Starving yourself, starvation, fasting: these words seem to pop up
everywhere these days in relation to lipedema. And not just with respect to lipedema. There’s
talk of ‘starving tumors’, resetting and/or cleansing your body by fasting,
skipping meals like a caveman etc. The emphasis is shifting to what is not
ingested, instead of what you should or could ingest. Before you know it the
(presumed) science behind these tools is translated into numbers of calories
and ways to cut calories, as we are all drilled with the low-calorie myth.
With doctors still (!) recommending gastric surgery for lipedema, the
fad of the hCG diet which was paired with extremely low calorie food plans, the
popularity of juice detox-fasting and the presumed beneficial effects of (intermitted)
fasting, the extreme low calorie theories as somehow being beneficial for
lipedema after all keep creeping into conversation. I don’t buy that. Plus,
this line of reasoning is creeping me out. It creeps me out because it’s a
slippery slope: if you don’t lose weight at, say, 1500 calories a day, they
drop the recommendation to 1200, then 1000. Where does it end? With hCG they
dropped to 600 calories. That’s incredibly low, to put it mildly. Just because
we need to fit the calories in and calories out myth.
Weight-loss is not simply about calories in and calories out. Yes, a lot of doctors still
say that, but that’s because they didn’t keep up with research on this topic
since medical school. A frustrating example in my own household: my son has to
eat like crazy just to maintain a healthy weight, my husband was the same and
can still eat an insane amount of calories without showing it, but my daughter
and I have to really watch what we eat. There is no general standard in
metabolism which you can quantify with a number of calories per day, even
though this is being done anyway. We simply are all different and don’t process
food alike.
On top of that, lipedema is not caused by overeating. It can be
aggravated by overeating, but that’s another story. As lipedema is not caused by overeating, it seems farfetched that
eating (extremely) little could fix it. I know many of you are familiar
with the images of women with anorexia, who still displayed clear signs of
lipedema. Sadly, these women prove that point.
Starving yourself is not the answer. Food is not the enemy. Good food
provides nutrients, the stuff that keeps you strong and healthy. You can’t
build muscles on air. You can’t maintain strong bones and teeth, and have
enough energy to face your day by limiting yourself to a few mouths-full of
food day in day out. Food is sustenance.
Moreover, lipedema appears to coincide with deficiencies in essential vitamins and
minerals. Vitamin B12 and D deficiency is notorious among lipedema patients, as
low levels further undermine energy levels. Some say it’s because we already
tend to eat too little as it is. Others speculate it’s something in our
metabolism. I don’t know what it is, as lipedema metabolism has never been
studied. I only know that if you’re already prone to deficiencies it’s not
particularly helpful to deprive yourself of sufficient quantities of foods
containing essential vitamins and minerals.
There’s no nice way to put it. Lipedema in itself already can already
affect quality of life. Deficiencies only make you feel worse. It’s a sign your
body doesn’t get enough of what it needs to keep the system running smoothly. It’s
not just a matter of discomfort: deprivation leads to health problems and in the
long run to permanent health damage.
I know many of us have to use supplements or get for instance B12 shots
to compensate regardless, but access to supplements cannot justify deprivation.
My two cents: even if modest (!) fasting or throwing in a liquids-only day is
said to be beneficial, it should be nothing but a tool in the bigger picture, never
a goal in itself. 