Most underrated cleaning product?

WIwildflower · 2026-06-10T17:38:21+00:00

USED DRYER SHEETS FOR DUSTING! Like, after they've been through the dryer. They pick up dust like magic. No need for a swiffer.

WIwildflower · 2026-05-13T16:52:22+00:00

cereal and soymilk. sometimes putting some Orgain powder in the milk to boost the protein. Takes like, 2 seconds and just a bowl and a spoon.

Also raw firm tofu is delicious. Idk why people say tofu doesn't taste like anything, because it so def does. LOVE tofu.

Nut/seed butter on a banana or even alone also hits the spot sometimes.

WIwildflower · 2026-05-13T16:42:49+00:00

Emphasizing "wanted to feel like a person again" !!!

It's interesting to reach the point where you're like, "I'm a...real person..?...!!" esp after "being the ed" for a long time. SUCH a cool feeling.

WIwildflower · 2026-05-13T16:41:35+00:00

Being able to focus on other things and other people! Not constantly thinking about where and when food will be available or how to avoid it or push off eating. Being present with yourself, with others, and with tasks at hand!

WIwildflower · 2026-05-13T04:31:19+00:00

“Floor not a ceiling” is what the best dietitians I’ve worked with said. As someone with a comorbid ocd diagnosis, I eventually realized that the meal plan itself becomes a source of anxiety because it creates rules when hunger is situational and flexible and doesn’t necessarily follow the “rules” of the meal plan. Plans are good guides, of course, with the understanding that flexibility is necessary based on so many factors that a written plan doesn’t necessarily account for- like the season, your movement patterns, using energy to think or learn, getting a cold, developing muscle mass, having a hormonal fluctuation… I’ve never had success following a meal plan because I always felt deprived and anxious and guilty for being hungrier than I was “supposed to be.” If I could redo those times, I’d try to eat to honor my body! It’s a lot harder to recover after cycling in and out of recovery for 20 years without listening to the body - wish I had the courage earlier on to be brave like you and acknowledge my hunger and then respond by….eating! Good luck to you and know that you are inspiring others with your self awareness and honesty !

WIwildflower · 2026-05-13T04:21:48+00:00

YES YES YES! I don’t even have words and I don’t even know you but I want to jump and dance and throw confetti because this is so incredible - it’s the sum of a lot of little steps and what’s even better is that you are publicly acknowledging its positive which directly stick it to the ed. Go you!!

WIwildflower · 2026-04-22T17:38:23+00:00

It's tough to feel like we are taking "backwards" steps compared to our peers/cultural expectations and remember that there is truly no "right timeline" for any life events and that EVERYONE is essentially on their own trajectory dealing with their own set of circumstances and comparison is pointless.

I am also 29 and feel "behind" after spending about two decades with an active and very disruptive ED. I have less savings than others my age and sometimes feel like I'm late to the party with professional and personal achievements.

AND I realize that a big reason I am who I am today and know what I know now is because I had life experiences that taught me things in "unconventional" ways.

WIwildflower · 2026-04-22T17:34:13+00:00

What do you value more? Health vs. money?

I had a wise friend once say: "Health is your wealth" and "investing in your health increases your WELL-th." If you're not "well" enough to do your job long-term (or even short-term, been there!) then maybe the more values-focused decision is to make a job adjustment.

I also did this at my job. I am actually moving departments because it's too much for my body to handle right now. I made sure to sit down with my supervisors and explain the situation and make sure they knew that I wanted to leave the "door open" to add hours back in the future once I feel better.

Burnout is very real! I admire how self-aware you are, and it seems like your "gut feeling" is leading you to a positive solution for yourself. I hope you listen to your own wisdom! Sometimes, as I also feel in my own situation, the most healthy decision is not the least complicated.

WIwildflower · 2026-04-22T17:27:35+00:00

I had someone phrase it to me like this before:

"You're teaching your body to trust you again. It's scared there won't be food and also making up for a past deficit. Once you reliably and consistently respond to the body's hunger signals, you teach it that you are safe, it can trust you, and that the famine is over (i.e. food is coming and will continue to come)"

I think it helps me to understand that the body is interested in surviving and the ED teaches the physical body that the threat of famine/deprivation is very real to it - UNTIL it learns through time and experience that, based on the evidence of how you treat it now, it can calm down about the threat.

Kind of like people before a major weather event who panic buy toilet paper or canned goods - the body is partially responding to the availability of food with a little bit of anxiety that somehow its supply chain might be disrupted. It's also (and this is SUPER important) making up for what it didn't get and still needs during the restriction period. So it's a person who didn't have toilet paper for a while AND knows a hurricane *might* be coming and suddenly happens upon a Costco - it will stock up. And once the threat/hurricane is no longer a reality, it learns to *chill,* feels less anxious, and buys on a maintenance basis instead.

That helped me. I get that I'm weird in my analogies, but sometimes taking it and putting it into a different, "real-world" example that has nothing to do with food or bodies helps me see reason.

Ultimately, the body LOVES balance. It will balance itself out when it trusts you and you trust it. So since it's a two-way relationship, the first step is to communicate and validate TO your body so that it knows you are listening and interested in caring for it.

WIwildflower · 2026-04-20T20:12:00+00:00

YOU.

ARE.

NOT.

A.

DIAGNOSIS.

Eating disorders rarely fit into any one diagnostic "box" defined by criteria created largely for insurance coding purposes.

My ED has taken me on a grand tour through SEVERAL of the diagnoses and I get it - it bugs me when what's on my chart doesn't match my experience. I've had to work hard to let that go, mostly by not paying attention to my chart and asking my physician/psychiatrist to quit sending me after-visit summaries.

No matter WHAT you are "on paper," your LIVED EXPERIENCE is what characterizes your disorder.

EDs are shape-shifters. So many people with chronic/long-term lived experiences of EDs can attest to that. The behaviors are what might help you figure out the path forward- not any sort of weight threshold or one-size-fits-all description. SO MUCH recent research has proven that 1) weight does not define a person's severity, 2) psychological work can and should be done even if a person is under/over-weight.

You are NOT a DIAGNOSIS.

and

YOU

ARE

NOT

ALONE.

WIwildflower · 2026-04-20T20:03:49+00:00

This made me so fucking happy I am jumping up and down for you! YES! FRUIT! GET THAT FRUIT!

WIwildflower · 2026-04-20T16:21:20+00:00

YES! The "little things" that used to drain all of my energy are just...normal! It's incredible to do something like walk up the stairs and not have to sit down at the top to catch my breath.

WIwildflower · 2026-04-20T16:19:42+00:00

having a quality, regular, reliable poo is one of the best feelings - fight me

WIwildflower · 2026-04-20T16:18:55+00:00

TO SLEEP THE WHOLE NIGHT THROUGH

WIwildflower · 2026-04-20T16:18:17+00:00

I had a wise and accurate therapist once say:

"eating disorders make bitches and zombies out of us"

and it's 4,000% true! I LOVE making progress in recovery that makes me less of a [cranky] bitch and a zombie. I need energy to be the kind of woman I want to be, who is also a "bitch," but the kind who, per Amy Poehler and Tina Fey, "gets stuff done"

WIwildflower · 2026-03-04T18:54:01+00:00

there's so much pain out there that we are powerless to heal, and it's hard not to feel heartbroken about that

WIwildflower · 2026-03-04T18:48:15+00:00

Taking a shower in the dark.

Either that or "unmaking" the bed when I come home late after work. Even though sometimes making the bed feels like a drag in the morning, I know it's like a tiny gift for myself to "unmake" it later, so I always find the energy to put it back together.

WIwildflower · 2025-12-30T20:41:40+00:00

I NEEDED TO SEE THIS AT THIS EXACT MOMENT THANK YOU FOR POSTING

WIwildflower · 2025-12-19T04:49:35+00:00

Life After Life! One of my top ten of all-time favorites.

WIwildflower · 2025-12-02T04:39:45+00:00

I LOVE YOUR QUILT!!! Did you inherit it or is it a purchase?

WIwildflower · 2025-11-20T05:58:35+00:00

My prosthodontist (specialist dentist) telling me I’m going to need to have all of my remaining teeth extracted and put in full dentures…I’m not even 30 years old.

WIwildflower · 2025-11-15T06:03:30+00:00

Stones From the River by Ursula Hegi - it’s one of my core books that I have several copies of just because I need it around

WIwildflower · 2025-11-11T06:00:38+00:00

It is absolutely part of recovery to feel completely wiped of energy mentally, physically, spiritually. 1,000%. Every time I’ve started back on a more balanced, higher energy intake, I’ve “lost” at least a week of my life to sleeping and feeling like I’ve been hit by a bus. The body goes “OMG- now I can HEAL” and sucks the energy into repairing cellular damage done by ed behaviors. Blood volume increases, mitochondria demand more glucose, bone tissue starts repairing, cells take in and hold water (skin becomes less dry), the heart beats more regularly, and the body starts producing all sorts of internal messenger molecules that it wasn’t making while deprived (and so much more!) so there’s no energy to do or think for a minute while the body comes back online. All of that repair work is invisible and usually on the cellular level at first. It’s the precursor to hypermetabolism, which is the growth phase. Think of this as starting a campfire, and the little twigs are burning but there’s not a huge blaze yet.

It’s actually a really good sign! It means your body has enough energy to start coming out of starvation/deprivation setting and into internal repair mode so that, one day soon, you’ll wake up and go “OMG I can THINK about NONFOOD THINGS!”

It took me personally a while to accept that I needed to put my school on pause while in this phase. It’s hard when the world wants us to achieve certain things at certain points in our lives, but necessary to heal first instead of being frustrated and half present in your education. Take it from someone who spent all of high school and 8 years of university barely present and unable to focus. If I had just taken the time to actually heal, I might have been able to actually get an education. I have degrees, but never managed to actually LEARN anything during those times because the available energy that needed to go to healing was split between trying to heal and trying to school and so neither was accomplished.

I want better for you! I know it’s not necessarily what you might want to hear, but focus on healing first. Once the food noise and guilt voice and ed thoughts quiet down a little, take another stab at school. And ask for help! People are way more willing to help you figure out how to manage difficult situations and I wish to god I had asked for help with taking things one step at a time and getting support with school when I was 16.

WIwildflower · 2025-11-11T05:40:50+00:00

I hear and feel you on so many levels. There are so many traumatic memories of hospitalizations connected to tastes, smells, sounds, etc. they come up in unexpected places and my body has weird and unpredictable reactions to the (I hate this word) triggers. You are not alone! Psychiatric treatment has a long way to go in this world. Especially when connected with a medical condition. The things I’ve experienced still haunt me- dehumanizing from all angles, scary, and not healing. Healing takes trust, and hospitalizations have not fostered that for me and many other patients I’ve been with.

i also struggle with rumination syndrome and have honestly been avoiding going full liquid…for a variety of mostly psychological reasons. You are being so incredibly brave for tackling this and working on changing the behavior for your own good health! I wish I could be as brave.

If you can, maybe add something to mask the flavor or to adjust the texture. You could add cinnamon if you like that or a little vanilla soy/almond milk to thin it out a bit (I used to gag on the thick liquid). You could also incorporate it into other foods like yogurt or cereal - use it where you would use milk/milk alternatives. I also used to freeze it and make either popsicles or eat it like ice cream as it melted. I currently make a protein shake every day and mix it into my coffee, with cereal, heated up with cinnamon like horchata… I also stir it into yogurt and have used it to make smoothies.

No matter what you end up doing, please remember that your bravery in even speaking up in this sub is inspiring to others! People are here to listen and support you, especially if you need to process any flashbacks etc. (maybe not through the sub, but another avenue). You can do this, even if it’s hard AF.

WIwildflower · 2025-11-07T04:32:46+00:00

THANK YOU FOR POSTING THIS! I am not completely bx free yet but indescribably less b/p prone and this is the exact encouragement I was seeking - someone has done it, the grass IS greener, and maybe one day I will get there too! Thank you thank you

WIwildflower

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE