Showing posts with label binge news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label binge news. Show all posts

Eating Disorders News and Views: August 2011


Anorexics Lack Sense of Belonging, Study Finds
news.com.au

RECOVERING from anorexia nervosa is so difficult for many sufferers because the eating disorder satisfies an intense need to belong, an Australian researcher says.

Social anthropologist Megan Warin believes many anorexics might not seek treatment because they find the disorder incredibly seductive.

Based on her work with people who have the eating disorder, the Adelaide University professor has found that anorexics often lack a sense of belonging and feel disconnected from society.

By controlling their eating, they end up belonging to a group of people who are essentially successful at dieting.

"Anorexia is very empowering for people in the early stages of the illness," she told AAP.

"In fact, they don't see it as an illness, they see it as a lifestyle.

"It's unusual because it's an illness they want to have.
Read Lack Sense of Belonging in full


Lightlake Therapeutics Inc. Set to Begin Phase II Clinical Trials of Binge Eating Disorder Treatment
Market Watch

LONDON, ENGLAND, Aug 24, 2011 (Filing Services Canada via COMTEX) -- Lightlake Therapeutics Inc. (LLTP - OTCBB),("Lightlake" or "the "Company"), an early stage biopharmaceutical company currently developing a nasal spray for the treatment of overweight and obese patients with Binge Eating Disorder, today announced that its patient testing stage of the Phase II clinical trials will start August 26th, 2011

Dr. Roger Crystal, CEO of Lightlake commented, "We are excited to commence the definitive stage of testing of a product that we believe will be a solution to a disease thought to affect a significant proportion of obese and overweight patients today. We recently completed stability testing in an effort to ensure that our nasal spray adheres to internationally recognised safety standards in delivering an effective treatment. Moreover, we have an excellent control group in place, as we were able to select 138 patients from over 900 applicants wanting to participate in our trials in Helsinki. Dr. David Sinclair, our Chief Scientific Officer, revolutionized the way we treat alcoholism and drug addiction through his research into opioid antagonists, and we are confident that in working with him, we can develop an opioid antagonist derived nasal spray for the treatment of those with Binge Eating Disorder."
Read Clinical Trials in full


Study Links Obesity to Brain Disorder
news.com.au

IT seems an odd idea, but scientists believe giving obese people the same psychological counselling as those with anorexia nervosa could help their weight battle.

The Australian scientists came up with the theory after discovering that although obese people and anorexics weigh in at opposite ends of the scales, they share a similar condition affecting the brain.

Both groups have executive function disorders (EFD), which means they have problems organising their daily lives.

Previous studies have linked anorexia to EFD, with scientists pointing to the rigidity and tight control those with the eating disorder exert over not just food but their entire lives as evidence of the brain disorder.
Read Obesity/Brain Disorder in full


Psychiatrist Supports Controversial Diet Book for Kids
Fox News

Maggie Goes on a Diet, a new book by children's author Paul Michael Kramer, is drawing fire from those who believe it inappropriately focuses children on their weight and, by doing so, could lead to eating disorders. In the book, Maggie, a 14-year-old girl who is very overweight and has a negative self-image goes on a diet, works hard at it, loses weight and becomes a soccer star at school. She likes herself better, so the story ends happily-ever-after.

I support Kramer's book. With childhood obesity rates at 17 percent of all children and adolescents (per the Centers for Disease Control), a figure three times that one generation ago, it's time to start teaching kids to control their appetites. It's really that simple.

Nutritionists and child psychologists who charge that Kramer's book will cause eating disorders presume that telling children to eat healthily—even if that means eating less and exercising—will make them sick. This is akin to suggesting that if we advise them to abstain from, or simply even limit, sexual activity that they will become sexually repressed and suffer from a sexual disorder. I don't buy that—at all.
Read Psychiatrist Supports in full
Here's my post about Maggie Goes On A Diet


Sheppard Pratt Programs to Raise Eating Disorder Awareness
The Towerlight

In response to the growing number of Americans suffering from a diagnosable eating disorder, The Center for Eating Disorders at Sheppard Pratt will hold Expanded College Outreach Programs to raise awareness.

According to the American Psychological Association, at least five million Americans suffer from a diagnosable eating disorder. Studies from the APA Public Interest Government Relations Office found that women are more prone to eating disorders than men, particularly college-aged women.

Jennifer Moran, a staff psychologist at Sheppard Pratt’s Center for Eating Disorders, will serve as the college liaison for the college outreach programs. She said the need to raise eating disorder awareness is imperative.
Read Sheppard Pratt Programs in full


The Meaning Of Balance For Body Image
By Margarita Tartakovsky, MS

In April, I interviewed a researcher about attaining a work-life balance. Her first words to me were: There’s no such thing as balance.

And trying to reach a so-called balance is akin to reaching perfection. In other words, it’s not going to happen, and we’re going to drive ourselves insane along the way.

(Here’s the piece if you’re interested.)

Both Christie and Anna wrote thought-provoking posts also questioning the idea of balance. (By the way, I loved Ashley’s post on balance, too.)

But when people say balance, I think what they typically mean is a happy medium or not residing on either side of the spectrum. At least that’s the way I view balance.

With body image, I see a deeply negative body image at one end of the spectrum – where you hate your body, ignore its signals and rarely look after it – and an unrealistically positive body image at the other – where you shoo away every negative, yucky thought, deny your feelings and become the Pollyanna of body positivity.
Read Meaning Of Balance in full


Editor Slammed for Criticising 'Fat Models'
9 news

A prominent Australian fashion writer has been slammed for accusing Myer of using models who were "too fat" in its plus-size runway show.

Damien Woolnough, fashion editor at The Australian, published an article in which he argued: "Big can be beautiful but fat should not be in fashion."

Yesterday's Myer show featured women ranging from size 14 to size 22 and internationally renowned model Robin Lawley even sashayed down the catwalk.

Despite backlash from body image experts, Woolnough stood by his comments when interviewed by Nine News but said he never meant his comments to personally attack any of the models.

"I think the industry for a long time has copped criticism over models that are too skinny, and at yesterday's show we had models who were too fat," he said.
Read Editor Slammed in full


Eating Disorders Model Established in London
The London Free Press

A treatment program for adults with eating disorders - the first of its kind in Ontario - is to be based in London.

Its operating cost is $2.4 million and it will treat as many as 100 people a year in both a residential centre and as out-patients.

"What we need to do is establish continuity of care . . . across all phases of the illness" and with people of all ages, Health Minister Deb Matthews said Tuesday.

Psychiatrists, nurses, dietitians and nurse practitioners will together be part of the new adult program, to be set up through London Health Sciences Centre, where a publicly funded program already exists for children and teens with eating disorders.

"There's no place in the world like this that has the team approach," said Kelly Hall-Holland, who heads the London-based Eating Disorders Foundation of Canada. "It's a dream come true."

The location of the residential centre hasn't been decided.

Hall-Holland hopes the group can make use of the former Cuddy home in Strathroy, which sits on an estate owned by Fanshawe College and is used for the school's horticultural program.

The estate's serene, pastoral atmosphere would be ideal as a residential setting for people with eating disorders, Hall-Holland said.

"They need the most calming atmosphere possible."

Her daughter Michale died in 2009 at age 27 after a battle with anorexia. That struggle spanned more than a decade and included treatment at a private clinic in California because none was available in Ontario.
Read ED Model London in full


picsource:http://www.flickr.com/photos/crystaljingsr/3915512820/

Eating Disorders In The News: November 2010



















Unplanned Pregnancies More Common In Women With Anorexia Nervosa
Times of India 

Women with anorexia nervosa are much more likely to have both unplanned pregnancies and induced abortions than women who don't have the serious eating disorder, according to a new study.

The study has been conducted by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Norwegian researchers.

Lead author Cynthia M. Bulik said that these results may be driven by a mistaken belief among women with anorexia that they can't get pregnant because they are either not having menstrual periods at all or are having irregular periods.

"Anorexia is not a good contraceptive. Just because you're not menstruating, or because you're menstruating irregularly, doesn't mean you're not at risk for becoming pregnant," said Bulik.

"Physicians and other health care providers need to be aware of this as well. Doctors who treat women and adolescent girls, in particular, "need to make sure that they have the conversation about sexuality and contraception as clearly with patients with anorexia as they do with all other girls and women," she added.
Read in full: More Common In Women With Anorexia Nervosa


Eating Ourselves Sick 
HeraldSun.com 

DANGEROUS eating habits are becoming so normal they affect nearly one in two women, new research reveals. A Victoria University study has found almost half of the participants had experienced at least one episode of vomiting, laxative or diuretic abuse or uncontrolled binge eating to control their weight in the previous six months.

It also found more than 90 per cent of the 209 women were dissatisfied with their bodies, causing extreme dieting among older women as well as younger ones.
Researcher Lyndsey Nolan, a psychology lecturer at Victoria University, said the findings were alarming.

"Women have begun to resort to destructive means to achieve weight loss," Dr Nolan says.
Read in full: Eating Ourselves Sick 


Kirstie’s Beating Teenage Anorexia
Walesonline

KIRSTIE McLEAN knows only too well the hell caused by anorexia.
The 17-year-old’s weight plummeted to just over five stone last year, and she has been battling the condition ever since.

This year she fought back from the illness to be a finalist in the Miss Cardiff beauty pageant. Kirstie, a student from Rumney, Cardiff, said more needed to be done to spot the condition earlier.
“When I went to the doctor’s I wasn’t half as bad as I got,” she said.

“They should be taught how to recognise it and visit their patients regularly to stop it before it gets out of control.”

Kirstie said airbrushed models and film stars in magazines portrayed an unrealistic image of health and beauty.

“They are causing people to put themselves in danger by trying to do the impossible,” she said.
Read in full: Kirstie's Beating Teenage Anorexia


Children As Young As 8 Treated For Eating Disorders 
Walesonline 

Doctors must be better trained to spot life-threatening eating disorders in young children.
That is the demand from health professionals today as doctors admit to a “lack of awareness” in dealing with eating disorders in young children, who they sometimes simply diagnose as fussy eaters.

The call comes as figures reveal children as young as eight are being admitted to Welsh hospitals
suffering from eating disorders.

The alarming data uncovered by Wales On Sunday shows youngsters are developing life-threatening conditions like anorexia having barely reached primary school.

Our research reveals the shocking age of the youngest patient in the country, but also shows children aged nine, 10, and 11 have been hospitalised.

But experts warn the figures reveal “the tip of the iceberg” and the problem is increasing.
Read in full: Children As Young As 8


300 Calories a DAY: Portia de Rossi Cries to Oprah as She Reveals Shocking Details of Her Anorexia
Dailymail

Portia de Rossi has sat down for a tearful interview with Oprah in which she discusses the depths of her anorexia and how she was almost 'proud' of dropping to under six stone, weighing in at just 82 lbs.
De Rossi, who has changed her name to Portia Degeneres since marrying partner Ellen Degeneres, choked up while promoting her memoir 'Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain.'

'It wasn't that I was proud of it,' she tells Oprah in the interview airing in the U.S. on Monday. 'But it was certainly a recognition for my self control.'
Read in full: Portia de Rossi


How Ricci Beat Anorexia
Toronto Sun

The threat of a hospital stay prompted actress Christina Ricci to fight her anorexia issues as a teen.
The star was just 16 when doctors and her parents urged her to consider a drastic cure for her eating disorder - but Ricci wasn't happy about the idea of being strapped to a bed for weeks.
She tells Black Book magazine, "They were going to hospitalize me, and I was worried about people force-feeding me through a tube. I didn't want that, so I fought the disease."
Ricci won her battle and now insists she'll never go back to starving herself to stay thin: "I still think about it, but I could never do it again. I remember the overwhelming feeling of hopelessness when I was in the middle of it. My brain had basically become my biggest tormentor. I'd become afraid of myself."
Read in full: Ricci


'I Heart Anorexia' T-Shirts -- Is Artist Alexsandro Palombo's Work Chic or Cruel?
NY Daily News

Is it weighty commentary or making light of a serious issue?

"I heart Anorexia" artist Alexsandro Palombo is drawing some heavy criticism online for his drawings of celebrities, depicted as skeletons.

Palombo's drawings of famously thin celebrity Victoria Beckham, with her head perched upon a pile of leopard-print bones, as well as designer Rachel Zoe, also drawn as a skeleton, perched on a toilet have some critics crying foul. 

"Want to become a perfect Skeleton fashion victim but you don't know how?," he wrote on his blog Humor Chic.  "Every day just eat a nice apple for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Make sure it's always a glamorous red one, it gives the idea of substance. Don't drink water, an apple contains enough liquid. Replace it with champagne and lots of coke."

Palombo is clearly poking fun at the whole idea of idealized perfection, but not everyone is laughing.
Read in full: I Heart Anorexia



sources sited above

Eating Disorders: In The News December 2009




Eating Disorder Organizations Join Forces To Urge Focus On Health And Lifestyle Rather Than Weight

Medical News Today

In an unprecedented show of concern, The Academy for Eating Disorders (AED), Binge Eating Disorder Association (BEDA), Eating Disorder Coalition (EDC), International Association for Eating Disorder Professionals (IADEP), and National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) have joined forces and are urging focus on health and lifestyle rather than weight as a measurement of well-being.

In late November, media stories reported that an American university implemented a new strategy for combating rising weights by requiring students to be weighed during their freshman year. Those with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or over are required either to lose weight or pass an extra course focused on physical fitness. In response to this, and other similar strategies within the global "war against obesity", national and international eating disorder organizations have joined forces to urge school administrators, employers, and health policy makers to focus more on health and lifestyle for all populations rather than on weight alone. Eating disorder groups assert that this well-intended, but under-informed and unproven strategy of focusing on BMI fuels weight-prejudice and neglects groups which may be in equal need of improving their health and lifestyle. There is concern that, in some cases, the programs contribute to negative self-esteem, body dissatisfaction and eating disordered behaviors among young people. Neither the scale nor BMI calculation provide the full picture most relevant to health status, such as lifestyle and activity patterns, and physical and mental health measures. Thus, assuming ill health based on weight alone is not only inappropriate but harmful and discriminatory, and should be discontinued.

"There is concern that we have lost sight of avoiding harm in the process of addressing obesity." AED President Susan Paxton, PhD, FAED states. "Further, we cannot ignore the opportunity to create a healthier environment, where people of all sizes are given the opportunity to lead healthy and productive lives, instead of singling out individual groups for reform based on weight alone".

Read in full here.

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New Eating Disorder Specialist Library Launched To Help Eating Disorder Sufferers, Family, Friends, And Health Providers Find Help

Earth Times

Finding treatment for eating disorders is an overwhelming task for those suffering from eating disorders and the loved ones trying to help them. To solve this problem, Eating Disorder Hope launched the Eating Disorder Specialist Library, to provide a comprehensive resource for exploring and comparing treatment options, providers, treatment approaches and philosophy. All accessible in one library, saving hours of searching the web for options. (PRWEB) November 15, 2009 -- Many eating disorder sufferers and families find that reviewing the online ‘virtual brochures’ offered in the http://www.eatingdisorderhope.com/eating-disorder-specialist-library-index.html greatly simplifies their search and puts them in touch with some of the best treatment centers and providers for their loved one suffering from anorexia, bulimia or binge eating disorder. This new and rapidly expanding eating disorder specialist library is an excellent tool for eating disorder sufferers, families, fri and treatment providers who feel overwhelmed with where to begin in the search for appropriate care for the eating disorder sufferer.

Read in full here.

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New Help For Those Battling Eating Disorders

Fox4kc

KANSAS CITY, MO - It's estimated that five to 10 percent of people in the Kansas City area have an eating disorder. Girls ages eight to 25 are most at risk, but certainly not the only ones affected. But now, there's a new way to get help.

Fourteen-year-old Alexis Gick is one of those seeking a solution.

"All I wanted was just help from this," she said. "I didn't want to be stuck in this."

Gick battles anorexia and bulimia. What little she did eat, she would purge.

"It was out of my control," said Wendy Gick, mother. "I couldn't do anything to help her. I think that was the scariest part."

Wendy turned to a therapist, who referred them to specialists in eating disorders.

"I was very lucky that I had some very good referrals," Wendy said.

But she knows others don't know where to turn.

"They're not even sure what's going on other than maybe their child's a finicky eater or has been losing weight or has been purging and they don't really know what to do with this," said Mary Beth Blackwell with Jewish Family Services. "Sometimes they've never even heard of an eating disorder."

Jewish Family Services is now launching an Eating Disorder Resource Center for the Kansas City area with a phone number people can call with questions about eating disorders.

Read in full here.

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How To Help Your Kids Avoid Eating Disorders

Newsday

Know anyone with food issues? Chances are, you know many - and maybe you're one of them. In today's world of fast and convenient food, many people have disordered eating. The evidence of obesity, anorexia, bulimia, binge eating and a national obsession with dieting is proof we aren't eating healthfully. The problem is that many of the people with unhealthy relationships to food are parents, and that makes them - wittingly or not - role models for their children.

Research shows parents are the biggest influences of their children's behavior, so that means what parents do, not what they say, is often emulated by their fiercely observant offspring. And though most parents hope to raise healthy eaters, many are blind to how their own harmful attitudes and behaviors are affecting their children.

Here are five tips from Edward Abramson, a psychologist who works closely with children and adults with eating issues and author of "Emotional Eating."

1. Avoid diets Parents who want to foster a healthy relationship with food should never put their children on a diet, which usually becomes counterproductive and actually increases the likelihood of future weight gain and subsequent emotional issues. "The focus should always be on improving health and not on weight," Abramson notes. Parents should implement healthier family habits, such as eating reasonable portions and even cooking together.

Read in full here.

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Researchers Find Clues To Why Some Continue To Eat When Full

Medical News Today


The premise that hunger makes food look more appealing is a widely held belief just ask those who cruise grocery store aisles on an empty stomach, only to go home with a full basket and an empty wallet.

Prior research studies have suggested that the so-called hunger hormone ghrelin, which the body produces when it's hungry, might act on the brain to trigger this behavior. New research in mice by UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists suggest that ghrelin might also work in the brain to make some people keep eating "pleasurable" foods when they're already full.

Read in full here.

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Food Apps For Mobile Devices May Fuel Eating Disorders

News Channel 6

The smart phone applications that help find restaurants, identify songs, and even read bar codes, may be fueling eating disorders.


Read in full here.