Magical Quiche & A Field Guide to Eating Disorders (Rants Included)
GF/Vegan Quiche
For the Crust:
2c GF flour
2 TBSP Powdered Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
2 TBSP tapioca starch
2 sticks vegan butter (frozen or SUPER cold)
1/3 c ICE COLD water mixed with 1TBSP apple cider vinegar
For the quiche:
1 bottle of Just Egg
1 TBSP salt
4-8 oz vegan shredded cheese of your choice
Sautéed Vegetables of your choice (spinach, mushroom, onion, garlic, etc.)
Make the crust!
Cut or grate the butter into small cubes and mix with all the other ingredients except for the water. Once the mixture is well combined, add the water and continue to knead until it forms a rough dough. Cover in plastic and refrigerate.
Make the Filling!
While it’s chilling, preheat your oven to 350f or 165c
Sauté your vegetables or meat substitutes - the world is literally your oyster here. Set those aside to cool.
Take your dough out and dust a work surface with GF flour. Roll until it’s a little bigger than your pie dish and is 1/4 inch thick and put into the dish. You can crimp the edges, or use a fork to press the sides against the dish.
The first layer of the quiche needs to be the vegan cheese - this will act as a barrier for the other toppings and create a really nice smooth mouth feel. Next add in your veg and meat subs (this would be a great time to add in any herbs you think would compliment your flavors!), then fill with the JustEgg and season with salt, pepper, or other spices.
Bake for 30 min, checking every 5-7 mins after that to see if the pie crust is baked through. If the top starts to brown before the bottom is done, cover it with foil.
Let it sit for an hour before serving, and keep the leftovers in the fridge!
All right guys, let’s discuss something that I think we can all say we’ve been touched by at some point in our lives: eating disorders. In this episode I’m going to give a brief overview of the main types, how they affect those with the disorder, and what they entail. It’ll be a bit more in-depth than usual because in the NEXT episode we’re having a Q&A with Nealie – an amazing woman who’s in recovery from an E.D.
Eating disorders are difficult to discuss because unlike other addictive tendencies you can’t simply cut out food. It is necessary to stay alive, and so battling with an eating disorder and the mental toll it takes is a lifelong event. It gets easier as you learn various coping mechanisms and build up support systems, but it is always there. Just as with any other mental illness. I want to be cautious as well, because these disorders have had a long standing of being glorified within society. From musicals such as Heathers referencing bulimia as being “... so 87” to Netflix series like “to the bone,” the idolization around being thin and that being the only acceptable body is unacceptable and has driven E.D.’s to be almost expected of young girls. If you’re “overweight” and I say that with an air of sarcasm as it varies from culture to culture, then it’s your fault. You haven’t gone to extremes to maintain the societal image of what you should look like – as if society has any idea of who you are. It’s completely horrific and showcases the wider lens of toxicity that exists within the world. Being thin is not desirable everywhere, but modifying bodies (particularly female bodies) to fit that mold is seen everywhere. Skin lightening cream, the use of straighteners, removing ribs to be thinner, color contacts, building muscles... It’s all in the name of living up to some invisible standard. These constructs have existed for a very long time – men wearing heals and makeup as early as 4000 BCE to the 18th century, Chinese women binding their feet to have small feet, wearing corsets, eating arsenic, making eyedrops out of nightshade... the list goes on.
The progression of eating disorders has not declined and so we must so we must discuss it with an air of openness, and care. Especially as a baker, I understand what a delicate topic it is to be around food all day and to not eat any of it. It’s why I set out on this journey – to marry the therapeutic aspects of baking and cooking, and to provide a refuge from the constraints of the world. To educate. To empathize. To grow. And that must be done with an open mind.
Eating disorders are illnesses in which the people experience severe disturbances in their eating behaviors and related thoughts and emotions. People with eating disorders typically become pre-occupied with food and their body weight.
Eating disorders affect several million people at any given time, most often women between the ages of 12 and 35. There are three main types of eating disorders: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder.
This image was taken from:
People with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa tend to be perfectionists with low self-esteem and are extremely critical of themselves and their bodies. They usually “feel fat” and see themselves as overweight, sometimes even despite life-threatening semi-starvation (or malnutrition). An intense fear of gaining weight and of being fat may become all-pervasive. In early stages of these disorders, patients often deny that they have a problem.
In many cases, eating disorders occur together with other psychiatric disorders like anxiety, panic, obsessive compulsive disorder and alcohol and drug abuse problems. New evidence suggests that heredity may play a part in why certain people develop eating disorders, but these disorders also afflict many people who have no prior family history. Without treatment of both the emotional and physical symptoms of these disorders, malnutrition, heart problems and other potentially fatal conditions can result. However, with proper medical care, those with eating disorders can resume suitable eating habits, and return to better emotional and psychological health.
Anorexia Nervosa
Anorexia nervosa is diagnosed when patients weigh at least 15 percent less than the normal healthy weight expected for their height. Hallmarks of anorexia include:
Limited food intake
Fear of being “fat”
Problems with body image or denial of low body weight
People with anorexia nervosa don't maintain a normal weight because they refuse to eat enough, often exercise obsessively, and sometimes force themselves to vomit or use laxatives to lose weight. Over time, the following symptoms may develop as the body goes into starvation:
Menstrual periods cease
Osteopenia or osteoporosis (thinning of the bones) through loss of calcium
Hair/nails become brittle
Skin dries and can take on a yellowish cast
Mild anemia; and muscles, including the heart muscle, waste away
Severe constipation
Drop in blood pressure, slowed breathing and pulse rates
Internal body temperature falls, causing person to feel cold all the time
Depression and lethargy
Bulimia Nervosa
Although they may frequently diet and vigorously exercise, individuals with bulimia nervosa can be slightly underweight, normal weight, overweight or even obese. But they are not as underweight as people with anorexia nervosa. Patients with bulimia nervosa binge eat frequently, and during these times sufferers may eat an astounding amount of food in a short time, often consuming thousands of calories that are high in sugars, carbohydrates and fat. They can eat very rapidly, sometimes gulping down food without even tasting it.
Their binges often end only when they are interrupted by another person, or they fall asleep or their stomach hurts from being stretched beyond normal capacity. During an eating binge sufferers feel out of control. After a binge, stomach pains and the fear of weight gain are common reasons that those with bulimia nervosa purge by throwing up or using a laxative. This cycle is usually repeated at least several times a week or, in serious cases, several times a day.
Many people don’t know when a family member or friend has bulimia nervosa because people almost always hide their binges. Since they don’t become drastically thin, their behaviors may go unnoticed by those closest to them. But bulimia nervosa does have symptoms that should raise red flags:
Chronically inflamed and sore throat
Salivary glands in the neck and below the jaw become swollen; cheeks and face often become puffy, causing sufferers to develop a “chipmunk” looking face
Tooth enamel wears off; teeth begin to decay from exposure to stomach acids
Constant vomiting causes gastroesophageal reflux disorder
Laxative abuse causes irritation, leading to intestinal problems
Diuretics (water pills) cause kidney problems
Severe dehydration from purging of fluids
Bulimia can lead to rare but potentially fatal complications including esophageal tears, gastric rupture, and cardiac arrhythmias.
Binge Eating Disorder
People with binge eating disorder have episodes of binge eating in which they consume very large quantities of food in a brief period and feel out of control during the binge. Unlike people with bulimia nervosa, they do not try to get rid of the food by inducing vomiting or by using other unsafe practices such as fasting or laxative abuse. The binge eating is chronic and can lead to serious health complications, particularly severe obesity, diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases.
Binge eating disorder involves frequent overeating during a discreet period of time (at least once a week for three months), combined with lack of control and associated with three or more of the following:
· Eating more rapidly than normal
· Eating until feeling uncomfortably full
· Eating large amounts of food when not feeling physically hungry
· Eating alone because of feeling embarrassed by how much one is eating
· Feeling disgusted with oneself, depressed or very guilty afterward
Treatment
Eating disorders clearly illustrate the close links between emotional and physical health. The first step in treating anorexia nervosa is to assist patients with regaining weight to a healthy level; for patients with bulimia nervosa interrupting the binge-purge cycle is key. For patients with binge eating disorder it is important to help them interrupt and stop binges.
However, restoring a person to normal weight or temporarily ending the binge-purge cycle does not address the underlying emotional problems that cause or are made worse by the abnormal eating behavior. Psychotherapy helps individuals with eating disorders to understand the thoughts, emotions and behaviors that trigger these disorders. In addition, some medications have also proven to be effective in the treatment process.
Because of the serious physical problems caused by these illnesses, it is important that any treatment plan for a person with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa or binge eating disorder include general medical care, nutritional management and nutritional counseling. These measures begin to rebuild physical well-being and healthy eating practices.
Helpful Links:
https://anad.org/education-and-awareness/online-resources/eatingdisorderorganizations/
https://www.eatingdisordertherapyla.com/reading-resources/
https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/eating-disorders/what-are-eating-disorders
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/eating-disorders/index.shtml
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMVyZ6Ax-74&ab_channel=CrashCourse
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aWgUILtn7Q&ab_channel=NeuroTransmissions
Baking-ish is a podcast produced and edited by Fahrenheit Co., a U.S. based entity run and organized by Ren Newman.
**I am not a mental health professional. Please talk to a healthcare professional before doing or changing anything within your daily life. These experiences and opinions reflect only my personal experiences.
