When a food sensitive chronic condition like lipedema shapes daily choices, eating can shift from nourishment to negotiation, control, and emotional strain.
So very very true. I’ve had disordered eating for years but because my lower half never became rail thin, no one noticed, no one paid attention. Even doctors, when I asked for the hundredth time-why is my top half thin but my legs don’t change? Their response “you’ll have to eat less”, so I did. Less and less and less. They were assisting in driving an eating disorder. The penny dropped for me when I remember looking at a salad I had prepared myself and deciding ‘what can I remove from this to eat less?’ I also believe disordered exercising goes hand in hand with this condition. Even today there is still that voice when I am in the gym “just stay a bit longer, do another exercise class”. I wonder how many of us negotiate with ourselves over time spent exercising because the narrative we are conditioned to believe is “you just need to move more”? It’s very difficult to silence that voice in my head even with what I now know I’m living with, but I’m getting there.
So very very true. I’ve had disordered eating for years but because my lower half never became rail thin, no one noticed, no one paid attention. Even doctors, when I asked for the hundredth time-why is my top half thin but my legs don’t change? Their response “you’ll have to eat less”, so I did. Less and less and less. They were assisting in driving an eating disorder. The penny dropped for me when I remember looking at a salad I had prepared myself and deciding ‘what can I remove from this to eat less?’ I also believe disordered exercising goes hand in hand with this condition. Even today there is still that voice when I am in the gym “just stay a bit longer, do another exercise class”. I wonder how many of us negotiate with ourselves over time spent exercising because the narrative we are conditioned to believe is “you just need to move more”? It’s very difficult to silence that voice in my head even with what I now know I’m living with, but I’m getting there.