Crossing the Line: From Health to Hurt

In the United States, approximately 10 million females are fighting a life and death battle with eating disorders. Cultural and media influences, such as T.V, magazines and movies, reinforce the belief that women should concern themselves with appearance over ideas or achievements.

While most of our eating disorder clients have a preoccupation with food and weight, the underlying problem is about much more than food. Eating disorders are real, complex, and devastating conditions that can have serious consequences for health, productivity, and relationships.

The most commonly known eating disorders are anorexia nervosa, nulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder. On the rise: exercise bulimia, diabulimia, pregorexia and orthorexia.

Orthorexia is characterized by excessive focus on eating healthy foods. In rare cases, this focus may turn into a fixation so extreme that it can lead to severe malnutrition or even death. The orthorexic may avoid certain foods, such as those containing fats, perservatives and animal products, or other ingredients considered by the orthorexic to be unhealthy. The orthorexic’s intent is to feel pure, healthy, and natural.

Diabulimia refers to an eating disorder in which people with diabetes deliberately give themselves less insulin than they need for the purpose of weight loss. This seems to be prevalent in young teens and women. The severe consequences of possible diabetic coma or death do not deter them from furthering their drive for thinness.

Exercise bulimia is a subset of bulimia in which a person is compelled to exercise in an effort aimed at burning the calories of food enery and fat reserves to an excessive level that negatively affects their health. The damage normally occurs through not giving the body adequate rest for athletic recovery compared to their exercise levels, leading to increasing levels of disrepair. If the person eats a normally healthy and adequate diet but exercises in levels she knows require higher levels of nutrition, this can also be seen as a form of anorexia.

The phenomenon of pregorexia is a term coined by the media. The intense need to remain slim and sculpted during pregnancy is a growing concern among the medical profession.

Eating disorders arise from a variety of physical, emotional, social, and familial issues, all of which need to be addressed for effective prevention and treatment. For additional information, visit http://www.eatright.org/, http://www.edreferral.com/, and http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/.

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Terri L. Mozingo, RD, CDN

D. Milton Stokes, MPH, RD, CDN

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This post is part of the Women's Health Blogfest. Check back here soon for links to posts from other Women's Health bloggers.

Cancer Nutrition

Check this out for helpful information: http://www.curetoday.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/magazine.show/id/15.

I'm on the editorial board and would appreciate your feedback.

Lose 10 lbs Eating Fast Food! - Healthy Eating - Health.com

Lose 10 lbs Eating Fast Food! - Healthy Eating - Health.com

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What's Your Diet Type? -- Find Yours Today!

Common Weight Loss Mistakes

Registered Dietician Gives the Skinny on Getting Thin

Heather Jones R.D., has some startling news: your plans to lose pounds could actually make you not only gain weight, but also make you less healthy.  Jones, author of the new book What’s Your Diet Type?, points out the key ways to stay slim and healthy with her list of the top eight most common mistakes made by dieters.   

 

Not eating enough:  Drastically cutting calories sends your body into starvation mode. The “starving” body actually slows down its metabolism so it can maintain its weight.  The trick is to reduce your calories enough to lose weight, but not so much that you negatively affect your metabolism.

 

Not exercising: Diet and exercise go together like Ginger and Fred and peanut butter and jelly.  Both are good parts that, together, make an even better pair. In fact, studies show that weight loss results are much more effective with a combo of decreased calories and increased physical activity.

 

Completely cutting out favorite foods:  No food or drink is so high in calories, fat, or sugar that including it on occasion within overall healthy eating habits is going to cause a problem.  It’s better to moderate than to try to eliminate.

 

Changing what you eat, but not what you drink: Drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) are an easy way to load you diet with extra calories. Sodas, coffee drinks, cocktails, and even nutritious drinks—like milk and 100% juice—can spell trouble for your caloric bottom-line. 

 

Skipping meals: When you skip meals, your metabolism drops and you may also tend to overeat at your next meal. Research show people who eat breakfast (the most commonly skipped meal) are more successful at weight loss then people who ditch their morning meal.

 

Following the latest fad diet: Fad diets, which usually promise speedy weight loss and insist you cut out certain foods or even entire food groups, are not long-term solutions.  Not only are these unbalanced diets unhealthy, dieters regain any weight lost more often than not.

 

Taking diet pills: Diet pills don’t teach you how to make long-term, healthy changes, and they don’t build fat-burning muscle.

 

Forgetting about your own wants and needs:  Research shows that a moderate weight loss of around two pounds per week through healthy, varied food choices, physical activity and permanent lifestyle solutions is the best (and only way) to lose the weight and keep it off.  Bottom line: You have to find lifestyle solutions that work for you and your own unique personality. 

 

Learn more about dieting do’s and don’ts in What’s Your Diet Type? available on Amazon.com, Hatherleighpress.com, and all other major book retailer websites and stores. 

 

What’s Your Diet Type? by Heather K. Jones R.D., Mary Miscisin M.S. and Ed Redard M.D will help you find a weight loss approach that will work for you—for good. With a short, simple Quiz based on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®), the world’s most trusted and widely used personality type assessment, you can match your personality to one or more of the four Diet Types: the Diet Planner, Diet Player, the Diet Feeler, and the Diet Thinker. Then, learn how to take advantage of your personality’s unique strengths to lose weight and keep it off—forever.  You’ll learn the basics of nutrition and diet and you’ll find solutions that will work for YOU, including healthy eating strategies and quick tips.

 

 

# # #

What’s Your Diet Type?

Use the Power of Your Personality to Discover Your Best Way to Lose Weight

A Hatherleigh Book, Distributed by Random House

978-1-57826-287-8, cloth $19.00

# # #

 

For interview requests, review copies, or additional information, please contact Mary Woodward at 718-786-5338, ext. 207 or mary@hatherleighpress.com.

 

Volunteers Needed for Diet Test Panel in NYC

Prevention Magazine is looking for men 35 to 65 who want to drop pounds and inches around the midsection with a new, flexible meal plan. The plan comprises 2 phases. The first is 4 days of structured meals and snacks to jumpstart your weight loss. The second phase is 28 days of eating 5 mini-meals from a host of quick meal ideas and easy-to-follow recipes. Your meal plan will provide adequate calories and a balance of protein, carbohydrate, fat and fiber.

If you meet ALL of the following criteria:

Age 35 to 65
Have 15 to 50 pounds to lose
Physician clearance to lose weight
Are willing/able to follow the plan for a month (32 days)
Are willing to be interviewed and have your photo in a book and/or national magazine
Are willing to come to New York City for a meeting in mid June and once in mid July
Are willing to maintain brief daily communication (i.e., email, one-on-one e-chat, or phone) with a registered dietitian during the month

If you're interested, please send a digital full body photo to Milton Stokes, MPH, RD, CDN at miltonstokes@gmail.com by May 27, and include the following information:Name Email address Phone number (daytime & evening) Age Occupation Current Weight Height
Highest adult weight
Lowest adult weight
Desired weight
What is your weekly exercise schedule?Have you lost weight in the past? If so, how much? How did you do it?

Toddler Nutrition

A post I did for Toddler's Dad blog:

Question: My child is underweight. How can I get him to eat more?

Answer:
Underweight could be related to medical problems or just to a restricted diet. Either way, I make sure each pediatric patient’s growth is charted on a growth chart. We need to monitor trends and patterns. Sometimes underweight really isn’t a problem; trending positively in the right direction matters more. Provided there are no medical abnormalities, then we can quite simply address diet.

What parent hasn’t experienced concern and frustration when a toddler doesn’t eat what we think they should eat. But take note: A little one’s ability to regulate dietary intake is in fact as close to perfection as it’ll ever be for his entire life. Yes! They may not finish everything on their plate or eat their cruciferous veggies. This is normal. Children are true experts at regulating their intakes: one meal might be scant; another quite large. The result is ideal balance. Overall intake is what matters most. It’s not until well-intentioned adults (i.e., grandparents?) who interject insisting a child clean his plate that problems arise. This teaches the child to override his inherent ability to regulate dietary intake. In my practice, I insist families eliminate membership in the Clean Plate Club. Eat when hungry; stop when full.

Another consideration for a child’s eating pattern is that introducing new, unfamiliar foods takes time and patience. Research and my professional experience confirms that what a parent does—role modeling during meals—is the most important way to encourage healthful eating. Avoid food fights and food struggles. Gentle episodes of exposure to new foods—as many as to or more separate occasions—may be required ten successfully expand a child’s intake.

Happy eating!

Eating Healthfully on a Budget

A Low-Cost Bill Of Health

Dietitians Dish Out Advice On Filling Your Plate Without Emptying Your Pockets

By THERESA SULLIVAN BARGER
Special to The Courant

March 19 2009

If you're looking to stretch your grocery dollars, the freezer is your friend. So are store brands, sales, grocery-store circulars, unit prices and shopping lists.

The complete article can be viewed at:http://www.courant.com/features/food/hc-nutrition-budget.artmar19,0,2356253.story

Visit Courant.com at http://www.courant.com