You May Have An Eating Disorder Without Noticing It.

Thousands of women and increasing number of men look in the mirror everyday and hate what they see. The image that stares back at you in that mirror is not real as fairy tales are not real. You see in that mirror what your eating disorders want you to see as you are not seeing the true picture. Millions of people are made miserable by eating disorders while thousands will die from them yearly. The good news is that eating disorders can be beaten and be a prisoner no more to this. You have the power to beat such disorders and you will for sure. Although recovery may take lots of time and hard work, it is all worth doing. Finally, you will be free and you will love yourself. After the recovery, you will be able to look yourself in the mirror and it will be obviously the real you.

Many people misunderstand what causes their eating disorders and how dangerous it is and they deny that they even have a problem. When people hear of someone with eating disorders, they almost automatically assume the person has a problem with food. Eating disorders are not a sign that a person has a problem with food, to a certain extent disorders are actually only the symptoms of underlying problems in that persons life. With proper treatment, that person may recover from the disorder.

While it has been found that some eating disorders sufferers have imbalances in certain chemicals in the brain that control hunger, appetite and digestion, potential biochemical or biological causes of eating disorders are still being examined by researchers In addition to biochemical or biological factors, several psychological factors, socio-cultural and interpersonal factors can be attributed as causes of eating disorders. A significant risk factor for the development of eating pathology appears to be represented by low self-esteem. The tendencies to be perfectionist and setting rigid standards for oneself may lead to some eating disorders. Depression, anxiety, emptiness or loneliness, anger and feelings of lack of control in life or feeling of inadequacy are other psychological factors that greatly cause eating disorders.

Socio-cultural factors could be cultural pressures placing extreme value on "thinness" and obtaining the "perfect body". The cultural norms placing emphasis on physical appearance and not on inner strengths and qualities as well as defining beauty as extremely narrow including specific body weights and shapes greatly contributes to the development of eating disorders. Furthermore, media messages encouraging dieting likely lead to high rates of chronic dieting also has some part being played for the risk of having disorders. Eating disorders develop from a variety of causes and they are creating self-perpetuating cycle of physical and emotional destruction. Moreover, all eating disorders require professional help.

Some individuals who have difficulty expressing ones feelings and emotions may add up to other causes that leads to eating disorders. Interpersonal relationships, family disharmony, history if being ridiculed based on body size or weight, history of sexual abuse and/or physical abuse and family factors such as obesity in the family, parental preoccupation with eating and weight, unrealistic expectations achievement are all interpersonal factors that develop eating disorders.

Lastly, the number one stepping stone to eating disorders is dieting and it is important that you put your bad dieting on trash. You have to be real by freeing your body from the possible impact that your dieting is about to give you after. Better off spend your money and your passion on something that really matters to your without you risking your health.

Eating Instinctively

I start from the premise that eating instinctively means eating healthily. I strongly believe that the body can transmit to the brain accurate information about its nutritional necessities: a moderate amount of food, and only foods that are beneficial for health.

Most of these natural eating instincts, alas, are lost on the way. Usually, during the growing process, adults project their unhealthy habits on children, offering them a range of foods that are not always the best choices. As adults, we form our own eating habits, which are more or less healthy. We usually worry about our children’s eating habits, but their instinct is often correct.

My theory has as starting point my own experience as a child, when I recall rejecting foods that I found too greasy or too deeply fried. Observing the behaviour of babies and children towards feeding might give us an idea about what eating instinctively means. Small children who did not have the time to be influenced by adults, have their natural eating instincts unspoiled. Contrary to adults’ opinion about eating, they want to eat many smaller meals and only when they are hungry.

To support my thesis, I resort to the recommendation made by specialists in baby nutrition. They advise on feeding babies on request, not forcing a program on them. Thus a meal program will be generated by their inner scheduler according to their needs.

So, from children we learn that one should eat when hungry, and the amount strictly required by body necessities. We should not be driven by social cues such as eating out with friends, even if we are not hungry, or take a lunch break just because it is 12 noon.

Another reason which supports the theory of a simpler way of eating is that based on foods offered by nature. All living creatures find in nature what they need to sustain life. Theoretically, foods of natural origin in their unspoiled state should be sufficient to ensure a healthy existence. While I do not support any kind of paleolithic diet, but we are bound to make reference to the simple way of eating in ancient times. In modern times modern and more complex diseases have developed. These include the increased incidence of tooth decay, allergies and various diseases of the digestive system such as diverticulitis, most of them tightly connected to modern diets. Man was not built for so many refined and super-refined processed foods. Cooking, the great discovery, was just a means to make foods more digestible. Nowadays we experience an extreme version of modern eating, one abounding in processed foods and pre-prepared meals.

Eating raw foods, such as vegetables and fruit, in proportion to cooked meals is definitely healthier. It is also healthy to choose unrefined foods, as natural as possible.

We need to reconsider our diets and healthier ways of eating. But it is harder to re-educate ourselves and easier to acquire good habits from scratch. First we need to forget everything we know, get rid of all our unhealthy habits and only then rediscover eating. And it is even harder to resist the many temptations scattered around us.