challenges for us. You can struggle and overcome in some way anorexia symptoms and still have aspects of it that come up again later in life.

So, because of that is important to ask yourself, “how do I build a solid foundation in my day-to-day treatment so that I can have anorexia long-lasting recovery effects?”

Unfortunately, because of a lack of easily accessible care, the delicacy of the subject, and other reasons, only one 3rd of the people experiencing anorexia receive adequate treatment and go on to recover.

Fake Feel of Certainty and Reliability

The anorexic people tend to develop inside them a false but solid sense of control, as they think that they can cope with and easily manage their diet and their body weight. However, they feel very inside uncertain(which they do not show externally), and this is especially true for other aspects of their lives.

This fake outside mask is the main reason why people with eating disorders are usually hesitant and avoid asking for help.

Some of them struggle and try to undertake the first step to an open conversation, while others are with such lower self-esteem that they don’t feel that they deserve any help.

It is a difficult situation that requires to be undertaken the appropriate healing and recovery treatment, along with full mental and emotional family support, because things can only get worse.

In fact, the emotional and physical harm for anorexic people and their relatives can be very harsh. As soon as possible, these people start getting help, treatment, and proper support, the better their odds of improvement are.

While you can’t make a person with an eating disorder to get better, having effective and warm relationships and a happy family environment are essential factors to their improvement. Your encouragement and love can make a significant positive difference in the way the disease develops.

Self-Care for Anorexia

If you are with anorexia, it’s acceptable that you don’t know how to get better. You might not be consuming enough food with the hope that your body will become perfect if you lose weight, but it is a mental trap because the subjecting to constant starving yourself can make you very sick.

The first step via recovery is to establish a treatment plan with your doctor. And if you are not consulted a specialist yet, there are still many things you can do to help yourself. Here are seven things you can make to control yourself and start feeling energetic and reliable again.

1. Set Yourself Achievable Goals

Your most important goal is to stick with the treatment strategy that you and your doctor created. That means you need to go to all therapy sessions and follow meal plans. Other good things to do are:

Find out and write down the reasons why it is not right to think that thinner people are better. Review them regularly as you try to assimilate them, so you subconsciously start accepting them.
Make a long list of things that confirm you’re a great person. Try your best and concentrate on the positive things. I am sure that there are a lot.
Find activities you enjoy, including physical exercises, and make a schedule to do them. Concentrate on the pleasure that accompanies exercise and avoid the annoying thoughts of losing weight. The effect of weight loss will be obtained as a consequence but should not be an end in itself.
Exercise first for the reason that you love to develop your strength, not just to lose weight. It must be your primary motivation to exercise and workouts.
Tape a note with a short but mighty sentence on your mirror that reminds you that you are gorgeous first inside and then out.
Don’t persecute too many goals at once because you may end up frustrated or discouraged if you don’t meet them. Still, If this happens, don’t give up and make a new list of goals that are not so hard for achieving.

2. Avoiding Pro-Anorexia and Other “thinspiration” Sites

These are websites and blogs that discuss and support anorexia are or well known as pro-ana sites. The content that is widely exchange in these online communities is often shocking because they use images of emaciated models and celebrities as “thinspiration” for people with anorexia, which most often are weak and vulnerable girls. Even worse is that they get involved in frank discussions about the “best methods” for achieving extreme weight loss, and others similar to this topic, which additionally exacerbates the problems.

The problem is complicated because what people who use these social networks speak is that they can get acceptance and a sense of belonging that they can not find anywhere else. And here is the critical role of families and friends as the people who can take care and help a lot.

Pro-anorexia websites offering tips on extreme dieting are nothing new. Still, their growth on social networking sites is a disturbing new twist and brings them within reach of a wider audience.

The real solution to the problem is in the redirection of personal attention and energy from the wrong to the right source of information.

If there is a specially designed, clear, and accurate program along with the strong positive support of loved ones, therapists, or other people who also fight with anorexia, the attention will stick in the right direction, which sooner or later inevitably will lead to positive results.

3.Practice Simple but Smart Eating Habits

Focus on eating a diet of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. When you’re hungry, eat what you want, but when you feel satiety yourself, stop.

Speak with you, your doctor, if it is necessary to intake any nutritional supplements additionally. The excellent quality supplements can help your body to get back the nutrients lost over time.

3.Give Your Mind a Rest

Remember the following things and start applying them in your daily routines:

Stop weight yourself all the time. You spend a lot of energy when too many times weigh yourself and when repeatedly judge your body by continually looking yourself in the mirror. When you find yourself doing it, immediately stop.
Get rid of the “skinny” clothes in your wardrobe that highlight body appearance and take the efforts to stop watching your body all the time.
Get plenty of sleep at night for the best of your overall health. The excellent quality of deep sleep is irreplaceable for improving your whole well-being.
Take a rest from the harmful or nonsensical messages you get from the Internet, from empty watching of TV and magazines.
Instead, focus on useful and valuable information that can be helpful inspirational and motivational for you, to tackle your anorexia.

4. Ask for Emotional Support

Accept the support of your loved ones and remember when they give you advice, they want what’s best for you. People around you want to help you to improve your willpower and emotional state, but you need to trust them first.

You can start by spending more time with your family and especially with the friends who make you feel great about yourself.

Entering a support group of people who also are recovering from eating disorders.

5. Start to Care and Help Others

Worrying about food and weight loss has ultimately captured your attention. But if you divert that energy and redirect to help others in need, it will help you feel more okay about yourself and the world.

6. Spend Your Time With People With Healthy Mindset

Aim to spend more time with friends and family members who have a healthy relationship with food and try to avoid contact with people that are a no-good example for you.

The social factor is from immense importance because the excellent personal example of the surrounding people will encourage the build-up of healthy habits in you, and they, in turn, will help a lot to overcome anorexia.

7. Few Simple But Powerful Rules to Follow up

Stop blaming yourself
Do whatever you can to encourage the growth of your self-esteem
Encourage eating to be a natural consequence due to practicing your favourite sports activity or any activities that provoke a sense of hunger.
Avoid power struggles over food.
Be mindful of triggers and avoid discussions about weight, food, eating, or making negative statements about your body.
Learn more and educate about eating disorders
Take care and try to build up for yourself healthy and robust self-love, which is in the base for achieving more confidence and more self-power in your life.

All these tips aim for the replacement of the old behaviors with new patterns that support the person’s motivation to maintain a positive body self-image and the desire to eat healthily. These, in turn, can promote the person to maintain recovery and avoid relapse eventually.

Anorexia Long-Lasting Recovery Tips for Family and Friends

The decision to start a change is not easy for someone with an eating disorder. The eating disorder usually leads to lasting malnourished, which distorts the way someone perceives their life, the surrounding people, and makes him doubt about your motivations for trying to help them.

Therefore, attacking them with urgent warnings for the health issues of their eating disorder or trying to force them into healthier eating probably won’t work. In that way, you may meet with defensiveness or denial, so you’ll need to approach with care when initiating a conversation about it.

How to Talk to Someone About Their Eating Disorder?

Win their trust. In the first place, win their trust and make it clear that you care, and you’ll be close to them in every moment they need support and that you believe in them ultimately.
Pick the right time. It’s essential to choose a time to have a conversation in a moment of emotional calm and when you can speak to the person in private without distractions or constraints.
Be prepared for rejection and resistance. There’s a good chance your loved one to deny that it is with an eating disorder or even to react with anger and defense. It is a crucial moment where you need to try staying calm, focused, and attentive. Don’t take it personally and consider that this conversation may seem threatening to someone with an eating disorder.
Explain why you’re concerned. Try to avoid lecturing or criticizing, as this will only bring your loved one in defensive mode. Instead, point to specific behaviors and situations you’ve seen and why they bother you. Your target at this moment is not to suggest solutions, but instead to show how you are concerned about the person’s health, and your desire to help and how much you love them.
Be supportive and patient. Try to be unconditionally supportive, so If your loved one is ready to talk, best would be for you to listen without any judgment and criticizing, no matter the way they sound. Don’t give up if the person rejects you at the beginning. It may take some time to build up trust until the moment they allow you to give them the support that you want to give them.

Important Things to Avoid

Avoid ultimatums. Ultimatums instead add more pressure and promote more isolation and denial. You need to understand that the decision to change must come from them in the first place.
Avoid blaming and shaming. Always try to avoid sentences containing accusations or hints of shame. Remember that a single wrong word can ruin the trust built up throughout the time.
Avoid talking about appearance or weight. Even assurances that they’re not fat would enhance their preoccupation with being thin because these people are already overly focused on their bodies.
Avoid giving simple solutions. Eating disorders are complex problems, and loud statements like “All you need to do is accept yourself” maybe will not work.

Recovery From Anorexia is Possible

Anorexia, like plenty of other chronic disorders, is a fight that may likely continue in the affected people for long periods of their lives. However, this doesn’t suggest it is impossible to get control over the disorder and sustain recovery after treatment.

According to information from the famous WomensHealth.gov website, it is possible for a person experiencing anorexia to improve yourself and feel much better. It can be achieved by:

Implementing nutritional care and medical support to regain relevant weight
Advising the person based on underlying psychological issues mostly related to fear of weight gain
Help the person to knowledge coping tools and strategies that can help him prevent relapse
Giving social support and group counseling to keep motivation after the treatment

Conclusion

These biological, psychological, and sociological causes of anorexia make it an extraordinarily complex illness. However, for people under anorexia, a full recovery is possible. Anorexia treatment requires a multidisciplinary and specialized team that provides medical, nutritional, and psychological support to patients.