Within the first year on a 100% LFRV lifestyle I still struggled to accept the amount of calories I needed to eat, but I was getting BETTER. I even rode half way across Australia on my bicycle 100% Low Fat Raw Vegan (unfortunately still not having learnt how to eat enough). Then one day I decided to start our website 30bananasaday.com. All of a sudden practising and aspiring LFRV’s joined the site, it was amazing.

A ray of hope and sunshine

People began to share their stories of disordered-eating pasts, suddenly I didn’t feel alone anymore. I became very inspired and began to see a familiar theme. A lot of these people seemed to be struggling to stay raw or were really inactive and failing to thrive. The womyn who were thriving were regularly eating over 2500 calories a day from fruit and the men over 3000. After observing this and finally “hearing” Harley’s message of “eat more fruit” I decided I was sick of being a victim to my eating disorder and began to get tough “NO MORE!” I said and from then, I too began to eat sufficient calories from fruit, specifically over 2500. This turning point took a while to come but boy was it worth the wait!

I started to feel amazing!! I finally felt alive and energetic. I began to experience the biggest shift in consciousness. My anorexic mentality had finally dissolved I felt free!

The power of shifting ones focus

I started to focus on health & fitness rather than weight-loss and my weight stabilised around 54-56kg’s (119lbs-123lbs), coming down from 70kgs (154lbs). It has been easy to attain and maintain my lean healthy physique on this lifestyle and psychologically I feel very comfortable in my skin now.

Found this pic at my mums, this was me after anorexia eating a high fat animal product diet.

After! Fit and happy

Thanks to the “eat more fruit” message

I can safely say that it’s the high calorie fruit bats of 30BaD that have helped me stay thriving on this lifestyle since Jan 09. Yes I have been officially on the LFRV lifestyle since Oct 2007 but I wasn’t thriving on my low calorie version. I am now setting Personal Bests in all my athletic endeavours and feel consistently happy and healthy however if I don’t regularly eat at least 2500 calories a day from fruit I don’t feel as good as i could and start to resort back to my low self-esteem low energy levels of the past. I now listen to these feelings and change course instead of pandering to them. Increasing my physical activity has been crucial in escaping the ED umbrella.

I am living proof that a person coming from a background of disordered eating can successfully become friends with their food again.

I feel that the 30 bananas a day community played a vital role in this process and I believe it can be of assistance to people from all backgrounds no matter how varied, but to be effective the message has to come with a high calorie recommendation. From anorexics to the morbidly obese, yes our advice is tough and not “sugar-coated” but to really change people need to hear it straight. This approach helped me to “get real” and overcome my anorexia permanently and it has also worked for others within the community.

Where should “they” go?

I was advised by a member that we should encourage people with anorexia to “get qualified help” – that the 30BaD forum can’t help them. My response to this was “Where would we send them?” …because that is the truth, should we send them to a typical hospital for anorexics where they force feed these people highly processed bowel-clogging foods like “ensure” and medicate them into submission?

I think not.

I know 30BaD can assist people with eating disorders, through my own experience and by learning of people like “AppleMan” (member of 30BaD) who overcame anorexia on a LFRV lifestyle. He did this by learning to eat sufficient calories from fruit. This helped give him the strength to drop his anorexic identity. All the while with the vital support of the 30BaD community.

Counting calories can be a life-saver

It was also suggested to me that people with anorexic’s should not be advised to count their calories (due to their previous obsession with calories). With the experience I have now, to me this is extremely counterproductive. When I was anorexic, if someone were to say to me “just eat as much fruit as you feel and don’t count calories”. For me that would have equated to eating half a banana. That is obviously not enough sustenance for anyone to thrive on ANY lifestyle let alone a low caloric density one like the low fat raw vegan lifestyle. We would quickly see those people disappearing off the forum forever and continuing with their dangerous disordered thinking. More objective advice is vital.

I believe anorexia is a combination of a misguided focus “supported” by a malnutritioned mind. Take food away from anyone and before long they will start to gradually shut down…literally. Couple this with an obsession to be rail thin and we have a very serious problem.

I comfortably count calories these days. I have no residual negative attachment to the process. It’s taken time but it really can be done. The reason I count calories these days it to make sure I am getting enough calories to thrive on this lifestyle because if I start to under-eat on fruit (regularly eat less than 2500 cals a day) then undesirable foods like high fat gourmet raw and cooked foods become appealing.

This isn’t rocket science but it is science.

If the brain isn’t receiving sufficient carbohydrate calories from fruit on this lifestyle it will search out a denser source of calories.

Making lasting change can be challenging especially when habits become deeply ingrained sometimes letting go of an “old friend” eating disorder can take many months or even years, but it doesn’t have to if we find the LFRV lifestyle. What is vital during this “recovery stage” is proper nutrition to support positive change and a healthy dose of tough love. If one suffers from anorexia they MUST learn to eat sufficient amounts of fruit and incorporate regular exercise if they have any chance of recovery.

On the road to recovery

I really feel it’s important that a person suffering from anorexia doesn’t get too much unnecessary attention for their condition because it becomes their identity and no one wants to lose their identity right? They need to be reminded that their health is their responsibility. I know many who succumb to this disorder for attention and love. They become addicted to the constant worry over them and it becomes a way to get noticed.

Of course if I had my way, I would put people with anorexia on a fruit drip until their thoughts become more pure and orderly. I honestly wish someone did this to me! They can’t possibly change without the proper nutritional support which of course is a calorie-sufficient (not deficient) LFRV lifestyle backed up with an appropriately supportive community. In a world which worships the “Get your 2 fruits & 3 veg food pyramid” who else will provide this type of nutritional advice and support?

Individual responsibility

Ultimately the decision to get better is in the hands of the person with the eating disorder. Eating disorders are often difficult to overcome alone and the success rates a dismal through standard treatment, that’s where the community support of 30BaD may assist the individual.

On 30BaD people are more likely to come in contact with the truth. It may not be well received at first but it may just be enough to flick the “change switch” within – like it did for me, a drastic yet healthy intervention is needed. As far as 30BaD goes – our goal isn’t to make “30 Bananas a day” a forum all about helping people with anorexia and eating disorders nor will we be assisting people feel comfortable within their disorder. However we do invite these people to come and give this lifestyle a try.

We will support them to the best of our ability with tough love and with as objective information as possible – everything short of force-feeding with a fruit drip

I’m currently conducting a case study on LFRV and ED with an epidemiologist who compiles and analyzes data on a daily basis and has herself recovered from bulimia.

Look forward to sharing my findings with you all. In upcoming blogs i will address what I see as the fundamental areas that need to be addressed in order to overcome disordered eating.

I have photos from this anorexic period in my life, but not with me right now due to my transient lifestyle.
When I get them i will scan them in.

My before and after a LFRV lifestyle. When I get hold of earlier pics I will post them asap!