hmmm...just wondering...

[Celtic Camel]

A random question...
I know that lack of food affects concentration & learning & retention of info, etc...
but do those problems remain even after you have more or less 'quit' the ED behaviours?

I used to be a fast learner... then came the long-term ED habits... now I eat more or less healthy most of the time, and yet I my learning ability seems to have runaway still ...when will I be able to 'learn' like I used to...
(or is it just old age settling in? )

 

[Soulwings]

Longterm starving can cause brain cells to die, so it is possible that you've lost some of that learning ability. However, I don't know for absolute 100% certainty, and I do know that there is always a hope of whatever you've lost coming back. It also depends on how long you've been eating healthily, and whether you're getting enough calories. You may think you are - I thought that eating roughly 2000cal a day would be enough - and then I found out when I went into treatment this summer that my body burns that much without figuring exercise or anything into it. So now I'm on a diet of around 2600 - 2700 (I don't know for certain because I don't want to get obsessive about it), and my mental concentration and learning ability has returned to *almost* where it used to be. Not quite. But almost.

Also, random factoid ... your brain burns 60% of what you take in. So if you aren't getting enough - then you're still starving your brain - which means that it's not going to be able to work to its full potential.

If this is at all feasible, I would say go to a nutritionist, get a metabolic rate test done, and then see how many calories per day you do actually need.

Hope some of that helped.

 

[kamikat]

ED behaviors aside, I personally have noticed a distinct change in my mental abilities after my 30th birthday. I forget little things and have to write everything down. Again, I don't know if it's the ED behaviors or the drug addiction for my early 20's finally catching up to me, but this is happening to me, too.
kamikat