Going through a breakup is one of the most emotionally draining things life can throw at you. As if things couldn’t be more difficult, you have to worry about food. Yes, WORRY about it. First, there are the somewhat “more expected” over-eaters. Chocolates and cookies and fried everything. Sure, it’s not the healthiest, but it passes. Then there are people like me, who tend to unintentionally stop eating almost all together. It’s not that I don’t WANT to eat… it’s that I CAN’T eat. Sometimes food looks appetizing, and sometimes the idea of eating sounds good, but mostly food looks and smells gross and the idea of putting anything in my twisting stomach sounds painful.

If you absolutely cannot get anything solid down, start with something like SlimFast or a protein shake mix–anything with vitamins and protein to help keep your body functioning. It’s definitely strange to buy a diet drink when you’re already not eating, but you gotta do what you gotta do! Forget about judgments (which were my biggest hurdle buying them). Something is better than nothing.

Take baby steps. Literally. I actually turned to baby food once. I found it disgusting, personally. It’s possible I just chose the wrong flavor? Applesauce and pudding are similar, and meant for adults. But baby food doesn’t have as much sugar, if that’s something you’re worried about.

This part is no surprise–eat SOFT foods. Non-acidic fruits are best, such as bananas. I’m a huge fan of any cereal soaked in milk until it’s all soggy. Honey Nut Cheerios are my favorite, next to Frosted Flakes and Rice Krispies. (They just get soggier faster.) Again, cereals that are too sugary –while at least getting something solid in your stomach–sort of defeats the purpose of trying to stay healthy. Breads and rice are good also. They may sit too heavy as first, but the bland-ness is key.

At first, you probably don’t want to do much of anything, especially spend energy actually preparing food. But once you feel adventurous, it’s nice to get your mind off things by making smoothies. Very small victory, I know. My favorite recipe regardless of circumstances is: 1 banana, spinach, 1 clementine, 5 (ish) strawberries, orange juice, and cranapple juice. Sometimes I add blueberries, blackberries, or grapes. But this is the tastiest way to get some healthy vitamin and minerals and fill you up.

Supplements:

Take a daily multivitamin to keep up with what you’re losing from not eating correctly. Especially if you take one daily anyhow, you’ll need to keep your immune system going!

I recently discovered there is a multivitamin called “Daily Energy” from CVS (maybe others as well) that are amazing! Feeling sluggish happens to everyone–but especially an emotionally-drained and malnourished female. Honestly, I didn’t expect it to do much but from the first mid-day dose I could notice a difference. Life savers!!

I also recently discovered melatonin. I have been having sleep issues the last few weeks regardless, and I wish I knew about this sooner. I knocks me right out when I need it.

Lastly, drink tea! I’m a huge fan of Yogi teas, especially the Kava Stress Relief. There are others such as Relaxed Mind, Bedtime, Calming, Positive Energy, St. John’s Wort Blues Away, Stomach Ease, etc that can help.

So while you’re wallowing in your emotions–which is perfectly acceptable–remember that you still need to function! Your health is the most important thing you have, so you need to keep it. As hard as it is to not care and let your twisting stomach win, at least choose some way to get vitamins into your body until you can eat normally again.