Mando - Questions

Im glad that many of you liked my post about Mando. Though i did get quite a few inquiries and questions which i thought i would answer.

I'm wondering if you feel hungry after the 6 meals, are you allowed to ask for more food? (I know this is unlikely but just curious!)
Also, are the staff /case managers nice to patients? Or are they very paternalistic? 
How did patients interact there? Did you make any friends - or were the girls very 'competitive'?

It is very unlikely that you  would feel hungry after what you had eaten, though for those that were dealing with bulimic/binge tendencies they could feel hungry even though they had just eaten. As far as i am aware you werent allowed more food. You got a meal plan which had enough calories for you and for you to gain weight, and that was what you were supposed to eat... no more, no less (according to the dietician and staff). Though there was tea and coffee and water.

  Once i was actually recovering and started school again then i stopped following my meal plan.. exactly for that reason. Because i had gotten into my head that i wasnt allowed and shouldnt eat more than my meal plan, even thghough i still felt hungry sometimes... so when i stopped with my meal plan i found it easier to eat more after hunger and fullness feelings and not feel as guilty if i ate a fruit or a sandwich after lunch or ate more etc

Some are nice, some arent. Some were extremely strict, i.e you werent even allowed to sit with a straight back because that was 'burning too much calories' and you had to lean back into the seat. And you were barely allowed to go up to get water... whilst others were nicer and you could talk/joke to them :)

  Infact one of the staff was so lovely, and she really sympathized with us. She was so kind to everyone and whenever she worked she made the day a little better :)

As i was an inpatient 5 times i saw alot of patient come and go, and each time it was a different atmosphere, new patients. Sometimes the group of patients were really talkative and you made good connections and other times everyone just sat silent. I made a few friends while at Mando - D was one of them (still have good contact with her) and a few others who i still talk to. But while i was at Mando i was always silent. I never really talked to anyone, infact D was the one who got me talking and got me out of my shell....

   The patients were very comparing...you could tell how everyone eyed each others meals, how the other person ate, what they ate, how they looked etc etc And i guess thats normal. But i do admit, i got alot of new ED and anorexic tendencies while i was at Mando. Its like i learnt even more on how to be sick. But at the same time i could talk to people who udnerstood what i was going through and made some great connections with people.

 I'm sorry if this was included in the post, but did they use the Mandometer for snacks at all then? And was the height of the patient and things like that considered in the daily intake? Probably allergies were at least? What did they use the fullness rate for? Like, was it just for the knowledge that "OK, you're too full, that makes you too ill"?

   No the Mandometer was only for lunch and dinner. Breakgast and snacks had to be measured i.e (2dl yoghurt, 1 dl cereal, 1 tsp butter, 2tsp jam etc).

  Yes, height, weight, age etc was taken into account for the daily energy intake.

Well Mando has done lots of studies before the Mandometer was designed. The ttime limit for eating and the fullness and how much was a normal portion was after years of research. So it wasnt just a time they came up with.

  I mean now eating breakfast can take 15-25 minutes... mainly because i do other things while i eat. And lunch/dinner can take 20-25 minutes. Not because i try to eat slow but because i always seem to eat so much and because i do things like i eat - like study/write etc But while you're sick you can try eating really slow to try to get away with not eating or because you dont want to eat. So Mando want you to get into the habit of eating on time, eating quickly etc

I don't really get why you thought the food in the 'psych' ward was so 'bad'. If it was being served to other normal teenagers, and was normal things like lasagne, baked potatoes, etc.? How is that different to chicken in a cream sauce?

Now i dont think that food is bad. But while i was sick, well any type of food was awful. But at the time i could barely eat an apple without anxiety and then i was being served bisciuts with nutella and cheesy lasagna. Basically i dont think that sort of food should be served -at the beginning anyway  - to someone recovering from an eating disorder. I think its better to focus on normal and healthy food. There was a person who commented a while ago about how eating healthy food in recovery can actually be better because heavy food like baked potatoe, lots of white bread etc can make you feel heavy, compared to food like quinoa, beans etc which give you healthy energy. Etc

    The psych ward really didnt know how to help someone with an eating disorder. For the 2 months that i was there i barely ate anything and just continued losing weight. They also didnt make me eat. COmpared to Mando where they made you eat.

   

I liked Mandos method, for me it worked. But of course it doesnt work for everyone. However, until you decide to recover no treatment centre/care will really work. But sometimes it takes being an inpatient until you realise you want to recover!!!