The battle for Cake Mountain. Who won?

Okay, so General Anorexia took our side by surprise on Friday afternoon by dropping a 1.9kg bombshell on us which sent everyone running for cover. However, on closer examination (and after sending in our undercover spies to keep tabs on what's happening in the kitchen and at the dining table), things aren't as serious as we first thought. Yes, there is some damage which will take a little time to repair and, yes, it has thrown us off course a bit, but it's nothing that we can't solve. Hopefully...


So Captain Mum spent Friday afternoon keeping a close eye on things without alerting The Enemy in any way. And General Anorexia must have been caught off guard when Ben decided that, yes, he was going to go out with his friends on Friday night, despite The Enemy telling him he might as well cancel his entire social life...

And he had a good time, came back totally chilled and happy to be with his friends. Then he ate tea and pudding as normal, followed by a good night's sleep followed by breakfast as normal. So far so good...

But, of course, we veterans never take our eye off the ball for one instant. And half way round Tescos on Saturday morning, General Anorexia sent in reinforcements with a vengeance. The result was Battle for Cake Mountain which had distinct echoes of the kind of thing we used to experience at the supermarket in the past.

For a while now, Ben has happily eaten slices of McVities slab cakes (e.g. Jamaican Ginger and Golden Syrup) and it was Buy One, Get One Free. So he put 2 cakes into the trolley. But then The Enemy prompted him to put them back on the shelf and dither around putting other cakes into the trolley, taking them out, putting more cakes in, taking them out again... etc... etc...

This went on for 20 minutes before he, predictably, decided he wasn't going to have any of them. But I wasn't going to let The Enemy get off lightly so I insisted Ben picked some cakes, refusing to give into the anorexia.

We won and took Battenburg and Date'n'Walnut Slices.

In the afternoon, Ben went to the cinema with E. Another social success. However by late evening General Anorexia had returned with reinforcements forcing Ben to think about food all the time followed by a sleepless night with nightmares about food.

But, generally, I think we'll pull through, even though Ben is finding it Very Hard at the moment.

The trick is to keep reminding him of what Life Without Anorexia looks like. He's already experienced it to a certain extent and it would be a crying shame to let the anorexia drag him back into the darkness.

I reminded him that all the anorexia wants is to destroy. It will lie and fib, convincing the sufferer that it is the safe, secure, easy option. But all it wants to do is act like a Boa Constrictor and squeeze the life out of the sufferer.

I won't let it do that.