Eating Disorders: Recent News Articles


Ask your father: why are you on a diet? Timesonline

Flora, aged 10, wants to know why she has to eat all her dinner when Mummy is on a diet.

The answer really depends on what sort of diet you are on. If you swing chaotically between feast and famine, there is no positive way of explaining your attitude to food to your daughter. If, however, you are trying to adopt long-term healthier eating habits, there is no harm in being honest.

But let's be realistic; wanting to feel “healthier” usually means hoping to look slimmer. A child inevitably picks up on this, as well as your general attitude towards body image and eating.

So look out for the words you use when you talk about yourself. Be aware of those moments when you catch yourself in the mirror and say, “God, I look like a melted candle from the waist down”, while your daughter watches on, soaking up the jaded self-criticism like a sponge. Avoid too the pitfall of branding certain foods as “good” or “bad”. Never say, for instance, “Aren't you lucky you can eat chocolate, while poor old Mummy has to stick to boring salads.”

Read in full here.

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Brittany Snow: Dieting Was 'My Best Friend'
People


"I remember looking around at all these women who were on the soap opera who were working out and dieting," Snow says. Taking their cue, a 12-year-old Snow tried her first diet, called Eat Right 4 Your Blood Type. "I took it to the extreme," the Hairspray star admits, which included a two-month stint when she "lived on pineapple." After losing 10 lbs. on the diet, Snow says she heard compliments and felt accepted by those around her. Soon it was a feeling she couldn't get enough of. "It kind of progressed into this thing where I needed to always be dieting and losing weight and more weight," she says in the site's interview series Half of Us, which addresses mental health issues and ways to get help. "It became my life and I didn't have any friends and this was definitely my best friend and I held on to it really tight."
Read in full here.


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Teens' help gives hope: North Shore News

Looking to make a difference in their community, three North Vancouver teenagers founded the charitable company Help Gives Hope ... the students established Help Gives Hope in February, a charitable company that seeks to help North Shore teens deal with various issues.

"We are teenagers ourselves and we have been in tough situations that deal with certain issues," Brennan said. "Teenagers are more receptive to people who have been in their situation. A lot of times when adults try and help teens, they mean well but a lot of it doesn't come across as well as if a teen is saying it. That's why we can help."

The company sells T-shirts with all proceeds going to three non-profit organizations: the Looking Glass Foundation for Eating Disorders, the West Coast Alternatives Society and A Place to Call Home.

"We picked these organizations because they are all non-profit and not governmentally funded," he said. "They also deal with three big issues facing teenagers -- eating disorders, drugs and alcohol, and homelessness."

Read in full here.

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When Eating Is The Enemy: Sun Post

... Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous, or FA, is a nationally recognized support group that helps members battle food issues. Some members are fighting overeating, some undereating and others bulimia, but all are looking for a way to control their eating habits.

After more than three years in the program, Ray, a 76-year-old Tracy resident, said several of his weight-related health problems are cured. (Because the group operates on the same principals as Alcoholics Anonymous, members are not allowed to give their last names.)

“It saved my life,” Ray said. “I was a pre-diabetic with sleep apnea, high blood pressure and a cancer survivor, and now it’s all gone.”

Read in full here.


Sources:
http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/families/article4269096.ece
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20058701,00.html
http://www.canada.com/northshorenews/ne
ws/look/story.html?id=60ddb5b8-0d9e-48a8-8e61-d7a5a3fce549
http://sunpost.net/content/view/2040/173/
picture:http://www.freefoto.com

EDNOS: Eating Disorders Not Otherwise Specified


Eating disorders not otherwise specified (EDNOS) involves disordered eating patterns. EDNOS is described in the DSM-IV-TR as a "category [of] disorders of eating that do not meet the criteria for any specific eating disorder." (Wikipedia)

Many with Eating Disorders are diagnosed with EDNOS. Those with EDNOS suffer the same signs, symptoms, health risks, and emotional turmoil as anyone else with eating disorders but may find it more difficult receiving treatment due to not meeting the criteria that qualifies them for treatment coverage from their insurance carrier.


Warning signs may include, but are not limited to:
  • Hiding food to avoid eating
  • Limiting food to certain types
  • Excessive exercise
  • Binging; eating a large amount of food in one sitting
  • Use of laxatives or diuretics
  • Hiding eating behavior due to embarrassment/shame
  • Overeating to the point of feeling sick
  • Showing unhealthy interest in weight and/or body image
  • Purposely going long periods of time without eating
  • Obsessing over calorie/fat content of foods


Diagnostic Criteria
 1 For females, all the criteria for Anorexia Nervosa are met except that the individual has regular menses. 
2 All the criteria for Anorexia Nervosa are met except that, despite significant weight loss, the individual’s current weight is in the normal range.
 3 All the criteria for Bulimia Nervosa are met except that the binge eating and inappropriate compensatory mechanisms occur at a frequency of less than twice a week or for a duration of less than 3 months.
 4 The regular use of inappropriate compensatory behaviour by an individual of normal body weight after eating small amounts of food (e.g. self-induced vomiting after the consumption of two biscuits.
 5 Repeatedly chewing and spitting out, but not swallowing, large amounts of food.
 6 Binge-eating disorder: recurrent episodes of binge eating in the absence of the regular use of inappropriate compensatory behaviours characteristic of Bulimia Nervosa. (Eating Disorders Org)


EDNOS is still a Disorder!

It is important to recognize that despite the lack of specific classification the presence of EDNOS symptoms is serious. The potential exists for these symptoms to develop into a categorical diagnostic eating disorder. Should a person NOT eventually exhibit such symptoms of a more specifically classified eating disorder the results can still be severe and most seriously, death. Any person exhibiting any symptoms above or additional symptoms ... should immediately consult a trained medical professional or psychiatrist for treatment. (EatingDisordersOnline)


If you, or someone you know, has EDNOS, it is extremely important that you take action and seek help.

Please see sidebar for link to Eating Disorders Help: Hotlines, Organizations, Websites



FINDING Balance : dedicated to consumer awareness and understanding of EDNOS


Sources:
http://www.eatingdisorders.org.nz/What-is-the-DSM.836.0.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_disorder_not_otherwise_specified
http://eatingdisordersonline.com/explain/ednos.php
picture: 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sylvia/94180907/