This is actually a social psych principle.

Basically your brain works on energy and so you make your best decisions and such just a little bit after you've eaten because your brain has the most energy to operate from.

That's why they say people that restrict usually wind up binging is because they're no longer able to fight off those urges for food. Oddly enough the post I dredged up for Saturday's ETR post dealt with this concept.

I find it slightly disturbing that this implies the only bad thing about your brain eating itself is that you get hungry.

And not, you know, that your brain is eating itself.

Sensationalism.

but seriously... psychology has been saying this for years.

I found that frightening too... like they are saying, "oh, we can over-ride this. go on starving!"


maybe dieting doesn't work for a reason.

YES! bodies werent built to starve

This is definitely agree with.

This is one of those things that I always kinda knew...and yet every time I hear it, it's all the more disturbing.

You know what's really disturbing though, aswell? The more you starve, the less able you are to think about this, the less it hits home, the less realistic it feels >.<

Actually, I was told at one point my brain was eating itself, similar to my shrinking organs.. I've had extensive tests done regarding my IQ and while i was starving myself it was quite a blow to find out that my IQ went down almost 20 points. .(I'm not talking about computer internet ones, I'm talking the REAL ones that take hours and are done by a professional) I've had one since then and my IQ is closer to where it was, but not everything came back. I still struggle with spelling, and I can no longer pluck any book I've read off of my shelf and tell you what a specific random page says. However I did teach myself chess in the last 6 months, and by game number 4, I won against the computer. So, YES, you can eat your brain, but it WILL come back if you nurish yourself properly.

I never got tested while not eating properly but I know how much slower I felt then. I'm a very good student and I lost that entirely at my worst. I couldn't concentrate, couldn't remember things except stupid calorie counts, and didn't care to boot.

Aw, peacewithin, I'm glad intellectual functioning was restored to you once you started to eat more healthily.
I haven't had brain scans or any testing done.
Too scared, because I read that MRIs of anorexic patients have shown actual substantial loss of neural tissue, woah.

"If you starve, your brain will eat itself." I love this statement – it's a disquieting truth, but seeing as my decision to stop starving was pretty much motivated by my desire to preserve my brain, it's a very reassuring truth, too.

The irony I have always struggled with is that – ugh, this sounds so stupid, but – part of the reason why I continued to starve myself for so long was that I genuinely believed it would make me smarter... sharpen my mind...
I don't know, I had a teacher who said that hunger is good/it aids concentration.
And you know, digestion is a parasympathetic process and thus associated with decreased neural function and decreased overall performance, I reasoned.
^ Eeeek, disordered thinking.

How wrong that is!
Brain cells require glucose.
Eating --> glucose --> brain cells work --> brilliant thinking + cheerful mood, yayyy!

For me this is obvious

There's an expression on pro-ana sites: I want my collarbone and hips to be as sharp as my mind.

Well, this entire thread is proof that if you starve yourself, your mind won't be very sharp anymore.

Just thought I'd mention that the brain scan of an anorexic is REALLY close to matching someone with Alzeheimers. Now, THAT'S scary!