Eating Disorders Articles

What if this is you? Imagine you have enjoyed a good dinner. However, in a short period of time the cravings start. You’ve had a nourishing dinner, but emotionally you are still feeling empty. Later you decide to sleep but you toss and turn trying to go to sleep but instead you lay awake with your stomach craving something. Can’t sleep? So you get up and go for favorite high calorie snack. This doesn’t happen just one time it happens infrequently throughout the night.

If you had the ability to design your life the exact way that you wanted to, would you? If you could create every detail of your life, how would that be? What if I told you that you have this incredible power within you? What if I told you that you could co-create your life to your exact ...If you had the ability to design your life the exact way that you wanted to, would you? If you could create every detail of your life, how would that be? What if I told you that you have this incredible power within you?

There are now more overweight people in the US than any time in history. Obesity is costing our healthcare system over $147 billion annually (Finkelstein, Trogdon, Cohen & Dietz, 2009). We have 12.5 million children who are overweight or obese and twelve million people in the U.S. with an eating disorder. Something is drastically wrong!

We all eat too much from time to time. Let’s take the Thanksgiving holiday as an example; the turkey, sides, all of those pies, the stress of preparing the meal or seeing your family, and oh the sweet relief of that delicious pumpkin pie! Millions of Americans nationwide consider it a day where you are supposed to binge on food. Over-eating on Thanksgiving is as normal an accepted American tradition as baseball and apple pie. We even promote these types of bingeing behaviors

“Be the change you wish to see in the world.” - Mahatma Gandhi Many who come in to work with me are interested in losing weight. It is no surprise. After all, our society tends to judge us based on the size of our body. Size discrimination is rampant and perceived as acceptable. If you are reading this newsletter, you probably have some experience with the fact that diets don’t work! Perhaps you have tried diet after diet with no long term success. Perhaps you aren’t on any specific diet, but you approach life with diet mentality.

It is proven that affirmations help to reprogram one’s mind. When one repeats an affirmation over and over, the subconscious picks up on it as the present reality. Does this mean that people have the ability to completely turn around their life as they know it? In one word: yes. You can ...It is proven that affirmations help to reprogram one’s mind. When one repeats an affirmation over and over, the subconscious picks up on it as the present reality. Does this mean that people have the ability to completely turn around their life as they know it? In one word: yes.

If you want to make sure your efforts towards overcoming emotional eating are as purposeful and brief as they can be, the place to focus your efforts is on learned helplessness and the anxiety it triggers whenever you feel the slightest bit stressed or uncertain about something. Learned helplessness is the pattern of thinking that we establish as children in situations where we have needs that are not being met. We feel panicked, hopeless and desperate. We are overwhelmed wit

We all procrastinate to some extent. There are only so many hours in the day and some tasks are just plain more onerous than others. Sometimes we procrastinate because we feel overwhelmed by everything we need to get done and we’re having trouble getting started. Other times, we feel unmotivated or tired and can’t get going. But no matter what the reason, if we want to successfully manage our lives, we must get a handle on our procrastination.

The other night I lay in bed watching Oprah’s 20th Anniversary DVD collection – a gift given to me by my best friend. Story after story of incredible people that have touched and changed the life of Oprah caused my tears of inspiration to flow. One particular person I really identified with – the story of Rudine. Rudine suffered severely from anorexia nervosa. She wanted so badly to battle and win this condition, but her emotional relationship with food and herself was

Have you been on more than one diet? How many? Just answering that question tells you a lot. If diets worked you would not be spending your money on one diet (plan, book, program, supplement, diet foods, pill, etc.) after another. Marketdata Enterprises, Inc. (2011), an independent market research firm who is an analyst of the U.S. weight-loss industry since 1979 reports Americans are spending over $60 billion on dieting and weight loss products each year.

We develop patterns of behavior early in life. We associate certain events with certain feelings and behaviors. One such pattern is our behavior with food. Being fed by our parents when we were young may come to represent being cared for or being loved. On the other hand, not being fed when we were hungry may have produced a deep insecurity about whether there would be enough food in the future.

I have been ask this question so many times by lots of worried parents who think their child may have bulimia but don’t know any of the warning signs. If you are one of these parents then here is a list of things to look out for, I will start with simple things first: 1: Look for an excessive ...

Bulimia (bulimia nervosa) is an addictive eating disorder which begins with physical cravings then evolves into a mental obsession and finally turns into a spiritual illness. It usually comes from an unresolved trauma (emotional, psychological or even physical) earlier in life. The question is ...

Recently proven to be more addictive than cocaine, a closer look at High Fructose Corn Syrup may help to explain America’s rise in obesity and the new focus on food addiction.

For well over the past two decades, I have had the privilege of being professionally involved with people who suffer from many types of eating disorders - compulsive overeating, bulimia, binge eating disorders, as well as some forms of anorexia. Very often I’m asked whether joining OA and ...

Unexplained infertility is when a couple fails to conceive following one year of unprotected intercourse and when all infertility tests show no abnormalities. Unexplained infertility is very frustrating. Affected couples often go through numerous invasive and painful procedures. But the truth is that many of these couples have normal fertility, just taking longer to conceive.

A sufferer’s mother is the most important person in helping a daughter or son to beat anorexia. A Mothers connection to her child is a sacred connection. Most mothers can not only see but they can feel what is happening to their child. Nowadays we know that the anorexia lives in the subconscious level of the mind. The subconscious is a level where our feelings and emotions live. It is also a level where people keep their deepest beliefs about themselves and their world. The content of our subconscious mind depends a lot on what our parents put in there.

Have you ever found yourself being defensive over what others have said? Do you react to comments and take it upon yourself to prove that you are right? This tactic only ever makes us feel vulnerable, insecure and small. It is an experience that will inevitably lead us to either binge or restrict our food intake. Either way, we lose if we cannot overcome emotional eating. Let’s take time to explore what triggers these eating disorders for you by examining your behaviour pat

I know you are thinking right now "Why do I have bulimia? How can I overcome it? And why isn’t anything I tried before stopping it and has failed to help?" You understand that bulimia is slowly killing you and ruining your life but you can't stop. It seems like something inside you is stronger ...

We’ve all heard it said that you can’t love anyone else until you love yourself. And although we know there’s truth to this old adage, most of us persist in looking for love outside of ourselves, often in all the wrong places. In one of my emotional eating groups this week, we discussed the concept of worthiness. I asked the group members if they felt worthy of self-love. All said they did not and each gave a detailed list of the reasons they felt they were not worthy. The list included things like: • I don’t have a college degree • I procrastinate • I haven’t paid off my debtr

Overeating is an epidemic in America. We all know how we are supposed to eat in order to be healthier, but few of us are able to sustain a healthful eating pattern for very long. There are many reasons for this difficulty and one of the biggest is energy depletion. nnWhen you are depleted and generally drained of energy you lose motivation to care for yourself properly. Depleted states cause us to seek passive, vegetative comforts like television and fatty, high carbohydrate,

Attachment theory explains the bond or tie between a child and an attachment figure, a parent or guardian. Nowadays it is starting to become obvious that children with insecure attachment styles are prone to eating disorders more so than children with secure attachments. When children interact with parents in the first 5-7 years of life some children feel that their parents are a reliable source of comfort and security. These children most likely will develop secure attachment style and become well-adjusted adults.

Never in my professional life as a dietitian have I seen such a silent, sad, suffering disease as that of anorexia nervosa. This is truly an all-consuming mental and emotional disease that not only consumes the person who it attacks but also everyone he or she comes into contact with.nnThe problem with anorexia nervosa is that it is not a loud disease, it is not an acute disease, one which brings you into the hospital quickly like appendicitis might, nor is it necessarily imm

We all have our favorite foods. For me, freshly baked bread and scones top the list. And for some of us, once we start eating these foods, we can’t stop. It’s as if they’re calling to us. Before we know it, we’ve eaten the whole carton of ice cream, or polished off the entire bag of cookies. Even though we may overeat other foods, with these particular foods we feel compulsive and addicted. We’ve learned it’s best, if we can, to keep these foods out of the house.

Functional Food Obsession? We are in the midst of an overwhelming increase in the number of people that are obsessed with food. Eating disorders are rampant and 65% of North Americans are classified as overweight or obese. But what if this so called “problem” is really a wake up call? Like the canary in the coal mine, letting us know that something in our environment, that we can’t see, is killing us. Despite a multimillion dollar diet and fitness industry – things are still getting worse. But what if there is a deeper purpose and reason for these problems?

It is with growing conce that I have noticed an alarming trend in the emails I receive from people asking for help with young anorexics eating disorder problems. It has become obvious that something is terribly wrong with the normal medical approach to helping these sufferers. I would like to ...

When you have a negative feeling, the thought of comforting and drowning yourself in food sounds like a wonderful idea. Your mind will be taken off of dealing with your emotions and food will heal all. This is the truth for about the first five minutes of binge eating. After that, you will ...When you have a negative feeling, the thought of comforting and drowning yourself in food sounds like a wonderful idea. Your mind will be taken off of dealing with your emotions and food will heal all. This is the truth for about the first five minutes of binge eating.

Binge eating is an eating disorder that has been reported to be far more common than the more well know ones such as anorexia and bulimia. Reports suggest that somewhere between 2 to 5 per cent of the US population experience binge eating disorder at some stage. So what are the options for binge eating treatment for this commonplace and devastating condition? Here are some smart tips and strategies to get binge eating help and live with freedom from the obsession. 1. Eliminate the diet mentalityr

Proven to be more addictive than cocaine, a closer look at Sugar may help to explain America’s rise in obesity, diabetes and the new focus on food addiction. A 2007 study (Lenoir, Serre, Cantin, Ahmed), found that intense sweetness surpasses cocaine reward even in addicted and drug-sensitized subjects leading to increased aggression upon withdrawal and a disruption of the dopamine/acetylcholine reward balance in the brain.

Perhaps you've just gone through a rough patch in your life, or a very busy, stressful time and you've been overeating. Maybe your life, in general, feels like one big rough patch! You've gained some weight and you're trying to figure out how to lose it. Often, the quickest way to feel some control over your eating is to go on a diet. And when you're feeling out of control with your eating, all you can think about, when you're not overeating, is gaining back some control. Intuitively, it seems to make sense to cut back your intake in order to lose weight.

In August of 2010 Overeaters Anonymous celebrated its Golden Anniversary at its world convention in Los Angeles. As someone who has treated compulsive overeaters for more than three decades, I was privileged to be an invited guest to join in the celebration. As a point of reference my professional relationship with OA dates back to my earlier years in practice as I began to refer many of my patients to the local OA groups in my area. Doing so left me indebted to the courageous members of this fellowship who taught me so much more about this disease tha I could have ever imagined.

Do you experience strong cravings for modern “drug” foods artificially concentrated in fat, sugar and salt? Foods like cookies, ice cream, chocolate, pastries, chips and french fries trigger the release of powerful “feel good” chemicals in the brain. Do you feel the need for stimulants like coffee, tea and soda? Stimulants trigger the release of energizing brain chemicals that help keep you alert and focused for longer periods of time.

Those of us who have been in and around the “recovery community” are all too aware of the prevalence of eating disorders among the chemically dependent. The purpose of this article is to heighten awareness of both the nature and prevalence of eating disorders particular to the community of ...

Have you ever wondered why you feel compelled to do things or say things that you don’t want to? Have you ever found yourself overeating, dieting, drinking too much, spending too much money, procrastinating on things or isolating rather than socializing? If you would like to finally understand what makes you behave in ways you know are not good for you, and will ultimately cause you stress, you have to understand what you do and what you can do to begin to think, and therefor

You can find peace with your body image even though nothing has changed physically in your body. Through my own recovery experience and from hundreds of conversations with clients, I have learned that integrity is the secret to happiness. Integrity means that your words and actions are in alignment. Integrity is the secret to feeling peaceful and content in your body; in your relationships; in your career; etc. Doing what you say you will do, not just for others, but most im

The way I learned to deal with my feelings was not to feel. One of the ways I learned to do this was to think of something different. For instance, I looked forward to getting some candy from the little store on my way home from school. I would get a cola soft drink and a frosted pastry or candy. I always felt better when I ate that. Little did I know that I was opening a floodgate of addiction with this newly learned coping behavior.

After spending Saturday afte oon with a close friend, Jackie came home and baked a batch of chocolate chip cookies. The time spent with her friend Carol did not feel nourishing. The two dishes of ice cream and the plate of hot, fresh baked cookies did. Just baking the cookies felt more nourishing than spending time with Carol. Jackie knew that an afte oon with Carol meant listening to Carol’s long-winded stories about her job and ex-husband and poor listening of anything Jackie might share.

Do you find that you sometimes grab food (and eat even though you're not hungry) because you're angry at someone or about something? Or maybe because you're resenting some situation and feeling powerless to change it? You're mad or frustrated at these times and you certainly need something. In the moment, the food tastes good, calms you down and seems to take the pain away. But not really, and not for long.

If you are recovering from an eating disorder, whether it is bulimia, anorexia, compulsive overeating or binge eating, you are probably experiencing some upheaval in your personal relationships. You may not understand why your behavior and preferences in recovery are so upsetting to people in ...

The History of bulimia is old. Even in ancient Rome people used to vomit up food they ate in the period of feasting. They even had special places for it called "vomitorium". There is a lot of recollection about these events in ancient Rome books. Roman emperors Claudius and Vitellius were ...

Getting people with anorexia to gain weight and eat more is the number one thing in helping them get better. Increasing weight for anorexics improves their health and helps them think clearly. There is a strong connection in anorexia between weight and thoughts: the lower the weight goes their ...

Compulsive Binge eating is a form of eating disorder that is often said to be much higher than other forms of disordered eating like bulimia and anorexia. The problem is that it is often not spoken about and there can be a lot of shame attached to it. As prevalent as it is, it is vital to remember that treatment for binge eating is possible and there are ways to achieve long term recovery and to prevent unhealthy behaviors from re-emerging. How do beat compulsive eating for good?

Here’s a brief story from a few years ago. Ok, a couple of decades ago. Anyway, I was a student [intern] at a fairly renowned psychiatric hospital and the chief of the psychiatry division, a rather charismatic and bright fellow, was taking us on rounds. All of the sudden, out of nowhere comes this raging patient who parks his face right in front of the chief’s. He starts shouting, “how come you won’t tell me the secret? How come you told John and he’s better now and getting out? How come you won’t let me know the secret? What’s the secret to getting better? What’s the secret, tell me.”

So many people have expressed to me that they are scared to stop binge eating disorder. It's not that they don't want to live a binge-free life; instead, they just aren't sure how their life will be without binge eating. It’s true: To let go of binge eating is a very scary thought. It’s ...So many people have expressed to me that they are scared to stop binge eating disorder. It's not that they don't want to live a binge-free life; instead, they just aren't sure how their life will be without binge eating.

It’s time to learn how to step free of your inner power struggle and start living without an eating disorder. Have you ever started your day thinking that today is the day you are going to exercise and how much control you are going to have over what you eat today? If you have had this dream and have not changed anything in your life, your daily schedule, the way you process your thoughts and self-regard since yesterday; then you are setting yourself up to take a brutal beat

The most common eating disorders are anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder. Eating disorders are the result of poor body image and low self-esteem. They affect mostly young adults and teenagers but younger pre-teens are now beginning to develop a distorted body image. An eating disorder may start at a young age and follow all through adult life. New reports are also finding that eating disorders are developing in seniors.

Can we really accomplish anything great without support? All things in life require some sort of support to truly succeed. At this moment I’m looking at a mother dove in her nest, nestled upon a support beam. The foundation of my home has strong support that holds it up during storms. The law of gravity supports our very existence. My point is this. When we are learning how to break free from emotional eating it is very important to get support. This is especially true if emotional eating is affecting your life on a daily basis.

It's a newly "recognized" population seeking mental health and medical services in today's world. The statistics say it all when over 11.7% of the military are currently reacclimating themselves into everyday society with post traumatic stress disorder, depression and other mental illnesses. ...