Overview

An eating disorder is a compulsion to eat, or avoid eating, that negatively affects both one's physical and mental health. Eating disorders are all encompassing. They affect every part of the person's life. According to the authors of Surviving an Eating Disorder, "feelings about work, school, relationships, day-to-day activities and one's experience of emotional well being are determined by what has or has not been eaten or by a number on a scale." Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are the most common eating disorders generally recognized by medical classification schemes, with a significant diagnostic overlap between the two. Together, they affect an estimated 5-7% of females in the United States during their lifetimes. There is a third type of eating disorder currently being investigated and defined - Binge Eating Disorder. This is a chronic condition that occurs when an individual consumes huge amounts of food during a brief period of time and feels totally out of control and unable to stop their eating. It can lead to serious health conditions such as morbid obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Causes Of Sugar Cravings And How It Affects You

The craving for sugar many people, is a widespread addiction in today's society, sugary foods are easily available and cheap as well. However, sugar craving is not only a lack of will power, how many people think the reason the body craves saen food goes back to dietary problems that lead to physical withdrawal symptoms. The causes of sugar cravings are primarily in connection with these two things:

stress
Stress is a major player in how we live our lives. When we had on our physical attributes in almost all situations of stress, we would release adrenaline, so that we could outrun the predator or fight it off. In those days, that fight or flight instinct is not required, but nearly as much, but we still suffer a huge amount of stress in our lives between work, relationships and social interaction. In dealing with an angry chief stresses, for example, we get our bodies and consumes huge amounts of energy by releasing adrenaline, you do not use because you have just to sit there and take it. This drains the body with energy and he screams to take a sugar content that may perk up for a while, but it faded too quickly. In environments in which you said, often leads to a cycle of binge eating consolidating your sugar addiction and a lot weight.

metabolism
The other reason for the request sugar has to do with a hormone Serotonin. This hormone is one of the things in our body that makes us feel good. If we are sad or depressed we have a low serotonin. While we can sad for social reasons, we can lower serotonin levels through an unbalanced metabolism. If your diet is balanced and you do not exercise enough, then your body begins to have issues such as low serotonin and many other things. This means even healthy people think they eat well, but not enough protein, for example, may come with sugar cravings. So how does this relate to sugar? Sugar actually releases amounts of serotonin, but only for a short time, which makes us a good feeling for a while, but when it is over, if the metabolism is not well again, we still suffer the same problems and keep always eat sugar again to try to feel "up", while weight.

So packaging, while it may seem like common sense a good diet and exercise can overcome many aspects of this addiction, unless they go deeper and to a psychological dependence. The causes of sugar cravings can give you a guide to change your way of life, but also not forget that some people is a lack of certain nutrients, of course supplements may be needed to control your appetite sa foods.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Porteous

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Identifying the Symptoms of Eating Disorders

Eating disorders such as bulimia and anorexia is not only a person completely from the appearance, but also affects the behavior and personality. A simple explanation of the difference between the two diseases is that bulimics eat large quantities of food and then throw (binge-eating and rinsing), while anorexics simply starve. The first step to prevention is to recognize the symptoms. Here is an overview of anorexia and bulimia, and the most common symptoms of eating disorders.

Anorexia Nervosa

Anorexia occurs when a person refuses to eat, to a certain body weight. Anorexics experience extreme weight loss, as much as 15% below normal body weight. Even if they are very thin, they still believe that they are overweight. Weight loss is ebermaige movement, laxatives and fasting. Their diet habits are acquired because of their intense fear of too thick. Anorexia is considered to be most common among adolescent girls and people involved in activities in thinness is preferred, such as dancing, modeling and distance running. It is helpful to know the symptoms of anorexia.

signs of anorexia

- Feeling overweight, even if thin

-loss

experiencing dramatic weight-based self-worth on body weight and /or body image

-Skipping Meals frequently

- insistence on eating only certain foods (usually low in fat and calories)

- preparing meals for others, but not eating

-weighing frequently

you look in the mirror to frequently

error in women missing three consecutive menstrual cycles periods

-for men, a decline in sexual desire

physical effects of anorexia

The serious health risk for someone with anorexia is death caused either by the effects of the severe weight loss or by suicide. Estimates say that not less than 1 in 10 people with anorexia will die of complications disorder.

bulimia

Bulimia is characterized by episodes of binge eating followed by irrigation. A binge is an episode that one eats a much graere amount of food than most people would in a similar situation. Binge-eating is usually a reaction to depression, stress, or self-esteem. During a binge episode, an individual experiences a loss of control. Some methods of weight control bulimics include vomiting, fasting, enemas, ebermaiger use of laxatives and diuretics, and a compelling need to exercise. People with bulimia may appear completely normal, many of them are of normal weight and some are even obesity. Moreover, binge eating and sinks is often in secret, making it difficult to determine whether a person suffers from bulimia. Although there are currently no known specific cause for bulimia, there are warning signs to considered.

signs of bulimia

- not controllable eating

undue weight-control methods - strict diet, fasting, vomiting, energetic movement, or abuse of laxatives or diuretics

-frequent trips to the bathroom after meals

employment with body weight and /or body image

-Consummation of foods high in most calories

depression or mood swings, feelings of control

-heartburn, flatulence, indigestion, constipation, weakness, exhaustion

-Women , Blutungsunregelmaigkeiten periods

If you have a friend or family member who suffers from an eating disorder, your emotional support is important. Recommend you see that they have a doctor and /or a counselor can help them in their fight against the disease. As with many other diseases, be prepared to denial, resistance and anger from the sufferer. Learn to recognize the symptoms of eating disorders to prevent their escalation. It may save someone's life.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Holly_Cates