Eating Disorders

Food Addiction

Food addiction, previously referred to as “compulsive overeating” is a condition wherein a person cannot stop themselves from eating. This means they eat continuously all day, and have frequent periods where they eat much more they need to. They will feel strongly compelled to continue eating, or helpless to stop. Oftentimes, the addict feels down, or will have guilt feelings once done binging.

Food addicts don’t need to be hungry to eat. There’s a lot of time spent thinking about food, and when, and what to eat. In between binges, addicts will also pick at food continuously. The drive to eat for some addicts is such that it the motivation to engage in other rewarding activities diminishes and disappears, and self-control becomes difficult to impossible. Overweight or morbidly obese people are not necessarily food addicts. Sufferers may also experience sleeplessness, headaches, mood swings, or even clinical depression. Read more…

Stage 3 of Anorexia and the Effects That it Can Have on Your Daughter Or Loved One

Stage Three: The Assertive Stage

Frequently, girls who develop anorexia have a history of being friendly, protective, compliant, agreeable, and non confrontational- usually they are not assertive out side their immediate family (where they can be opposite). The third stage develops when the girl with anorexia has been criticized for becoming too thin by many around her. The girl has disregarded their scolding, and now their demands to stop losing weight and to start gaining are renewed. Around some time the girl realizes that for the first time in her life she has become defiant to everyone around her. From this point on conflict doesn’t bother her. She doesn’t worry about what other think or say about her actions. She doesn’t feel the need to please them. Read more…

Anorexia – Details About the Disorder When it Gets Worse and Help is Desperately Needed!

A girl that develops anorexia has a history of being nice, sweet, and agreeable. Usually they are not very confrontational and do anything they can to avoid conflict. The third stage of anorexia starts to develop when others start to notice and comment about the anorexic becoming too thin. The comments are ignored by the young girl as people encourage her to stop losing weight and start gaining it. For the first time in life she doesn’t care about the conflict, it doesn’t bother her one bit. She is proud of her body and also her actions to stay thin. Read more…

Emotional Eating and Coping With Stress

A colleague sent me a gift recently. She sent me a timer. She did not have to explain what it was for, because I know her strategy. She is about getting big things done by making them do-able.

That is such an important key. When we are facing something that feels overwhelming, when we are staring up at a mountain, it may feel intimidating to even think about getting started. We can feel so overwhelmed simply thinking about how big the mountain is that we never even begin to climb.

Last year I ran a marathon for the first time. Here is what I know. If I had stood at the starting line thinking about how I was going to be running for the next 26.2 miles I might not have started. I certainly would have panicked. I started the race by moving forward. I took some steps and then I took some more. I looked for the mile marker that told me I had run the first mile. I ran from mile marker to mile marker and I did not let myself think much farther ahead then that. Read more…

Break Free From Emotional Eating

Do you avoid confrontation for weeks on end only to blow up in one huge fight? Do you jump from one thing to the next so quickly you barely can keep track of your days anymore?

How we eat often reflects the way we live our life. You may find yourself eating a snack only to be thinking of the next treat you are going to have. Others may follow a strict diet for weeks on end, then binge eat when willpower just isn’t enough.

If you eat fast, slow, mindful, or mindless; I encourage you to take a moment to think about your eating habits and how they mirror your day to day living. Read more…

Anorexia – Details About the Disorder As it Progresses and Effects it Has on Your Daughter Over Time

Young girls who develop anorexia were at one time very friendly, easy going and non confrontational, for the most part they are not very outgoing outside of their immediate family. The third stage of anorexia which is called the assertive stage begins when people start to criticize the young girl for becoming too thin. The criticism is ignored and now people are telling the girl to stop losing weight and start gaining. The anorexic just realizes that people are just jealous and they will not be satisfied, everyone around her is just jealous because they can’t lose as much weight. Read more…

Are You an Emotional Eater?

Over my many years of being in the fitness industry and working with individuals from all walks of life, I’ve seen women struggle with quite a variety of eating disorders. The truth is that the majority of women do, at one point or another, battle at least one of many abnormal eating patterns. Some of them recover quickly, and others, sadly, never do.

Since I’m well aware of the effects of these disorders on the women who have them, along with the embarrassment and misinformation that often comes with the territory, I’ve decided to write a series of articles addressing the different disorders, their symptoms, and possible treatments.

This article will address emotional eating. The reason I’ve decided to go with this particular disorder first, is because it just happens to be the most common among my female clientele. The majority of the women with whom I’ve worked have, at one point or another, dealt with emotional relationships with food and would consider themselves to be compulsive overeaters.

Because there’s a lot to be said about this particular problem, the emotional eating disorder will be discussed over a series of articles. In this one, we’ll cover the definition of the term, determine your personal tendencies to be one of the millions of emotional overeaters, and take a look at a few steps you can take today to start healing. Read more…

Anorexia – More Details About How Serious the Disorder Can Become With Your Daughter

When the person is losing weight, of they have reached the starvation weight, the body burns smaller amounts of calories in the attempt to keep the person alive until the next time food is available in sufficient quantities. Calories are not used to keep the body at its normal temperature so the person is always cold. Calories are not used to keep the blood pressure up to normal so that causes the person to be dizzy quite frequently.

Calories are also not wasted to maintain a normal heartbeat, so the heart shrinks and the number of beats per minute disappears. Protein stores are decreasing, so the body doesn’t waste protein on such nonessentials as growing scalp hair, which seems to become thinner. Their monthly cycle requires many calories and protein, and iron. Read more…

Anorexia – The Dangerous Medical Conditions That Can Occur With Your Daughter Because of Anorexia

Usually if an anorexic continues to lose weight they will eventually reach the weight of starvation. The body will start to conserve calories instead of burning them in order to keep the person alive. The body will make all attempts to keep the person alive until food is available once again. Calories are no longer used to keep the body warm anymore, this will cause the anorexic to become cold all the time.

Their blood pressure is always down because calories are not used to keep the blood pressure up, this will result in the anorexic fainting and becoming dizzy often. The anorexic’s behavior is starting to cause many medical issues that can lead to death and failure of vital organs. Read more…

Anorexia – How Serious the Disorder Can Become and the Medical Effects it Can Have on Your Daughter

As anorexia progress, the individual starts to reach a stage of starvation. When this stage is reached the body burns fewer and fewer calories to keep the person functioning and alive. The person’s body does this until food is available again. The young girl is always cold because her body doesn’t have enough calories to burn in order to keep her warm.

The young girl’s blood pressure also begins to drop because calories are not used to keep the blood pressure up anymore. This will cause them to become dizzy very often and may even faint from time to time. Hair will start to thin and even stop growing. As the disorder progresses the heartbeat becomes irregular because calories are not used to keep the heart beating at a normal rate. Read more…