People often ask me about different side effects of bulimia: about short term, long term and the most dangerous ones. This article is about short term effects which appear soon after bulimia begins.
People are also interested if the short term effects are 100% reversible or not. Well, probably most of the short term bulimia effects are reversible but it is also depends on the intensity of the bulimia.
It is also depends on association with other medical and psychological problems the person as at the time they start being bulimic. So, I would say it is all down to the individual and for many people the short term effects are 100%reversable when they stop their bulimia. But there are some people who can have irreversible damage.
Now, let’s look at them – short term effects.
1. Digestive system suffers because of vomiting. People experience bloating, indigestion, bad taste in the mouth, breath smells, pains and aches in the stomach, reflux, heart burn and nausea.
2. Swallowing can be painful if throat gets damaged while vomiting.
3. Teeth get eroded quickly from the acid during and after vomiting.
4. Heart problems can become obvious especially in people who purge often.
5. Constipation is a common concern in bulimics. It can become complicated with haemorrhoids and tears.
6. Low body temperature which makes people sensitive to cold weather. Bulimics are cold most of the time.
7. Tendency to faint.
8. Mood swings and intolerance to mental pressure.
9. Getting tired quickly and the inability to concentrate. Even simple mental tasks like reading can make some bulimics tired and even exhausted. Studying and learning can become problematic also.
10. Muscular tension can bring a lot of suffering. It appears as back pains, neck pains, tension headaches and aches or pains in other parts of the body.
11. Depression and anxiety can be very severe. The more people think and act bulimic the more depressed they become.
12. Dry skin is the problem too, accompanied by brittle hair and weak nails. Skin problems can be noticeable on sufferer’s hands especially. Knuckles can be damaged when they induce vomiting. One quick way to see if a loved one is bulimic check their knuckles, they will be all hard and wrinkled.
13. The Immune system can suffer making a person vulnerable to many infections. They experience colds and flu often.
14. People become withdrawn and avoid others.
15. Stress levels increases significantly.
16. Insomnia is common due to increased stress.
17. Distorted thoughts: constantly thinking about food, even dreaming about it.
18. Menstrual problems can range from painful periods to absence of periods.
19. Bone density decreases. Osteoporosis in severe cases of bulimia.
20. Voice changes due to damaged vocal cords.
These are the most common short term bulimia side effects. There are many more and people get affected by bulimia differently. All side effects can turn into dangerous complications. So the best way to prevent them is to stop your bulimia all together.
You can always start looking for help: read more about it, educate yourself, ask professionals, work on changing your psychology, change behavioural pattern etc. Never give up and never take the side of disease.
For more information go to www.eating-disorders-books.com
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Sunday, December 26, 2010
The most dangerous side effects of bulimia.
Bulimia causes damaging side effects to the body. It can also destroy the brain, heart and the soul of the person suffering from this eating disorder.
There is no one system in the body that does not get affected by long term bulimia.
What are the most dangerous side effects? – You may ask. These are the effects people can die from. Lets look at them separately.
1. Heart complications. Many eating disorder sufferers have irregular heartbeat, slow pulse or palpitations. All these abnormalities are extremely dangerous especially if the person continues with binging-purging. People can suddenly collapse and even die if the heart suddenly stops working going into condition called “heart block”.
2. Electrolyte abnormalities. Electrolytes are the chemicals in the body that help our organs work. When people vomit they lose enormous amount electrolytes this is very bad for the body. The organs that suffer the most are: heart, kidney and brain. An abnormal amount of electrolytes can cause heart block, kidney failure and fainting. Any of these complications can end up with the sufferer dying.
3. Kidney failure. The kidneys are the organs that balance water and electrolytes in the body. Vomiting causes both dehydration and electrolyte imbalance problems. The kidneys try to compensate for this but if the vomiting continues the kidneys stop working and go into kidney failure.
4. Mental problems. Mental problems in bulimics are especially dangerous because of the high rate of suicide amongst eating disorder sufferers. When people get highly addicted to binging-purging behaviour, they often become unable to cope with everyday life and use suicide as a way to escape from the black circle they find themselves in.
5. Drug and alcohol problems are often the next step in for the bulimic. Bulimics get addicted easier than people who don’t have bulimia. This is the nature of the disorder. Of course, where drugs and alcohol are involved the incidence of accidental death increases enormously. People die from an accidental overdose of drugs and organs failure.
6. Gullet rapture. Gullet or oesophagus is the tube that connects the mouth and the stomach. When people vomit they force the food to come up from the stomach, through the gullet and up into the mouth. If the vomiting becomes severe, gullet rapture can occur. The sufferer can die from internal bleeding and shock.
To sum up, these are the most dangerous side effects of bulimia. There are many more which may not cause the death of the patient but damage the body and make it malfunction. You can prevent all these complications just by looking for help and doing something constructive about your bulimia.
Even learning more about the condition and what you can do to help yourself will push you forward towards recovery. Never stop resisting the disease and never give up fighting for your health and your life.
For more Information go to www.eating-disorders-books.com
There is no one system in the body that does not get affected by long term bulimia.
What are the most dangerous side effects? – You may ask. These are the effects people can die from. Lets look at them separately.
1. Heart complications. Many eating disorder sufferers have irregular heartbeat, slow pulse or palpitations. All these abnormalities are extremely dangerous especially if the person continues with binging-purging. People can suddenly collapse and even die if the heart suddenly stops working going into condition called “heart block”.
2. Electrolyte abnormalities. Electrolytes are the chemicals in the body that help our organs work. When people vomit they lose enormous amount electrolytes this is very bad for the body. The organs that suffer the most are: heart, kidney and brain. An abnormal amount of electrolytes can cause heart block, kidney failure and fainting. Any of these complications can end up with the sufferer dying.
3. Kidney failure. The kidneys are the organs that balance water and electrolytes in the body. Vomiting causes both dehydration and electrolyte imbalance problems. The kidneys try to compensate for this but if the vomiting continues the kidneys stop working and go into kidney failure.
4. Mental problems. Mental problems in bulimics are especially dangerous because of the high rate of suicide amongst eating disorder sufferers. When people get highly addicted to binging-purging behaviour, they often become unable to cope with everyday life and use suicide as a way to escape from the black circle they find themselves in.
5. Drug and alcohol problems are often the next step in for the bulimic. Bulimics get addicted easier than people who don’t have bulimia. This is the nature of the disorder. Of course, where drugs and alcohol are involved the incidence of accidental death increases enormously. People die from an accidental overdose of drugs and organs failure.
6. Gullet rapture. Gullet or oesophagus is the tube that connects the mouth and the stomach. When people vomit they force the food to come up from the stomach, through the gullet and up into the mouth. If the vomiting becomes severe, gullet rapture can occur. The sufferer can die from internal bleeding and shock.
To sum up, these are the most dangerous side effects of bulimia. There are many more which may not cause the death of the patient but damage the body and make it malfunction. You can prevent all these complications just by looking for help and doing something constructive about your bulimia.
Even learning more about the condition and what you can do to help yourself will push you forward towards recovery. Never stop resisting the disease and never give up fighting for your health and your life.
For more Information go to www.eating-disorders-books.com
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
How does bulimia cause weight loss?
Bulimia and weight loss are two things that interest many people. Nowadays nearly everyone wants to know a fast and easy method to lose extra weight. Bulimia is considered by some people as one of this easy ways to become slim.
But how does it work, if it works at all?
When people become bulimic they start to throw up food after eating. Often they binge before vomiting. Most bulimics have a certain time when they binge: dinner time, sometime in the afternoon or at night.
These people believe that by vomiting they get rid of the food they ate. Because of that they think they satisfy their hunger and reduce the amount of calories at the same time. In fact, it is not exactly true.
First, when bulimics binge, some foods still get absorbed by digestive tract before they throw up. This is especially true for fatty and sugary foods, which are the bulimics favourite foods. The longer the binge, the more calories get absorbed.
Second, after vomiting bulimics have the “empty stomach effect”. Their appetite increases drastically and this can evoke another binge. Some people can have several binging-purging episodes during the day because of their inability to control the hunger pains after vomiting. And again, as a result of this they consume overall much more calories than if they had just had a normal meal.
Vomiting also changes their electrolytes and nutrient balance in the body. Their Insulin producing system suffers enormously also. The Insulin system is the system that breaks down sugar in the body. That’s why during the day bulimics often munch sweets, breads, biscuits, chocolate, cakes and the like. This can push their calorie consumption up through the roof, making them put on weight the exact opposite of what they are trying to achieve.
Of course you may say that some bulimics are slim. But most of these people are slim because they fast during the day and eat only when they are binging-purging. To say in other words those who alternate between bulimia and anorexia and never eat normally.
So, bulimia on its own will not cause any decrease in weight at all. But complicating bulimia by adding anorexic behaviours will cause severe illness and even death.
If you are thinking of using bulimia as a way to lose weight – than think again: because you are cheating on yourself and putting your life in danger also. If you have already started on bulimic path of behaviour, you should find help to stop it before the addiction becomes overpowering.
There are lots of help available and you should pick the one which suits you.
For more information go to www.eating-disorders-books.com
But how does it work, if it works at all?
When people become bulimic they start to throw up food after eating. Often they binge before vomiting. Most bulimics have a certain time when they binge: dinner time, sometime in the afternoon or at night.
These people believe that by vomiting they get rid of the food they ate. Because of that they think they satisfy their hunger and reduce the amount of calories at the same time. In fact, it is not exactly true.
First, when bulimics binge, some foods still get absorbed by digestive tract before they throw up. This is especially true for fatty and sugary foods, which are the bulimics favourite foods. The longer the binge, the more calories get absorbed.
Second, after vomiting bulimics have the “empty stomach effect”. Their appetite increases drastically and this can evoke another binge. Some people can have several binging-purging episodes during the day because of their inability to control the hunger pains after vomiting. And again, as a result of this they consume overall much more calories than if they had just had a normal meal.
Vomiting also changes their electrolytes and nutrient balance in the body. Their Insulin producing system suffers enormously also. The Insulin system is the system that breaks down sugar in the body. That’s why during the day bulimics often munch sweets, breads, biscuits, chocolate, cakes and the like. This can push their calorie consumption up through the roof, making them put on weight the exact opposite of what they are trying to achieve.
Of course you may say that some bulimics are slim. But most of these people are slim because they fast during the day and eat only when they are binging-purging. To say in other words those who alternate between bulimia and anorexia and never eat normally.
So, bulimia on its own will not cause any decrease in weight at all. But complicating bulimia by adding anorexic behaviours will cause severe illness and even death.
If you are thinking of using bulimia as a way to lose weight – than think again: because you are cheating on yourself and putting your life in danger also. If you have already started on bulimic path of behaviour, you should find help to stop it before the addiction becomes overpowering.
There are lots of help available and you should pick the one which suits you.
For more information go to www.eating-disorders-books.com
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Will a University Course really help Understand Eating Didorders?
It was with great interest I read the press release “University course to study bulimia and anorexia” 11-11-10 on the Wales online website.
The Cardiff University is putting together a Collaborative Working in Eating Disorders module to be studied as part of the School’s MSc in Advanced Practice by the university’s school of nursing.
Although this seems a noble cause I do get a little concerned when academia and governments gets involved with the treatment or suggested treatment of a disorder.
Academics are renowned for not being able to think outside the square and get bogged down with dogma, so will concentrate on the so called conventional approach to eating disorders.
Governments are even worse tending to back the established approach even if it does not work, they can’t afford any political backlash if they make a mistake. Plus it is always good to be seen as doing something in the eyes of the voters. So to save themselves down the track they also back the conventional approach.
From reading the article it seems apparent that the course will have its basis on the conventional approach to the treatment of eating disorders and this is worrying and will only produce much of the same thinking that is prevalent now.
As an eating disorder specialist, author of two books on the subject and an ex-sufferer of anorexia and bulimia myself: I know the conventional approach is not that great. I myself did the rounds of therapists etc, to no avail for years and I was training to be a doctor, so you would think it should have worked.
I am not the only person who has gone through multiple treatments only to find they did not work; I get emails everyday from people telling me the same thing.
Here are a few abbreviated emails.
I am helping a young adult girl whom I have become extremely fond of!... At the age of 14 she became anorexic and eventually bulimic. She has been in clinics a number of times, but every time she just goes home things just continue where she left off...
Charleen SA.
My daughter is 22 years old and she was suffering ED for 2 years... For your information she has been treated in the ED clinic as outpatient, visiting the internist doctor and the psychologist regularly to no avail...
Li Australia.
My daughter has been in and out the eating disorder clinic in Minneapolis, Minnesota for the last 4 years. I’m tired of them, she continues to struggle...
D M USA.
I took her to our health care Clinic and they seemed to have a handle on the disorder and they seemed to be helping with all kinds of counseling, nutritionist, psychiatrist and nursing... but once home she "back-slid" back into binging and purging.
VF, GB.
These emails are very typical from people contacting me still searching for answers when the conventional treatments have failed.
There is a very good reason why this happens and why sufferers fail to get better after showing promise while in the clinic? Conventional treatment methods do not confront the disorder where it lives in the subconscious mind of the sufferer.
They do not understand that an eating disorder is a form of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).
But unlike the person who has to wash their hands 100 times a day, or the sufferer who has to check to see if the gas is turned off 200 times before they can leave their home. These people get nothing but pain from their OCD, whereas the ED sufferer actually gets pleasure from their disordered eating habits.
This extra element of pleasure adds a different dimension to the disorder and is most difficult to treat with conventional approaches used in clinics and by therapists. Sitting and talking to a therapist rehashing old hurts for hours is not going to help. This is a logical approach to a disorder that is not the least bit logical. After all why would someone purposely starve themselves to death and know they are doing it?
In my view there is really only one method that can beat an eating disorder and that is one that attacks the ED where it lives in the subconscious mind of the sufferer. To do this you have to use the power of Neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity is the ability to change the way our brain functions by how we think, feel and act.
With the use of specialized methods to promote positive feelings, emotions, action and pictures we can change the faulty neuronal pathways and negative programming that has occurred in mind of the sufferer. The beauty of using a specialized neuroplasticity approach to curing eating disorders is it can be used at home.
This is the place all ED sufferers fail and relapse back into their old habits, because the triggers that control their habits are all at home, they are not in the clinic or therapists rooms.
I believe that any university course however noble it may seem if it does not incorporate the use of neuroplasticity and a method to change the neuronal pathways in the brain will not help. This will only produce a whole new batch of conventional method thinkers to the detriment of the eating disorder sufferer.
To read more about the power of neuroplasicity for eating disorders go to
http://www.eating-disorders-books.com
The Cardiff University is putting together a Collaborative Working in Eating Disorders module to be studied as part of the School’s MSc in Advanced Practice by the university’s school of nursing.
Although this seems a noble cause I do get a little concerned when academia and governments gets involved with the treatment or suggested treatment of a disorder.
Academics are renowned for not being able to think outside the square and get bogged down with dogma, so will concentrate on the so called conventional approach to eating disorders.
Governments are even worse tending to back the established approach even if it does not work, they can’t afford any political backlash if they make a mistake. Plus it is always good to be seen as doing something in the eyes of the voters. So to save themselves down the track they also back the conventional approach.
From reading the article it seems apparent that the course will have its basis on the conventional approach to the treatment of eating disorders and this is worrying and will only produce much of the same thinking that is prevalent now.
As an eating disorder specialist, author of two books on the subject and an ex-sufferer of anorexia and bulimia myself: I know the conventional approach is not that great. I myself did the rounds of therapists etc, to no avail for years and I was training to be a doctor, so you would think it should have worked.
I am not the only person who has gone through multiple treatments only to find they did not work; I get emails everyday from people telling me the same thing.
Here are a few abbreviated emails.
I am helping a young adult girl whom I have become extremely fond of!... At the age of 14 she became anorexic and eventually bulimic. She has been in clinics a number of times, but every time she just goes home things just continue where she left off...
Charleen SA.
My daughter is 22 years old and she was suffering ED for 2 years... For your information she has been treated in the ED clinic as outpatient, visiting the internist doctor and the psychologist regularly to no avail...
Li Australia.
My daughter has been in and out the eating disorder clinic in Minneapolis, Minnesota for the last 4 years. I’m tired of them, she continues to struggle...
D M USA.
I took her to our health care Clinic and they seemed to have a handle on the disorder and they seemed to be helping with all kinds of counseling, nutritionist, psychiatrist and nursing... but once home she "back-slid" back into binging and purging.
VF, GB.
These emails are very typical from people contacting me still searching for answers when the conventional treatments have failed.
There is a very good reason why this happens and why sufferers fail to get better after showing promise while in the clinic? Conventional treatment methods do not confront the disorder where it lives in the subconscious mind of the sufferer.
They do not understand that an eating disorder is a form of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).
But unlike the person who has to wash their hands 100 times a day, or the sufferer who has to check to see if the gas is turned off 200 times before they can leave their home. These people get nothing but pain from their OCD, whereas the ED sufferer actually gets pleasure from their disordered eating habits.
This extra element of pleasure adds a different dimension to the disorder and is most difficult to treat with conventional approaches used in clinics and by therapists. Sitting and talking to a therapist rehashing old hurts for hours is not going to help. This is a logical approach to a disorder that is not the least bit logical. After all why would someone purposely starve themselves to death and know they are doing it?
In my view there is really only one method that can beat an eating disorder and that is one that attacks the ED where it lives in the subconscious mind of the sufferer. To do this you have to use the power of Neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity is the ability to change the way our brain functions by how we think, feel and act.
With the use of specialized methods to promote positive feelings, emotions, action and pictures we can change the faulty neuronal pathways and negative programming that has occurred in mind of the sufferer. The beauty of using a specialized neuroplasticity approach to curing eating disorders is it can be used at home.
This is the place all ED sufferers fail and relapse back into their old habits, because the triggers that control their habits are all at home, they are not in the clinic or therapists rooms.
I believe that any university course however noble it may seem if it does not incorporate the use of neuroplasticity and a method to change the neuronal pathways in the brain will not help. This will only produce a whole new batch of conventional method thinkers to the detriment of the eating disorder sufferer.
To read more about the power of neuroplasicity for eating disorders go to
http://www.eating-disorders-books.com
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Attachment theory and development of eating disorders.
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.
Other children may feel that their parents (or caregivers) are not that reliable and don’t give them the sense of security, support and comfort when it’s needed. Some parents may even reject their children in terms of providing emotional comfort. These children probably will develop an insecure attachment style and will compensate for their emotional discomfort with food, alcohol and/or drugs when they grow up.
Now we know that a lot of eating disorder sufferers turn to their disorder to find security, comfort and emotional stability. Food is something that is always readily available and will bring temporary emotional comfort to a sufferer: so it seems an easy way out of their emotional problems.
There is no blame on the parents of course because eating disorders are complex and many factors have to come together for a person to develop the disorder. But what we do know now is that a cold parental attitude, very high expectations placed on a child, parental abuse or rejection are all factors that can force a child to turn to an eating disorder.
As a rule, most eating disorders sufferers (nearly all) have insecure attachment styles: anxious and avoidant styles. Because attachment style is developed in the first years of life, it is understandable that a predisposition to an eating disorder is built earlier in life (probably in the first 5-7 years of life) that previously realised.
A Childs attitude toward their parents (caregivers) is also directly connected to their attitude of themself, their body and self-esteem, their thoughts about the world and the people around them. It is also connected to their perception of safety (about the world being a safe place or not). All these factors as we now know influence the development of eating disorders in young children and teenagers.
To conclude, attachment style is something we should look at when talking about the prevention of eating disorders. We need to educate parents regarding how they can make their children feel more secure and comfortable inside their own self. Developing a secure attachment style in children will help prevent eating disorders in many young people.
Read more at http://www.eating-disorders-books.com
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.
Other children may feel that their parents (or caregivers) are not that reliable and don’t give them the sense of security, support and comfort when it’s needed. Some parents may even reject their children in terms of providing emotional comfort. These children probably will develop an insecure attachment style and will compensate for their emotional discomfort with food, alcohol and/or drugs when they grow up.
Now we know that a lot of eating disorder sufferers turn to their disorder to find security, comfort and emotional stability. Food is something that is always readily available and will bring temporary emotional comfort to a sufferer: so it seems an easy way out of their emotional problems.
There is no blame on the parents of course because eating disorders are complex and many factors have to come together for a person to develop the disorder. But what we do know now is that a cold parental attitude, very high expectations placed on a child, parental abuse or rejection are all factors that can force a child to turn to an eating disorder.
As a rule, most eating disorders sufferers (nearly all) have insecure attachment styles: anxious and avoidant styles. Because attachment style is developed in the first years of life, it is understandable that a predisposition to an eating disorder is built earlier in life (probably in the first 5-7 years of life) that previously realised.
A Childs attitude toward their parents (caregivers) is also directly connected to their attitude of themself, their body and self-esteem, their thoughts about the world and the people around them. It is also connected to their perception of safety (about the world being a safe place or not). All these factors as we now know influence the development of eating disorders in young children and teenagers.
To conclude, attachment style is something we should look at when talking about the prevention of eating disorders. We need to educate parents regarding how they can make their children feel more secure and comfortable inside their own self. Developing a secure attachment style in children will help prevent eating disorders in many young people.
Read more at http://www.eating-disorders-books.com
Thursday, June 10, 2010
How To Meditate For Eating Disorders.
In this article I am going to help you learn how to meditate with the aim of stopping your eating disorder. After you learn to do this, you will attain a level in your mind where you will be able to spark your imagination into letting go your eating disorder.
Amazing things happen while doing meditation and the peace you find in calming and freeing your body and mind is awesome. The more you meditate, the deeper you go within yourself and the easier it will be for you to separate the eating disorder from your own self.
One of the major problems with eating disorder sufferers are that people can't separate themselves from their ED and believe that the thoughts the eating disorder is sending them are their own thoughts: which they are not.
By realizing "your own self" you will know which thoughts come from you and which come from the eating disorder. Your body and mind will benefit also. At first, you will find that worries, anger and the feelings of guilt are absent while you are meditating. As time goes on, they stay away for longer, until one day they are gone for good.
Feelings of being obsessed with food and body weight will gradually fade too. If your food obsession returns in a few weeks after starting your meditation, then by increasing the time and deepening the regular meditation will neutralize the feelings that make your body sick. Here is all you have to do to begin to meditate.
When you awaken in the morning sit on the edge of the bed and set the alarm clock for fifteen minutes in advance in case you drift off to sleep during the exercise. Close your eyes and look upward at a 20-degree angle. This position of the eyes alone is a proven trigger to produce a meditative state in the brain.
Then, slowly, start counting backwards from one hundred to one. You should focus just on counting and not on anything else. If you keep your mind totally on counting only you will soon be in meditation state.
Do this counting technique at least twice a day in the morning after waking up and at night just before go to bed.
If you stick with this technique and do it for at least 10 days without break you will notice that your obsessive thoughts that make you binge-purge, starve yourself or over-exercise will not bother you as much. You will soon realize that a meditation state is incompatible with your obsession, anger, worries and guilt.
For some of you who find this technique too difficult to do, there are other methods to meditate available that may suit you better, so don't dismiss it. Guided meditation methods for eating disorders are readily available and you can certainly try them out and get great results and success with your health and happiness.
To read more about meditation for eating disorders go to http://www.meditation-sensation.com
Amazing things happen while doing meditation and the peace you find in calming and freeing your body and mind is awesome. The more you meditate, the deeper you go within yourself and the easier it will be for you to separate the eating disorder from your own self.
One of the major problems with eating disorder sufferers are that people can't separate themselves from their ED and believe that the thoughts the eating disorder is sending them are their own thoughts: which they are not.
By realizing "your own self" you will know which thoughts come from you and which come from the eating disorder. Your body and mind will benefit also. At first, you will find that worries, anger and the feelings of guilt are absent while you are meditating. As time goes on, they stay away for longer, until one day they are gone for good.
Feelings of being obsessed with food and body weight will gradually fade too. If your food obsession returns in a few weeks after starting your meditation, then by increasing the time and deepening the regular meditation will neutralize the feelings that make your body sick. Here is all you have to do to begin to meditate.
When you awaken in the morning sit on the edge of the bed and set the alarm clock for fifteen minutes in advance in case you drift off to sleep during the exercise. Close your eyes and look upward at a 20-degree angle. This position of the eyes alone is a proven trigger to produce a meditative state in the brain.
Then, slowly, start counting backwards from one hundred to one. You should focus just on counting and not on anything else. If you keep your mind totally on counting only you will soon be in meditation state.
Do this counting technique at least twice a day in the morning after waking up and at night just before go to bed.
If you stick with this technique and do it for at least 10 days without break you will notice that your obsessive thoughts that make you binge-purge, starve yourself or over-exercise will not bother you as much. You will soon realize that a meditation state is incompatible with your obsession, anger, worries and guilt.
For some of you who find this technique too difficult to do, there are other methods to meditate available that may suit you better, so don't dismiss it. Guided meditation methods for eating disorders are readily available and you can certainly try them out and get great results and success with your health and happiness.
To read more about meditation for eating disorders go to http://www.meditation-sensation.com
Saturday, March 6, 2010
How to Turn Binge Eating into Healthy Eating?
If you want to turn your binge eating habit into healthy eating habit, first of all you must BELIEVE that you can do it. This is the first and most important step in the road to recovery from binge eating.
Put it this way: if you believe you can eat healthy without overeating – that means you will be able to eat healthy sooner or later. If you don’t believe it – you will not be able to eat healthy and it does not matter what kind of therapy you undergo, unless you start believing.
“But how can I believe in my ability to eat healthy if I always get overwhelmed with these unbearable urges to binge?” – you may ask.
Yes, urges to binge are strong but nevertheless it is possible to overcome them. Many people did and you can too.
You see, urges are just thoughts and feelings you get before starting to binge. Fortunately, these binging thoughts normally get weaker if you do some changes in your daily routine.
Here're the important points:
1.Start imagining yourself slim (or have a slim picture of yourself in your mind)
2.Draw a schematic picture of yourself on a piece of paper where you are slim and happy.
3.Set 30 min a day to sit quietly, close your eyes and visualise a slim, healthy you. Attach happy feelings to this picture of yourself.
4.If you have a special time when you binge (for instance, some people binge eat after work, or after school) – meditate every time after work, school or any time close to your binge eating time.
5.Never eat alone. Get a friend or relative to share dinner with you.
6.When you eat look at yourself from the distance – that mean observe yourself from the 3rd person perspective. Mentally comment what’s happening while you eat, for example “ She is now eating her Caesar salad delicately and calmly because she is a lady. She is chewing slowly because she is enjoying the taste of it. She is talking to her friend about what happened during the day.”
7.Learn to observe your own behaviour and make a regular mental comment of your own behaviour during the day. From the time you wake up – do mental commenting on your behaviour as if you observe yourself from a distance.
8.Don’t keep too much food you can binge on in fridge. Put more fruits and vegetables in the fridge to in case you get hungry.
9.Regular exercise changes the feelings from negative to more positive because of endorphins release. So, start regular physical activity – this will reduce your urges to binge (gradually).
10.Always remain yourself that you don’t need so much food to keep you healthy. Only moderation in food consumption will make you happy and healthy.
Now, I've saved the best for last.
If it looks to you like too much to do , than – wouldn’t it be easier for you if all the information will be installed into your subconscious mind by someone else - just by listening a hypnotic voice and putting you in a meditational state? You can do that by using special Mindfulness Training for binge eating / overeating. It is easy and very effective.
To read more about mindfulness training for eating disorders go to http://www.meditation-sensation.com
Put it this way: if you believe you can eat healthy without overeating – that means you will be able to eat healthy sooner or later. If you don’t believe it – you will not be able to eat healthy and it does not matter what kind of therapy you undergo, unless you start believing.
“But how can I believe in my ability to eat healthy if I always get overwhelmed with these unbearable urges to binge?” – you may ask.
Yes, urges to binge are strong but nevertheless it is possible to overcome them. Many people did and you can too.
You see, urges are just thoughts and feelings you get before starting to binge. Fortunately, these binging thoughts normally get weaker if you do some changes in your daily routine.
Here're the important points:
1.Start imagining yourself slim (or have a slim picture of yourself in your mind)
2.Draw a schematic picture of yourself on a piece of paper where you are slim and happy.
3.Set 30 min a day to sit quietly, close your eyes and visualise a slim, healthy you. Attach happy feelings to this picture of yourself.
4.If you have a special time when you binge (for instance, some people binge eat after work, or after school) – meditate every time after work, school or any time close to your binge eating time.
5.Never eat alone. Get a friend or relative to share dinner with you.
6.When you eat look at yourself from the distance – that mean observe yourself from the 3rd person perspective. Mentally comment what’s happening while you eat, for example “ She is now eating her Caesar salad delicately and calmly because she is a lady. She is chewing slowly because she is enjoying the taste of it. She is talking to her friend about what happened during the day.”
7.Learn to observe your own behaviour and make a regular mental comment of your own behaviour during the day. From the time you wake up – do mental commenting on your behaviour as if you observe yourself from a distance.
8.Don’t keep too much food you can binge on in fridge. Put more fruits and vegetables in the fridge to in case you get hungry.
9.Regular exercise changes the feelings from negative to more positive because of endorphins release. So, start regular physical activity – this will reduce your urges to binge (gradually).
10.Always remain yourself that you don’t need so much food to keep you healthy. Only moderation in food consumption will make you happy and healthy.
Now, I've saved the best for last.
If it looks to you like too much to do , than – wouldn’t it be easier for you if all the information will be installed into your subconscious mind by someone else - just by listening a hypnotic voice and putting you in a meditational state? You can do that by using special Mindfulness Training for binge eating / overeating. It is easy and very effective.
To read more about mindfulness training for eating disorders go to http://www.meditation-sensation.com
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
How to Resolve Self - Conflicts in Eating Disorder Sufferers.
Eating disorders are rooted in emotional struggles. These struggles are deep emotional conflicts within the sufferer, these are called self-conflicts.
How the conflicts started in the first place?
This process begins by fantasizing at a very early age. People fantasize a script, for example like a Hollywood production focusing on TV stars or other celebrities. Then they start rehearsing their part. As they go, they either give up on their initial part and take up a new one, or they practice the first part and role -play that script out until it becomes who they think they are. Practising the script automates their behaviour and it becomes fixed.
For example, a young girl perceived that she is overweight. By looking through magazines, watching TV and movies she finds herself a role- model that is slim, polished and glamorous and play out this picture in her mind. From the same source she gets a script to follow to achieve this kind of unattainable look. She rehearses it until it becomes automatic and turns into an eating disorder, anorexia or bulimia.
Her imprinting environment plays a significant role in the alternative scripts available to her. If her parents happen to be too strict or uncaring, she would be unable to develop a positive coping strategy to counteract her developing problems. In some problematic families being warm and friendly is seen as an embarrassment, so the child becomes cold and aloof to compensate.
Self-conflict is a conflict between different "selfs" inside one person. There are 4 different "selfs":
1. The actual self.
It is the private self. This self consist of thoughts we wish we didn't have and actions we wish we haven't done. It also contains our self-esteem, our attractiveness, and our secret ambitions. Eating disorders sufferers may dream of looking like a slim movie star, or a sport champion etc. Her/his self-esteem is really proportional to a degree of how alike she/he looks compared to their famous role-model they are trying to emulate.
2. The ideal self.
This self is built by culture and society. Ideal self is about living a perfect life, without any mistakes and therefore without room for growth.
3. The ought-to-be self.
This self is about our "should" and "oughts" which have been learned from our culture and our society but they are not ours. For example, when a swimming coach tells a young girl: " You should lose weight immediately in order to fit the criteria for the swimming completion." Initially the girl was probably OK with the way she was and didn't think she needs to lose weight immediately. Her swimming coach installs the "ought-to-be self" in her. Her "ought-to-be self" may go into conflict with her "actual self" after the coach's comments and if she is vulnerable she will develop an eating disorder in order to comply with the losing weight rules that have been set in her mind.
4. The desired self.
This is a self we believe we could be and desire to be. This self is especially obvious in young people when they plan for the future. Later in life this self can be a source of discontent if the desires have not been fulfilled. For example, a woman after 30 suddenly develops an eating disorder. This eating disorder is very likely to be a consequence of discontentment due to her unfulfilled desires of an earlier time (or the "desired self").
What is a solution for solving this self-conflicts? Emotional healing would be the answer and you can put it into 5 steps:
1. Realize that one has emotional conflicts and they are probably the cause of the eating disorder.
2. Believe that one should and can solve these self- conflicts.
3. Accept that emotional healing is the only way to solve these internal conflicts.
4. Go through the emotional healing process.
5. Follow the emotional healing strategies as a way of living your life.
Emotional healing is the only answer to resolve self-conflicts in eating disorder sufferers. If emotional healing does not occur during a particular treatment - there is little hope for this kind of treatment being helpful.
Maybe in this case the person ought to look for different alternatives. Mindfulness training seems to prove itself as a great emotional healer for these kinds of ED sufferers. It has been proven that if one is mindful and aware, one can experience true freedom and liberation from all their self conflicts.
Dr Irina Webster MD is a Director of Women Health Issues Program. She is an author and a public speaker. To read more about mindfulness for eating disorders go to http://www.meditation-sensation.com
How the conflicts started in the first place?
This process begins by fantasizing at a very early age. People fantasize a script, for example like a Hollywood production focusing on TV stars or other celebrities. Then they start rehearsing their part. As they go, they either give up on their initial part and take up a new one, or they practice the first part and role -play that script out until it becomes who they think they are. Practising the script automates their behaviour and it becomes fixed.
For example, a young girl perceived that she is overweight. By looking through magazines, watching TV and movies she finds herself a role- model that is slim, polished and glamorous and play out this picture in her mind. From the same source she gets a script to follow to achieve this kind of unattainable look. She rehearses it until it becomes automatic and turns into an eating disorder, anorexia or bulimia.
Her imprinting environment plays a significant role in the alternative scripts available to her. If her parents happen to be too strict or uncaring, she would be unable to develop a positive coping strategy to counteract her developing problems. In some problematic families being warm and friendly is seen as an embarrassment, so the child becomes cold and aloof to compensate.
Self-conflict is a conflict between different "selfs" inside one person. There are 4 different "selfs":
1. The actual self.
It is the private self. This self consist of thoughts we wish we didn't have and actions we wish we haven't done. It also contains our self-esteem, our attractiveness, and our secret ambitions. Eating disorders sufferers may dream of looking like a slim movie star, or a sport champion etc. Her/his self-esteem is really proportional to a degree of how alike she/he looks compared to their famous role-model they are trying to emulate.
2. The ideal self.
This self is built by culture and society. Ideal self is about living a perfect life, without any mistakes and therefore without room for growth.
3. The ought-to-be self.
This self is about our "should" and "oughts" which have been learned from our culture and our society but they are not ours. For example, when a swimming coach tells a young girl: " You should lose weight immediately in order to fit the criteria for the swimming completion." Initially the girl was probably OK with the way she was and didn't think she needs to lose weight immediately. Her swimming coach installs the "ought-to-be self" in her. Her "ought-to-be self" may go into conflict with her "actual self" after the coach's comments and if she is vulnerable she will develop an eating disorder in order to comply with the losing weight rules that have been set in her mind.
4. The desired self.
This is a self we believe we could be and desire to be. This self is especially obvious in young people when they plan for the future. Later in life this self can be a source of discontent if the desires have not been fulfilled. For example, a woman after 30 suddenly develops an eating disorder. This eating disorder is very likely to be a consequence of discontentment due to her unfulfilled desires of an earlier time (or the "desired self").
What is a solution for solving this self-conflicts? Emotional healing would be the answer and you can put it into 5 steps:
1. Realize that one has emotional conflicts and they are probably the cause of the eating disorder.
2. Believe that one should and can solve these self- conflicts.
3. Accept that emotional healing is the only way to solve these internal conflicts.
4. Go through the emotional healing process.
5. Follow the emotional healing strategies as a way of living your life.
Emotional healing is the only answer to resolve self-conflicts in eating disorder sufferers. If emotional healing does not occur during a particular treatment - there is little hope for this kind of treatment being helpful.
Maybe in this case the person ought to look for different alternatives. Mindfulness training seems to prove itself as a great emotional healer for these kinds of ED sufferers. It has been proven that if one is mindful and aware, one can experience true freedom and liberation from all their self conflicts.
Dr Irina Webster MD is a Director of Women Health Issues Program. She is an author and a public speaker. To read more about mindfulness for eating disorders go to http://www.meditation-sensation.com
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Mindfulness Training for Eating Disorders.
Most eating disorders are linked to significant amounts of stress, mood disturbance, anxiety, phobias, substance abuse, and physical complications. All these factors have to be addressed when someone is trying to overcome an eating disorder.
Mindfulness training is a technique which can help a person to cope with all these factors. Mindfulness means a calm awareness of body functions, feelings, emotions, thoughts and sensations.
Mindfulness consists of paying attention to an experience of the present moment — without moving into thoughts from the past or concerns about the future. Using mindfulness training people with eating disorders can attain control over their body and mind.
What exactly does mindfulness do for the mind and body? The main benefits of mindfulness are:
1.Calm and quiet the mind. This will bring more happiness, joy, positive feelings, appreciation and gratitude into people’s lives. It will also increase kindness to yourself and others which is necessary for ED sufferers as they often behave badly to themselves and others due to their conditioning.
2.Diminish the grip of habitual responses that cause suffering. ED sufferers all have certain habitual responses to their feelings, thoughts and emotions. For example, bulimics have habits to binge-purge at a certain time a day; anorexics have strict habits and routines about their diets and exercising.
Mindfulness can diminish these habitual behaviours to the point that the sufferer is able to choose how she/he is going to behave at a particular moment.
For example, instead of realizing 10-30 minutes later that you've been lost in bad thoughts about your body, weight, food, your bad memories or fantasies from the past, a person can stop themself after only 30-60 seconds from wandering thoughts using mindfulness training. With practise, people can increasingly observe these habitual responses and choose to respond in other more constructive ways.
3.Develop a stronger “observing self”. This means to observe what one does. It is like you having a third person who sits inside your own chest and constantly watches what you do.
Mindfulness makes a person become an observer of what one does, thinks and feels. This helps to have better control over their eating disorder thoughts and behaviours.
For example, when a person gets stressed, instead of reaching for alcohol or going on a binge –purge cycle, the person could simply sit and observe the negative emotions and sensations which were brought on by the stress until they are gone.
Unlike relaxation techniques mindfulness can be developed to the point where it can be practiced in the middle of stressful situations. So instead of reacting to stress a person starts to respond wisely. While being mindful a person can still remain alert and respond appropriately to the situation at hand, instead of being over powered by it.
4.Slow down the pace of thoughts and become more attune to the present moment. Eating disorder people often complain that they have too much continual inner "chatter" and images from the past or from the future in their minds.
This chatter and images don't simply go away, because that’s the nature of the human mind. But they can be settled down with practice. This settling down of the mental processes brings relaxation and freedom.
With practice one will have the ability to choose what to think about instead of being dragged along with uncontrolled thoughts and feelings. This effect can be experience after just 8-12 minutes of mindfulness state of mind. So, if one practices mindful awareness at least 10 -15 min a day, it may possible for him/her to choose what to think instead of their thoughts going uncontrolled.
Mindfulness will also increase your concentration letting you perform task , study and work with better accuracy. It also improves the immune system and general health. It regulates the autonomic nervous system which control automatic functions of the body organs. Mindfulness is a great anti- aging factor as it improves metabolism of the cells.
Most eating disorder sufferers who practice mindfulness training find it an incredible tool to beat their problem right at root of the disorder, in the subconscious mind.
You can read about healing meditation for eating disorders CDs at http://www.meditation-sensation.com
Mindfulness training is a technique which can help a person to cope with all these factors. Mindfulness means a calm awareness of body functions, feelings, emotions, thoughts and sensations.
Mindfulness consists of paying attention to an experience of the present moment — without moving into thoughts from the past or concerns about the future. Using mindfulness training people with eating disorders can attain control over their body and mind.
What exactly does mindfulness do for the mind and body? The main benefits of mindfulness are:
1.Calm and quiet the mind. This will bring more happiness, joy, positive feelings, appreciation and gratitude into people’s lives. It will also increase kindness to yourself and others which is necessary for ED sufferers as they often behave badly to themselves and others due to their conditioning.
2.Diminish the grip of habitual responses that cause suffering. ED sufferers all have certain habitual responses to their feelings, thoughts and emotions. For example, bulimics have habits to binge-purge at a certain time a day; anorexics have strict habits and routines about their diets and exercising.
Mindfulness can diminish these habitual behaviours to the point that the sufferer is able to choose how she/he is going to behave at a particular moment.
For example, instead of realizing 10-30 minutes later that you've been lost in bad thoughts about your body, weight, food, your bad memories or fantasies from the past, a person can stop themself after only 30-60 seconds from wandering thoughts using mindfulness training. With practise, people can increasingly observe these habitual responses and choose to respond in other more constructive ways.
3.Develop a stronger “observing self”. This means to observe what one does. It is like you having a third person who sits inside your own chest and constantly watches what you do.
Mindfulness makes a person become an observer of what one does, thinks and feels. This helps to have better control over their eating disorder thoughts and behaviours.
For example, when a person gets stressed, instead of reaching for alcohol or going on a binge –purge cycle, the person could simply sit and observe the negative emotions and sensations which were brought on by the stress until they are gone.
Unlike relaxation techniques mindfulness can be developed to the point where it can be practiced in the middle of stressful situations. So instead of reacting to stress a person starts to respond wisely. While being mindful a person can still remain alert and respond appropriately to the situation at hand, instead of being over powered by it.
4.Slow down the pace of thoughts and become more attune to the present moment. Eating disorder people often complain that they have too much continual inner "chatter" and images from the past or from the future in their minds.
This chatter and images don't simply go away, because that’s the nature of the human mind. But they can be settled down with practice. This settling down of the mental processes brings relaxation and freedom.
With practice one will have the ability to choose what to think about instead of being dragged along with uncontrolled thoughts and feelings. This effect can be experience after just 8-12 minutes of mindfulness state of mind. So, if one practices mindful awareness at least 10 -15 min a day, it may possible for him/her to choose what to think instead of their thoughts going uncontrolled.
Mindfulness will also increase your concentration letting you perform task , study and work with better accuracy. It also improves the immune system and general health. It regulates the autonomic nervous system which control automatic functions of the body organs. Mindfulness is a great anti- aging factor as it improves metabolism of the cells.
Most eating disorder sufferers who practice mindfulness training find it an incredible tool to beat their problem right at root of the disorder, in the subconscious mind.
You can read about healing meditation for eating disorders CDs at http://www.meditation-sensation.com
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Magical Benefits Of Meditation For People With Eating Disorders
Many researches have proven now that people with eating disorders derive a lot of benefits from doing meditation. Eating disorder sufferers have disturbances in autonomic nervous system, problems with impulse control and many emotional problems. All these can be improved with regular meditation.
You see, human beings are made up of three components—physical, mental and emotional. You can think of it as like a triangle with the same length sides. To correct eating disorders all the sides of triangle have to be balanced.
The Mental side represents the knowledge people learn about their condition and how to cope with it. The physical side represents the natural strength of a person’s body which we inherit from parents. The Emotional side of the triangle is the one which always becomes unstable in people with eating disorders.
That’s why eating disorders sufferers have very bad mood swings, uncontrollable negative thoughts, long-standing bad feelings and painful sensations in different parts of the body that they try to moderate with food (obsessive eating or abstaining from food).
Emotional strengthening is the key to curing many eating disorder problems. Meditation and relaxation techniques are great strategies to do for emotional strengthening in order to become healthy again.
In order to understand about emotional strengthening, you first need to understand a bit about how the brain works. You’re probably aware that our brains work across a range of different levels or brain-wave frequencies. While the range is actually continuous, it is divided for convenience into 4 categories—beta, alpha, theta and delta.
As adults, we spend most of our waking time in the beta area. Beta is where we do our logical thinking, rationalising and planning. Stress also occurs in the beta wavelength but on high frequencies beta waves. Eating disorder sufferers spend nearly all their time on high frequencies beta waves where the problem lies.
Alpha, on the other hand, while still an “awake” state, is that relaxed, day-dreamy state that you can go into when you are doing something creative (eg, painting, knitting) or meditation. It’s the time when your mind just wanders freely, and when time just seems to fly by.
Alpha-experience represents a relatively stress-free and euphoric state of being. For eating disorder sufferers the alpha state helps to balance their autonomic nervous system and correct impulse control problems.
Now here’s another important piece of the puzzle—besides containing our feelings and emotions, the alpha (sub-conscious) state also contains our “self-beliefs”. Our self-beliefs are the sub-conscious view you have of yourself (the real you), they drive our behaviour at a sub-conscious level. They are similar to the programs you have on your computer that makes it run.
So if, for example you have a self-belief that says “I am bulimic or I am a binge eater or anorexic”, the behaviour that results is that you perform compulsive eating, binge or starve yourself actions. This becomes the real you even if you consciously don’t want to become that person.
Where do self-beliefs come from? Mostly they develop in us at a very young age up to when we are teenagers. These self beliefs go through many developmental stages throughout our lives. It’s interesting to note that, unlike adults, children spend the majority of their waking time in the alpha region and this is why they are so resilient.
Most of our adult behaviours are based on “programming” we picked up before the age of 7. Many eating disorder sufferers picked up their programming when they where youngsters to teenagers.
When it comes to getting results, your self-belief (programming) will always win out over your conscious desire. So it does not matter if you get up every morning swearing that you will eat today, or you will not binge, but by the end of the day you have not done what you said you will do. This is because you are in the beta state and this can not affect the subconscious mind, so you are doomed from the start.
That’s why it seems impossible for many people to stop their eating disorders. But the problem is that they try to fight it with their logical conscious mind, being in a beta state, not an alpha state.
What happens if you target an eating disorder from the alpha state?
Well, you will get a completely different result. Being in alpha state you will target the emotional core of the eating disorders self-beliefs. When sufferers start to change their self-beliefs then the magic occurs: then they can be cured from their eating problems.
Specific meditation which target people’s self-beliefs can create a real magic in the sufferers life. For eating disorder sufferers who put themselves in an alpha state while meditating regularly, means they can stop their disorder for good.
If the sufferer is only ever in a beta state this probably means they will have their disorder for the rest of their life, with no escape.
It has been proven that meditation brings enormous relieve for the eating disorder sufferer who starts to add meditation into their treatment methods.
But a word of warning, not any old meditation method will do, it has to be a system that is purposely target anorexia or bulimia or other eating disorders. It is necessary because eating disorder sufferers have specific self-beliefs (or subconscious blockages) which they must eliminate during meditation (when they are in alpha state) in order to get better.
Generic meditation which does not target specific eating disorder beliefs will work little for ED people. It will only help for stress relief and calm you down which are also beneficial things.
Dr Irina Webster MD
You can read about healing meditation for eating disorders CDs at http://www.meditation-sensation.com
You see, human beings are made up of three components—physical, mental and emotional. You can think of it as like a triangle with the same length sides. To correct eating disorders all the sides of triangle have to be balanced.
The Mental side represents the knowledge people learn about their condition and how to cope with it. The physical side represents the natural strength of a person’s body which we inherit from parents. The Emotional side of the triangle is the one which always becomes unstable in people with eating disorders.
That’s why eating disorders sufferers have very bad mood swings, uncontrollable negative thoughts, long-standing bad feelings and painful sensations in different parts of the body that they try to moderate with food (obsessive eating or abstaining from food).
Emotional strengthening is the key to curing many eating disorder problems. Meditation and relaxation techniques are great strategies to do for emotional strengthening in order to become healthy again.
In order to understand about emotional strengthening, you first need to understand a bit about how the brain works. You’re probably aware that our brains work across a range of different levels or brain-wave frequencies. While the range is actually continuous, it is divided for convenience into 4 categories—beta, alpha, theta and delta.
As adults, we spend most of our waking time in the beta area. Beta is where we do our logical thinking, rationalising and planning. Stress also occurs in the beta wavelength but on high frequencies beta waves. Eating disorder sufferers spend nearly all their time on high frequencies beta waves where the problem lies.
Alpha, on the other hand, while still an “awake” state, is that relaxed, day-dreamy state that you can go into when you are doing something creative (eg, painting, knitting) or meditation. It’s the time when your mind just wanders freely, and when time just seems to fly by.
Alpha-experience represents a relatively stress-free and euphoric state of being. For eating disorder sufferers the alpha state helps to balance their autonomic nervous system and correct impulse control problems.
Now here’s another important piece of the puzzle—besides containing our feelings and emotions, the alpha (sub-conscious) state also contains our “self-beliefs”. Our self-beliefs are the sub-conscious view you have of yourself (the real you), they drive our behaviour at a sub-conscious level. They are similar to the programs you have on your computer that makes it run.
So if, for example you have a self-belief that says “I am bulimic or I am a binge eater or anorexic”, the behaviour that results is that you perform compulsive eating, binge or starve yourself actions. This becomes the real you even if you consciously don’t want to become that person.
Where do self-beliefs come from? Mostly they develop in us at a very young age up to when we are teenagers. These self beliefs go through many developmental stages throughout our lives. It’s interesting to note that, unlike adults, children spend the majority of their waking time in the alpha region and this is why they are so resilient.
Most of our adult behaviours are based on “programming” we picked up before the age of 7. Many eating disorder sufferers picked up their programming when they where youngsters to teenagers.
When it comes to getting results, your self-belief (programming) will always win out over your conscious desire. So it does not matter if you get up every morning swearing that you will eat today, or you will not binge, but by the end of the day you have not done what you said you will do. This is because you are in the beta state and this can not affect the subconscious mind, so you are doomed from the start.
That’s why it seems impossible for many people to stop their eating disorders. But the problem is that they try to fight it with their logical conscious mind, being in a beta state, not an alpha state.
What happens if you target an eating disorder from the alpha state?
Well, you will get a completely different result. Being in alpha state you will target the emotional core of the eating disorders self-beliefs. When sufferers start to change their self-beliefs then the magic occurs: then they can be cured from their eating problems.
Specific meditation which target people’s self-beliefs can create a real magic in the sufferers life. For eating disorder sufferers who put themselves in an alpha state while meditating regularly, means they can stop their disorder for good.
If the sufferer is only ever in a beta state this probably means they will have their disorder for the rest of their life, with no escape.
It has been proven that meditation brings enormous relieve for the eating disorder sufferer who starts to add meditation into their treatment methods.
But a word of warning, not any old meditation method will do, it has to be a system that is purposely target anorexia or bulimia or other eating disorders. It is necessary because eating disorder sufferers have specific self-beliefs (or subconscious blockages) which they must eliminate during meditation (when they are in alpha state) in order to get better.
Generic meditation which does not target specific eating disorder beliefs will work little for ED people. It will only help for stress relief and calm you down which are also beneficial things.
Dr Irina Webster MD
You can read about healing meditation for eating disorders CDs at http://www.meditation-sensation.com
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Do Parents Cause Eating Disorders in Their Children?
There has been a lot of discussion lately on the roll of parents causing eating disorders in their children, is this the case or not? It is very sensitive topic because it is painful for families to even think that they are a possible cause of their daughter/ son bulimia and/or anorexia.
I am a medical doctor and suffered anorexia and bulimia for over 15 years. Also I have been involved in the treatment of hundreds of eating disorder sufferers. Personally, I don’t know a family who wishes to foster eating disorders in their children. I would say that parents and the family do not cause eating disorders directly.
However, I know firsthand that the family atmosphere, parenting style and undiagnosed mental and emotional problems in parents contribute a lot to the development of eating disorders in their children.
There is a lot of research around about the roll of genetic predisposition in eating disorders. Yes, eating disorders do have a genetic component as well, but it is only the vulnerability to develop an eating disorder not the disease itself that people can inherit.
People can also inherit certain personality traits that make them vulnerable to developing eating disorders: like perfectionism, tendency towards anxiety and depression, competitiveness, impulsivity and extreme stubbornness. All these can make people vulnerable to developing eating disorders.
It is the environment that turns people’s vulnerability into the disease. The way people live their lives from their birth that can make genetic vulnerabilities become an illness.
The first and most important environment people have is their family. Often people with eating disorders describe how in their childhood they had a tense family environment where parents very strictly and controlling. Children in families like this don’t have much space to experiment and to be free. These types of parents don’t let their children find their own way in life, turning them into puppets that are forced to be followers and controlled by strict rules.
In families like this children turn to eating disorders as a way to control their lives the best they possible can and to find emotional escape in the space of their eating disorder.
The other type of families is the overprotective one. Their protective behaviour puts onto the child so many limitations that the child is likely to seek her/his freedom and escape in things like eating, non-eating and manipulating their own weight. These parents cannot let their children be different than what their mental image of them is or the way they think the child should be. They look at the child’s achievements only from the angle of their own desires and opinions.
Most of parents in these types of families still want only the best for their children and don’t even realize that what they are doing is bad for the child. Many parents have their own emotional issues to deal with, which are still unresolved and deeply rooted in their own childhood. Some parents maybe even have undiagnosed mental disorders like OCD or personality disorders. Because these disorders have never been diagnosed parents are not aware of them and continue to put enormous pressure on their children and other family members.
Many doctors and therapists consider that blaming parents for their children’s disorder is not a good idea, because parents may feel guilty and shameful for the way they are themselves. These feelings of guilt and shame can stop parents from helping the child to recover and parents may even refuse to participate in the child’s recovery program.
Nevertheless, it is proven now that if the family atmosphere remains the same a non- loving, demanding, restrictive and an overprotective one, the child has little chance of getting better.
The purpose of writing this article was not to put lots of blame onto parents, but just to warn the families of eating disorder sufferers that certain changes need to made in the family atmosphere if the family wants to help their loved one recover.
About eating disorders books go to http://www.eating-disorders-books.com
I am a medical doctor and suffered anorexia and bulimia for over 15 years. Also I have been involved in the treatment of hundreds of eating disorder sufferers. Personally, I don’t know a family who wishes to foster eating disorders in their children. I would say that parents and the family do not cause eating disorders directly.
However, I know firsthand that the family atmosphere, parenting style and undiagnosed mental and emotional problems in parents contribute a lot to the development of eating disorders in their children.
There is a lot of research around about the roll of genetic predisposition in eating disorders. Yes, eating disorders do have a genetic component as well, but it is only the vulnerability to develop an eating disorder not the disease itself that people can inherit.
People can also inherit certain personality traits that make them vulnerable to developing eating disorders: like perfectionism, tendency towards anxiety and depression, competitiveness, impulsivity and extreme stubbornness. All these can make people vulnerable to developing eating disorders.
It is the environment that turns people’s vulnerability into the disease. The way people live their lives from their birth that can make genetic vulnerabilities become an illness.
The first and most important environment people have is their family. Often people with eating disorders describe how in their childhood they had a tense family environment where parents very strictly and controlling. Children in families like this don’t have much space to experiment and to be free. These types of parents don’t let their children find their own way in life, turning them into puppets that are forced to be followers and controlled by strict rules.
In families like this children turn to eating disorders as a way to control their lives the best they possible can and to find emotional escape in the space of their eating disorder.
The other type of families is the overprotective one. Their protective behaviour puts onto the child so many limitations that the child is likely to seek her/his freedom and escape in things like eating, non-eating and manipulating their own weight. These parents cannot let their children be different than what their mental image of them is or the way they think the child should be. They look at the child’s achievements only from the angle of their own desires and opinions.
Most of parents in these types of families still want only the best for their children and don’t even realize that what they are doing is bad for the child. Many parents have their own emotional issues to deal with, which are still unresolved and deeply rooted in their own childhood. Some parents maybe even have undiagnosed mental disorders like OCD or personality disorders. Because these disorders have never been diagnosed parents are not aware of them and continue to put enormous pressure on their children and other family members.
Many doctors and therapists consider that blaming parents for their children’s disorder is not a good idea, because parents may feel guilty and shameful for the way they are themselves. These feelings of guilt and shame can stop parents from helping the child to recover and parents may even refuse to participate in the child’s recovery program.
Nevertheless, it is proven now that if the family atmosphere remains the same a non- loving, demanding, restrictive and an overprotective one, the child has little chance of getting better.
The purpose of writing this article was not to put lots of blame onto parents, but just to warn the families of eating disorder sufferers that certain changes need to made in the family atmosphere if the family wants to help their loved one recover.
About eating disorders books go to http://www.eating-disorders-books.com
Friday, June 12, 2009
What are Neurotransmitters and How do they Influence the development of Eating Disorders?
What are Neurotransmitters and How do they Influence the development of Eating Disorders?
Neurotransmitters are chemicals which facilitate the transmission of signal from one neuron to another. Neurotransmitters are released in synapses (or where the ending of one neuron connects to the endings of another neuron).
There are different types of neurotransmitters. Here we will look at the most important ones.
Acetylcholine: Acetylcholine is a chemical which are involved in memory, learning and attention. When you learn something and pay attention to it – you stimulate the production of acetylcholine.
To maintain this chemical at a certain level you must keep your brain busy with attention requiring work. Study, read books, create something, solve puzzles, get a job where you can use your brain. Just do something that can stimulate the production of acetylcholine in the brain.
Eating disorder sufferers have often a very low acetylcholine level especially when they give up their studies, job and other productive activities for the sake of their eating disorder. They normally explain this quitting as the inability to concentrate, being too weak and etc.
This all happens because the level of acetylcholine in their brain is low. But they can improve it by exercising their own will, going back to study and beginning to learn again and paying attention to something more useful and constructive than their eating disorder.
Serotonin is a neurotransmitter which produces a sense of well-being calm and satisfaction. Many scientists blame the lack of this chemical for eating disorder problems. Serotonin has a broad function in the brain. It regulates and moderates anger, aggression, body temperature, mood, sleep, human sexuality, appetite, and metabolism, as well as stimulating vomiting.
It is still not clear what exactly happens with serotonin in the brain of eating disorder sufferers, as it is difficult to measure. But we know there are many genetic variations in the serotonin receptors and the serotonin transporters in the brain.
It is most likely that a serotonin abnormality in the brain affects each person differently. Serotonin levels can be increased naturally by taking tryptophan rich foods found in meats and proteins.
Dopamine: Dopamine is a chemical associated with pleasurable activity. It is released when people do naturally rewarding activities like having sex or enjoying food. Some drugs such as nicotine, cocaine and amphetamines can influence the level of dopamine in the brain.
Dopamine is actually the culprit in many addictions such as drugs, food, and sex addictions. Dopamine also has other functions in the brain, including important roles in behaviour and cognition, motor activity, motivation and reward, inhibition of prolactin production which is involved in lactation, sleep, mood, attention, and learning.
Recent research has suggested that dopamine is also released in reward-anticipation activities and when people are motivated to do something. If you have ever wondered why you feel great after doing aerobics or playing sport, this is the brain producing dopamine. Just thinking about doing something pleasurable can produce a chemical ‘reward’ of dopamine being released in your brain.
Enjoyable learning and focusing on something you really like doing will stimulate dopamine production in your brain.
The release of dopamine triggers the desire to eat certain foods. The dopamine does not increase the pleasure of actually eating food but is released when the person sees, smells, thinks or dreams about food. Tasting enjoyable food also provokes the release of dopamine.
Dopamine plays an important role in bulimia and binge eating because these people often dream and think about food. And it is why when a bulimic or binge eater sees food she/he goes on a binge losing all sense of control.
Glutamate –it is believed that glutamate (or glutamic acid) is involved in cognitive functions like learning and memory. Many foods contain glutamate, including cheese, soy sauce, fish, eggs, poultry etc.
GABA is a neurotransmitter which is responsible for muscle tones. GABA regulates the growth embryonic and neural stem cells. Abnormal levels of GABA have been found in people with mood disorders.
Substance P is an important chemical which involves pain perception. It also participates in regulation of mood disorders, anxiety, stress, reinforcement, neurogenesis, nausea and vomiting. The vomiting centre in the brain contains high concentrations of Substance P. Activation of Substance P stimulates vomiting. People who use vomiting as a way of purging have abnormalities in the levels of Substance P.
Conclusion: Neurotransmitters play an important role in the biochemistry of eating disorders. But… The level of most of these neurotransmitters can be moderated by performing or not-performing certain actions and behaviours. Replacing one behaviour with another can change the level of neurotransmitters in the brain.
Wilful action can produce extraordinary changes in the level of these chemicals. For instance, if you wilfully stop your binging or purging episodes for at least 2-3 weeks and replace this behaviour with more productive ones, the level of neurotransmitters in your brain will change significantly and can become completely normal again. This works on the use it or lose it principle.
Always remember: your behaviour will change your biology. If you behave better – your biology improves, if you behave worse – your biology becomes worse.
To read about eating disorder cure go to http://www.eatingdisorder-cure.com
Neurotransmitters are chemicals which facilitate the transmission of signal from one neuron to another. Neurotransmitters are released in synapses (or where the ending of one neuron connects to the endings of another neuron).
There are different types of neurotransmitters. Here we will look at the most important ones.
Acetylcholine: Acetylcholine is a chemical which are involved in memory, learning and attention. When you learn something and pay attention to it – you stimulate the production of acetylcholine.
To maintain this chemical at a certain level you must keep your brain busy with attention requiring work. Study, read books, create something, solve puzzles, get a job where you can use your brain. Just do something that can stimulate the production of acetylcholine in the brain.
Eating disorder sufferers have often a very low acetylcholine level especially when they give up their studies, job and other productive activities for the sake of their eating disorder. They normally explain this quitting as the inability to concentrate, being too weak and etc.
This all happens because the level of acetylcholine in their brain is low. But they can improve it by exercising their own will, going back to study and beginning to learn again and paying attention to something more useful and constructive than their eating disorder.
Serotonin is a neurotransmitter which produces a sense of well-being calm and satisfaction. Many scientists blame the lack of this chemical for eating disorder problems. Serotonin has a broad function in the brain. It regulates and moderates anger, aggression, body temperature, mood, sleep, human sexuality, appetite, and metabolism, as well as stimulating vomiting.
It is still not clear what exactly happens with serotonin in the brain of eating disorder sufferers, as it is difficult to measure. But we know there are many genetic variations in the serotonin receptors and the serotonin transporters in the brain.
It is most likely that a serotonin abnormality in the brain affects each person differently. Serotonin levels can be increased naturally by taking tryptophan rich foods found in meats and proteins.
Dopamine: Dopamine is a chemical associated with pleasurable activity. It is released when people do naturally rewarding activities like having sex or enjoying food. Some drugs such as nicotine, cocaine and amphetamines can influence the level of dopamine in the brain.
Dopamine is actually the culprit in many addictions such as drugs, food, and sex addictions. Dopamine also has other functions in the brain, including important roles in behaviour and cognition, motor activity, motivation and reward, inhibition of prolactin production which is involved in lactation, sleep, mood, attention, and learning.
Recent research has suggested that dopamine is also released in reward-anticipation activities and when people are motivated to do something. If you have ever wondered why you feel great after doing aerobics or playing sport, this is the brain producing dopamine. Just thinking about doing something pleasurable can produce a chemical ‘reward’ of dopamine being released in your brain.
Enjoyable learning and focusing on something you really like doing will stimulate dopamine production in your brain.
The release of dopamine triggers the desire to eat certain foods. The dopamine does not increase the pleasure of actually eating food but is released when the person sees, smells, thinks or dreams about food. Tasting enjoyable food also provokes the release of dopamine.
Dopamine plays an important role in bulimia and binge eating because these people often dream and think about food. And it is why when a bulimic or binge eater sees food she/he goes on a binge losing all sense of control.
Glutamate –it is believed that glutamate (or glutamic acid) is involved in cognitive functions like learning and memory. Many foods contain glutamate, including cheese, soy sauce, fish, eggs, poultry etc.
GABA is a neurotransmitter which is responsible for muscle tones. GABA regulates the growth embryonic and neural stem cells. Abnormal levels of GABA have been found in people with mood disorders.
Substance P is an important chemical which involves pain perception. It also participates in regulation of mood disorders, anxiety, stress, reinforcement, neurogenesis, nausea and vomiting. The vomiting centre in the brain contains high concentrations of Substance P. Activation of Substance P stimulates vomiting. People who use vomiting as a way of purging have abnormalities in the levels of Substance P.
Conclusion: Neurotransmitters play an important role in the biochemistry of eating disorders. But… The level of most of these neurotransmitters can be moderated by performing or not-performing certain actions and behaviours. Replacing one behaviour with another can change the level of neurotransmitters in the brain.
Wilful action can produce extraordinary changes in the level of these chemicals. For instance, if you wilfully stop your binging or purging episodes for at least 2-3 weeks and replace this behaviour with more productive ones, the level of neurotransmitters in your brain will change significantly and can become completely normal again. This works on the use it or lose it principle.
Always remember: your behaviour will change your biology. If you behave better – your biology improves, if you behave worse – your biology becomes worse.
To read about eating disorder cure go to http://www.eatingdisorder-cure.com
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Eating Disorders are the Reverse Side of the Child Obesity Campaign
In 2006 the Australian Government launched a $6 million campaign to reduce Child obesity and the Australian Medical Association (AMA) welcomed the focus on kids' health.
The idea was to focus on junk food and get parents to stop the child from eating fast foods, sweets and other unhealthy foods. TV, radio and newspapers were running government sponsored ads to point out the dangers of these kinds of foods, with the idea to get kids eating more healthy foods.
This at the time seemed a very noble cause as overweight kids are a big problem in all western countries. The government was correct that for these overweight kids there was a great risk to their health from diseases such as diabetes, heart problems and high blood pressure etc, in later life.
What they did not factor in was the psychological effects on these overweight kids and may have inadvertently created a whole new generation of eating disorder victims.
Kids were encouraged to start diet clubs at school and there have been stories of kids being weighed at school, at times in front of the whole class. We learn of incidents of bullying and social isolation of larger children which is another anecdotal trigger for eating disorders.
What has now happened is a lot of these overweight kids are starting to be ostracized by their peers and so much pressure being placed on them that they are starting to suffer from stress and other psychological ailments, like anorexia and bulimia.
What the so call experts in the government ranks forgot was that the child brain is like a giant sponge and very plastic. It absorbs huge amounts of information forming neuronal pathways with the information that is deemed to be important.
So constant teasing and emotional abuse from other kids for being a bit overweight can have a devastating effect on the child and the way they see themselves, or to put it simply their body image.
This added to the fact that the so called perfect body type is the emancipated Hollywood stars and the super thin catwalk models they see in the media: it is easy for the plastic brain of the child to form a distorted view of reality.
Even shows like Australian Idol and American Idol favor the slimmer better looking contestant, with the bigger contestant voted out of the show even if they are fantastic singers. They just don’t fit that TV mode or what a modern singing idol should look like. This is an extremely bad role model for the slightly overweight child or teenager who watches these shows; it sends a lot of false messages to their brain.
The major problem that arises from all this negative bombardment on the child about weight is the fact that it will be formed in a child brain and formed by child logic, e.g. eating food equals becoming fat, equals being teased, equals bad emotions. So the remedy is to stop eating, loose lots of weight and you will be accepted.
When these kids become adults this faulty distorted thinking will be a full blown case of an eating disorder and extremely difficult to treat because it was formed in the plastic brain of a child with child logic and emotions.
But luckily there have been major breakthroughs in the treatment of eating disorders using the fact that our brains remain plastic even into adulthood, it is call neuroplasticity.
Neuroplasticity is a method where we are able to form new neuronal pathways by using a set of mental exercises built on new positive emotional input. Once these new pathways have been built and are used instead of the old destructive ones, the old pathways will loose their power: hence the eating disorder will disappear.
Will this be easy for this new generation of eating disorder sufferers to do: no absolutely not. The problem as stated is the fact that these faulty neuronal pathways have been build in the child brain and will be extremely hard to shift.
Unfortunately a lot of children will fail and suffer lifelong eating disorders, but luckily a lot of people will succeed using the neuroplasticity approach. Many more than will succeed with this new approach than the conventional treatment used today to treat eating disorders.
William Webster
To read about bulimia cure go to http://www.bulimia-cure.com
The idea was to focus on junk food and get parents to stop the child from eating fast foods, sweets and other unhealthy foods. TV, radio and newspapers were running government sponsored ads to point out the dangers of these kinds of foods, with the idea to get kids eating more healthy foods.
This at the time seemed a very noble cause as overweight kids are a big problem in all western countries. The government was correct that for these overweight kids there was a great risk to their health from diseases such as diabetes, heart problems and high blood pressure etc, in later life.
What they did not factor in was the psychological effects on these overweight kids and may have inadvertently created a whole new generation of eating disorder victims.
Kids were encouraged to start diet clubs at school and there have been stories of kids being weighed at school, at times in front of the whole class. We learn of incidents of bullying and social isolation of larger children which is another anecdotal trigger for eating disorders.
What has now happened is a lot of these overweight kids are starting to be ostracized by their peers and so much pressure being placed on them that they are starting to suffer from stress and other psychological ailments, like anorexia and bulimia.
What the so call experts in the government ranks forgot was that the child brain is like a giant sponge and very plastic. It absorbs huge amounts of information forming neuronal pathways with the information that is deemed to be important.
So constant teasing and emotional abuse from other kids for being a bit overweight can have a devastating effect on the child and the way they see themselves, or to put it simply their body image.
This added to the fact that the so called perfect body type is the emancipated Hollywood stars and the super thin catwalk models they see in the media: it is easy for the plastic brain of the child to form a distorted view of reality.
Even shows like Australian Idol and American Idol favor the slimmer better looking contestant, with the bigger contestant voted out of the show even if they are fantastic singers. They just don’t fit that TV mode or what a modern singing idol should look like. This is an extremely bad role model for the slightly overweight child or teenager who watches these shows; it sends a lot of false messages to their brain.
The major problem that arises from all this negative bombardment on the child about weight is the fact that it will be formed in a child brain and formed by child logic, e.g. eating food equals becoming fat, equals being teased, equals bad emotions. So the remedy is to stop eating, loose lots of weight and you will be accepted.
When these kids become adults this faulty distorted thinking will be a full blown case of an eating disorder and extremely difficult to treat because it was formed in the plastic brain of a child with child logic and emotions.
But luckily there have been major breakthroughs in the treatment of eating disorders using the fact that our brains remain plastic even into adulthood, it is call neuroplasticity.
Neuroplasticity is a method where we are able to form new neuronal pathways by using a set of mental exercises built on new positive emotional input. Once these new pathways have been built and are used instead of the old destructive ones, the old pathways will loose their power: hence the eating disorder will disappear.
Will this be easy for this new generation of eating disorder sufferers to do: no absolutely not. The problem as stated is the fact that these faulty neuronal pathways have been build in the child brain and will be extremely hard to shift.
Unfortunately a lot of children will fail and suffer lifelong eating disorders, but luckily a lot of people will succeed using the neuroplasticity approach. Many more than will succeed with this new approach than the conventional treatment used today to treat eating disorders.
William Webster
To read about bulimia cure go to http://www.bulimia-cure.com
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Eating Disorders are a result of brain plasticity
What is brain plasticity? And how is it related to developing an eating disorder?
Brain plasticity, or neuroplasticity, is the lifelong ability of the brain to change itself based on new experiences. When we say “the brains ability to change” we don’t mean something mystical or just “spiritual”.
What we are alluding to is the brains ability to reorganise or rewire its neuronal pathways that has lead to certain wanted or unwanted actions or behaviours. For example, in case of people suffering with eating disorders it is unwanted actions like negative thoughts about their body image that lead to the development of at ED. This could have manifested itself by starving, overexercising or binging and purging over a period of time.
When people start having bad thoughts and feelings about themselves their brain begins to develop certain new neuronal wiring (or connections) to produce certain behaviours. When people continue to acting on pathological behaviours like starving, binging-purging, over exercising etc: these neuronal pathways grow stronger and stronger. Basically it is what you think is what you get.
You see any behaviour we have or regular thoughts we think there are certain brain maps developed and pathways formed. These new brain maps can start to take up a huge amount of space in our brain until they become all powerful. Eating disorders take up a huge amount of space in the brain because they affect nearly all aspects of the sufferer’s life.
So, when it comes to eating disorder treatment if it does not work on changing the old neuronal pathways it is not going to work. What has to happen is for the sufferer to develop new neuronal pathways and build them around the old faulty pathological ones that is their ED. When you start using these new pathways (the healthy pathways) they become stronger and stronger and eventually they will replace the old pathological ones (the old pathological ones will fade).
You see, when you realise that it is your brain making you do things in a defective way, you will understand that to create behavioural change you only need to make your brain work differently. And you can do that by focusing your attention differently when the ED urge strikes you.
The capacity of the brain to change doesn’t diminish with age or with the duration of the problem you have. Many people think that it is easier to stop an eating disorder early on when the disorder first appears; and that if you have had the disorder for many years it is nearly impossible to stop it.
This is not true and is totally false. People can stop their eating problems at any stage of the process, because the human brain is plastic and changeable with any repetitive activity we do. Now it does take effort to change the way you think but it is not impossible.
The first thing is to come to the realization that what your brain is telling you to do may not be correct so there is no need to act on it every time. Your brain is not your mind and you can influence it with better thoughts and actions.
Your brain is only an organ sitting between your ears. But your mind is what you do, what decision you make, and what perception about yourself you give to others. Of course this does not mean you have an abnormal brain, it is only the abnormal thoughts and behaviours that have lead you to having an ED. It has been proven beyond doubt that your mind, your conscious behaviours and thoughts can change the structure of your brain.
To conclude, eating disorders are the result of brain’s ability to change its own structure in relation to false actions and thoughts over time. Because you have changed your brains wiring to fit a certain pathological behaviour in your brain map you have developed an ED. You have responded negatively to certain eating disorder triggers that you have built around you over time.
You probably would have never developed an eating disorder if you had responded differently to these triggers. For instance: if you did not get upset when someone at school called you “fat” or if you didn’t care when your ex-boyfriend dumped you for a skinnier girl, or a similar event. You would probably never have an eating disorder now. But because you did pay too much of attention to it, you have to suffer for a long time.
But it is not all bad news. The good news is that because your brain is plastic you can change your brain to the better: exactly the same way you changed it when you developed the faulty pathological behaviour in the first place. With focused attention, mindfulness and by building new neural pathways around the old ones, research has shown you can change you brain and hence your ED.
This is the only cure for eating disorders – to change your brain using your mind to reverse your old thought patterns that got you into this mess in the first place.
To read about eating disorders help go to http://www.eatingdisorder-institute.com
Brain plasticity, or neuroplasticity, is the lifelong ability of the brain to change itself based on new experiences. When we say “the brains ability to change” we don’t mean something mystical or just “spiritual”.
What we are alluding to is the brains ability to reorganise or rewire its neuronal pathways that has lead to certain wanted or unwanted actions or behaviours. For example, in case of people suffering with eating disorders it is unwanted actions like negative thoughts about their body image that lead to the development of at ED. This could have manifested itself by starving, overexercising or binging and purging over a period of time.
When people start having bad thoughts and feelings about themselves their brain begins to develop certain new neuronal wiring (or connections) to produce certain behaviours. When people continue to acting on pathological behaviours like starving, binging-purging, over exercising etc: these neuronal pathways grow stronger and stronger. Basically it is what you think is what you get.
You see any behaviour we have or regular thoughts we think there are certain brain maps developed and pathways formed. These new brain maps can start to take up a huge amount of space in our brain until they become all powerful. Eating disorders take up a huge amount of space in the brain because they affect nearly all aspects of the sufferer’s life.
So, when it comes to eating disorder treatment if it does not work on changing the old neuronal pathways it is not going to work. What has to happen is for the sufferer to develop new neuronal pathways and build them around the old faulty pathological ones that is their ED. When you start using these new pathways (the healthy pathways) they become stronger and stronger and eventually they will replace the old pathological ones (the old pathological ones will fade).
You see, when you realise that it is your brain making you do things in a defective way, you will understand that to create behavioural change you only need to make your brain work differently. And you can do that by focusing your attention differently when the ED urge strikes you.
The capacity of the brain to change doesn’t diminish with age or with the duration of the problem you have. Many people think that it is easier to stop an eating disorder early on when the disorder first appears; and that if you have had the disorder for many years it is nearly impossible to stop it.
This is not true and is totally false. People can stop their eating problems at any stage of the process, because the human brain is plastic and changeable with any repetitive activity we do. Now it does take effort to change the way you think but it is not impossible.
The first thing is to come to the realization that what your brain is telling you to do may not be correct so there is no need to act on it every time. Your brain is not your mind and you can influence it with better thoughts and actions.
Your brain is only an organ sitting between your ears. But your mind is what you do, what decision you make, and what perception about yourself you give to others. Of course this does not mean you have an abnormal brain, it is only the abnormal thoughts and behaviours that have lead you to having an ED. It has been proven beyond doubt that your mind, your conscious behaviours and thoughts can change the structure of your brain.
To conclude, eating disorders are the result of brain’s ability to change its own structure in relation to false actions and thoughts over time. Because you have changed your brains wiring to fit a certain pathological behaviour in your brain map you have developed an ED. You have responded negatively to certain eating disorder triggers that you have built around you over time.
You probably would have never developed an eating disorder if you had responded differently to these triggers. For instance: if you did not get upset when someone at school called you “fat” or if you didn’t care when your ex-boyfriend dumped you for a skinnier girl, or a similar event. You would probably never have an eating disorder now. But because you did pay too much of attention to it, you have to suffer for a long time.
But it is not all bad news. The good news is that because your brain is plastic you can change your brain to the better: exactly the same way you changed it when you developed the faulty pathological behaviour in the first place. With focused attention, mindfulness and by building new neural pathways around the old ones, research has shown you can change you brain and hence your ED.
This is the only cure for eating disorders – to change your brain using your mind to reverse your old thought patterns that got you into this mess in the first place.
To read about eating disorders help go to http://www.eatingdisorder-institute.com
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Male Eating Disorders on the Increase
Eating Disorder in Males.
Eating disorder in males is rapidly on the increase: why it is not sure but it just is.We can probably suggest that it is the pressure of social and work environment that is responsible.
In dealing with sufferers of both anorexia and bulimia I have found a growing tread in anorexia in males. I keep getting the same answer that it is social and work place pressures to perform at higher and higher levels that are starting to take its toll.
As reported by Professor Lacey in the Independent ( Monday, 22 September 2008) that revealed the number of men treated for anorexia – "manorexia" – has increased by 67 per cent in the past five years. Men now account for between 5 and 10 per cent of all eating disorder sufferers a worrying statistic.
But Bulimia in men is still the more prominent complaint we come across. Bulimia is more easily hidden that anorexia as the sufferer can be of normal weight and looks normal to family and friends. After all there is this perception that males must be these tough guys and keep their feelings to themselves.
Of course this is totally ridiculous and is another example of social pressure being applied to males. This is a hangover from the past where men had to be men regardless of how they felt inside, emotions were for women only.
But when people in high places start to come forward like ex deputy prime minister of the UK John Prescott and his battle with bulimia and says, hey I have a problem; then other men start to think it may be time to seek out help also.
Contrarily to popular held belief, anorexia and bulimia have their roots in the same place. Both stem from the impact of negative emotions and constantly added pressure on males to act in a manly way, even in the most trying of situations.
These negative emotions are absorbed by the subconscious mind of the sufferer and start a reaction in the mind that is then built upon as more negative is added. Eventually these negatives reach the point where they start to control the emotions and thoughts of the sufferer and an eating disorder is born.
Once the eating disorder is established it controls the victim wholly and solely. I use the word victim, and victim the sufferers are, because no matter what they tell themselves they are powerless to stop their destructive eating habits.
There is only one way to defeat an eating disorder, either anorexia or bulimia and that is to attack it where in lives, in the subconscious mind of the sufferer, in my option no other method will work, period.
To read more about Male eating disorders go to http://www.anorexia-cure.com/bulimia-cure/Male-Bulimia2.htm
Eating disorder in males is rapidly on the increase: why it is not sure but it just is.We can probably suggest that it is the pressure of social and work environment that is responsible.
In dealing with sufferers of both anorexia and bulimia I have found a growing tread in anorexia in males. I keep getting the same answer that it is social and work place pressures to perform at higher and higher levels that are starting to take its toll.
As reported by Professor Lacey in the Independent ( Monday, 22 September 2008) that revealed the number of men treated for anorexia – "manorexia" – has increased by 67 per cent in the past five years. Men now account for between 5 and 10 per cent of all eating disorder sufferers a worrying statistic.
But Bulimia in men is still the more prominent complaint we come across. Bulimia is more easily hidden that anorexia as the sufferer can be of normal weight and looks normal to family and friends. After all there is this perception that males must be these tough guys and keep their feelings to themselves.
Of course this is totally ridiculous and is another example of social pressure being applied to males. This is a hangover from the past where men had to be men regardless of how they felt inside, emotions were for women only.
But when people in high places start to come forward like ex deputy prime minister of the UK John Prescott and his battle with bulimia and says, hey I have a problem; then other men start to think it may be time to seek out help also.
Contrarily to popular held belief, anorexia and bulimia have their roots in the same place. Both stem from the impact of negative emotions and constantly added pressure on males to act in a manly way, even in the most trying of situations.
These negative emotions are absorbed by the subconscious mind of the sufferer and start a reaction in the mind that is then built upon as more negative is added. Eventually these negatives reach the point where they start to control the emotions and thoughts of the sufferer and an eating disorder is born.
Once the eating disorder is established it controls the victim wholly and solely. I use the word victim, and victim the sufferers are, because no matter what they tell themselves they are powerless to stop their destructive eating habits.
There is only one way to defeat an eating disorder, either anorexia or bulimia and that is to attack it where in lives, in the subconscious mind of the sufferer, in my option no other method will work, period.
To read more about Male eating disorders go to http://www.anorexia-cure.com/bulimia-cure/Male-Bulimia2.htm
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Severe Anorexia: What is the Main Step to Cure it?
Treatment for severe anorexia should start from hospitalization to
restore the person's body weight. The duration of hospitalization can
be different and depends on how fast the anorexic gains their weight.
In average many experts believe that 10-12 weeks with full nutritional
support are required to restore weight in case of anorexia.
Weight gain goals should be set by a doctor according to person's BMI
(body mass index). But in average 1-2 pounds a week is a good goal to
strive for and it is what normally happens in hospitals.
Calorie consumption can vary but severely malnourished people need to
begin with as little as 1500 calories per day (to avoid stomach pain
and vomiting) and then progress to higher calorie consumption over time.
People who are unable to eat have to be fed through tube or intravenously.
Tube feeding has many disadvantages and some professionals believe that
this method discourages people from normal eating in the future.
Nevertheless for some patients it can be the only way to gain weight.
Intravenous feeding is when a tube gets inserted into a vein and
nutritional substances go into a blood stream. This way of feeding
can also create some biochemical imbalances for patients and is only
used in extremely severe cases of anorexia.
Severe anorexia patients also can have complications and organ failures
due to long starvation and malnourishment. This has to be corrected
while the person stays in the hospital. Kidney failure, heart failure,
electrolyte imbalances, early osteoporosis are common complaints for
severe anorexics.
The second stage of treatment begins after a person reached an acceptable
body weight. This stage is the longest and the most difficult one
because many anorexics relapse at this stage and go back to their old
habits (losing all the weight they have just gained).
This happens because they still continue to see themselves as overweight
in a mirror and feel that they need to lose weight instead of maintaining
it or gaining more. They still continue to focus on their body image
and forgetting about all other things in their life.
At this stage they do it subconsciously and their perception becomes
their reality. The main issue that has to be addressed here is changing
their perception by affecting their subconscious mind (the part of human
mind responsible for feelings, internal believes and perception).
Failing to change the subconscious mind of the sufferer causes the
symptoms of anorexia to come back all the time and doesn't matter how
long she/he stayed in hospital, they relapse. Our subconscious is formed
at a very young age and if any subconscious blockages that do occur
they are formed with “child logic” and continue to impact on the sufferer
in adulthood.
Anorexics have many subcounsious blockages about body image and food.
However because they exist at the subcounsious level they are neither
aware of them nor able to judge whether or not they are logical.
To conclude, the major step to curing severe anorexia lies not just in
reaching and maintaining a certain amount of weight. It lies in
identifying and eliminating the subcounsious blockages from the
anorexic mind and changing the person's focus from weight and food to
other useful things in life.
For more about how to change the subconscious mind of anorexics go to
Dr Irina Webster
eating disorders help go to http://www.womenhealthsite.com/eating_disorders.htm
restore the person's body weight. The duration of hospitalization can
be different and depends on how fast the anorexic gains their weight.
In average many experts believe that 10-12 weeks with full nutritional
support are required to restore weight in case of anorexia.
Weight gain goals should be set by a doctor according to person's BMI
(body mass index). But in average 1-2 pounds a week is a good goal to
strive for and it is what normally happens in hospitals.
Calorie consumption can vary but severely malnourished people need to
begin with as little as 1500 calories per day (to avoid stomach pain
and vomiting) and then progress to higher calorie consumption over time.
People who are unable to eat have to be fed through tube or intravenously.
Tube feeding has many disadvantages and some professionals believe that
this method discourages people from normal eating in the future.
Nevertheless for some patients it can be the only way to gain weight.
Intravenous feeding is when a tube gets inserted into a vein and
nutritional substances go into a blood stream. This way of feeding
can also create some biochemical imbalances for patients and is only
used in extremely severe cases of anorexia.
Severe anorexia patients also can have complications and organ failures
due to long starvation and malnourishment. This has to be corrected
while the person stays in the hospital. Kidney failure, heart failure,
electrolyte imbalances, early osteoporosis are common complaints for
severe anorexics.
The second stage of treatment begins after a person reached an acceptable
body weight. This stage is the longest and the most difficult one
because many anorexics relapse at this stage and go back to their old
habits (losing all the weight they have just gained).
This happens because they still continue to see themselves as overweight
in a mirror and feel that they need to lose weight instead of maintaining
it or gaining more. They still continue to focus on their body image
and forgetting about all other things in their life.
At this stage they do it subconsciously and their perception becomes
their reality. The main issue that has to be addressed here is changing
their perception by affecting their subconscious mind (the part of human
mind responsible for feelings, internal believes and perception).
Failing to change the subconscious mind of the sufferer causes the
symptoms of anorexia to come back all the time and doesn't matter how
long she/he stayed in hospital, they relapse. Our subconscious is formed
at a very young age and if any subconscious blockages that do occur
they are formed with “child logic” and continue to impact on the sufferer
in adulthood.
Anorexics have many subcounsious blockages about body image and food.
However because they exist at the subcounsious level they are neither
aware of them nor able to judge whether or not they are logical.
To conclude, the major step to curing severe anorexia lies not just in
reaching and maintaining a certain amount of weight. It lies in
identifying and eliminating the subcounsious blockages from the
anorexic mind and changing the person's focus from weight and food to
other useful things in life.
For more about how to change the subconscious mind of anorexics go to
Dr Irina Webster
eating disorders help go to http://www.womenhealthsite.com/eating_disorders.htm
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Anorexia Side Effects
Anorexia is not just about weight loss and refusing to eat. Anorexia has major side effects on the mental, physical and emotional state of a person.
Contracting anorexia means getting a new life style, new coping strategies, new relationships, new thought pattern and a whole new way of living and none of it is good.
You can say that a new sufferer becomes like a completely new person, different from what she/he used to be.
One of the very distinctive side effects of anorexia is a distorted perception about themselves. It is related to their own body image, their self being and also how they perceive other people as well.
The main measurement of all becomes how skinny they are. Anorexics perceive that their worth is directly related to their weight. They feel and think the same way about other people also.
For example a 19 year old anorexic girl I was talking to said once:" I know that the more weight I lose the better and stronger person I become. I understand that all overweight people are lazy, fat and no good".
But the meaning of being overweight for her is far away from reality. She perceives even normal weight people as overweight, including herself. She was already only 49 kg (height 164cm) but she still saw herself like a fat and overweigh person.
She sees this picture because of the other major side effect of anorexia called "broken eye syndrome". And because anorexics see a wrong picture of themselves and others they want to loose more and more weight and can't stop starving themselves and over exercising.
Their relationships with other people change a lot since they contracted their anorexia because they need to spend all their time counting calories, exercising and thinking over a new strategy to lose more weight. Plus anorexics become very judgmental and picky and loose interest in others and everything they did before. All these prevent them from having a normal relationship with others.
And the other side effect of anorexia is their changing respond to everyday stress. This encompasses everything that happens to them, anorexics respond by increasing their exercising time, cutting down on calories and withdrawing further away from other people.
Contracting anorexia means getting a new life style, new coping strategies, new relationships, new thought pattern and a whole new way of living and none of it is good.
You can say that a new sufferer becomes like a completely new person, different from what she/he used to be.
One of the very distinctive side effects of anorexia is a distorted perception about themselves. It is related to their own body image, their self being and also how they perceive other people as well.
The main measurement of all becomes how skinny they are. Anorexics perceive that their worth is directly related to their weight. They feel and think the same way about other people also.
For example a 19 year old anorexic girl I was talking to said once:" I know that the more weight I lose the better and stronger person I become. I understand that all overweight people are lazy, fat and no good".
But the meaning of being overweight for her is far away from reality. She perceives even normal weight people as overweight, including herself. She was already only 49 kg (height 164cm) but she still saw herself like a fat and overweigh person.
She sees this picture because of the other major side effect of anorexia called "broken eye syndrome". And because anorexics see a wrong picture of themselves and others they want to loose more and more weight and can't stop starving themselves and over exercising.
Their relationships with other people change a lot since they contracted their anorexia because they need to spend all their time counting calories, exercising and thinking over a new strategy to lose more weight. Plus anorexics become very judgmental and picky and loose interest in others and everything they did before. All these prevent them from having a normal relationship with others.
And the other side effect of anorexia is their changing respond to everyday stress. This encompasses everything that happens to them, anorexics respond by increasing their exercising time, cutting down on calories and withdrawing further away from other people.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Ways to Cure Bulimia Nervosa.
By Dr Irina Webster
There are many ways to treat bulimia but not very many of them really cure bulimia.
Popular treatment is going to the doctors or clinics or a counselor. How helpful are these? Statistic shows that nearly 90% of suffers relapse after attending these kinds of treatment.
What happens to these people is they feel temporary better while they are in the clinic or in a doctor's room, but lose all sense of self-control around food when they come back home or while on their own and unprotected.
The next way of treatment is group therapy where sufferers are supposed to get ongoing support and help from other sufferers and a group leader. But this way has many flaws and is not helpful either: it can actually become harmful to many sufferers.
The reasons of this are that while in the group there is often a competition for attention. In the group patients often deliberately get worse or engage in more symptoms just to get extra attention from each other or the therapist. This kind of competition always exists in eating disorder help groups but on many different levels. Sometimes it can get out of control and cause a lot of harm to some members of the group, the most venerable ones.
Also, while in the group people learn from each other. And they learn not necessary only the good things. They learn a lot of bad stuff too. Like say if a young woman has never heard of drinking ipecac to induce vomiting and learns this technique in group therapy. She may try the technique out herself at home; instead of getting positive help she has just learned how to mask her disorder even more. This can also have a detrimental effect on the group leaving the group leader or member feeling responsible for teaching her.
Some doctors prescribe drugs to treat eating disorders but this also does not fix the problem and in the long run even makes things worse.
The only way to cure bulimia in my opinion is to eliminate the reason why people have it.
You see what happens is that people understand that their bulimia is slowly killing them and want to stop but they can't.
It seems like something inside the person is stronger than their own free will and controls their logical thinking.
What is this something?
It is basically another part of our brain called the subconscious mind that not only is responsible for people's feelings, emotions and non-conscious actions that keep them alive, but it can also work against your own free will.
It is the part of the mind that is responsible for our actions when we do something but we don't know why we did it.
The subconscious mind operates on feelings and senses. And very often people can't even describe it logically because it consists of thoughts and feelings. Sufferers just do what the subconscious mind wants them to do.
So, the main reason people have bulimia lies in the subconscious mind and to stop bulimia one needs to get rid off the subconscious blockages that always keep you being a bulimic against your will.
Subconscious blockages are described by many sufferers as being like voices or senses they have that make them binge and purge.
If someone has a subconscious emotional blockage preventing her/him from stopping their bulimia, they are unlikely to realize it. An example of this is a bulimic who doesn’t realize that they have "broken eye syndrome" - they see in a mirror a different picture from everyone else: basically their own mind is lying to them.
Subconscious blockages cannot be identified and changed at the rational thinking level; this is where most conventional treatments fail: simply because they think logical actions will fix it.
For example, the “broken eye syndrome" gets worse and worse the longer you have bulimia, because the bulimic brain is constantly working on false information and is reinforcing false beliefs. You can talk logic to a bulimia sufferer all day long and it will not help one bit: because bulimia is not logical.
To conclude, identifying and eliminating your subconscious blockages is the best and really the only way you will ever cure your bulimia. There are special programs that help bulimics to do this. One of the programs that works in this direction and has proved to be helpful is at http://www.bulimia-cure.com
There are many ways to treat bulimia but not very many of them really cure bulimia.
Popular treatment is going to the doctors or clinics or a counselor. How helpful are these? Statistic shows that nearly 90% of suffers relapse after attending these kinds of treatment.
What happens to these people is they feel temporary better while they are in the clinic or in a doctor's room, but lose all sense of self-control around food when they come back home or while on their own and unprotected.
The next way of treatment is group therapy where sufferers are supposed to get ongoing support and help from other sufferers and a group leader. But this way has many flaws and is not helpful either: it can actually become harmful to many sufferers.
The reasons of this are that while in the group there is often a competition for attention. In the group patients often deliberately get worse or engage in more symptoms just to get extra attention from each other or the therapist. This kind of competition always exists in eating disorder help groups but on many different levels. Sometimes it can get out of control and cause a lot of harm to some members of the group, the most venerable ones.
Also, while in the group people learn from each other. And they learn not necessary only the good things. They learn a lot of bad stuff too. Like say if a young woman has never heard of drinking ipecac to induce vomiting and learns this technique in group therapy. She may try the technique out herself at home; instead of getting positive help she has just learned how to mask her disorder even more. This can also have a detrimental effect on the group leaving the group leader or member feeling responsible for teaching her.
Some doctors prescribe drugs to treat eating disorders but this also does not fix the problem and in the long run even makes things worse.
The only way to cure bulimia in my opinion is to eliminate the reason why people have it.
You see what happens is that people understand that their bulimia is slowly killing them and want to stop but they can't.
It seems like something inside the person is stronger than their own free will and controls their logical thinking.
What is this something?
It is basically another part of our brain called the subconscious mind that not only is responsible for people's feelings, emotions and non-conscious actions that keep them alive, but it can also work against your own free will.
It is the part of the mind that is responsible for our actions when we do something but we don't know why we did it.
The subconscious mind operates on feelings and senses. And very often people can't even describe it logically because it consists of thoughts and feelings. Sufferers just do what the subconscious mind wants them to do.
So, the main reason people have bulimia lies in the subconscious mind and to stop bulimia one needs to get rid off the subconscious blockages that always keep you being a bulimic against your will.
Subconscious blockages are described by many sufferers as being like voices or senses they have that make them binge and purge.
If someone has a subconscious emotional blockage preventing her/him from stopping their bulimia, they are unlikely to realize it. An example of this is a bulimic who doesn’t realize that they have "broken eye syndrome" - they see in a mirror a different picture from everyone else: basically their own mind is lying to them.
Subconscious blockages cannot be identified and changed at the rational thinking level; this is where most conventional treatments fail: simply because they think logical actions will fix it.
For example, the “broken eye syndrome" gets worse and worse the longer you have bulimia, because the bulimic brain is constantly working on false information and is reinforcing false beliefs. You can talk logic to a bulimia sufferer all day long and it will not help one bit: because bulimia is not logical.
To conclude, identifying and eliminating your subconscious blockages is the best and really the only way you will ever cure your bulimia. There are special programs that help bulimics to do this. One of the programs that works in this direction and has proved to be helpful is at http://www.bulimia-cure.com
Thursday, May 1, 2008
How to spot Bulimia signs in Children
By Dr Irina Webster.
What can you do if you are a parent who suspects their child has Bulimia how do you know for sure?
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 amount of food that is missing. Things like packets of biscuits you have just bought and they have disappeared overnight. Packets of sweets gone without you even having one yourself. Look for easy accessible foods that seem to be gone faster than what is normal for your family use.
2: The child is starting to act unusual around meal times. Being a bit anxious and not wanting to eat certain food groups, or may play with their food. They may say they have eaten at a friends place but then start to raid the food cupboard for easy food soon after dinner.
3: You notice that the child may have lots of food rappers in their bedroom hidden under the bed or in their trash basket. Half eaten candy bars or potato crisp packets hidden in places that are unusual.
4: The child may start to miss family gatherings or not want to go out to events where they normally would have, like picnics or parties preferring to stay home. Even making excuses they feel ill or have a headache.
5: The child may start to do more exercise that they use to do. Go for long runs or bike rides and start to really push themselves to the extreme.
These are all little things but point to a change in the Childs habits although you can’t come to the conclusion that your Child has Bulimia from these alone. You need more concrete evidence to go with these before you can be sure.
Bulimics normally become very good at hiding their condition from family and friends. Bulimia has been described as secretive and sneaky and it most certainly is.
So you as a parent have to become just as sneaky if you suspect your child of this disorder.
Here are some more concrete things to look out for.
1: The child after finishing their meal disappears to the bathroom for a long time. This starts to become a habit and is a surefire clue to the child being bulimic.
2: You notice the smell of toothpaste on their breath when they come from the bathroom, or a sour smell on their breath.
3: You start to find laxatives in their bedroom or empty packets in their trash bin.
4: They start to become really edgy and anxious for no apparent reason and may start telling you to mind your own business if you say anything to them. They act out of character towards you.
5: They start to look sickly and feel the cold more that was normal for them. They may start having problems with their teeth or complain of a sore throat all the time.
6: They start to become obsessed with there weight and are looking at the bathroom scales all the time, or asking you if they look fat or looking in the mirror more that they use to do.
If you noticed a number of these symptoms together then there is a good chance your child may have Bulimia. But do not simply confront them as this can drive the child away or warn them you are on to them, so they may become even sneakier.
You should educate yourself first from people who have faced what you are facing now. One of the best educational information site around on this subject is at
www.bulimia-cure.com
What can you do if you are a parent who suspects their child has Bulimia how do you know for sure?
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 amount of food that is missing. Things like packets of biscuits you have just bought and they have disappeared overnight. Packets of sweets gone without you even having one yourself. Look for easy accessible foods that seem to be gone faster than what is normal for your family use.
2: The child is starting to act unusual around meal times. Being a bit anxious and not wanting to eat certain food groups, or may play with their food. They may say they have eaten at a friends place but then start to raid the food cupboard for easy food soon after dinner.
3: You notice that the child may have lots of food rappers in their bedroom hidden under the bed or in their trash basket. Half eaten candy bars or potato crisp packets hidden in places that are unusual.
4: The child may start to miss family gatherings or not want to go out to events where they normally would have, like picnics or parties preferring to stay home. Even making excuses they feel ill or have a headache.
5: The child may start to do more exercise that they use to do. Go for long runs or bike rides and start to really push themselves to the extreme.
These are all little things but point to a change in the Childs habits although you can’t come to the conclusion that your Child has Bulimia from these alone. You need more concrete evidence to go with these before you can be sure.
Bulimics normally become very good at hiding their condition from family and friends. Bulimia has been described as secretive and sneaky and it most certainly is.
So you as a parent have to become just as sneaky if you suspect your child of this disorder.
Here are some more concrete things to look out for.
1: The child after finishing their meal disappears to the bathroom for a long time. This starts to become a habit and is a surefire clue to the child being bulimic.
2: You notice the smell of toothpaste on their breath when they come from the bathroom, or a sour smell on their breath.
3: You start to find laxatives in their bedroom or empty packets in their trash bin.
4: They start to become really edgy and anxious for no apparent reason and may start telling you to mind your own business if you say anything to them. They act out of character towards you.
5: They start to look sickly and feel the cold more that was normal for them. They may start having problems with their teeth or complain of a sore throat all the time.
6: They start to become obsessed with there weight and are looking at the bathroom scales all the time, or asking you if they look fat or looking in the mirror more that they use to do.
If you noticed a number of these symptoms together then there is a good chance your child may have Bulimia. But do not simply confront them as this can drive the child away or warn them you are on to them, so they may become even sneakier.
You should educate yourself first from people who have faced what you are facing now. One of the best educational information site around on this subject is at
www.bulimia-cure.com
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Bulimia in Men.
Most people, who know little about a disease like bulimia and this includes many journalists, say why can’t they just stop: I wish it was as simple as that but it is not. Like Mr. Prescott said he got some weird satisfaction from binging and then purging and all bulimics get the same thing.
When a bulimic purges they get a release of a pleasure hormone not unlike the endorphins an athlete gets after exercising. This feel good hormone is one of the reasons a bulimic continues on with his erratic eating behavior. The problem is the rush they get is very short lived, so they have to binge and purge even more. So asking a bulimic to simply stop is like asking a non-sufferer to give up breathing air: it is not going to happen.
Most non-sufferers and many others think that you can beat bulimia with logic and by pointing out the errors of their ways they will stop. But again this is an impossibility and simply cannot happen. Mr. Prescott and his wife knew for years it was wrong and that he was in danger of serious medical problems, but he could not stop. If bulimia was a logical disease then he should have been able to stop when he realized he was doing harm to himself, but he couldn’t.
This is because bulimia lives in the subconscious mind of the sufferer and the subconscious mind does not work on logic, it works on feelings and emotions and these are certainly not logical. The longer the bulimic has the disorder the more ingrained it becomes in the subconscious mind of the sufferer.
There is a way you can see how the subconscious mind works for yourself. The next time you explode at one of the kids or go off for no apparent reason, just ask yourself if it was logical. I bet you do not have the slightest idea why it happened; it is because it came from your subconscious mind and not your logical mind.
There is only one way you can really stop bulimia and that is through the subconscious mind where the bulimia lives. It lives there because it was programmed by the sufferer to be there over months or even years as was the case with Mr. Prescott.
If you are a bulimic or if you are a family member of a bulimic, the best place to find out more about how the subconscious mind works is at www.bulimia-cure.com where it explains all about the connection with the subconscious mind and bulimia. This site has a very big success rate in treating Bulimia and Anorexia all around the world and is run by Dr Irina Webster an expert in eating disorders.
When a bulimic purges they get a release of a pleasure hormone not unlike the endorphins an athlete gets after exercising. This feel good hormone is one of the reasons a bulimic continues on with his erratic eating behavior. The problem is the rush they get is very short lived, so they have to binge and purge even more. So asking a bulimic to simply stop is like asking a non-sufferer to give up breathing air: it is not going to happen.
Most non-sufferers and many others think that you can beat bulimia with logic and by pointing out the errors of their ways they will stop. But again this is an impossibility and simply cannot happen. Mr. Prescott and his wife knew for years it was wrong and that he was in danger of serious medical problems, but he could not stop. If bulimia was a logical disease then he should have been able to stop when he realized he was doing harm to himself, but he couldn’t.
This is because bulimia lives in the subconscious mind of the sufferer and the subconscious mind does not work on logic, it works on feelings and emotions and these are certainly not logical. The longer the bulimic has the disorder the more ingrained it becomes in the subconscious mind of the sufferer.
There is a way you can see how the subconscious mind works for yourself. The next time you explode at one of the kids or go off for no apparent reason, just ask yourself if it was logical. I bet you do not have the slightest idea why it happened; it is because it came from your subconscious mind and not your logical mind.
There is only one way you can really stop bulimia and that is through the subconscious mind where the bulimia lives. It lives there because it was programmed by the sufferer to be there over months or even years as was the case with Mr. Prescott.
If you are a bulimic or if you are a family member of a bulimic, the best place to find out more about how the subconscious mind works is at www.bulimia-cure.com where it explains all about the connection with the subconscious mind and bulimia. This site has a very big success rate in treating Bulimia and Anorexia all around the world and is run by Dr Irina Webster an expert in eating disorders.
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