She said plaintively

[resonant]

I've been having some digestive issues. My doctor thinks I may have developed an intolerance/sensitivity, because middle age is a wonderland. So it's important for me to track what I eat.

I downloaded an app. MoodBites, if you're curious. It's pretty good, but ...

I've never been treated for or diagnosed with an eating disorder. I don't usually say I have, or have had, an eating disorder. (I mean, usually it's enough to say, "I'm a woman in America.")

But I spent 23 of my first 30 years dieting, and if you'd asked five-year-old me to describe her best friend she would have said, "She's prettier than me because she's thin," and I'm aware that my relationship with food and eating is a very thin piece of balsa wood laid gently on top of a writhing mass of rotting pumpkin guts.

And tracking what I eat is making me very, very unhappy.

I can tell that the designers of the app are trying to make it usable even to people who have this issue. You can't enter quantities at all. You can see that you've recorded yogurt three times but you can't see a list of what you've eaten today. They're doing their best. And I do need the information.

But it sucks, and I want to complain.

Comments

[fox]

:-(

I hope you get usable answers speedily and soon and are able to stop doing this stressful thing (which, if it were me, would also likely be affecting my digestion) as quick as you can.

♥

[ride_4ever]

I have done various forms of food-tracking many times in my life, and because I actually enjoy tracking, maybe I'm not the best respondent here, and also, since my food-tracking days go back to the 1970s and I have never used any form of online tracking, what I would have to say may look terribly old-fashioned here in the very techy 21st century.

Shall I go on or no?

[resonant]

Sure! I have to admit it's very appealing to the same part of me that enjoys those games where you have to assemble a complete set of objects. If it were anything but food it would be all kinds of fun.

[ride_4ever]

Of the various food tracking systems I've used over decades, the one I liked best was Richard Simmons Deal-A-Meal. I liked how the cards with the food equivalents and the listed portion sizes made for both a physical experience (handling and moving the cards) and a conceptual one (describing what portion was meant by "a serving" and how many servings of each food group to have each day).

[resonant]

Ah - yeah, OK, can't do this. I need to record what ingredients I eat and what symptoms I have, but I really can't do any eat-less-of-this or eat-more-of-this outside the very limited context of don't-eat-this-unless-you-want-intestinal-cramps.

[ride_4ever]

Hmmm...sounds like you need to create a personalized food journal (I've done that too).

[azurelunatic]

The route-around that I've occasionally been able to do is drawing pictures of some of the components of my meals. That engages the art project section of my brain rather than the one that's got all the red and black striped tape wrapped around it.

My sympathies.

[resonant]

<3

[lunabee34]

*hugs*

[adafrog]

{{{hugs}}}

[mific]

Buckets of peppermint tea and ginger tea, maybe?
Unsure if it would help, but I've also become cunning in slipping plain metamucil into lots of things as it's good for your bowels and general health and I like that it unclogs me due to the truckloads of cheese I eat. Like I put it in the bread rolls I make to replace ordinary bread, and into my favourite dessert of raspberry compote with yoghurt and cream. Happy to link you to recipes if any of that sounds digestible.

[mtl]

Ugh, I totally understand. I've got similar background & bc of blood sugar issues, I've got to keep track of carbs. Using My Fitness Pal bc it's easy, but still a bit triggery for me. I've not been able to find anything that helps me count carbs (and nothing else) without weight loss & calories messaging.

[princessofgeeks]

*gentle pets*

[clevermanka]

Support and solidarity. This shit is awful and difficult and fraught. I hope you find the food culprit soon and are able to easily deal with it. In the meantime, complain away.

[j00j]

<3

[runpunkrun]

Tracking what you eat is a mind fuck. I hope you get some answers soon. <3

[blueraccoon]

I hope tracking provides you with answers. I saw a new doctor for an ongoing issue about a month ago and without even asking me if i could she told me to do this restricted diet and see if it helps things.

Long story short, I wrote her back the next day and explained that restricting what I eat comes at the expense of my mental health and I'm not willing to make that tradeoff. So I'm trying to track it instead, but haven't been doing well at it, because it sucks. (Very long backstory involving gastric bypass; let's just say I've gotten far too obsessed with tracking and weight in the past.)

[isilya]

Hear for you if you ever need to vent or want a kind listening medical ear. I’ve been on both sides of the equation as both patient and doctor—-and have a boatload of experience of everything you mention in your post.

GI issues really really suck!

[celli]

<333333

Sympathy & Swears

[jesse_the_k]

I've also had to do a bunch of food tracking lately, and it's HORRIBLE.

I do not approve of bodies taking a swerve when it comes to highly important foods like broccoli, garlic, and apples. Or anything else, really: we've developed our tastes and preferences through decades of experience!

Re: Sympathy & Swears

[resonant]

Right? I really hoped not to become one of those middle-aged white people who say, "I like cucumbers but they don't like me, hahaha!" but here we are.