Psoriatic Arthritis Journal 2- Equation for Change

[eri]

nicolio-no-olio! How are you? You must be doing great, you Star McD'er you! Congrats--you are so deserving! You have been such a huge help and source of info to so many of us. Thanks for sharing. I am so super happy for you.

[nicoles]

Hey Eri-leeloo-la!

I'm doing very well! So glad you are back!! Gotta admit, I was a bit worried about you. Then I imagined you off in another part of the world, working at what you love doing, helping people and traveling and I calmed down. In this fantasy about your life, you had a scepter and a crown, not sure why. Purple and gold if you wanted to know.

[nicoles]

Anyone ever hear of this label, Orthorexia? I see it around and I have to admit, I fit the description pretty well, although not entirely. On the other hand, it sort of seems to me like it is a bit of backlash against healthy eating. But then again, I would think that, since I drank the WFPB Kool-Aid

If the shoe fits....

But lots of people have weird food habits. So how do you spot an actual orthorexic?

1. They read labels. Obsessively.
An orthorexic will scan ingredient lists as if their life depends upon it. Should a natural peanut butter contain palm oil (which has been implicated in the deforestation of Indonesia and the destruction of endangered orangutan habitats), they will put it back on the shelf.

2. They skip the birthday cake.
Orthorexics will not make exceptions for special occasions. They see a colleague’s birthday party as a minefield of refined flours and white sugars and the cupcake-laden conference table as a veritable superfund site. If they have children, they sneak beet root into their kids' gluten-free quinoa brownies.

3. They are anxious about travel.
In food-obsessed New York, L.A., and San Francisco, it’s easy to source vegetables with credentials and meals with arcane, cruelty-free ingredients. But in the hinterlands it’s another story. An orthorexic fears traveling to new places out of concern that designated safe foods will be unavailable.

4. They proselytize.
Whether they are raw-food acolytes or Paleo junkies, orthorexics talk incessantly about the upside to their restrictive lifestyles. Watch for Facebook posts like: "Day five of my juice fast and I’ve never felt so vibrant!" or "Eating like our prehistoric ancestors and my skin is just glowing. #nofilter #cleanliving."

5. They train like superathletes.
Not all orthorexics are exercise fanatics, but when they are, they take things to an extreme. That means multiple workouts in a day, fueled by esoteric micro-meals and lengthy discussions of how best to rehydrate (sports drinks are off the list since they’re totally laden with awful food dyes, by the way).

6. They hate brunch.
Orthorexics show up at dinner parties after the meal has been served and say, "I’ve already eaten." Social gatherings centered on meals rarely work for them, so instead an orthorexic will suggest meeting up for a SoulCycle session, her stainless-steel water bottle in tow.

7. They develop complicated rules.
If orthorexics cheat, they do so in a controlled manner, like designating Sundays as the one day of the week when they allow themselves to eat wheat, or consuming nothing but raw foods until after the sun sets.

8. They become pseudoscientists.
Orthorexics rarely read novels; instead, they immerse themselves in medical journals. Bringing up liver enzymes in casual conversation is fair game.

9. They denigrate others’ unhealthy habits.
Friday night is for documentaries about Monsanto, naturally. Friends who don’t react with the same levels of shock and indignation receive pity and even scorn.

10. They cut out "bad foods" until there are no "good" foods left.
Orthorexics often eschew whole categories of food in the name of the sublime pursuit of clean living: Bananas are way too high on the glycemic index, wheat literally rots in your gut, and even natural fructose is suspect. Eventually, there’s very little left to eat.

[eri]

A scepter & a crown, huh? I could get with that.

Yeah, I have heard of orthorexia. It's not in the newest DSM, so I don't give a rip. I really do think it's a backlash. I fit most of the description as well. It's so ironic to me that healthy eating is so outside of the norm that paying more than lip service to healthy eating is almost a disorder. Ridiculous! Have you seen the blog post on Healthy Girl's Kitchen?

[nicoles]

Eri, no I haven't seen it. Going to look now!

Yes, it seems to me like backlash. It also seems to me that a good part of mental illnesses might just be categorized as such due to whatever our cultural norms are. But that's a whole big can of worms and I haven't thought enough about it to stick my foot in my mouth too much more than that.

[nicoles]

This is tragic and sobering.

[nicoles]

I am a success story as far as eating this way and my remission from psoriatic arthritis goes. But even though my Star Story claims I am "cured" I believe personally that I am managing my illness and remission through diet - and more effectively than on medications and with only positive side effects!

However, there are still things I need to do above and beyond diet in order to stay well, and if I don't do them, I don't stay well.

For the last 2 weeks my life has been a bit of a whirlwind. A 10-day family reunion. Some health and financial scares that urgently needed attending from us for my in-laws. Several rush commissions for me to work on. Many difficult car troubles and legal issues that required hours of my time and came with a good dose of stress and frustration.

Throughout all this I ate perfectly. Not a problem there. What I did NOT do was sleep enough and exercise enough. Nor did I stretch or meditate. And I did not have a day that wasn't packed and overly busy and exhausting for two and a half weeks.

Two days ago I got a killer migraine. Yesterday I woke up and I could not walk. My right knee and hip were in too much pain.

That could sound like failure, right? On the face of things, I am not cured if I still flare up, correct? But I do not see it that way. I see it as a natural consequence of not taking good care of myself on all levels.

But I did not freak out yesterday. The reasons seemed clear enough to me. I stayed put in bed all day and enjoyed my time reading and binge-watching The Good Wife on Hulu. DH went food shopping for me, because he is wonderful. The family reunion had disbanded, legal, financial, health and car issues were mostly resolved, and all my commissions were in the mail so I could 100% let go of my stress and really relax.

As the day wore on, I started to feel better and better. I could walk around the apartment. I made some food.

Today I woke up and I am 95% better. I took a one-hour walk in our hilly neighborhood. I feel very good now.

I am quite certain I will feel even better tomorrow.

This is important for anyone doing this way of eating with an autoimmune disease to realize:

Without Good Food, You Won't Heal, But Food is Not Everything

Exercise is very important

Rest is extremely important

Stress Reduction (exercise often takes care of a lot of this) is very important

Socializing and having good social network is very important

Relationships are very important

Enjoying your life is very important

In other words, a balanced life is important. A good life is worth working for. Eat well, but take care of yourself on all levels too. It is important!

[jamietwo]

Nicole, I am so sorry you've been going through such a rough time. I totally believe that stress is a trigger, as well as not getting enough rest, and, well, everything else you mentioned! I'm glad you listened to your body (sometimes our bodies don't give us a choice, do they? ) and took care of yourself! Sending lots of healing vibes your way! Take care!

[nicoles]

Jamietwo, thanks! You are so sweet.

Yup. Stress is a thing. No doubt.

I love the idea of being able to do visualizations or something to retrain my immune system to not go down the "Attack! Do more!" Path when things get hairy. I've read that is something one might be able to do. Nifty idea at the least, but I'm not beating myself up if I never get to that point.


I'm good with accepting that stress is a thing and taking whatever reasonable measures I can to lessen the stresses I encounter. Like practical habits. I could have done a little more to take care of myself those couple weeks. I didn't out of a combination of habit, being reactive and family dynamics, which I allowed to happen as they typically would, rather than taking a new way through.

But that's ok. Learning and observing are good things.

I couldn't agree more, our bodies can give us no choice but to listen! That's one reason I didn't freak out. I thought, "OK, this is one form of the pain signal being successful." It let me know there was a problem, and I took care of it. It's functional! Although Maybe a little overcreative....

[nicoles]

It's Tuesday. I had my flare on Sunday. It was mostly better by Monday and I am happy to report it is all better today!

THIS is what I feel is the power of the dietary approach to dealing with autoimmune disease. It does not take it away 100%, but it does make it much, much less severe.

[nicoles]

I love this TED talk

Show me the data!

[MSNomad]

I love this TED talk

Show me the data!

Ooh, I love this TED talk, Nicole. Thanks!

[kalehi]

Thanks for posting that link,

I loved this TEDx talk, too!

[nicoles]

Hi MSNomad and Kalehi! Glad you both enjoyed the link.

[nicoles]

Ugh. Got "interventioned" for my "orthorexia" today by a couple of well-meaning new friends.


Neither of whom eat this way, neither of whom have done one bit of research as to what I am doing, and neither of whom even KNEW me when I was really sick.

I posted that orthorexia checklist a bit back, as a joke. Yikes!


I don't imagine there is anything I can do to change their minds - they both reacted to my diet change story with horror, and immediately launched into the standard, "I could never give up...such and such" and "I want to lose weight but I don't want to be as skinny as YOU are" when they heard what it entailed. (I was not proselytizing, it just came up naturally in conversation) and then they both launched right into, "This person I basically am only just getting to know needs ME and US to fix HER!!!"

I wonder if any of this could be a result of their own defensiveness?