My plant based daughter has an eating disorder

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My plant based daughter has an eating disorder

Postby J9k22 » Tue Mar 06, 2018 5:25 pm

My daughter and I do our best to adopt a plant-based lifestyle. My daughter has been diagnosed with an eating disorder. It's been going on for four years though I have sadly been in denial. One of the roadblocks to getting treatment I feel is the negative and uneducated attitudes towards a plant based diet. Almost all professionals that are trying to help patients with eating disorders recover, think that eating a plant-based or vegan type of diet is symptomatic or one of the things that led to the eating disorder in the first place! They think this 'restrictive' diet is an unhealthy way of eating. These are the well-intentioned comments I get as I am trying to figure out how to get treatment for my daughter's ED that has been pretty much been going untreated for the last four years:

Given your family is vegan you will need to seriously consider the implications this has for your D. Veganism is a dietary choice which excludes a large range of foods and it is easy to have micronutrient deficits because of this. It is often very hard for people to recover from their eating disorder whilst being vegan and the dietary restrictions that accompany this choice are often the first startings of an eating disorder. Your daughter is likely to need to eat a lot of nutrient dense foods to recover and this again can be much more difficult. It is for this reason that many nutritionists will recommend moving to at least a vegetarian diet. It is possible to eat a very ethical vegetarian diet if that is your concern.

What do I do? There don't seem to be many professionals treating ED who are knowledgeable of the health benefits of a plant-based lifestyle. Do I just have to endure their ignorance and know that they have the best intentions and are doing the best they can? Sometimes I do wonder if my daughter chooses to eat a plant-based diet because she knows that it's a diet that is least likely to cause weight gain. Perhaps then for her it is somewhat symptomatic of an eating disorder.
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Re: My plant based daughter has an eating disorder

Postby Vegankit » Tue Mar 06, 2018 5:57 pm

I would contact Jeff Novick - he is a registered Dietician. He has a private consulting service. Here is his website http://www.jeffnovick.com/RD/Home.html

And this is his section on the forums: viewforum.php?f=22

I'm sorry about your daughter. I hope you can get this resolved.
Vegankit
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Re: My plant based daughter has an eating disorder

Postby f00die » Tue Mar 06, 2018 6:08 pm

which eating disorder is she diagnosed with if you dont mind sharing?

in addition to the suggestion to contact JeffN,
here is a link to the McDougall 10-Day Meal Plan Recipes
https://www.drmcdougall.com/wp/wp-conte ... ecipes.pdf

maybe print that out and run it by your mental health professional?
see whether they think those meals are adequate.
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Re: My plant based daughter has an eating disorder

Postby J9k22 » Wed Mar 07, 2018 10:05 pm

Thank you both for your replies. Both offer good advice. I will have the 10 day meal plan ready to show once I get treatment going for her. I'm not exactly sure which ED she has. Her pediatrian just says she has an ED on her chart. Some sort of anorexia perhaps. She restricts food and is afraid of gaining weight.
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