I eat dessert every single day and here is why
There was a time in my life, where dessert was completely off limits.
I was on a quest to shrink my body and to have control over every single calorie that went into my body. Dessert sure wasn’t one of them.
My eating disorder stole 12+ years of my life and once I committed to recovery, the thought of eating dessert scared the pants off me.
Here is what happened when I first re-introduced my fear foods
Once I tasted ice cream for the first time in years, all flood gates opened and I couldn’t stop eating.
After quitting my extreme fitness lifestyle, I went through about a year of eating upwards of tens of thousands of calories every single day.
This phase is also referred to as “extreme hunger”.
My body was painfully full, but it kept asking for more.
It was mental hunger.
For me, it was absolutely necessary for my eating disorder recovery.
It helped my body heal its metabolism and find its natural healthy weight over time.
I went through a period of rapid weight gain in the beginning, which is very common if you are just starting out on your intuitive eating journey.
Your body weight will stabilize over time.
Why I still eat ice cream every single day
To this day, I eat ice cream every single night and I enjoy every single bite, but here is how my mindset has changed:
Ice cream or any other dessert doesn’t have any power over me anymore.
I can take it or leave it. Choosing to eat ice cream, because I want to, vs. “giving into my cravings” and feeling guilty and ashamed for it is a huge difference.
I actually taste my food now, instead of tasting guilt and shame.
This wasn’t always the case, especially not during this first year of my recovery.
Here is what kept me going through the extreme hunger phase
Even though I was convinced that I’d never be able to stop eating again, I still kept going.
I didn’t compensate for the food I ate, not even a little bit.
Knowing that my body needed to heal and rebuild its metabolism and all other cells and organisms that were negatively affected by my eating disorder was necessary for my health.
I knew that the surplus of food I was eating wasn’t very nutrient dense, but my body asked for it for a reason.
This phase is very common for people with a history of dieting.
Dieting and extreme hunger are closely related
If you have a long history of dieting or attempting to diet, it is completely normal for your body to go through a phase of needing all this food.
Your job is to prove to your body that there will be no more diet in the future and that food will always be abundant. Once your body understands this (usually within a few months to about 2 years time), your hunger, fullness and weight will balance out.
A final word
I kept feeding my body and I kept eating the foods I was so afraid of, until they didn’t have this incredible power over me anymore.
Until they just became food, not something that makes me a good or a bad person.
I’d love to hear your experience if you feel comfortable sharing. If not, just know that you will get through this stage ❤️
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