עברית
From Meal Plans to Hunger Cues: One Woman's Eating Disorder Recovery—and the Faith Behind It
After years of hospital stays, a young woman chose to trust her body and her belief. Today she eats by hunger, not rules, and says she's grateful for every bite.
As many know, living with an eating disorder is one of the toughest battles there is—especially for women, who face constant pressure to be thin.
A young woman who has been facing a difficult struggle with an eating disorder for several years shared a moving post with us about the moment she made a good decision to lift herself up, despite the challenge.
"I'm a young woman, and for several years I've suffered from an eating disorder," she begins, sharing a history of hospitalizations because of it. "In my most recent hospitalization, I believed I had some chance to get out of this, but it was hard. The doctors said I had to follow a fixed, preplanned menu, and when I heard that I thought there was no way—that I'd never be able to eat without a plan."
But the power of faith, it turns out, can be stronger than anything—even the biggest fears.
The woman (who prefers to remain anonymous) realized she had to lift herself up and practice positive thinking about herself.
How do you eat without a preset plan without getting pulled toward ice cream, burgers, and other "fattening" foods—something only those who crave them can truly understand? Willpower can be stronger than all of it, and when you hold on with everything you've got—you can win.
Despite the difficulty, she did the work and reached the mindset shift she was aiming for—and the feeling followed. "Baruch Hashem, after a period of working on myself, today I'm off the plan and eat only according to my hunger," she says, and asks to give thanks for something many of us forget to appreciate: "Sometimes we forget to thank the Creator of the world for things that seem normal—like being free to eat and drink. Only someone who suffers from an eating disorder knows how hard it is. For some people it's truly a test, and it's a miracle every single day when they manage to eat and drink without food and drink turning into their enemies. Thank you, Hashem, for the miracles I see," she concludes.
