6 minute read
Dotorimuk
by Carlos Jimenez Active Time: 15 Minutes Total time: 6-8 Hours Servings: 3
Ingredients Dotorimuk: Sauce: Garnish:
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Pinch sesame seeds
½ carrot, julienned ¼ onion, thinly sliced
Directions 01 In a medium saucepan, combine the acorn starch, water, and salt. Mix until no lumps of acorn starch remain. 02 Over medium-high heat, cook the dotorimuk mixture while continuously stirring. Cook for 5 minutes until it comes to a simmer, then turn to medium heat. 03 Continue cooking for 10 minutes until it thickens and turns dark brown in color. 04 Transfer the mixture to a rectangular baking dish, ensuring to make the top as even as possible. Allow cooling to room temperature. 05 Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 6-8 hours 06 When ready to serve, combine the green onion, garlic, honey, gochugaru, sesame oil and sesame seeds in a small container. Mix until well-combined. 07 Take the dotorimuk out of the container, and slice it into bite-sized pieces. Plate dotorimuk, top with the sauce, and optionally garnish with sesame seeds, carrots, and onions.
½ cup acorn starch 3 cups water ½ tsp kosher salt 3 stalks of green onion 3 cloves garlic, minced ⅓ cup honey 1 tbsp Korean pepper flakes (gochugaru) 1 tbsp sesame oil Pinch sesame seeds
radical acceptance - an expert’s guide to eating disorder recovery
by Avery Staker
In our rapidly-changing technological age, it is nearly impossible to develop self-perception separate from the media. As a result, these perceptions often become distorted, resulting in a major disconnect between the self in reality and the self as an idea. This disconnect is where eating disorders can form.
The blame cannot only be put on social media — mental illness manifests from a combination of internal and external factors. Iowa State Student Counseling Services’ Michelle Roling cites food insecurity, for example. As the SCS eating disorder treatment coordinator and a senior staff therapist, Roling is trained to be aware of the resources available to those seeking treatment and recovery from an eating disorder, especially when there is a lack.
“The reality is that quality ingredients are hard to come by,” she said. Low-income households have to buy and eat low-quality food because it is cheaper. There is not sustainable support for these households, nor are low-income communities dignified by societal standards, which contributes to stress, anxiety and, consequently, a broken relationship with self-nourishment.
With an understanding of the various intersections of identity that contribute to the development of eating disorders, Roling offers her expertise in what the process of recovery needs to be in order to support lasting change. From a low-income person without access to quality food, or a genderqueer person simultaneously developing body image issues and gender dysphoria, or a disabled person with chronic pain, she centers all of these perspectives and promotes the radical act of healing. Here are her main tips:
You get to define what recovery looks like for you — Recovery is different for everyone and comparison has no place in the process. An eating disorder manifests for different reasons, and Roling said it is vital to understand those reasons first. If the source is physical pain or discomfort, physicians can help change diets and implement foods that support digestive health. If an eating disorder is caused by anxiety, counselors like Roling can work on grounding skills and repairing a broken relationship with food. No recovery process is the same because no trauma is the same.
Get back to the basics — “You can’t make fast change and expect that to be sustainable,” she said. Getting back to the basics means focusing the recovery process on hydration, nutrition, safety and sleep. Recovering with one need at a time establishes consistent and reliable ways to care for overall wellness. “Think of Maslow’s hierarchy,” Roling said. The basis of all wellness is physical function and care.
You are not alone — One cannot recover from an eating disorder on their own. Health and wellness involves more than just food, so recovering from an eating disorder involves more, too. Roling said treatment coordination is led by spiritual wellness educators, psychiatrists, dietitians, cultural specialists and other professionals trained to build sustainable structures in all aspects of life and support recovery. These professionals are recruited based on the individual’s needs, identities and experiences to provide the most personal network possible.
Healing does not only need to come from medical treatment, either. “There are all kinds of communities where you can learn more about body neutrality, mindful eating,” she explains. Engaging with social media that promotes these methods of healing is vital.
Deconstruct — Eating disorders are personal, but they’re caused by more than inner struggles. Media portrayals of the “ideal body” create and reinforce body dysmorphia and body image issues. America’s culture of ‘living to work’ leaves little time to devote to personal wellness because it cannot turn a profit. Food and mealtime have become a lost art and a lost investment in the self according to Roling, and deconstructing the current societal view of food and nutrition is the key to making lasting change for everyone, not just individuals.
“We were never designed to look the same,” she said. Bodies are meant to function, not be looked at. The idea that a body needs to be “beautiful” in order to be worthy of health is a construction of harmful portrayals of bodies in the media. Deconstructing the pursuit of the “ideal body image” means removing the idea of a body being an image entirely. “We don’t have to be fully in love with everything about our bodies,” Roling explains. “What we need to do is stop shaming them and stop judging them.”
Instead of spending time monitoring calorie counts and portions, she said it is much more beneficial to invest in the enjoyment of food and physical activity. “Eating is a mechanism, just like sleep or hydration, that allows you to keep doing the things you want to do,” she said. Physical wellness needs to be centered around providing the right balance of nutrients and exercise to support each individual body, not following the latest diet trend or trying to fit the impossible societal standard. Mindful eating and joyful movement, two powerful recovery tools, are about listening to how the body and mind feel. Deconstructing the facade of perfection portrayed in the media and integrating these tools makes a strong connection between nourishing the body with the soul — the ultimate goal of recovery.
There is always hope — “Regardless of how long someone’s been struggling,” Roling said.
Recovery and healing on an individual level is important but communities have work to do, too. “Part of body neutrality is working to call other people into that conversation around you,” she said. “Body shaming has become a way that people bond, and it happens instantaneously. We need to shift away from that.” Holding others accountable, being a voice and promoting acceptance, even in smaller settings, plants the seed of growth. As Roling said, “The most outrageous thing you can do is accept your body.” And the most radical thing is encouraging others to do the same.
