You feel like shit: An interactive self care guide

https://philome.la/jace_harr/you-feel-like-shit-an-interactive-self-care-guide/play/index.html

by memorable • 4 years ago

42 19 4 years ago

While this might seem silly to a lot of folks, as someone who struggles severely with Executive Function due to ADHD, this is incredibly helpful. Often, the hardest part for me is identifying the ~why~ of how I'm feeling, preventing me from taking the necessary steps. Once I get past that, it's a lot easier to take action and get to a better place mentally.

laputan_machine• 4 years ago

I think the process might be helpful, but the way this one is presented is highly opinionated and is completely wrong for someone like me.

The first question alone is ridiculous. A normal, otherwise healthy person does not need to eat every 4 hours. Eating that often (especially e.g. if it's a high-sugar snack) will prevent your insulin levels from lowering, this is not good for your body. But this person claims that it's OK! It's fine, eat what you want! I think that is terrible advice, and the opposite of looking after yourself.

drekk3• 4 years ago

Your brain needs glucose to function. It can only use ketones for so much of that. If you don't eat every 4 hours, you are probably depriving your brain of glucose. Might not matter if you have a white collar office job that mostly involves Slack and Jira. Slightly more relevant if you're working outdoors in hot, humid weather.

A handful of raisins or cashews would suffice for these, and spacing out snacks in this way leads to less net caloric intake overall

sleepymoose2• 4 years ago

I completely agree! I noticed that one right off the bat as I practice intermittent fasting, so it immediately doesn't apply. Like any other "self-help" exercise, this must be adapted for use in relation to your own personal needs.

LimitedInfo• 4 years ago

unfortunately feeling like shit can make it very difficult to think through these things. Pretty great idea.

lm28469• 4 years ago

The first question is already kind of weird. I don't think eating every few hours is a prerequisite to feeling good (I'm 24hr fasted and feeling extremely good right now)

And when you click "no" the next advice is "If there's a specific food you want, it's okay to eat it! You don't have to eat perfectly healthy all the time"

For people with low self control this is a vicious cycle

astura• 4 years ago

I end up feeling really gross/sluggish if I'm eating all day. I've tried it before, not a fan. I never even end up feeling full if I'm constantly eating, which is just extremely unpleasant and completely dysregulates my food intake. My doctor actually changed my medication because I was always hungry during this time. The medication had horrible side effects. Even if eating all day didn't make me feel awful, it was extremely inconvenient, basically made me plan my day around cooking/obtaining/eating food.

Plus if I regularly eat all day then I'm going to get massively fat(tter) (would basically more than double my calorie intake) and that certainly doesn't feel good and makes moving around more difficult.

It also said

Just also use your brain a little, and notice the quantity you're eating, and how healthy it is for you. You're probably just fine at trusting your gut and knowing what your body needs.

Which is kinda, like, objectively false. If this was the case there wouldn't be an "obesity epidemic." We wouldn't be telling people they need to eat less to lose weight.

Beyond that, hungry is surprisingly malleable. I don't get hungry in the morning because I don't eat breakfast. If I start eating breakfast several days in a row then I start getting hungry in the morning.

When I was in intensive outpatient therapy I was instructed to eat 24/7 essentially. When I pushed back and said that didn't work for me and I am not always hungry I got accused of "ignoring signals from my body." It's like, lady, this entire friggin therapy is about ignoring signals from my body. I wouldn't be here if my body was giving me constructive and healthy signals.

kodah2• 4 years ago

Agreed, I intermittently fast, so I considered this question noise. I also found an edge case (which I related in my other comment). I think in order to be anything beyond a general guiding tool this tool would have to know things about your specific life practices and tolerances. It's a good start though and probably good enough for someone experiencing an anxiety attack or something.

drekk3• 4 years ago

If you haven't eaten in 4 hours you should eat anything, even if it's a "cheat item". Creating rules about what food is or is not permissible is how you give yourself anorexia.

You feel good, sure. Your brain doesn't have enough glucose to function. It can't run entirely on ketones. The way we cope is throttling unnecessary brain activity. One way to lower the caloric expenditure is to answer complex questions with simple, fatalistic responses. Thinking you're being punished and nothing will ever change is a lot easier of a conclusion to reach if the neocortex only has ketones for fuel. It's kind of impossible for me at least to deal with my ADHD / anxiety / depression if my brain is running on fumes

Besides that, poverty is one of the largest risk factors for obesity, to the extent that your zip code is a better determinant for it than your genetics. The US has some of the most extreme wealth inequality of any "1st world" nation, with 1 in 5 of its children experiencing food insecurity. But we only ever talk about what individuals are at fault for, not the system that relegates millions of us to live in food deserts and/or in poverty

kodah2• 4 years ago

This is a pretty cool tool.

On "Are you in pain?". I have a not-insignificant back injury that's connected to my sciatic nerve. I've found "are you in pain" to be much too broad of a question, because now I've learned to live with pain. Instead, the question is, "Is your pain running your life today?" If yes, then I need to do something about it; if no, that'll do.

To me, "self-care" to me is about maximizing how I can spend my life that day. If I spend all day self-caring, I am not living.

LennyWhiteJr2• 4 years ago

First question is already awful. "Haven't eaten in 4 hours? You need to eat!"

Give me a break, I skip breakfast and usually do intermittent fasting every day, not eating until 4 or 5 with a high-cal home cooked meal. I feel great all day.

drekk3• 4 years ago

My grandma smoked with every meal and lived well past her 90s, what's your point?

LennyWhiteJr2• 4 years ago

Fasting is not unhealthy.

eastof• 4 years ago

This is a general guide, so it doesn't account for any medical conditions the reader may have. Many people don't need to restrict their calorie intake so it makes them feel better when they eat some delicious food.

merricksb• 4 years ago

Posted a few months ago under a different URL (but same content and creator):

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29872373 (231 points/245 comments)

TrueDuality• 4 years ago

I like the concept but a lot of the answers in here aren't great advice or actively dismissive (specifically see the answers to depression and loneliness, social media has been proven to make both generally worse).

Terry_Roll• 4 years ago

It sounds like there's something on your mind! We're going to do our best to take care of it.
Set a timer for 15 minutes, and work on a solution. If it's something you can change, then great! If not, do your best to reach out to someone and talk about it.
Remember, 15 minutes and only 15! You can go back to whatever it is after we're done working through this together. We're just taking baby steps in the right direction.
Okay, I did my best.

Some how I dont think a corrupt global criminal elite is going to be fixed in 15mins!

gunshai• 4 years ago

Pretty sure the first question should be are you avoiding something or someone?

Anecdotally I feel the worse when I have been avoiding {item(s)} I need to do that I have yet to start. Soo many more times than not, I start doing the {item(s)} I stop feeling like shit even if I don't do it perfectly.

thefz• 4 years ago

This site again? Don't go around telling people to eat a snack every 3-4 hours.

You feel like shit: An interactive self care guide

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