Decisions decisions!

Does anyone else have the problem of deciding WHAT to eat and get confused?

Ive opened my doors to eating again, but find it hard to decide what to eat and question whether what I am choosing is a-enough or b-decided by my old ED.

I have this problem too!  I've always been indecisive, but since ED I'm even worse.  Part of the problem was during ED I was restricting so I had like a "last supper" mentality - i.e. that everything I did let myself eat had to be perfect, and I had to appreciate and really consider every mouthful.  I'm now realising that not every meal or snack has to be exactly as I plan...if it's not "perfect" then I can try something different tomorrow.  I have a whole lifetime's worth of snacks and meals to experiment with!

It is important to have a balanced diet and rediscovering foods you enjoy eating (rather than just foods your ED prefers!) is all part of the recovery process.  But when I'm struggling to make decisions, I find it helps to remind myself that food is ultimately just fuel, nothing more, nothing less.  The only thing that really matters is making sure you have enough of it, so that there is space in your head to focus on other areas of your life which are so much more interesting and fulfilling - friends, family, interests, hobbies, studies etc:) 

Hope that helps a bit!

I've really struggled with that exact issue myself. What would happen to me was that I couldn't decide what to eat, so I would just not eat at all.

Obviously this impaired my recovery all those many months ago, and I'd end up needing to have an 800 calorie sundae before bed at night because I'd be so low on calories.

Something that has helped me is making up meal plans in advance, and then picking and choosing what I want to go with on a given day. Still have options, but I know whatever I choose will give me adequate calories/fat/protein/goodness for a given meal.

Thanks guys

Seeing food as fuel, nothing more or less that will help me go to the movies, read a book, go for a SHORT walk, talk to people without losing track of what i was saying-really makes sense. And yea I guess I do have lots of time to experiemnet.

I think Im going to brainstorm a few ideas of things that are adquate that I do like for my meals also.

Thanks again, I love the help. Gosh-who knew something like food could be so confusing!

I really struggle with knowing what I want to eat and sometimes it gets so frustrating that I end up worrying myself out of being hungry at all.

So what I do is, I have a basic plan which I roughly follow but if someday I feel like having something different then I can. If one day Im struggling to decide or dont feel hungry etc I just eat what I normally would saves me having to try and think of something. Dinner is usually a hard one though because that varies a lot, so maybe try what Rebel said and plan your day in advance so then you dont have to worry about it.

I struggle with a similar thing - I don't know WHAT I want. For me the easiest way to overcome it has been to make very detailed meal plans. I can't even write
'Yoghurt'
on my plan because I will stand in front of the fridge for ten minutes trying to decide what flavour... So my meal plans are now ridiculously detailed.

I write them out for the week, which IS time consuming but saves me a lot of hassle later on.

Yes, I am just starting recovery and dealing with this. So many foods are "off limits" because of my ED, that I don't know what to do. I know I should have some oatmeal/granola for breakfast with some nuts/pb, maybe a bagel. But uh, heavy carbs?! nuts?! Those were definite no's according to my ED.

So I've found I need to plan everything ahead. Portion out my food, so when it's time to eat I just walk to the cupboard/fridge, and tell myself that this is what I am going to eat to get better. No option of switching it out for something low cal/"ED approved".

Me too. Since I reached a healthy weight I've been eating the same things everyday. Oh dear. Even before my ED though, I used to spend ages deciding what to eat. It stresses me out.

Yes, sometimes I do have trouble deciding WHAT to eat. So lately, I have a few healthy, solid choices in my head for each meal, and then let myself "pick" between them in the moment so it doesn't feel TOO boring. I tend not to write it all down or plan TOO much though, bc part of recovery is learning to be flexible!

For example, I was away from home this weekend visiting w/ friends, and we ate  alot of meals out and on the go, so I couldn't plan it. And that's ok sometimes! It's also ok to eat "unhealthy" every once in awhile, like today when I was driving home and was craving a blizzard from DQ, so I got it.

But, if you're standing in front of the pantry or fridge and have NO IDEA what to eat, it's best to have a few go-to snacks written down somewhere. Better to eat something you might not necessarily be in the mood for than to not eat at all!! Which is what used to happen to me earlier in recovery. I'd be so overwhelmed I'd either eat 20 different things or nothing. NOT GOOD.

Oh me too, definitely!

Infact, often it gets so bad that I put it off and put it off and in the end give up totally and don't bother.

Very naughty I know, but often I can't see another way to sort my silly confused mind out!

I hate this part the most! for me its soo hard just deciding what to have for a nibble so what i do is i just alternate between different menus on different days and to be honest it gets soooo boring! but id rather do that then starve myself cos i cant find something to choose i mean even if i have too stand there infront of the fridge and think of deciding of what to eat, its better eating the damn thing in the end rather than to eat nothing at all.

wow same! didn't realise how many people shared this problem.

What I do is I have a few options worked out for each meal. For example for breakfast along with my berries and yoghurt, it's either a cup of oats with milk, or 3/4 muesli with milk. I gradually add things to my options (at first i'd only ever eat the oats) as I find myself wanting to explore and rediscover different foods! Struggling a bit with lunch, I always fall back to a sandwhich when i can never convince myself to go for that bowl of noodles or rice... but i'll get over it in good time:) It does help to mentally plan what you're going to eat for the day, so before you go to the fridge you can say to yourself 'okay so i'm GOING to have this', give yourself no other options!

Mostly though I'm learning to make the most of this experience by being able to explore different foods and flavours, gaining back my appreciation for food!

Same here.  I'm horrible at making decisions in general but with food/what to eat it's even worse.  What's made things worse for me is the fear of stomach pain that my doctors and I still haven't figured out.  What helps for me is talking things through with my nutritionist and planning all of my meals ahead of time.  I end up eating a lot of the same things everyday but that's generally how I eat anyways (I've always been a bit OCD about that)....and I just keep reminding myself that the most important thing is that I get some calories.