People who are all about thinspiration engage in disordered eating in order to be as thin as possible — a common symptom of anorexia. But they don’t see it as a disorder or a problem, making this an insidious problem.

Nonetheless, such eating and self-image problems can result in health problems, even putting the individual’s life at risk.

Some people have sought to get common words or terms that people engaged in thinspiration use banned from social networking websites. One such woman is Torri Singer, a broadcast journalism major who has recently begun a petition to get such terms banned from Twitter.

Many social networks have already climbed aboard the bandwagon, including Tumblr, Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest. And while such policies have been implemented, thinspiration content is still easily found on many of these networks. I suspect that’s one of the challenges of implementing a policy like this — it’s extremely difficult to police, especially if people can just slightly alter the terms they use to talk about these issues.

But that hasn’t stopped Torri from putting Twitter on notice.

“[I want] to raise awareness about the harm of destructive thinspiration messages, and to prompt Twitter to make real change in order to stop the spread of this preventable growing trend,” Singer recently told me. Her inspiration for this campaign came from family:

My sister suffered on and off with eating disorders in her early adult life, so preventing other intelligent, strong, and beautiful girls from forming or elongating their disorders has always held a place of importance in my life. I know how difficult it is to be a girl and have constant exposure to beauty ideals, I don’t think we need any more pressure from self-generated pro-eating disordered “lifestyle” hashtags.

But when a website or social network changes its Terms of Use to remove such discussion from their networks, can it be an effective deterrent? “There is no doubt that other media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Tumblr have a long way to go before they are really safe and free of thinspiration triggers,” replied Singer.

“But they have made the first steps toward taking action and being responsible for the safety of their users.”

She also addressed people trying to change the spelling of terms they were using to get around the service’s policing efforts: “Instagram’s initial attempt to limit thinspiration led users to create new spellings (such as thynspo). Instead of giving up on the effort, Instagram revised the policy, stating it will disable “any account or hashtag found to be encouraging eating disorders.”

“The first step is ensuring that these messages are not readily available, and that is where policy change comes into play and really matters.”

Of course, trying to stamp out discussion of a topic on the Internet is impossible, given the hundreds of millions of websites, social networks, forums, and online communities. “By reducing the number of mainstream venues where these pro eating disorder messages are displayed,” Singer says, “we are reducing the exposure, and therefore the dangerous behavior that results (or continues) because of these online interactions.”

I agree — efforts such as Singer’s can make a perceivable impact on the popular, mainstream sites, reducing the likelihood of exposing this ideology to a new, naive audience. Especially when that site is a social network as large as Twitter.

“Banning thinspiration terminology means less accessibility to damaging phrases, encouragement, and images that propel disorders,” notes Singer. “It will prevent susceptible people from forming eating disorders, and people recovering/struggling with eating disorders from exposure to triggers.”

“In my mind, just getting people to have this conversation means that it has been some degree of successful. It is really amazing to see people who sign generating comments about their personal stories and their struggles. Many have said that thinspiration has been a big trigger in their lives and that they support any effort to ban it from impacting others like them.”

Efforts such as Singer’s are a good attempt at bringing attention to the problem and helping people understand that use of these kinds of keywords and hashtags only reinforce the disordered behavior — on a scale that wasn’t readily possible just five years ago. We applaud and support Singer’s petition and efforts to help reduce thinspiration messaging on mainstream social networks.

We encourage you to sign the petition:
Twitter: Restrict use of thinspiration language and hashtags

With social media a major part of teens’ lives, it’s important they have a healthy relationship with the Internet. What does this look like?

According to Udall-Weiner, it resembles any healthy relationship: It has boundaries.

It also shouldn’t have to meet all their needs, including emotional, social, intellectual and spiritual, she said. For instance, sites like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest should never replace face-to-face interactions, she said. Instead, they should supplement them. That’s because online interactions lack the emotional depth and support of real-time relationships. “…[I]t’s hard to know whether someone is trustworthy, loyal, and invested in your well-being.”

The Internet also lets people keep a comfortable distance from others. Udall-Weiner cited MIT professor Sherry Turkle, who believes the Internet provides “the illusion of companionship, without the demands of friendship,” and “people are comforted by being in touch with a lot of people, whom they also keep at bay.”

Fortunately, parents can teach their kids to use the Internet in healthy ways. Below, Udall-Weiner shared five strategies.

What Parents Can Do

In Udall-Weiner’s experience, parents approach Internet use with extremes: “they either prohibit it, or they pretend it doesn’t exist, since they’re quite terrified to find out what their child is really doing online.” Instead, she suggested communicating with your kids and teaching them to be more aware of how they use the Internet.

1. Talk to your teen about their time online.

Talking to your kids about how they use social media and technology helps them break out of autopilot and become more mindful of their actions and reactions, Udall-Weiner said. “[This] is an important skill when it comes to developing emotional competence.” It’s important for teens to understand how being online affects them (such as their mood).

She suggested asking your kids these questions: “Which websites do you often visit?  How do you feel emotionally, both during and after using these sites? Have you ever had any uncomfortable experiences online, or seen anything upsetting? Do you believe that there are any downsides to viewing the sites you regularly visit, or to using the Internet in general?”

2. Teach your teen to be media literate.

A mistake parents often make, according to Udall-Weiner, is that they don’t teach their kids about media literacy. But it’s vital for kids to understand that what they see isn’t what they get online. For instance, “Parents need to actively remind their children that images are not reality—that no one is as thin, perfectly-muscled, unwrinkled, or flawless as that person in the ad.” She suggested visiting Media Smarts for more information.

3. Set time limits on Internet use.

Teens are still developing their executive functions, which include monitoring behavior, organizing information and setting goals, she said. Plus, spending too much time on sites like Facebook can make teens feel worse. “My clients regularly tell me that they become very upset after looking at Facebook, since everyone looks happier, thinner, or more popular than they feel.” So parents might need to set restrictions on Internet use.

4. Surrender all phones before bedtime.

“This is a way to ensure that kids aren’t up late texting or surfing the web, rather than getting precious sleep,” Udall-Weiner said. This rule also applies to parents’ phones, “since kids emulate what they see.”

5. Know the research about Internet use.

Research has suggested that looking at images of thin models — which are splashed all over the Internet — may be associated with various negative consequences. “After seeing these images, people report things like decreased self-esteem, poor body image, depression, guilt, shame, stress, and an urge to engage in eating-disordered behavior, such as restricting food intake,” said Udall-Weiner. She also specializes in body image and eating disorders and founded ED Educate, a website with resources for parents.

Research also has suggested that the Internet makes us feel more disconnected from others, she said. “It’s important for teens to know the research on Internet use.” Talk to your kids about these findings.

Udall-Weiner shares more information and tips on supervising your child’s Internet use in this video.

More than one third of U.S. adults currently are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Physicians and other health care professionals urge us to lose weight or risk becoming vulnerable to a host of diseases, including diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. Weight loss has become a national conversation.

On an individual basis, most of us either have tried to lose weight or are actively engaged in maintaining a healthy weight.  Why we struggle with weight and how best to lose weight are hotly debated topics.  The nation’s current weight struggles have been attributed to a range of biological, societal and personal problems such as unhealthy school lunches, media advertising, too much corn and corn syrup in our diets, sugar substitutes, lack of willpower, overreliance on fast and prepackaged foods and many more.

But what gets in the way of your ability to lose weight?

Is it lack of time to prepare healthy meals?  Lack of willpower to stick to a healthy eating and exercise routine?  The intense influence of advertisements urging you to eat unhealthy foods?  Lack of interest? Not knowing how to lose weight?

The answer, according to a new survey of psychologists suggests that when it comes to dieting, weight loss and weight gain, emotions play a central role and may be the primary obstacle to weight loss.

Have you ever felt guilty after eating a cookie and then decided to eat the whole box, since you’d already blown your diet? Have you felt low and skipped exercise? Then you’ve experienced emotions interfering with your weight loss.

If we were merely cognitive beings, we’d eat the cookie, evaluate how it affects our daily calorie intake, and make adjustments to get back on track.

But we’re not merely cognitive beings. According to the survey of more than 1,300 licensed psychologists, conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center, understanding and managing the behaviors and emotions related to weight management is essential to weight loss.

In fact, emotional eating was considered a barrier to 43 percent of people who wanted to better manage their weight.  And it’s not just emotional eating.  Emotions can interfere with maintaining a regular workout routine and making healthy food choices.

Getting Help for Weight Loss

So what can you do, if you’ve tried to eat healthy and exercise regularly and found that it’s just not working? 

More than 70 percent of the psychologists who provide weight loss treatment identified several key treatments and strategies for addressing the underlying emotional issues related to weight gain.  Those strategies considered “excellent” included:

• Cognitive therapy: a treatment that helps people identify and address negative thoughts and emotions that can lead to unhealthy behaviors
• Problem-solving:   Finding alternate solutions to setbacks, changes and obstacles
• Mindfulness:  Using strategies to allow thoughts and emotions to come and go without judging them, and instead concentrate on being aware of the moment

Also considered important in helping clients to lose weight and keep it off were the following:

• Motivational strategies
• Keeping behavioral records
• Goal-setting

Although weight problems may be caused by an array of biological, emotional, behavioral and environmental issues, it has become clear that stress and emotions play a central role in our ability to manage our weight.  Without strategies to recognize emotional triggers and respond to our emotions effectively, we are likely to continue to struggle with our weight and health.

It’s the holidays.  Magazines focus on our waistlines and ways to survive the season while keeping a slender figure. I’m all for good health, but we’re frequently sold an image, product or diet that does not always result in good mental or physical health, particularly for women.

What’s your ideal weight?  In one alarming study, adolescent girls described their ideal girl as 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighing a mere 100 pounds.

This ideal is — at best — unhealthy and, for many, anorexic. 

And while it’s unattainable for most girls, they still hold it.  In doing so, they are more likely to be dissatisfied with their bodies, no matter their shape or size. They may feel disgust and revulsion toward themselves and envy and bitterness toward others.  Carrying this skin-and-bones ideal is associated with low self-esteem and the development of eating disorders.

Males also can hold unhealthy, unrealistic body ideals and suffer from similar dissatisfaction and distress.  According to one study, when boys experience body dissatisfaction, it is more likely associated with large, muscular bodies than a thin and skinny image.

Body image is believed to be a less prevalent issue for boys, who tend to view their bodies as a tool, rather than as a means of attracting others, but it is also a much less studied topic.

So where does the desire to be skinny come from?  The answer is both complex and simple.  It can be transmitted through family, peers, schools, athletics, business, and health care professionals.

But advertising is the most aggressive source of the overly slender image, according to a study in the International Journal of Eating Disorders. Thinness is equated with goodness and self-control.  Slender images are used to sell diets, cosmetics and exercise programs.  The female body is portrayed as an object of desire and when girls and women feel they don’t live up to the ideal, they are more likely to feel shame and anxiety.

Some simple strategies to improve body image include:

Putting down the magazine. 

Make a choice not to subject yourself to ideals and images that will make you feel worse about yourself.

Seeking healthy role models. 

Role models can help girls and women focus on eating to sustain healthy, functional bodies, rather than on dieting to become skinny.

Refusing to talk about dieting. 

Peers have a huge influence on adolescent girls, but our friends affect our worldview at any age. Resist the urge to talk about dieting, especially non-nutrition-based fad diets, with friends.

Not isolating yourself. 

Encouraging adolescent girls to develop healthy relationships with peers may prevent them from developing body dissatisfaction, according to one study.

If you or someone you know is struggling with body image problems or with an eating disorder, you can get more information from the National Eating Disorder Association.

Beautiful images of fashion, art, vacation destinations, and food: what’s not to love about Pinterest?

Well, after seeing several pins labeled “thinspiration,” displaying overly thin women and quotes like, “All I want is to be happy, confident, and skinny as hell,” I decided it was time to speak up.

The image in this post is of me, back in my modeling days. This photo was very popular with friends and family on Facebook and with my followers on a modeling website I was a member of at the time.

If Pinterest had been around back then, I definitely would have pinned it for all to see.

Some may look at this image and see a woman that offers “thinspiration,” but the truth is actually much darker.

See, for over a decade, I was obsessed with diet and exercise and was constantly skating on the edge of being diagnosed with an eating disorder.

For many years, the side effects of my lifestyle were of little concern. There was plenty of outside validation and even envy toward my dedication and discipline to diet and exercise. I even landed a modeling contract, receiving more encouragement to maintain my slender frame.

But after a decade of living this harsh and rigid lifestyle, I received a wake-up call that changed the way I viewed my body forever.

At the ripe old age of 26, I was diagnosed with Osteoporosis.

Often referred to as a “silent killer,” this bone-thinning disease had been developing for close to a decade without any pain or discomfort.

And that was only the beginning.

Amenorrhea, digestive issues and painful intercourse were just a few of the other not-so-glamorous truths hidden in the above photo. Eventually, depression, chronic illness and overuse injuries would also be added to this list.

Think this can’t happen to you? Think again.

35 percent of “normal dieters” progress to pathological dieting. Of those, 20 to 25 percent progress to partial or full-syndrome eating disorders.¹

Up to 24 million people of all ages and genders suffer from an eating disorder in the U.S.² About half of young female patients with anorexia nervosa have osteoporosis.³ And some of the other side effects of eating disorders are just as common. For example, up to 50 percent of people with eating disorders meet the criteria for depression.⁴

Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness.⁵

Pinterest makes it clear they do not promote eating disorders right on their site, but images promoting “thinspiration” are still getting pinned.

And Pinterest is just one of several sites facing this “thinspiration” battle. Youtube and Livejournal are also on the list, as are many other sites, some dedicated completely to the “Thinspo” ideology.⁶

All of this indicates that more awareness needs to be raised about the negative side effects of overexercising and undereating.

So let’s start a Pinterest revolution.

Let’s see how many times we can get this image re-pinned, and let’s make it known that “thinspiration” is not as sexy as everybody thinks it is.

The last thing we need is more content promoting an unhealthy, unrealistic body image. What we do need, however, is a bit more inspiration to look within and develop a healthy, loving and understanding relationship with our own bodies.

1. Shisslak, C.M., Crago, M., & Estes, L.S. (1995). The Spectrum of Eating Disturbances. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 18(3):209-219.
2. The Renfrew Center Foundation for Eating Disorders, “Eating Disorders 101 Guide: A Summary of Issues, Statistics and Resources,” 2003.
3. Osteoporosis and Eating Disorders. Eating Disorders Review, 11 (5). Retrieved from http://www.eatingdisordersreview.com/nl/nl_edr_11_5_11.html on 12 November 2012.
4. Mortality in Anorexia Nervosa. American Journal of Psychiatry, 1995; 152 (7): 1073-74.
5. Mortality in Anorexia Nervosa. American Journal of Psychiatry, 1995; 152 (7): 1073-74.
6. Stonebridge, V. L. (2011). Thinspiration: New Media’s Influence on Girls with Eating Disorders. Thesis, Department of Public Relations College of Communication, Rowan University. Retrieved from http://dspace.rowan.edu/bitstream/handle/10927/188/stonebridgev-t.pdf?sequence=1 on 12 November 2012.

It’s been hard in recent years to ignore young entertainers’ breakdowns, drug habits, and bad behavior. Demi Lovato, a 20-year-old singer/songwriter, actress, and newly appointed judge on the talent show “The X Factor,” has endured much internal struggle.

But she has courageously sought mental health assistance and boldly documented her journey to share with others for inspiration. Along with her “stay strong” motto, she’s demonstrated that obstacles can be overcome, which is what ultimately highlights her as a different type of role model.

Katie Couric (who struggled with an eating disorder during her college days) interviewed Lovato earlier this year. In a heartfelt discussion, the young celebrity opened up about the origins of her body image issues, and the time she spent at an Illinois treatment facility for anorexia, bulimia and self-mutilation.

“I always had self-confidence issues in my body and self-image problems,” Lovato said. “It also didn’t help that I had kids at school at such a young age that were really, really naturally thin, so I always felt like I was the bigger one of the group.”

She initially dealt with her insecurities by overeating, which then turned into starvation, along with binging and purging. Lovato said that certain traumatic situations could trigger those destructive habits, and she candidly spoke about being teased and berated by other peers at school.

“People don’t realize how badly cyber-bullying and verbal harassment affects you,” she said.

With regard to her eating disorders, she confirmed that being in control was important, and those unhealthy patterns developed as a coping mechanism. “Some people don’t want to feel the emotions that they have — I think I just didn’t want to feel.”

After Lovato instigated a physical altercation with one of her friends, she realized her emotions were out of control, and she knew she needed to get help. She checked herself into a rehab center shortly after the incident.

“Treatment was so difficult at first,” she said. “I remember walking around saying ‘I’m in prison,’ and they needed to have strict rules in order for me to understand how sick I was.”

The “X Factor” judge admits that while she’s currently in a comfortable place, these issues most likely will stay with her for the rest of her life. She noted that during these past two years, however, a new mindset recently clicked; a mindset of acceptance and embrace for her natural body.

This past July, Lovato told “Good Morning America” that she’s happier allowing others to see her flaws, and that’s what defines her as a new kind of role model.

“That’s what being a role model is about,” she said. “It’s not about being perfect. It’s about speaking about your issues and inspiring others to get help.”

Our taste buds are chemical sensors that pick up on taste acutely for the first few bites.  After eating a large amount, we may taste very little of what we’re eating.

So what does this have to do with belly fat and mindfulness?

According to clinical psychologist Jean Kristeller, PhD, president and co-founder of The Center for Mindful Eating, many of us are eating too often and too much.

We’re bombarded by advertisements for unhealthy foods and confronted with restaurant portions appropriate for two or three people.  Then we eat for all sorts of reasons: it’s time to eat, food is available or offered or we’re angry, anxious, depressed or bored.

With so many reasons and opportunities to eat, Kristeller suggests in this month’s Monitor on Psychology that we have become disconnected from feelings of hunger and satiety.

Kristeller first connected the practice of mindfulness with eating while studying food intake regulation at Yale with Judith Rodin, PhD.  Rodin was linking disregulated eating to a disconnect with hunger signals.  Kristeller began using mindfulness practice as a strategy to reconnect people with the body’s experience of hunger and satiety.

In her 10-week course in mindful eating, Kristeller teaches participants how to increase their awareness of their drives to eat and the triggers for overeating.  And yes, that includes teaching participants to pay attention to those first few scrumptious bites, but also to notice as food begins to lose its taste.

It’s about finding satisfaction in quality, not quantity, Kristeller says. And other researchers are testing her theory.  In one study, Gayle Timmerman, PhD, RN found that with mindful eating training for restaurant meals, participants showed a significant impact on weight and food intake.

In a second study with obese women, Elissa Epal, PhD, and her associate Jennifer Daubenmier found that the more mindfulness the women practiced, the more their anxiety, chronic stress and belly fat decreased.

By eating mindfully, you gain awareness of your enjoyment of food and eating.  By practicing awareness of hunger, noticing what your body feels like when full, and learning to savor foods, you also can recognize when the food in front of you no longer is enjoyable.

“I wondered what would happen if people started engaging with foods in this way,” Kristeller says in The Monitor.  Epal’s research studies so far indicate that with attention to eating, people can change their relationship to food “very quickly, and within a few sessions.”

In a recent study researchers compared taste sensitivity in obese children and adolescents to that of healthy weight children and adolescents.  According to this study, taste sensitivity is linked to weight.

Children and adolescents who were obese had less sensitive taste buds.  That means for obese children sweet foods tasted less intensely sweet, bitter foods were milder and salt was not as readily perceived.

What do these differences in taste perception mean?

What the study can’t reliably tell us is whether a decreased taste sensitivity causes obesity or whether obesity somehow causes a decrease in taste sensitivity.

We do know that our tastes change over our lifetimes as a result of certain life circumstances.  During pregnancy, for example, nearly two-thirds of women experience changes in taste.  Pregnant women have been found to have a reduced sensitivity to salty tastes, which may be the body’s way of ensuring increased salt intake during pregnancy.

Chemotherapy is another example of an experience that changes a sense of taste.  Forty-six percent of patients receiving chemotherapy report taste changes.

In another study (PDF), subjects who reduced salt intake voluntarily for a period of months, preferred less salt in their food, than those that ate a higher salt diet.  Voluntarily reducing salt intake caused an increased sensitivity to salty tastes.

In the case of pregnancy, changes in the body cause changes in taste sensitivity.  However, in the study on reduction in salt intake, changes in eating habits resulted in changes in taste preferences.

Normal aging, neurological problems, such as seizures and drug use can all cause changes in taste preferences and taste sensitivity.

However, the relationship between taste and obesity is still unclear.  Does a decreased sensitivity to certain flavors cause obesity, or is a loss of sensitivity to taste just another by-product of obesity?

Some doctors suggest from experience and anecdotal evidence that eating unhealthy foods, particularly those foods high in sodium and unhealthy fats that contribute to obesity, causes reduced sensitivity to taste.

In an article on The Huffington Post, David Katz, M.D., Director of the Yale Prevention Research Center, suggests that when we inundate our taste buds all day long with sugar, salt, and chemicals, they become insensitive to them.  Dr. Katz states that foods such as pasta sauces with added sugar, ice cream, potato chips and sugary breakfast cereals all contribute to losses in taste sensitivity.

If you regularly eat high sugar and high sodium foods, this news news can be discouraging.  We might all agree that food needs to provide us with energy and supply our nutritional needs, but we also all want to eat tasty foods and enjoy what we eat.

According to Dr. Katz, there is good news.  Better food choices, even cutting down on sugar and sodium intake for just a few weeks can change your preferences and your sensitivities to salt and fat.

So does obesity change your sense of taste?

The scientific evidence is still out, but anecdotal evidence and what we know about how our tastes change with what we eat suggests that eating high fat and sodium foods reduces sensitivity to taste. It is not obesity that causes changes to sense of taste, rather it’s eating the foods that contribute to obesity.

Knowing that food cravings are much like other addictions can be disheartening and you might despair that you will not be able to make changes.

The good news is that there are several effective strategies to delay eating craved food and weaken your habitual response to food.

Acceptance vs. Fighting Your Urges

Many turn to dieting, in an attempt to fight urges to eat.  But fighting urges has two problems: it often makes them stronger, rather than weaker; and when we lose the fight and ultimately give in to our cravings, we learn that we can’t control them and lose motivation.

It might seem counterintuitive, but accepting your cravings, rather than trying to fight them, is one of the most effective methods for changing your response to food.

In an experiment conducted by Dr Robyn Vast, participants learned to control urges to eat chocolate by accepting that they would have these urges.  They underwent training to notice thoughts and cravings related to eating the chocolate.  Rather than try to push these thoughts away, they were instructed to think of them as merely thoughts, not a physical need that must be acted upon.

81% of subjects who were taught this technique were successful in resisting the urge to eat chocolate, compared to 56% of a group taught different cognitive techniques and 43% of a group who were not taught any techniques.

This technique is similar to one used with drug and alcohol addictions, called “urge surfing.”  When “urge surfing,” you notice your urge and attend to it without acting.  You notice how these urges come and go like waves, at some times intense and at others weak.

Additional Strategies to Fight Food Cravings

Other techniques that delay acting upon cravings can weaken the strength of your cravings over time.  Some of them include the following:

• Imagine you are eating the craved food.  Simply imagining the food will increase your craving, but imagining eating the food can decrease your craving.
• A new study found that exercise can cut food cravings (found in the journal, Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise).
• Distract yourself with scents of flowers or by chewing gum.  This delay in satisfying a craving can weaken the urge.
• Set a timer when you experience a craving and then distract yourself with something else.  Often when the time is up, the craving has passed.

In order to curb your cravings you may need to think about food and eating differently.  We are not in a war with food that requires us to avoid it, restrict it or fight what we long for.

Instead, we can recognize that our longings and desires for certain foods are just thoughts, often triggered by our environment, hormones or a desire for comfort.  Try telling yourself, “That’s a thought about craving food” the next time a craving hits, and then move on with what your were doing and see if you notice a change in how often you give in to a craving.

Food choice, nutrition and diet have been growing topics hotly debated in the public arena.

But despite increased public awareness that food choice plays a vital role in health, most Americans continue to eat too few fruits, vegetables and whole grains (USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion).

The Obesity Epidemic

With more than two-thirds of American adults either overweight or obese, what American’s eat is a topic that cannot be dismissed lightly.  Studies on obesity in America have found that rates of obesity among adults has more than doubled since 1980 and that rates among children, even those as young as 2 to 5, are alarming.  Obesity rates for adolescents have tripled, while those for children aged 6-11 have quadrupled.

Along with what many have begun to refer to as an epidemic of obesity, has also come an increased focus on healthy eating behaviors and lifestyle choices.  The questions researchers and health advocates ask include: what contributes to unhealthy lifestyle choices and which interventions lead to successful behavior change, weight loss and improved health?

Education about nutrition has been finding its way into the public domain.  Magazines and newspapers, advertisements on television and information in our children’s classrooms are a few of the ways health educators have increased the knowledge of the public at large.

Environment Matters

But this fight to educate the public about a healthy lifestyle can get lost in the wealth of unhealthy products American’s encounter throughout daily life. Fast food restaurants, shopping malls, workplaces, and corner stores make eating healthy a challenge.

Not only are we surrounded by unhealthy food options, we are also surrounded by unhealthy messages about food.  The environment in which we live and work has a significant impact on what we view as healthy and on how much food we believe we need to eat.

We may not pay close attention to the billboards with coffee drinks heaped with whipped cream being consumed by happy and thin models, or commercials in which physically fit sports fans watch a game with a bucket of fried chicken, but they do have an impact on how much we believe we can and need to eat.

Effective nutrition education and behavior change requires multifaceted interventions.  Education alone has not lead to great behavior change.  Lasting change appears to require education, individual intervention and changes to our environment to make the healthy choice the easy (and obvious) choice.

Individual differences in our beliefs and attitudes about food have an impact on what and how much we eat, but so does our environment.  The people around us, the messages we see at work, on TV and in our communities and, yes, even information about the calories in a Big Mac can have an impact on the food choices we make.

If we want better health, we may need to change how we think about food; increasing your awareness about how your environment influences your thoughts about food is one place to start.

References:

Whitaker RC, Wright JA, Pepe MS, Seidel KD, Dietz WH. Predicting Obesity in Young Adulthood from Childhood and Parental Obesity. New England Journal of Medicine, 37(13):869–873, 1997.

8 Serdula MK, Ivery D, Coates RJ, Freedman DS. Williamson DF. Byers T. Do Obese Children Become Obese Adults? A Review of the Literature. Preventive Medicine, 22:167–177, 1993.

Is it cupcakes, potato chips, bread, a big bowl of pasta, cheese fondue, fried chicken, pizza, ice cream or something else?

Do you crave something creamy that melts in your mouth or a salty crunch that takes the edge off?

If you do, you’re similar to 100% of women and 75% of men who reported food cravings in the last year, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

Cravings, once considered the body’s way of signaling that we’re missing important nutrients, are now understood to be something quite different.  If they were merely a signal that we were short on, say, magnesium (a nutrient found in chocolate), then why do we tend to crave salty and sweet snacks, rather than healthier options of nutrient rich foods?

Bran, pumpkin seeds and molasses all contain magnesium, but rarely rank high on anyone’s cravings list.

Instead, The Wall Street Journal reports that studies suggest that cravings are a complex combination of different factors.  Social, cultural, psychological and environmental cues all play a part in whether you experience a craving or not. Craving mom’s apple pie or creamy mashed potatoes are often more about the emotion they evoke than the taste of the actual food or the nutrients found in them.  A hot dog at a ball game or popcorn at a movie are often more about the environment than hunger.

Cravings are powerful things.  They are triggered by our environment, our internal need to soothe ourselves or evoke a particular feeling, our cultural expectations and by the people around us.  Not only are they triggered by a wide variety of circumstances, they also affect our bodies like an addiction.

Research on the brain indicates that food cravings activate the same parts of the brain as drug and alcohol cravings.  And, like drug and alcohol, giving in to the craving results in a release of dopamine, the neurotransmitter in the brain that plays an important role in the experience of pleasure.

But, when we give in to cravings too often, our dopamine receptors become flooded.  The neurons compensate for this overload of dopamine by becoming less sensitive.  What this means is that with continued overindulgence, more and more food is required to create the same pleasurable experience.

Instead of craving one cookie, you crave a whole box, and even that doesn’t feel satisfying.  Pam Peek, a physician and author of the book “The Hunger Fix” notes that food addiction changes the brain in the area associated with impulsivity and addictive urges.

The idea that we are constantly surrounded by circumstances that cause us to crave food—often that which is sugary, salty or otherwise unhealthy—can be disheartening.  However, studies show that as we learn to delay gratification and hold off on satisfying our cravings, our urges become weaker.

Although curbing cravings can be difficult, particularly if you’re already in a pattern of indulging, you don’t need to live at the mercy of your cravings.

Digestive problems, including bloating and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), are an increasing concern.

Have you ever noticed that you’ve just eaten something and can hardly remember what it tasted like? Kind of like eating on autopilot? Our busy and stressful modern-day lifestyles may have to do with this. Our minds are so busy planning our next move that we don’t allow time to savour the food we eat, or allow time for it to digest.

It takes 10 minutes for your brain to detect the body’s signals that you’re feeling full. Eating quickly can mean that you could easily consume way too much food before your body tells you to stop, leaving you feeling uncomfortably full.

I believe that how we eat our food is just as important as the food we eat, and this is where mindful eating comes into play.

Mindful eating is a powerful tool for weight loss, stress reduction, and increasing nutrient absorption. Best of all, it doesn’t cost a thing and requires little interruption of daily life.

Mindful eating helps you to feel more pleasure when eating. By noticing and enjoying the pleasurable tastes and sensations during a meal, you’ll feel more satisfied and therefore less likely to want to eat more.

So How Do You Eat Mindfully?

1. Put aside an extra five to ten ninutes for eating and digesting
2. Minimize extraneous distractions (turn down or turn off the radio, TV or phone)
3. If friends or family ask you what you’re doing, politely say “I’m just noticing/enjoying my food!” Then rejoin the dinner conversation.
4. Count the number of times you chew each bite (aim for thirty).
5. Enjoy sensations, flavors, sounds, smells, and sights one at a time, as if you’re doing a wine tasting.
6. It’s OK if you get distracted and drift off. This is completely normal. If this happens, you haven’t failed. When you realize this has happened, simply acknowledge it and come back to noticing.
7. After the meal, sit still without eating for five minutes. Every one or two minutes, pay attention to sensations in your stomach and feelings of fullness. Just see what you notice.
8. If you don’t have time in your schedule to eat mindfully for every meal, that’s OK. Perhaps start off with one meal per day or one day per week and notice how it feels. If you like it, then maybe do it a little more, bit by bit.

There’s enough doom and gloom and negativity in the world around us. Eating is one of those simple pleasures that we’ve forgotten about. Eating mindfully is a way to get back in touch with the pleasure of food, and it comes with many benefits to our health and well-being. As the Buddhists say, “it’s not what you eat, but how you eat it.” So why not give it a try?

As often is the case with advice for managing your weight, finding a solution is easy — putting it to practice in your daily life can be much harder! The psychological issues surrounding weight management and healthy relationships with food can be complex. Psychology can help uncover these issues and provide you with a plan for long-term, meaningful change.

It’s no wonder we have both increasing incidents of eating disorders, such as anorexia and bulimia, as well as increasing prevalence of binge eating disorder and rates of obesity.

Navigating this confusing world without falling into an eating- or weight-related disorder does require a return to some basic facts.

There are truths about eating and bodies which seem to get lost somewhere between childhood and teenage years. Young babies and toddlers generally find joy in their bodies, no matter what their size or shape, and they listen to their bodily cues such as eating when they are hungry and stopping when they are full.

But somewhere in the preteen years, these certainties shift and doubt takes over. A negative body image can, and often does, lead to serious, life-altering illnesses in millions of Americans.

The National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) is an organization that supports families and individuals who are battling eating disorders. NEDA offers information, resources, action-oriented advocacy and media campaigns to educate the public and policymakers about eating disorders. Another critical and vibrant part of NEDA relates to prevention of eating disorders, highlighted specifically during the Eating Disorder Awareness Week each February.

7 Steps for Success

Based on facts which have been promoted by NEDA, there are seven steps for success when it comes to preventing an eating disorder.

• Everybody is different. We all have a different set of genes which determine much of our size, weight and shape. Even if everyone started eating the same things and did the same amount of exercise for a whole year, we wouldn’t look the same at the end of the year. Your “ideal” body weight is the weight that allows you to feel strong and energetic and lets you lead a healthy, normal life. Be comfortable in your genes and jeans.
• Listen to your body. Eat what you want, when you are truly hungry. Enjoy wholesome, nutrient-rich foods. Know that there are no good and bad foods, but rather those which have more or less nutrient qualities. Stop when you’re full. Eat exactly what appeals to you in a moderate, balanced fashion.
• No dieting. Dieting doesn’t work. Many individuals were dieting at the time they developed their eating disorder.
• Move often. Enjoy regular, moderate exercise. Do things you enjoy. Exercise for fun, fitness and function, not for exhaustion, deprivation or punishment. This will help you be strong, fit and relaxed.
• Reject weight bias. We aim not to judge others by the color of their eyes or skin; can you avoid judging others or yourself on the basis of body weight or shape? Respect someone’s character traits and accomplishments rather than their body shape.
• Avoid comparing your body with your friends’ bodies or with the people you see in the media. Choose role models who reflect a realistic standard and who stand for values of importance. Become a critical consumer of media and recognize its influential power on you.
• Handle life difficulties with healthy coping techniques, not through over- or undereating. Problem-solve, rather than create problems to avoid dealing with the true source of stress. Seek true forms of happiness and fulfillment.

If men, women, parents, teachers, coaches, children, teens, doctors, movie producers, advertising agencies and everybody started absorbing and practicing these invaluable truths, we might begin the journey of ending the existence of eating- and weight-related disorders.

For more information about NEDA and related resources, visit this site.

Frank Bruni was a fat kid.  He was also the New York Times food critic from 2004-2009 and the best-selling author of Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-Time Eater.  In his deeply moving memoir, he explains the problems and perils of being fat and the emotional struggle food caused him as a child and an adult.  He said he wanted to write his memoir to show  “what food could do to trip people up.”

Apparently food can do a lot to trip you up.  Being obese can have a devastating impact on life. A child born in this century has a one in three chance of developing diabetes and an alarmingly high percentage will suffer obesity-related conditions such as cancer, asthma, high blood pressure and heart disease.  Those numbers go up dramatically in the Hispanic and African-American communities:  Right now 40 percent of these children are overweight or obese.

With these statistics, is it any wonder that Michelle Obama would introduce Let’s Move to combat childhood obesity?

I was a fat kid too. Nutrition and exercise have always been passions of mine as an adult, and I take an interest in movements and programs that help children and families learn to live healthier lives.

The solution to childhood obesity seems clear: It lies in early correction and prevention through diet and exercise.  This will help curtail lifelong health problems, financial burdens and issues associated with social bias. Movement, along with diet, is a key ingredient in the formula for change. We need to make time for it and use that time well. While a walk around the block will help, there are some powerful, inspiring programs that are leading the way to something a bit more engaging and dynamic. 

One organization, the Jump for Joy Foundation, is making a real difference.  J4JF is one of the most proactive fitness nonprofits nationwide, especially when it comes to childhood obesity prevention.  It works through the power of inspiration and knowledge. J4JF is the brainchild of former UNLV students and camp co-founders Anthony Alegrete and Branden Collinsworth. “We want to make it cool for kids to be fit,” Collinsworth says. “Because we’re competing with Facebook and video games, we want to make it one of the coolest experiences that they’ve ever had and something they can take with them the rest of their lives,” adds Alegrete.

As the research shows, Alegrete and Collinsworth know what they are up against.   The duo formed a partnership after Alegrete began employing Collinsworth as a personal trainer. The results were remarkable enough that Alegrete told Collinsworth they had to do the same for kids.

The fitness expert and the businessman joining forces made a win-win situation.  But there is a twist to the story.  Ironically, Alegrete struggled with being underweight.  Over time, he gained 20 pounds of muscle and got into the best shape of his life. “Without Branden,” says Alegrete,  “I never would have found this direction.”

I met Branden in the Masters of Applied Positive Psychology program at the University of Pennsylvania. He is learning to bring the science of positive psychology to children to help create a positive social identity.  Naturally, I wanted to learn more.

The first J4JF camp in 2010 drew three kids, but since then — through social media, the press, and word of mouth — they have became the “cool” guys of fitness and nutrition.  They have now had over 100 events and camps and have helped over 3,000 kids.  Although J4JF is housed at the Pearson Community Center in North Las Vegas, they also take their program on the road when necessary. They expose children to healthy social identities by offering such fun, friendly and diverse activities as basketball; dance; mixed martial arts; football; jump rope and hiphop.

The men make exercise fun and hip by bringing in celebrity athletes and entertainers and giving parents tools and education. Past celebrities have included professional boxer Lightning Lonnie Smith; KB of the Jabawockies High Profile and Prodigy dance crews; Hey Reb, the UNLV mascot,  professional breakdancers; UFC fighters Gilbert “the Hurricane” Yvel, Kevin Randleman, Stephan Bonner, and Larry Mir; UNLV football stars; and even James Brewster Thompson, the world record holder in rope jumping.  He wowed the camp-goers by jumping with a 6-pound metal chain for his “rope” and three people on his back.

Both Qsymia (pronounced kyoo-sim-EE-uh and manufactured by Vivus Pharmaceuticals) and Belviq (pronounced bel-VEEK and manufactured by Arena Pharmaceuticals) have been shown to be effective in their clinical trials to help people lose significant amounts of weight.

Qsymia is composed of two generic drugs, phentermine (an appetite suppressant) and topiramate (a seizure and migraine medication). Belviq focuses on changing on how serotonin is processed by the brain. Qysmia will be on sale by the end of the year, while Belviq won’t be available until sometime in early-to-mid 2013.

Should you consider these drugs if you’re obese or seriously overweight?

The short answer is, yes, if you’re obese (BMI 30 or greater) or overweight (BMI 27 or greater) with a weight-related condition — such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, or high cholesterol — you should consider these drugs.

Although likely to be expensive, both weight loss drugs will likely be approved by insurance companies for treatment of obesity or being overweight with other health conditions. Why? Because obesity is a serious chronic health problem affecting more than one-third of U.S. adults (35.7 percent), according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As such, it costs insurers a lot of money. In 2008, medical costs associated with obesity were estimated at $147 billion. Anything to bring those costs down is likely to become approved for payment by insurance companies.

Some financial analysts have argued that insurers won’t approve these drugs for treatment, and will instead just force doctors to prescribe the two generic components that go to make up one of these drugs, Qsymia. That would be a significant risk factor for both insurers and doctors, since they would be trying to circumvent the FDA’s requirement that Vivus set up a strict Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS). This program includes a medication guide giving patients important safety information, prescriber training, and pharmacy certification.

Insurers would be taking on all the risk Vivus now does of the REMS program if they force doctors to prescribe the generic components on their own. And doctors may balk at doing so, understanding that without careful education, surveillance and monitoring, such prescriptions may open them up to more liability down the road.

Pregnant or nursing women should not take either Belviq or Qsymia. You can learn more about both drugs — and whether they might be right for you — in our full library article below. Neither drug substitutes for eating a healthy diet and regular exercise (e.g., neither is a magic, silver weight-loss bullet).

Read the full article: Qsymia and Belviq Drugs for Obesity, Weight Loss