BIEN-ETRE Diets: triggers for anorexia and bulimia

During this summer season when diets reign supreme. All anyone talks about is “the bikini goal” and “how to lose the 2 or 3 kilos gained during lockdown without making any effort.” As explained in the article “Why don’t diets work?,” excessive dieting is not beneficial for mental or physical health. Diets and this cult of thinness can in particular lead to eating disorders, commonly abbreviated as EDs, namely anorexia and bulimia, two significant illnesses that generally involve substantial weight loss.

Anorexia and its psychological causes

How can anorexia be detected? From a medical standpoint, anorexia is a symptom corresponding to loss of appetite. This symptom may be temporary, or it may become chronic.

Anorexia nervosa is the rejection of all food, accompanied by a phobia of weight gain, calories, and/or taking up too much space.

This fear of gaining weight and becoming heavier, which becomes obsessive, can have multiple causes:

• When younger, the person may have had a difficult relationship with someone in their circle who was overweight.
• She may have developed a negative interpretation related to people who are overweight.
• She believes that to be beautiful and have a nice body, it is essential to be thin.

The fear of taking up too much space can be found in people who, as children, felt that they had no place within their family. The fear of being a nuisance can be connected to a feeling of worthlessness. A profound guilt about being alive is often present in people who have felt abandoned, rejected, or unloved.

According to Jacques Martel, author of the “Grand Dictionary of Ailments and Diseases,” anorexia is fundamentally the need to fill an inner void of emotional nourishment. The person needs their mother’s unconditional love and acceptance. Although anorexia is most common during adolescence, it also occurs in babies, young children, and adults.

Anorexia, unlike obesity, is the attempt to starve an inner void to make it so small that it will disappear and no longer ask for anything at all.

For a boy, a good method is to gradually accept his femininity or his intuitive and emotional nature in order to resolve his anorexic condition.

Bulimia and its psychological causes

How can bulimia be detected? Bulimia is characterized by consuming a large amount of food in a very limited time, until gastric discomfort occurs. This may happen during or outside a meal, in secret. It may or may not lead the person to make themselves vomit for fear of gaining weight or putting on additional kilos.

This disorder often expresses a void or deprivation rooted in feelings of abandonment, not being loved, or rejection.

According to Jacques Martel, bulimia has the same underlying causes as obesity and anorexia. The person eats excessively to feel completely satisfied or regain some form of love and affection. Food symbolizes life, love, and emotions. The person with bulimia tries to fill an emotional void deep inside, caused by such intense self-hatred, disgust, or contempt that they want to fill this void at any cost. They prefer to let themselves be dominated by food, by life, rather than opening themselves up to life.

Anorexia & bulimia: how can you overcome them?

If you or someone close to you suffers from anorexia or bulimia, here are some tips for restoring a healthy relationship with food.

1. Treating the psychological sphere and stress

Anorexia and bulimia are both forms of self-destruction that may be unconsciously motivated by guilt about living.

It is therefore necessary to release the patient's emotional memory and the conflict generating this symptom, so that they can return to a balanced diet and regain both physical and mental health.

It is important to clearly distinguish the triggering factor from the cause of the illness. Anorexia and bulimia are underlying illnesses. They arise from childhood distress and can remain dormant for several years under the person's control. A triggering factor can awaken them, such as going on a diet. It is therefore important to remain vigilant, because phrases such as « you should lose weight » or « you've lost weight, that's good » should not be taken lightly. They may have a greater or lesser impact depending on the person you are speaking to.

In all cases, people with anorexia and those with bulimia are both sensitive individuals who deserve respect. The fact that the illness is not physically visible does not mean that it is not painful.

It is important for a person in distress to maintain physical activity through exercise to release stress and negative emotions. Gentle activities such as yoga or swimming can provide significant psychological benefits. Be careful not to fall into excessive exercise. There is no need to spend hours on it; a few minutes a day are sufficient.

At first, the person should establish a strict routine with habits, tips, and moments of well-being to help manage stress during difficult times. Little by little, they regain the pleasure and desire to live. They will then need this routine less and less.

1. Treating the physical aspect with the naturopathic approach

Naturopathy is a good supportive approach alongside psychological care, helping individuals who are suffering to reconnect with food and their bodies. It is particularly beneficial because it adapts to each metabolism. Naturopathy does not recommend a strict diet under any circumstances, and it does not count calories. It focuses on quality rather than quantity. It simply provides personalized lifestyle tips to help individuals eat better and enjoy better health. If necessary, excess pounds will disappear naturally, while the necessary pounds will return to their rightful place. Naturopathy helps people regain a healthy weight. It celebrates health, not thinness.

In anorexia, certain plant-based dietary supplements help stimulate the appetite through their bitter substances, known as aperitifs. They also activate the liver and gallbladder to promote good digestion. Other supplements are intended to improve nutrient absorption in order to promote weight regain.

• Fenugreek is the recommended plant for people who have lost a lot of weight and have little appetite. It comes in the form of small orange seeds with a distinctive smell that can sometimes “flavor” the sweat of those who consume it.
• The roots of Yellow Gentian, Wild Chicory, and Ginger Rhizome are bitter tonics. They are taken 15 minutes before a meal to stimulate the appetite.
• Spirulina and Klamath are freshwater algae very rich in minerals, amino acids, and chlorophyll. They are almost a complete food on their own and are recommended to help prevent any risk of malnutrition in cases of weight loss. The tablet form is preferable to powder, given the smell, which could be even more off-putting.
• Moringa is a plant native to India. Its leaves are rich in many nutrients, in remarkably high amounts: calcium, iron, potassium, magnesium, vitamins, protein, all 8 essential amino acids, and various trace elements. It strengthens weakened bodies, stimulates the appetite, and helps prevent any risk of deficiency.
• The essences of lemon and grapefruit contain very large amounts of limonene, which stimulates the appetite, aids digestion by counteracting heartburn and nausea, and activates liver detoxification.

As for what is on the plate, eating what you feel like and what gives you pleasure is already a good start. Here are some tips and foods to include in every meal: breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

• Foods that “slide down” easily, such as mashed foods, compotes, broths, and soups, will be easy to consume: “easy to prepare and enrich.”
• You can enrich food by volume (adding more food) or by energy (adding sugar, protein, or oil, which are high in calories while taking up little space and therefore will not increase the amount on the plate). Preferably, enrich with skimmed milk powder, a whole egg or egg yolk, blended ham, or processed cheeses such as Kiri for savory preparations. This provides protein that will help maintain the person's muscle mass.
• Flavor dishes with good fats such as olive, walnut, sesame, or hemp oils to enhance their taste.
• For sweet preparations, enrich them with sweetened condensed milk, sugar, honey, skimmed milk powder, or dried fruit in desserts such as rice pudding and semolina pudding.
• When it comes to herbs, chervil stimulates the appetite, whether fresh, dried, or frozen. When using it dried or frozen, add more than you would fresh to obtain its appetite-stimulating benefits.
• Eating food cold rather than hot generally helps people who lose their appetite following treatment. Indeed, the "steaming" smells of food coming out of an oven may make them feel even more nauseated, or, on the contrary, stimulate their appetite - it all depends on who is cooking! Gazpacho and cold soup recipes based on tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and onions are good alternatives to hot soups if the latter are not tolerated. Adapt this on a case-by-case basis.
• Small fruits such as berries - strawberries, raspberries, blackcurrants, blueberries and blackberries - as well as kiwis, clementines, apples, pears, pineapples, peaches and apricots are full of naturally sweet water and are relatively easy to eat.
• In a blender, you can make a smoothie with several of these fruits, adding a little water and a pinch of cinnamon or ginger to make it more invigorating and enrich it with skimmed milk powder.
• Raw vegetables such as radishes, carrots, spinach, young shoots, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and avocados, served with a yogurt dressing, chopped chives and a drizzle of lemon, are refreshing and easy to eat. Add sprouted seeds, which are packed with vitality and are a living food rich in enzymes.
• Ensure sufficient protein intake to offset the risk of malnutrition if loss of appetite leads to weight loss. Include meat in small pieces: diced chicken, minced meat in pasta, blended ham in soups, grated cheese on dishes, diced Emmental in a salad, cottage cheese served with stewed fruit, rice pudding and raisins for dessert.
• Chicken broth with vermicelli noodles is a good rehydrating drink, thanks to the salt it provides and the starches it contains, which help keep you going. Adding small cubes of tofu, flaked seaweed or small pieces of chicken enriches it with protein.
• Use highly aromatic powdered spices such as ginger, cinnamon, anise and curry.

Anorexia and bulimia: scientific causes?

Sergey Fetissov's team at Inserm studied the links between the gut and the brain in eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia. According to this study, a bacterial protein called CIpB could be involved in the onset of these eating disorders.