The BRAT Diet

06/12/18, 4:43pm

Just to get to the point right away, I've had diarrhea for about a month now. I know this is a little too much information but all of my shits have either been diarrhea or undigested food or just liquid. And I don't know why. I've Googled "eating disorders and diarrhea" and "anorexia and diarrhea" and have found that some people do experience diarrhea while either in the throws of a disorder or in recovery. Anyways a couple days ago my mom made me go on the BRAT diet to try and "reset" my gastrointestinal system. She thinks the water in our new house may have something to do with my stomach issues, but I've also had gastrointestinal problems basically my entire life and they've gotten worse recently. BRAT stands for bananas, rice, applesauce, and crackers. It's a diet that people are put on after they've been afflicted with diarrhea and/or vomiting. All the foods should be low fiber, and fruits (except bananas), vegetables, and dairy should be avoided as they tend to be more difficult to digest. This diet should only be followed for a short period of time, such as a day or two, because it's not very nutritious.

I've got to admit: this diet is so BORING. For the past couple days I've only been eating white rice (made with a little bit of unsweetened almond milk), bananas, blueberry applesauce, and vegetable broth. I've been drinking coffee too, even though you're not supposed to on this diet. I'm really hopeful that the BRAT diet will do something positive for me, even though I've still had diarrhea while on it (though not as much). Yesterday while I was preparing a plate of dinner for my younger brother, I tried a spoonful of the mashed potatoes that my mom had made. About a minute later I had realized that I had eaten something that wasn't part of the BRAT diet and I internally panicked. I decided to purge because I was worried that letting the mashed potatoes digest would erase all the possible benefits of the BRAT diet and because I felt guilty for not following my plan and for possibly disappointing my mom. Later I felt shame and guilt for exceeding my purge limit for the week (my therapist and I set a purge limit every week) and for not calling my therapist before purging. Overall, just a lot of feeling guilty.

Today is my last day on the BRAT diet and I'm doing much better on it than yesterday. I was also so agitated today because the daily crossword page on the LA Times site was wonky and because I had to prepare food for people when I really really really didn't want to. However, I did paced breathing (4 seconds in, 6 seconds out) for three minutes and that really helped calm me down. Then I planned my trip to LA to visit my friend, which helped to further ease my mind and soothe my emotions. Anyways here's my meal plan for my time on the BRAT diet. I just felt like sharing it :)

Breakfast:

1/2 cup of white rice (I used sushi rice the 1st day and then ran out so I used Basmati rice later) (320)

1/2 cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk (15)

1 1/4 cups of filtered or boiled water (0)

5 tsp of sucralose (0)

1 medium banana, cut into thin slices (105)

Cook the rice with almond milk and water, and then mix in the sucralose and banana slices for a sweet BRAT breakfast. (420 total)

Snack:

2 containers of Aldi's Simply Nature blueberry applesauce (100)

Dinner:

Same as breakfast. I didn't feel like making savory rice.