Overcoming Bulimia

Emotional eating affects so many of us but what you need to know is the there are darker sides of emotional eating and bulimia is one of them.

Dream Teeth

Bulimia is an eating disorder where a someone consumes a huge whole of food and then attempts to purge it from their system by vomiting, taking laxatives or exercising excessively. The pattern itself can come to be addictive and despite promises made to oneself that each time will be the last time, the behavior continues. Bingeing and purging often leads to feelings of shame, guilt and self-hatred, not mention what it can do to your body and teeth.

I often tell emotional eaters that using food may furnish a few moments of relief or relieve but it can never get you what you literally need. And in the same way, purging might give you a symbolic feeling that you are wiping the slate clean or getting rid of something you don't want. But it can never take away the things that you are literally trying to get rid of for example, anxiety, fear, regret, sadness, abuse, etc. 

This week I interviewed a woman who struggled with bulimia for many years. I concept it would be good for you to hear, in her words, what her experiences were so that you might find some power and hope on your own journey.

Q: How old were you when it started?

A: I started experimenting when I was about 15 and then literally began when I was 17.

Q: How long did it go on for?

A: The worst of it was for about 6 years.  After that it took years to stop all together.  I probably didn't stop completely until my early thirties.  I am now forty.  As recent as two years ago I had a one time slip.

Q: How often did you binge and purge?

A: At first it was a few times a week and then every day.  Then for a period of time it progressed to 3 times a day.

Q: Why did you binge and purge?

A: To leave my life.  To not feel my feelings.   To avoid conflicts.  To express my anger (the only problem with that is that I took it out on myself because I was unable to express my anger to the suitable habitancy in my life).  To hurt myself because I was used to being hurt and neglected.  To repeat on some level the abuse I experienced as a kid.  To numb myself.  To think of nothing but food so that I would have some relief from emotional pain (I didn't perceive though that it was causing other kind of pain).  To attain perfection because I felt interminably not good enough.  To control my environment.  To attempt order because  I grew up in an atmosphere of expansive chaos.   It gave me an illusion of control.  To feel "clean."  I felt dirty and bad.  I was symbolically trying to rid my self of all the "bad" in me.   To stay connected to my mom (She had an eating problem.  She was very overweight) I didn't want to be fat like her.  I was disgusted by her weight but I felt tied to her and scared to separate and our tasteless obsession and fixation on food was something we could share. To feel masterful and good at Something.  Because of very low self-esteem I was going to have a good body and be complete in my eating.  I could be perfect and not let one "bad" thing go in my body.  If I ate something bad I'd get rid of it.  To avoid my life and my career.   A place to put all my time and energy.   Feeling afraid and unable to pursue my dreams I needed something to Ant. Eject me.

Without emotional preserve in my life and with too much shame to share myself with others food was used for nurturance and self-soothing. It was something reliable that would always be there for me. It was a safe place to express want and need, I could take my fill of food.  I could take all I wanted and not risk rejection.  With habitancy I felt like I wanted and needed too much. But with food I could take as much as I wanted or needed.

Q: Did you promise yourself each time that it would be the last?

A: Yes.  Every time I swore to myself that I'd never do it again.

Q: How did you try to stop?

A: By avoiding "bad foods." By exercising mental that if I felt fit and trim I wouldn't try to manage my weight with binging and purging (but it wasn't about weight. On the face yes, but the truth is I wasn't even trying to lose weight).  Also with psychotherapy and Overeaters Anonymous.

Q: What things were most productive in helping you stop?

A: Psychotherapy, more specifically a very loving therapist, body work, and yoga.

Q: What were some signs that you were getting better?

A: Curiosity and desire for things in the world.  Less concentration and focus on food and what and where and when I would eat.  Eating too much and feeling a sense of acceptance instead of panic.  Flexibility colse to food and being less rigid.  Being open to more group situations where I wouldn't be able to control my food.

Q: What would you tell other habitancy that are binging and purging?

A: Please don't do it (easier said than done I know).   Please stop hurting yourself.   I know personally how hard it is not to (even if consciously you don't want to) and I have literally no judgment of anyone who engages in the behavior but I learned the hard way how much damage you can do to yourself.  I destroyed my teeth and had to have a complete reconstruction.  It was painful and precious and took several years to complete.  I felt like my bulimia took years from my life and ten years to heal from.  It is something I have had to take responsibility for but I have often felt robbed and cheated of a lot of time.   I don't think most habitancy who binge and purge perceive the inherent consequences.

I guess I would just say that if you are binging and purging please get help. Please find someone to talk to. It's too hard to do alone.

If you struggle with bulimia, I hope that something here sheds some light for you on your life. Beware of a voice in your head that says anyone like "I might throw up once in awhile but I'm not as bad as her" or "I have it under control."  That's a sign that you're trying to clarify your behavior and trick yourself into believing it's okay to continue binging and purging. Emotional eaters find themselves turning to food more and more once it has been installed as a coping mechanism, and bulimics find themselves purging more and more as life becomes stressful. Getting help works. You are not alone and you don't have to face this by yourself. 

Why Is Diet Soda Bad For You? gawk the Truth!

When talking to population about weight loss, invariably the topic of soft drink, pop or soda gets a mention. To avoid confusion while this article I will refer to these drinks as soda.

Interpretation Teeth

Now, unless you have been living under a rock or you just have rocks in your head, you know that drinking soda will derail your weight loss efforts.

Fundamentally soda is bad for you (no kidding)! Bad for your teeth, bad for your general well being and very bad for your weight.

To by comparison the point, an average 355ml can of soda contains 140 fat and 39 grams of sugar! That is a huge number of sugar!

Would you eat that much sugar by choice? The acknowledge I hope, would be no. The reality is, we can slam down a can of soda in less than 5 minutes and in doing so are drinking 9 teaspoons of sugar.

Common sense dictates this is an unhealthy custom and when trying to lose weight and should be avoided at all costs.

Are They Bad For You?

So what about diet soda? Are diet drinks bad for you? Can they be consumed when you are trying to lose weight?

As most population would do when trying to acknowledge questions such as this, we will 'Google' it. Give it a try! I did and got about 2 million quest results ranging from diet sodas will make you fat, to diet sodas have no succeed at all on weight loss.

So where does that leave the average person who is trying to lose weight? Confused? You Bet!

At a basic level they appear inoffensive to our weight loss efforts, after all it has zero fat and zero sugar. Now, fundamentally weight loss is a straightforward equation of a person using more fat than consumed, forcing your body to burn stored vigor sources such as fat, which results in weight loss.

What The research Tells Us

In terms of how they sway weight loss, theoretically they should be fine because they comprise no sugar or calories. Unfortunately not all is life is that straight forward. When seeing at the research it gets even more confusing, as numerous studies site diet soda as a cause of weight gain whilst others state diet soda will aid weight loss.

Without going into the merits of all of these studies (some of which don't even credit their sources), it is safe to say an conference can be mounted on both sides. It seems, as with a lot of condition and fitness related topics, opinions can be divided.

Probably the most reputable and convincing study that I found was from the San Antonio Heart Study, where there was a direct correlation in the middle of the number of diet soda consumed and an increased opening of weight gain:

Why is Diet Soda Bad For You?

"On average, for each diet soda our participants drank per day, they were 65 percent more likely to become overweight while the next seven to eight years, and 41 percent more likely to become obese," said Sharon Fowler, M.P.H., faculty connect in the department of clinical epidemiology in the condition Science Center's department of medicine."

What the study doesn't tell you is why there is a correlation, in fact the causation for the weight gain is unclear.

In trying to by comparison the results Fowler hypothesizes that: "It may be that normal-weight population in our study whose weight had been addition had switched to diet soda in an endeavor to stop their weight gain," she said. "That's a very real possibility. Someone else is that drinking soda, whether quarterly or diet, is part of a lifelong 'Obey your thirst' nutritional pattern that sets a person up for weight gain later in life. Whatever the case, our results without fail raise more questions than they answer."

But Fowler pointed out whenever person is drinking them, he or she is drinking it to the exclusion of healthier alternatives such as milk, water, or juice. "Can you think of one good thing that comes from a diet soda can for your body? You're giving yourself the taste of nourishment without any at all, so it may be that you then seek it from other foods, such as high-calorie desserts," she said. "Even though you fool your tongue, you don't fool your brain. It is not satisfied. I've seen population plunk down a doughnut and a diet soda on a convenience store counter. What our analyses indicate for sure is that drinking them will not protect a person from the condition effects of the rest of his or her lifestyle."

Personally I believe the study, which was conducted over a long duration of time, involved a wide range of participants within the community. These participants bring with them a range of factors, that were not measured by the study, which could have influenced their weight gain. Factors such as personel health, genetics, wealth, employment, stress and a range of other variables all could have impacted the participants weight gain, not the diet soda alone.

Regardless of the hypothesize why, the study still indicates that drinking diet soda leads to weight gain. Is it conclusive? No! Is it something you should take into notice when trying to lose weight? Definitely?

My Biggest problem with Diet Soda

Fundamentally my biggest issue with diet soda is, you don't know what the hell is in it. It tastes nice and is refreshing, but in it's rawest form it is a bunch of chemicals that have been thought about blended to originate a drink that has beyond doubt no nutritional value.

Common sense tells us that placing unnatural chemicals in our body on a quarterly basis is not a wholesome practice. Dream what it is doing to your insides!

My concept on Diet Soda

Diet versions of sodas are a best choice if you are trying to lose weight, any way it is still unnatural and studies are showing that, whilst we are not sure why, population are still gaining weight challenging diet soda.

Does that mean that a can of diet soda every now and then is going to derail your weight loss plan? No. But what it does mean is, if you are drinking diet soda everyday, mental that you are selecting the healthier option, you are mistaken. You are challenging far too many chemicals for my liking.

In a exquisite world I should be telling you not to drink soda all together. But I won't. Why? Because I'm not perfect, I still enjoy a collective drink and I select to use diet soda as my mixer. I think diet soda to be the lesser of the two evils.

What I can say, is I no longer drink diet soda while the day. If you are drinking diet soda everyday look at cutting back, especially if you are drinking it to quench your thirst. select water instead.

Drop me a commentary below to let me know your thoughts or how diet sodas have affected your weight loss plan (positive or negative)