Interview with a dietician, herself affected by lipedema

In this interview with a dietician, she shares her personal experience and professional advice on living better with lipedema.

I’m Aurélie LE GROSSEC, dietician-nutritionist since 2008. I work with people suffering from body image and weight issues. I accompany them towards a more serene life through a flexible diet in line with their life goals, notably through my website.

For several years now, I’ve been helping women with lipedema to manage their diet and lifestyle.

I myself suffer from lipedema. I went through a long period of medical wandering during which my body was my enemy. I have acquired solid skills in dietetics and naturopathy (the science of healthy living), which I have been applying on a daily basis for many years. I now pass on my expertise in this field to all those who wish to learn how to live with their lipedema.

The dietician’s profession

My professional goal in dealing with women with lipedema (99% of sufferers are women, so I’ll refer to them as women in this article) breaks down into several categories:

• Implement an appropriate diet to control inflammation and disease progression
• Teaching women to manage their weight on a daily basis
• Treating eating disorders (Eating Disorders )
• Bring serenity to daily food choices.

In addition to diet, my naturopathic training enables me to include dietary changes in an overall improvement in lifestyle. Inflammation can be regulated by an appropriate diet, but if lifestyle habits (sleep, physical activity, stress, digestive health, etc.) are not optimal, results will not be forthcoming.

Weight management is essential. It’s important to understand that with each weight change, lipedema is likely to worsen. When I help a woman with lipedema to manage her weight, one of my main objectives is to avoid the yo-yo effect, so as to maintain continuous and lasting weight stability.

Finally, a large proportion of women with lipedema suffer from more or less severe OCD. Years of drastic dieting behind them, more or less intense restriction, and never any satisfactory results on their figure. Their relationship with food is often degraded (Binge Eating Desorder, bulimia, orthorexia, snacking, food compulsions, obsessive thoughts, food stress…). I accompany these women on the road to food serenity.

In order to help people withlipedema, I have created a website.

Food advice

To be preferred

My advice is based on the Mediterranean model. Lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, omega-3s mainly of animal origin, wholegrain cereals and particular attention to the quantity and quality of sugars ingested.

In the end, what’s important is to have a varied diet, synonymous with pleasure and self-respect. Our bodies aren’t garbage cans, and it’s important to provide them with quality food sources.

I also recommend cooking as much as possible with raw (unprocessed or minimally processed) and organic produce. Cooking doesn’t have to be a time-consuming, expensive affair. Cooking can be simple, inexpensive and good.

• A good fish fillet with freshly fried vegetables and a slice of sourdough bread.
• No time? There are some excellent, high-quality canned fatty fish products that are very practical and affordable.
• Frozen raw vegetables for use in soups, gratins, quiches, pan-fried dishes, etc.
• Fresh seasonal fruit is the best dessert to eat: quick, healthy and tasty.
• Batch cooking for those who want to make the most of their time
• Buy fresh vegetables and freeze them for when you’re tired…

We rediscover the taste and pleasure of simple things.

Not recommended

There’s nothing forbidden with lipedema, it’s all a question of quantity. White sugar is a perfect example.

Sugar in large quantities plays a role in aggravating this pathology (by acidifying the body and raising insulin levels in the body, which creates inflammation). The aim is to avoid consuming large quantities of sugar every day.

However, it’s not necessarily a good idea to avoid sugar altogether.

• Not eating them can lead to frustration and anxiety, which in turn creates inflammation,
• Hypercontrol frequently leads to a loss of control with cravings for sweet foods, overconsumption, loss of control over consumption, or a feeling of addiction to sweet products.
• Frustration leads to inconclusive results over the long term.

It’s all a question of measurement!

Here are some things to avoid

• The consumption of ultra-processed foods (AUT): produced by the agri-food industry, these products are more akin to chemistry than to cooking. Made from low-quality ingredients that have undergone numerous heat and processing treatments, they contain numerous additives (preservatives, flavor enhancers, texture agents, thickeners, etc.) and processing indicators. To recognize them, look at the list of ingredients. You’ll either find ingredients you’ve never heard of in the kitchen (lecithin, glucose syrup, dextrose, lactose, etc.), or those with names like E401 (the letter E followed by 3 digits).
• Low-calorie diets, Dukan, Ketogenic, Weight Watchers… you name it. In addition to possible nutritional and energy deficiencies, frustration and induced stress, in over 95% of cases, these diets are not maintained over the long term. The result: extra weight, worsening lipoedema, psychological and emotional disturbance ⁽2010 ANSES study: dieting, risky practices). Choosing a diet considerably increases the risk of irrevocable weight gain, and thus of worsening lipedema over the long term.

To conclude this interview with a dietician

Lipedema is a source of physical and emotional suffering. I felt it was essential for sufferers to seek advice from healthcare professionals who are familiar with the disease. This is the only way to ensure quality care. My patients tell me that it’s nice to feel understood and not judged in their care. I’m proud to be one of the only dieticians in France with expertise in this field today.

I hope to be able to develop the information work still to come on my own scale.

In the meantime, I’m working on a professional project which has just been launched and which I hope will improve the living conditions of people with lipedema in a lasting way.

To visit his official website, please click on www.unedietnature.fr