Archive for the ‘Health’ category

Eating Disorders in Children

September 9th, 2012

Eating Disorders in Children

During a recent conversation with my 22-year-old daughter, she happened to mention that her friend Sandra suffered from bulimia. Frankly I was shocked! By all appearances Sandra seemed to have everything going for her. She was bright, extremely attractive and had just finished getting her university degree. After finishing up the phone call I started doing a bit more research on eating disorders in general and was horrified by what I found.

Recent studies have shown that that approximately 40% of 9 year olds in the US have already dieted and even more shocking, four and five year olds are feeling the need to diet. Whatever happened to kids just being kids? Why are young children feeling such pressure to be thin?

The family environment may be partially to blame. If one of the child’s parents are obsessed with their weight and appearance and constantly dieting and talking about how fat they are and how thin they would like to be, the child will receive the message that appearance is extremely important. Unfortunately there seems to be a bit of a double standard as boys are encouraged to clean their plate so they can grow up to be big and strong while girls are told to cut back on the sweets so you will have a nice figure when you grow up. There is a danger inherent in this approach, which could set up a child to develop an eating disorder. Children may also develop an eating disorder as a strategy to deal with the emotions that they are feeling, especially if they are raised in a home where showing emotion is frowned upon. Children who become compulsive eaters may be trying to use food as a panacea to help them deal with feelings of loneliness, anger, and sadness and abandonment. When a child is not able to express his or her emotions or if the parent is too involved to pay attention to their child, the child may turn to food to assuage their feelings of inadequacy.

Sadly the media and society in general also play a hand in this. Children are inundated on a daily basis with messages that being thin is necessary to be happy.

There are many things that you can do as a parent or caregiver if you are concerned that your child is using food for emotional reasons. It is important to find out how your child is feeling and what is making them turn to food for comfort. It is important never to criticize your child about their weight. Parents who put their children on a strict diet at a young age are setting them up to develop a serious eating disorder. This will not make your child lose weight, but will lead to feelings of self-loathing and cause the child to turn to food even more.

The most important thing that you can do as a parent is to set a good example. The following is a list will give you some simple but powerful ways to help your child so he or she does not develop an eating disorder.

  • Set a good example- Try to make most meals nutritionally sound.
  • Never force your child to clean his plate- Children naturally stop eating when full, by forcing your child to finish everything on his/her plate you are risking setting them up to have unsound feelings toward food.
  • Make exercise a priority- Help your children to find healthy activities that they enjoy, by making it a family affair and making it fun your child will develop a love for physical activity. It is important to instill in your child that exercise is to help develop a strong healthy body not to make them thin.
  • Teach your child its on the inside that counts the most- Show by example that people should be accepted for who they are, not what they look like on the outside.
  • Praise your children for their accomplishments not on their appearance- Instead of telling your daughter how pretty she is tell her how bright she is or what a good sense of humour she has etc. These are the praises that really count.
  • Show unconditional love-Show your child that no matter what they look like or what size they are that you love them. Give them your love and attention. Hug your children at every opportunity and tell them you love them. They can never hear it enough.

While the title of this article is Eating Disorders in Children, I chose not to go into detail about any specific disorder. If you are interested in more information about bulimia specifically, read a provocative interview that I had with Sandra, who is a recovering bulimic, at Child Eating Disorders – Bulimia Interview

By Monicka Gregory

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Characteristic Symptoms Of Sex Addiction

August 16th, 2012

The parties concerned increase sexual activity at all times. Here, the satisfaction is diminished and the rest of life influence on the rise. People with sexual arousal increased feel the urge unrestrained to live their sexuality. Considered a feature typical of sex addiction symptoms:

When feeling anxious abandoned or void.

Sexual behavior has serious negative consequences. The result is often a serious problem in partnership with sex addicts. In addition, the risk of infected with sexually transmitted diseases, are increasing. Sufferers lose their sexual behavior more in control: it is precisely because the negative consequences of their behavior is a sex addict is always trying to limit sexual activity. These tests usually fail because the desire for satisfaction too strong. Here, the compulsiveness of a sex addict’s behavior becomes apparent, because despite the enormous psychological tension cannot refrain from dangerous behavior.

The difficulty in dealing with negative feelings and sexual obsessions and fantasies are used as a primary address. Sexual behavior is to act out pent-up emotions. Sexuality is the defining of all life: use that affects a lot of time for sexual activity or break. Sexuality at least experienced as pleasant, and the person is not satisfied or just for a short time.

Often shows a preference for anonymous sex. So those who are looking for sexual arousal increased targeted to a location that provides the opportunity for a date with unknown, such as parks, clubs or sauna talk. Also, sexuality is often traded as a commodity, i.e., either pay victims of sexual activities (phone sex, prostitution) or even to offer sex for money.

In addition to sexual preferences may require treatment with an addiction to sex crime: sex addict show Many voyeuristic behavior or ekshibisionis. Also, intervention (for example, touching another person without their permission) can occur, take advantage of a position of power or sex with children as part of a sex addiction. Under no circumstances is the sexual addiction as an excuse for such behavior.

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The Danger in Delayed Diagnosis of Eating Disorders in Children

May 12th, 2012

The Danger in Delayed Diagnosis of Eating Disorders in Children

There is a great danger in delayed diagnosis of eating disorders in children, primarily because people do not think of children as being old enough to have an eating disorder. A lot of the time, eating disorders occur in adolescents, because their hormones are turning on and they are having a tough time dealing with new changes to their bodies and peer pressure, and in adults who are struggling with their weight. The unfortunate truth is, most diagnoses of eating disorders in children don’t come until their condition is life-threatening.

You might be further surprised to learn that young boys are more likely to develop an eating disorder than girls of the same age, according to the Medical Journal of Australia in 2009. Believe it or not, boys and men are just as self-conscious about their looks and bodies as women. Instead of being pressured into just looking thinner, men also have the added worry about being adequately strong and toned. Because society traditionally expects only girls to have self esteem issues that would lead to an eating disorder, doctors often don’t even know to look for those signs in boys.

Think about these odds: If an eating disorder were caught early on in a child and treated properly, those children would have a 70% to 80% better chance of fully recovering within a year, and about a 90% better chance of improving those children’s condition fully within five years. Comparatively, an adult might only have a recovery rate of 50% in five years. The good news is that children can recover more easily if the signs are recognized, but the bad news is, those signs often go undetected far longer than they would in an adult.

Another thing to realize is that eating disorders are not just about your diet. Having an eating disorder is often a way of coping with stress and anxiety, so children who are watching their parents get a divorce might succumb to an eating disorder more easily, or children who have lost a close loved one.

To further complicate matters, the media and society in general have indoctrinated in children at a younger and younger age the importance of beauty and looking good. The effects of Disney teen stars like Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers, all of whom are mostly catering to a preteen and younger crowd, are excessively glamorous and intending to promote looking sexy. In the past, most children probably would not be exposed to that kind of message until sometime in their teens. The pressure to look as good as their favorite teen idols may seem frivolous, but it is no different than adults who strive to look like their favorite celebrities.

If we want to reverse the trend of eating disorders in children, it is important to recognize the effects of the media and peers on impressionable young people. They are still at a delicate stage in their development, and it is important to reinforce their worth beyond their looks and decry superficiality.

By Emile Jarreau

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Eating Disorders in Children

May 8th, 2012

Eating Disorders in Children

During a recent conversation with my 22-year-old daughter, she happened to mention that her friend Sandra suffered from bulimia. Frankly I was shocked! By all appearances Sandra seemed to have everything going for her. She was bright, extremely attractive and had just finished getting her university degree. After finishing up the phone call I started doing a bit more research on eating disorders in general and was horrified by what I found.

Recent studies have shown that that approximately 40% of 9 year olds in the US have already dieted and even more shocking, four and five year olds are feeling the need to diet. Whatever happened to kids just being kids? Why are young children feeling such pressure to be thin?

The family environment may be partially to blame. If one of the child’s parents are obsessed with their weight and appearance and constantly dieting and talking about how fat they are and how thin they would like to be, the child will receive the message that appearance is extremely important. Unfortunately there seems to be a bit of a double standard as boys are encouraged to clean their plate so they can grow up to be big and strong while girls are told to cut back on the sweets so you will have a nice figure when you grow up. There is a danger inherent in this approach, which could set up a child to develop an eating disorder. Children may also develop an eating disorder as a strategy to deal with the emotions that they are feeling, especially if they are raised in a home where showing emotion is frowned upon. Children who become compulsive eaters may be trying to use food as a panacea to help them deal with feelings of loneliness, anger, and sadness and abandonment. When a child is not able to express his or her emotions or if the parent is too involved to pay attention to their child, the child may turn to food to assuage their feelings of inadequacy.

Sadly the media and society in general also play a hand in this. Children are inundated on a daily basis with messages that being thin is necessary to be happy.

There are many things that you can do as a parent or caregiver if you are concerned that your child is using food for emotional reasons. It is important to find out how your child is feeling and what is making them turn to food for comfort. It is important never to criticize your child about their weight. Parents who put their children on a strict diet at a young age are setting them up to develop a serious eating disorder. This will not make your child lose weight, but will lead to feelings of self-loathing and cause the child to turn to food even more.

The most important thing that you can do as a parent is to set a good example. The following is a list will give you some simple but powerful ways to help your child so he or she does not develop an eating disorder.

  • Set a good example- Try to make most meals nutritionally sound.
  • Never force your child to clean his plate- Children naturally stop eating when full, by forcing your child to finish everything on his/her plate you are risking setting them up to have unsound feelings toward food.
  • Make exercise a priority- Help your children to find healthy activities that they enjoy, by making it a family affair and making it fun your child will develop a love for physical activity. It is important to instill in your child that exercise is to help develop a strong healthy body not to make them thin.
  • Teach your child its on the inside that counts the most- Show by example that people should be accepted for who they are, not what they look like on the outside.
  • Praise your children for their accomplishments not on their appearance- Instead of telling your daughter how pretty she is tell her how bright she is or what a good sense of humour she has etc. These are the praises that really count.
  • Show unconditional love-Show your child that no matter what they look like or what size they are that you love them. Give them your love and attention. Hug your children at every opportunity and tell them you love them. They can never hear it enough.

While the title of this article is Eating Disorders in Children, I chose not to go into detail about any specific disorder. If you are interested in more information about bulimia specifically, read a provocative interview that I had with Sandra, who is a recovering bulimic, at Child Eating Disorders – Bulimia Interview

By Monicka Gregory

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Understanding the Effects of Different Eating Disorders

May 7th, 2012

Understanding the Effects of Different Eating Disorders

Many people confuse eating disorders with strict dieting, but they are not the same thing at all. They are caused by mental and emotional problems and cause the sufferer to experience feelings of low self-worth, which will in turn effect their behaviour towards everyday life and their friends and family.

Anorexia nervosa is one of the primary disorders. The phrase itself means “a lack of desire to eat”. The sufferer of Anorexia nervosa believes themselves to be fat, no matter how thin they become. They become obsessed with counting calories and will adopt devious behaviour in order to skip meals and hide food. In common with all of these disorders, Anorexics suffer from low self esteem and tend to use the condition as a means of self punishment.

The next most common disorder is Bulimia nervosa, it has many similarities with Anorexia but in this condition sufferers do not avoid food, they eat and then they purge. Purging means deliberately eliminating the food from the body before it has had time to be digested properly by means of either laxatives or self induced vomiting. Bulimics weight gain tends to go from one extreme to another, which is commonly called yo-yo dieting.

Having an addiction to food is called Compulsive Eating Disorder. Again this is a similar condition to both Anorexia and Bulimia in that it affects self esteem in a very negative way but it is different in the respect that sufferers do not purge. Because they do not purge this means they keep all the calories they consume meaning they are usually vastly overweight. The more weight they gain the less likely it is they will have any kind of social life and indeed some find themselves confined to not only their home but their bed too, thus leading to further depressive feelings.

People who suffer from Compulsive Eating Disorder tend to eat obsessively until they are dangerously overweight. Conditions such as heart attacks and strokes are liable to be a cause for real concern amongst sufferers due to high cholesterol in their diets.

Binge Eating Disorder is another closely related illness with the sufferer showing the same symptoms of low self esteem as in all the previously mentioned disorders. Binge eating is most closely linked to Compulsive Eating Disorder and shares many of the same features except it is done with less frequency.

Binge eaters are exceptionally secretive and store food away purposely to eat when they can be by themselves. They will eat uncomfortable amounts to the point they feel sick but will not make themselves sick. The feelings of guilt and shame associated with eating such vast quantities of food are often used as self inflicted punishment as they consider themselves undeserving and unworthy.

By Eddie Lamb

 

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