Food and trauma

[Deborah]

Hi all. I notice there is a huge impact of diet on my PTSD.

I have a food intolerance. If I eat this food, I do not get physical problems. Or barely. I just get emotionally crazy. Fearful. Depressed. Suicidal. Angry. I've read that allergy spikes histamine and cortisol. Which spikes stressresponses. Which again spike histamine and cortisol. And starts a feedback loop. That is often misdiagnosed as psychiatric.

I also suspect histamine to be a big one. As well as coffee. And additives like MSG or dyes.

I eat very simple last weeks out of necessity (budget). Two meals a day. Plain potatoes with fresh veggies. Rice with a few spices. Nothing special. Keto had a rather miraculous impact. As did the few foods diet (ADHD diet). But both were hard to sustain.

I do have to watch that I do not get into disordered eating territory. But a clean diet helps a ton.

What do you think? What helps you?

[hhaw]

A friend uses the term "prescriptive eating" when referring to changing eating habits for one's benefit.

Everyone has food sensitivities, allergies and neutral/beneficial foods they tolerate well.

You're figuring that out, which is HUGE, IME.

Finding time for planning, shopping, food prep, and follow through also includes cleaning out inflammatory foods, esp the go-to emotional food choices, one eats out of reactivity/to distract, provide immediate self gratification at the expense of one's health, IME.

Gaining cooperation, of people in your life, to at least offer your preferred choices, rather than expect you to eat salty/crunchy/dairy/sugary/gluten filled foods that make your brain go WHEEEE....(things they're eating,) helps. If they're respectful, and join you in your choices, at times, all the better.


Fast food is everywhere.  On every screen. Every corner. Every grocery store.

Finding acceptable substitutions, researching interesting recipes, committing to a mindful plan goes hand in hand with everything above, IME. In my case, I'm eating prescriptively, or I'm not.  It's all or nothing, which my daughters consider an eating disorder.

I'm responding bc I just cleaned out poor food choices, planned meals ahead, and have a fridge full of ingredients for make-ahead meals, which began last night with chicken thighs pan cooked with garlic, olive oil, oregano, and red wine vinegar, which is recipe for rabbit.....much easier to make with chicken, esp in bulk.

A large pan of sauteed onions with fresh corn off the cob, sans any spices, makes a nice staple to have in the fridge as an interesting add in.....sweet and flavorful....can add any spice to add interest.

I'm not sure which food you need to avoid, but during years of trial prep and trauma I had to give up coffee, or I'd be so stressed my shoulders would pop out if socket.

I'm g/s/d free, and have one gf carb a week, with one meal, when I'm on.  I eat 25or more grams of clean protein 3x daily....which curbs my appetite to the point I have to eat when not hungry....but not skipping is part of the deal.

I went to a dietitian, using muscle testing, to clear brain fog during a legal trial and ongoing crisis.  It worked, and I ate double the food and watched 20 lbs of inflammation fall off, unintended.

Do you mind if I ask which foods your avoiding/eating to feel better?

[Deborah]

Hey. Thanks for the response. I will be short and come back later. I just had a ton of coloured candies yesterday... then a huge panic attack. It feels like my brain explodes. I feel like a horrible person now. It was the combination of stressful event + food. It's always both. But this is one: food dyes and other chemicals like MSG.

The food I avoid is dairy. If I have milk, I have a trauma response. I'm lactose-intolerant. But probably also allergic to caseine or so... I respond to lactose-free milk in the exact same way.

Good that you found a good way to eat. I'm still figuring it out. A few food diet (ADHD diet) worked wonders for me. I ate very clean: rice, chicken or turkey, water, lettuce, broccoli, pear. On repeat.

[xredshoesx]

I have issues with food from it being withheld due to scarcity or punishment as well as fun gastro issues related to colitis triggers (nuts, wheat, yeast)......  i'm sure it's all related.  i'm sure for many of us what did/ didn't go into our mouths may have been the one thing we could control at times in our lives - me going from that extreme of nothing to eat (literally, the story goes my mother's parents rescued me bc I was eating dog/ cat food) to my grandmother refusing food as a form of punishment,  so I started sneak eating and my trauma response ever since has been to stress eat bc once I got on my own, I was able to make sure food was always there for me (and at some times was the only thing that was constant).

i'm glad you found what works for you for optimal health.  we are trying elimination diet with my DH and he's having a hard time with it- I think he's wheat/yeast intolerant and he doesn't want to give up his 0% alcohol beer.... so we are trying one of the GI issue diets (think soft, bland and only cooked fruit/ veggies, chicken/turkey) and some supplements recommended by both his GI and GP docs-  it's a struggle indeed.   

[Deborah]

Thanks.

I do think that's a part of it. As a child food was used in a weird way as well. I would refuse milk (for good reason, I found out decades later). Mum would force me and shame me over it. Publicly humiliating me if I didn't drink milk.

When I was in a ward, I would quit eating altogether. The coercive control and dehumanization in a ward is enormous. It wasn't controlling behaviour of me. I was terrified. But it was indeed the only thing I had control over. I had zero privacy. Zero control over my own body. Every movement and every word was monitored. It was horrid abuse.

I also have emotion eating normally. It has at times been the only good thing in life.

All that makes it hard find my balance. Clean diet versus overly restrictive eating + emotion eating.

[hhaw]

Awww man.... food's so hard.

My daughters have eating disorders, one over-eats.....the other used laxatives, and controlled food, till she could no longer have a bowel movement on her own.  I watched her sit to eat, break down sobbing, run up the stairs, unable to take a bite, over and over till we agreed....driving 2 hours, every Friday, to see our old nutritionist, while pretending there was no eating disorder was our plan.  I had to swear not to talk about the ED....it wasn't easy, any of it, but DD's at a normal weight now, still controlling food, but works out and priorities protein and veggies. She's building muscle, and tells me EDs often lead to gym fixations and control of this type.

Oldest DD was a size 12 when she graduated hs, with the promise she'd "eat whatever" she wanted, once she had her own money....
 and I was no longer buying the food.

Two years later she was a size 22/24....another 2 years, she's a 24/26, and she's afraid for her health.....is dating a man with the same ED.  She had them working out for a while, but that ended.

I go through cycles of eating what they eat.....hoping they suggest eating the way we used to, so we can all begin together.

Sometimes they make the noises, but it's so complicated..... it's difficult to do if the entire household isn't consistent. Maybe it's impossible.

We all have food sensitivities...dairy for the girls, and dairy was a terrible thing to withdrawal from, esp when oldest was in 4th grade. There was screaming, and I would keep little boxes of milk hidden....for when I couldn't take it any longer.

I've decided to give the girls space, and eat prescriptively on my own....living away from them most of the time.

For my own health, but to model it, again, so they understand it can be done.

Youngest ED is about control....we had years of turmoil and fear.

Oldest DD has her father's genes, and he urged me to treat her differently....to her detriment.  She was hiding food in Pre-school.  I thought milk was healthy, so no juices, or sodas.....it backfired spectacularly.

When we were eating prescriptively, without a bobble....it was a chore to eat enough...,we were never hungry.....the work to find, plan and purchase only "good" choices had shedding tears in grocery stores, but desperation and oldest DD's recent dx of whole body infection (likely lymes) along with my brain fog during a custody trial....had me carrying a bag of supplements.....it was just very hard on all of us.  Esp with a sibling sabotaging and belittling me....he had his kids doing the same.

On top of it all, I had to mix up proteins and foods....not eating too much of anything, preferably not the same one twice, and we all had different sensitivities. 

I will end with this....
planning that 1 gf carb, once a week, with one meal, provided a sunny spot to look forward to. 

There have to be happy moments, to sustain anything, IME.

If things got real bad.... dietitian said choose potato chips over ice cream.

No one can be perfect all the time.

Becso very gentle with yourselves.

[hhaw]

xedshoesx:
My sister like THE PLAN for elimination diet.

I tried it, with my youngest DD...and the weighing ourselves every morning felt extreme and unnecessary, bc we'd already figured out our sensitivities with dietitian. Apparently the body retains water  as an inflammatory response, so weight up, or down, after new food introduction, was the primary indicator for sensitivity to that food.

I didn't hate the recipes....the soups are yummy, particularly the carrot ginger, and the broccoli, which we still make in large batches and freeze.

I hope you guys find what works for you.  Muscle testing, by a stern, unsmiling Eastern European dietitian, who took us on as emergency cases after hours, worked like alchemy for us.  Oldest DD's face changed quickly.....the inflammation melted away.....like magic.  I turned around and noticed all my dimples were gone, and none of my clothes fit, though I ate much more food, and didn't care or need to lose weight.  I just wanted to think clearly.

It's about controlling inflammation.....
more, less, or keeping it the same comes down to food choices, IME.

To keep my body running efficiently, I can't skip any meals, or veer off track with food choices.

My martial arts instructor eats one meal a day, and it works for him.  Not me.

Good luck, and I'm sorry you didn't have the parents you deserved. 

[Deborah]

Thanks! That was enlightening!

Apparently the body retains water  as an inflammatory response, so weight up, or down, after new food introduction, was the primary indicator for sensitivity to that food.

> I've noticed I eat more clean. And I lost weight. But also "puffiness" and menstrual symptoms and mood swings. All of which are inflammation responses. When I cheat, they come back real fast.

To keep my body running efficiently, I can't skip any meals, or veer off track with food choices.

> I want to fast. But I've noticed my diet goes off track real quick. When I'm hungry even by a bit.

[hhaw]

Fasting didn't work for me.  It worked for a friend....and my Martial arts instructor, as I've mentioned. 

My dietitian said to eat 15+ grams of clean protein with good fats (olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, ghee), all the fresh veggies, we weren't sensitive to, and one gf carb a week with one meal.  If I was hungry between meals, I knew I didn't eat enough fat and protein....I needed more.

Basically, everything that makes my brain go WHEEEEEE! is likely not a wise food choice.

Cravings decrease as the body clears of g/s/d.....but, Lordy... it's not easy to withdrawal, cold turkey. As I said, some measure of despair usually factors in, and that makes me sad.

Another thing.....once I cleared my system of g/s/d....for months, without veering off track.....eating a fast food hamburger, out of nerves during my mother's final cancer struggle....sent my system off.  My throat and lungs produced phlegm...lots of it....an alarming amount, and that stripped away much of the "pleasure" in backsliding, bc I was dealing with the physical distress for hours, which made it easier to resist backsliding.

My youngest DD had been eating pristine, with me, for as many months, when I broke down and bought her a honey bun from the hospital machine.  That child vomited all over my mother's hospital bathroom, which was super extra alarming.....I feared we'd brought the flu into that ward!!!  It was the honeybun, in a system cleansed and now sensitive to g/s/d, turned out.

Finding replacement foods....
making them available....
extinguishing poor food choices in the house.....
hanging out with like minded eaters...
getting a schedule, meal plan/prep/schedule internalized... happened. 

Understanding how changes in food choices effect one on a cellular kevel....helped, but experiencing clarity of thought, ease in the body, bc inflammation decreased...increased energy/strength kept the habits in place, until it didn't.