The Proctitis Pages
On the subject of Over Eating & Under Eating
Some Thought On Over Eating.
Yet another common problem for anyone who gets colitis (proctitis or other digestive conditions) is knowing "how much" food is right in any meal that you eat. My experience is that when I became sick with colitis & proctitis one of the things I found myself doing was going for long periods without eating and then finding myself consuming BIG (oversized) meals bye way of compensation. I lost all sense of proportionality and balance when it came to knowing when enough was enough. I also put on a lot of weight as a result too.
Over eating as I have described is NOT good for your digestive system, frankly it puts extra stress & strain on it. However let me say that this may possibly be yet another symptom of the illness.
loosing any sense of when you have eaten enough to satisfy your stomach is a bit like a person who has drunk to much alcohol. Its far too easy to be intoxicated without thinking your actually drunk yet. It seems to be very similar with food & the digestive system, with colitis reaching the point when the you've eaten enough food to satisfy your hunger seems to get confused or thrown into chaos. This is not at all surprising if your appetite is all over the show (which mine certainly was during my illness). I guess all I am saying here is that over eating can become a problem & be aware of the fact that its not that good for you, its better if you can avoid doing this.
Thoughts on Comfort Eating.
Yet another version of the above, comfort eating can often be a way of "NOT dealing with" difficult emotions such as sadness, loss, grief even anger. I've heard a lot of stories in the last years from people with colitis (and other digestive conditions) which involves unresolved feelings of anger. Swallowing down or swallowing back anger can be very damaging to the guts and too your well being in the long run.
Something on Under Eating too.
I don't want to pretend for a second that under eating is better for you than over eating. But if your sick with colitis under eating seems much easier to do. However under eating is also NOT good, it puts a different kind of stress on the digestive system, in the end the issue its NOT about under or over eating its about EATING THE RIGHT FOODS for your body & for your digestive system. Eating the right foods is what will bring healing & return your system back to a more balanced state.