Archive for the 'Eating Disorders' Category

Can Your Diet Cause An Eating Disorder Like Anorexia?

Almost everybody has tried a diet in his life. A diet is nothing else than a change in what and how we eat. Did you ever think of eating disorders when you made a diet?

I guess not. Today eating disorders get more and more attention by the media. Some claim that eating disorders are the results of obsessive dieting. Today we know different kinds of eating disorders and gave it names like bulimia or anorexia nervosa.

The more we hear and read about it, the more we see signs of these eating disorders by ourselves. Are you too asking yourself all day if the things you eat are good for you? Are they healthy, fresh and well cooked? Do they contain enough vitamins and minerals? Do I get enough fibers? Did I eat too much fat? How many calories did I just consume? And so on and so forth.

Nutrition can be a quite confusing topic. There is just too much information about it out there. Way too much. And it gets more with every day. Still, science does not know the answers to all questions and is still guessing on many things.

How many diets do you know? How many are there? Which ones are really working and why? It is a big industry and a lot of money is made from the lack of knowledge. I do not know many who can enumerate all known vitamins and minerals. Can you? And what exactly are these vitamins and minerals good for and in which foods can they be found?

You see, even this question alone could fill a book with answers. No doubt about it what happens when you try to make a diet and start to read about all these things. Confusion and frustration is the result.

There are different reasons to make a diet. The most obvious one is to loose weight but there are many others. Since there is so much information about food, nutrition, dieting and cooking that many started to celebrate a special type of diet or eating habit as a lifestyle.

It is like with any other habit in any other part of your life. If you get obsessive about something then you may loose control. Behavior that you repeat over and over again becomes a habit that you perform without paying attention to it anymore.

If you diet because you like to diet then you are on a dangerous path. A diet is nothing more than a aid to achieve a goal, for example to loose weight. Once the goal is achieved the diet stops.

Common sense? Should be. But if you are a victim of an eating disorder like anorexia nervosa then you continue to diet for unknown reasons. You are starving yourself to death. Why not just stop the diet? It is not possible anymore. The habits became part of the behavior.

There is a Chinese saying that warns you about your goals because they may become true. Be careful with your nutrition. It changes or body and mind. We all should go for a healthy lifestyle but never pass the line. There can also be negative effects like eating disorders.

How to Finally Overcome Binge Eating

This Saturday was a holiday here in the US. It was the 4th of July, full of family, friends, fireworks and (of course) fattening foods.

If I had to guess, I’d say that the vast majority of you did not maintain your raw food diet.

Sorry if I seem too harsh. But let’s face it, making *any* dietary changes is tough work! This is especially true for those of us known to binge eat.

While I no longer struggle with binge eating or cravings, I know how physically *and* mentally draining it can be. I also know what it takes to defeat these cravings for good.

On that note, here are the 3 most important steps you can take to combat your cooked food cravings and finally overcome binge eating.

#1: Don’t Beat Yourself Up

You have to put this little side-step, or any dieting “faux-paus,” in perspective. Just because you ate some food you have placed on your naughty list does not mean it’s the end of the world. It’s just food!

Think about it this way. You maintain a healthy raw vegan diet for 2 weeks straight…tons of fruit, nutritious veggies, limited fats, etc. Then, you attend a cookout for Independence Day. You are determined *not* to eat anything cooked. But, oh man, that cornbread looks sooooo good. You decide just a little nibble won’t kill you. A nibble becomes a mouthful, a mouthful becomes 3 face-fulls, etc.

Before you know it, you feel uncomfortably stuffed, piss offed, and guilty.

And all of this in the span of just a few minutes. Compare those minutes to the entire 2 weeks you stayed raw and healthy. Not much of a comparison, huh?

Always put things into perspective. Recognize your decision (you choose to overeat, it does not happen to you) for what it was, learn from it, and move on.

#2: Be Firm In Your Decisions

While it’s important to be easy on yourself when you stray from your diet, it’s also important to be firm in your decision to go raw to prevent further binges. You have to understand exactly why you are refraining from certain foods and be completely confident in your reasons.

Doing this from the get go will make it much more difficult to justify eating those forbidden foods.

An excellent way to facilitate this is to make a list of your raw reasons. Include only the reasons that are actually important to you, not ones that you think should be important.

If the *only* reason you want to go raw is to lose weight, that’s okay! That can be your one solid reason. Try to keep that reason in your mind at all times. Write it out on post it notes. Laminate it and paste it to your fridge.

Just make it real and unforgettable.

If someone asks you your reasons for going raw, you should practically scream at them, “I WANT TO LOSE WEIGHT!” without even thinking about it. It should be that solid in your mind.

#3: Analyze Your Cravings to Cooked Foods

It’s always important to understand why we long for “naughty” foods in the first place. To do this, you first must identify what type of craving you are experiencing:

*Physical Cravings*

Physical cravings are simply due to physical hunger. You are not getting enough calories from raw foods and so you are hungry. This puts you in a compromised position, especially when you are surrounded by all of your old cooked food favorites at family functions. Being hungry makes it very easy to justify eating these foods.

Luckily, erradicating physical cravings is very easy to do. Just eat more food! Simply add a couple more pieces of fruit to your fruit meals. You will know that you have eaten enough when you are satiated for 3-5 hours are eating and no longer crave other foods.

*Emotional Cravings*

Emotional cravings are a whole different monster because, well…they’re emotional! You binge because of your feelings, not because of any physical hunger.

I know this type of craving all too well. There were times in which I was absolutely *stuffed* on sweet raw fruit, and yet I found myself in the pantry claiming any foods that I could get my hands on.

For me, overeating was usually a result of boredom. Each time I found myself with nothing to do, I would immediately think of food.

When I *finally* figured this out, I was able to gain control of and even destroy my cravings. I knew what would happen if I let myself become bored and restless and so I was able to keep myself from reaching this state in the first place.

Not only did I eradicate my cravings, but I became much more productive as well! :)

It’s a Process

To get started, I recommend you write down your raw reasons. It only takes a few minutes. Go ahead, get started!

Don’t worry, I’ll wait. ;)

From there, you can begin thinking about any emotional ties you may have to foods. Maybe you eat when you are sad, or angry, or just bored like me! Maybe you only eat when you are in the company of a certain person.