Dec

26

Binge Eating Over Christmas

December 26, 2007 | Leave a Comment


If you have a , you may find it hard to stop yourself from eating compulsively this Christmas season. In fact, holiday celebrations only present a number of opportunities for you to binge. You would not be the only one who tends to eat more too since holiday food appeals to all for being specially prepared and decidedly tasty. With a binge eating disorder, it can be considerably more difficult to pull yourself away from the dinner table.

The disorder is a thorny problem among those who are trying, or need, to shed excess weight, especially women. Mostly, the problem also occurs at some point in the life cycle, for example, among high school students and those going off to college. This might be viewed as a natural phase, part of growing up. But if you become overly concerned about your appearance to the point of an obsession and seek to control it through diet, you may unwittingly put yourself at risk for .

There are many things that can trigger an episode of binge eating during Christmas. It may be the sight of a succulent turkey or decadent chocolate cakes and holiday treats. Unfortunately, if none of your family members are aware about your binge eating disorder, they may be prompting you to go for seconds or thirds.

Additionally, the time of day may be a significant stimulus. You may feel the particular urge to indulge in the late afternoon, more particularly in the evening or late at night. You can feel the added stress of putting on more weight if you eat late into the night.

Ironically, binge eaters are actually intent on losing weight, and the early part of their day is focused to trying to avoid eating too much. But in the late afternoon or evening, you start feeling like you can no longer stand the repression of appetite and you just let go. Having big dinner spreads that can last for hours sure does not help!

The best way to avoid binge eating is to avoid restrictive dieting. If you limit calorie intake below a normal quantity, a chemical signal reaches the brain that food is needed. It is also advisable to develop alternative ways of making yourself feel better, particularly when you feel stress. You should not turn to food in an excessive manner, and should instead look for other ways to help you cope better.

Whether you are actually overweight or of average size, as a binge eater you often grab some food when you want to feel better about yourself. Hence, it is important that you develop self esteem. Know that there is more to you than just looks. Your appearance only plays a small part of who you are. Engage in activities that boosts your self esteem. When that happens, perhaps you will become free from your binge eating disorder.






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Nov

15

Child Weight Loss: What Parents Should Not Say To Their Children About Losing Weight

November 15, 2007 | Leave a Comment


Childhood obesity is a rising epidemic. It is hard to correct the diet of your kids as they get older and gets bombarded with ads on fast food outlets. It gets even harder if they have been accustomed to being fed on a diet of French fries and burgers from young. The danger is when they do not realize that they are eating extremely unhealthy food; one that builds fats and toxins in their little bodies.

As parents, it is hard to know exactly how much to say to help change this in our children. If we push too hard, we could cause a strain in our relationship with them. If we do not say anything, then we are not acting responsibly either. We have to find that balance, somehow.

Here are some guidelines on what you should not say to your child, especially if he or she has a weight issue:

- Pushing and recommending new diets to your child. It is much better to help them learn more about nutrition, so that they have the tools to find healthy foods for their body. Diets may seem like the answer, but training them how to eat correctly be being a good role model yourself is a much better answer to obesity.

- Pushing exercise. Although exercise is healthy, pushing your children to hard can be counter productive. Excessive exercising is also of the sign of eating disorders when your child becomes obsessed over his or her body image.

Even athletes can be pushed by their parent to do more and this can cause them to exercise to the point where it is dangerous for their health. Instead, plan activities that you can do together as a family. Walking, biking, and other exercise that you do as a family can be helpful without making an issue of it. Making exercise fun can be the key to helping your child deal with their weight issue.

- Projecting your feelings onto your child. While you may have hated your body when you were a teenager, there is no need to share too much about these thoughts with your child and especially put across in a negative light. This can cause them to have self-image problems. Sometimes it is best to leave those thoughts inside, so that our child can develop their own self-image, rather than us projecting our poor self-image onto them.

- Praising your child for weight loss. You have to be careful if he or she begins to feel that he/she need to lose weight just to earn your praise and attention. This can then turn into an eating disorder which can lead to health complications.

- Comparisons with other children. Comparisons with the appearance of other children can be quite damaging to their self-esteem. Remarks like “You are more big-boned than your sister” are not helpful and can have a huge impact upon how they think about themselves. This is why you want to refrain from making comparisons.

You need to help provide useful information and tools to your children for weight loss or to maintain healthy weight. Becoming like a drill sergeant with their exercise and food can worsen the relationship that you have with them. It is far better to model healthy habits yourself and give them your every support for them in making wise and independent choices in life.






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