Food issues?

Have problems with food, dont think its Bulimia, try this!

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How To Stop Bulimia

At first, vomiting up the vast amounts of food consumed on a binge can seem like the answer to keeping slim, but actually, the great majority of sufferers want to stop bulimia and put an end to this destructive condition. Self-induced vomiting is far from the ideal solution to weight gain. It's masking a deep unhappiness and leads to further psychological and physical problems.

Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder and is nine times more likely to occur in women than men. The onset is usually between the ages of 13 and 20 years of age. Most bulimics make themselves vomit to avoid weight gain although some choose to exercise profusely or fast to offset the calories.

The self-induced vomiting becomes an addiction which can become all consuming as life is planned around eating and throwing up, excessively exercising and fasting. This becomes a deeply unhealthy cycle of binging and purging leading to serious physical and mental health problems. Bulimics find themselves trapped on a binge/purge merry-go-round unable to escape and stop bulimia.

Physical problems arising from this condition are serious and include chronic gastric reflux, malnourishment, pancreatitis, ulcers, electrolyte imbalance leading to heart problems and fits, reduced fertility and cessation of menstruation. Many suffer teeth erosion brought on by frequent vomiting. The long term use of diuretics, laxatives and enemas to purge the body also have consequences to health.

Psychologically, bulimics suffer from low self esteem and feelings of guilt that result from binging.

Even though addicted to their condition, dominated by thoughts of food and often deeply concerned about their health, sufferers are also eager to be free from it.

There are a variety of treatments. Drug therapy has not been found to be consistently effective. The most common treatment is CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) where bulimics develop coping strategies such as recording the amount of food eaten and episodes of vomiting in order to highlight emotional highs and lows that bring on a binge and purge session. CBT has demonstrated efficacy.

Additionally however, many people have found a route out of this desperate cycle through the healing benefits of hypnosis and NLP (neuro linguistic programming). This very effective therapy has enabled sufferers to take back control of their lives and escape this torturous addiction by learning how to eat like a happy, healthy person does.

Hypnosis and NLP work by retraining the mind. The myriad of benefits gained by using these techniques include control of emotions, stopping the urge to vomit, learning useful rather than destructive ways to think about food and to eat healthily and normally. Users of this treatment report how easy it is to change even after one session, either with a therapist or simply listening to a powerful hypnosis recording. This plants the seeds of recovery within the sufferers mind helping them to stop bulimia and think in new, healthier ways giving them the opportunity to be free of this condition forever.

Debbie Williams invites you to claim your free EBook 'The 7 mistakes binge eaters and bulimics make keeping them trapped forever http://www.stopbulimia.co.uk

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6435617

Binge Eater or Bulimic? How to Enjoy Parties and Events Without Binging

I've been asked many times how to cope with food at weddings, parties, buffets and nights out and how to not binge, over-eat, or starve before the day in an attempt to gain some control over food.

I fully understand these feelings, as I've felt that way myself in the past. So I want to share how I deal with these type of events, because I now feel very different in a positive way and the fear which I lived with for such a long time is no longer there.

As it's coming up to my wedding and I want to look the best I can, I have been eating more healthily. I feel connected with my body and as the saying goes "You are what you eat", consciously I've been adding more salad, fruit and vegetable based dishes to my diet (by diet I mean the day to day foods I choose to eat and not 'diet' in the restrictive "I must lose weight" sense).

Planning what I am going to eat during the day is a simple, but very effective way of controlling what I eat and helps to keep me on track. This can be done in your mind, but I find that writing the plan down is better for me as it is a visual reminder and prompt for what I have planned to eat during that day.

I'm lazy, so I spend time in the Marks and Spencer's and Waitrose's salad departments buying delights such as Moroccan style fruit couscous with honey and orange dressing, Avocado with balsamic vinegar and Greek salad with mint. It's been a wonderful adventure with a variety of new tastes and combinations of delicious foods - something that I really enjoy.

However, I have a plan and I make one of these salads a meal in itself (they vary between 150 calories to 400 calories). Having a selection in the fridge to choose from helps, as I eat the meal that appeals to me at that time. Alternatively, I do my own stir-fry, or steamed vegetables with chilli gravy, or curry sauce. When I'm hungry between meals I have fruit e.g. it is useful to have things like grapes to snack on, or bananas if I want something more filling. Occasionally I will eat a small amount of chocolate as a treat, or even some of my partners chips on Friday, but I emphasise these are occasional treats. In fact as I get more and more into healthy eating, these type of treats become less attractive as I start to feel the positive benefits of healthy eating.

My goal was to learn to eat as a lean, healthy, happy person does and over time I have mastered those habits which naturally replace less resourceful ones. It has also enabled me to teach my clients and delegates on my weight loss, or lean for life courses, the same strategies too.

In the days coming up to an event if I want my tummy to be as flat as possible I've found that using the ready made salads is the better option, as I tend to make bigger meals for myself. I also use the 20 minute rule, which means that after I have eaten, if I want some more food I can have it, but I must wait 20 minutes first. What happens is that after 20 minutes, my tummy has had time to tell my brain "this is enough" and thereby results in a feeling of satisfaction.

I also have another strategy to ensure that I don't go to the fridge to eat a second salad, or other food. With this strategy I give myself the choice to have more food if I want, but ask myself if I do "How will it feel over time"?' This connects to the times when I've overeaten and not felt good and stops me from having more.

With regard to attending events, I remind myself ''It's just one meal", or "it's just one day". I will also tell myself that "if I have a strategy I will get through the event easily and enjoy it as I'm supposed to''!

Now there's a thought!

I tell my clients "Let the food go, it's NOT about the food, it really isn't important. Don't let it spoil your day, your event and your life".

I know at a buffet I'm likely to eat more because there will be different, interesting, more heavier, fattier, sweeter foods that I will want to try. Here is what I do;

I make the decision I can have what I want. If there is a selection and I think I want it all, I look at each item and ask myself what is a 10 out of 10 item here? My mind responds "that's an 8 and that is a 7, but that is a 10" etc. Only foods that are above 9 out of 10 go on my plate, thereby limiting what I eat, but also ensuring that I get the maximum enjoyment from my food.

Doing this over time and at different events, noticing as I taste each food, my mind sometimes tells me "this is not a 10 at all, it tastes awful" which helps refine my decision making process in the future.

I have not done a specific hypnosis recording on getting through events of this type, but I might do in the future.

In the days after an event, I go back to eating light, healthy food (with a written plan) and I find that my weight balances itself out naturally.

The strategies mentioned in this article are included in Debbie Williams 'Lean for Life' hypnosis recording which also contains many more tips and strategies on how to become a lean, healthy and happy person. Please follow the link here http://www.debbiewilliamsassociates.co.uk/lean_for_life.htm for more information.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6306013

Bulimia Versus Binge Eating: It's the Same Thing, Isn't It? You Can Stop Right Now!

Bulimia versus Binge eating? What's the difference?

The only real difference between a bulimic and a binge eater is that the bulimic has a rule that they mustn't go over a certain weight, so use the process or purging as a method of maintaining their weight. A bulimic usually only allows themselves to be ½ stone heavier than their perceived ideal weight, although to them this isn't the weight they want to be, they dream of being their perfect weight but are stuck on the binge-eating and bulimic merry-go-round and can't break free.

With bulimia its difficult to connect to the end wretched feeling of how it feels over time once the feeding frenzied behaviour has stopped, then the unpleasantness they have to go through to get rid of all the food is the next step in the process for the bulimic to endure.

The dots are never joined up with the first thought triggered in the mind, lets have a binge. At first it seems like a good idea to be able to eat anything and then sick it up but then, like an addiction it takes over so now the person is compelled to follow the bulimic behaviour of overeating then purging - they have no choice. With all the guilt disappointment and misery that accompany it, it does nothing for the persons Self Esteem.

Contrary to popular belief even people with high Self Esteem end up stuck in the binging cycle which then can lower their esteem especially if they find themselves taking food back out of the garbage to eat or other unsavoury behaviours.

The initial pleasurable thought of ''Let's have a binge'' with the internal movie of how brilliant this will be in this instant to have all the yummy food that they never allow themselves to have when they are trying to be ''Good'' of course all of this is an incomplete picture, and until they can break this cycle of only seeing the initial enjoyment up front of the idea of gorging on all the food that they would normally deny themselves, then this behaviour with all it's unpleasantness is set to continue again and again.

They have totally disconnected with how it feels to feel bloated in the overstuffed phase then the pain of purging it all out. Like a drug addict they don't connect with the come-down afterwards upfront, in fact it feels as powerful as any drug addiction does with much of the food chosen for a binge being highly processed sugary, starchy or fatty food, this also can unbalance the bodies delicate systems and knock everything out of kilter.

There are many ways to halt a binge, a simple phrase asked at the beginning of the idea to binge can help stop it in it's tracks, the phrase is ''How will it feel over time?'' or a longer version ''If I eat this now how will it feel over time and is it worth it?''

I recommend writing post it note (or even poster sized notes) and putting this question everywhere, especially on the fridge and on kitchen cupboards.What will happen is to begin with the person may still binge but the difference being is the consequences of that decision will slap them in their face immediately after the binge and help with the realization it wasn't all that good having to go through the pain of getting the food back out again afterwards therefore the next time their brain suggests ''have a binge'' they have the memory installed of the previous time of it not being worth it, this will help break this self-destructive cycle.

I have many more simple strategies that can help bulimic's and binge eaters to learn to eat like a lean healthy happy person does and finally be at peace with food and themselves.
The author too suffered from bulimia and binge eating for nearly 15 years and have been free of it for nearly 15 years now if you'd like to find out more please feel free to visit my website.

Debbie Williams

Debbie S Williams NLP Trainer and Hypnotherapist and producer of self help hypnosis recordings and free tips booklets available from http://www.stopbulimia.co.uk and http://www.debbiewilliamsassociates.co.uk
Debbie specializes in helping people with eating disorders and processing emotions that sometimes drive a compulsion to overeat.
Having been overweight herself as a child and then suffering from bulimia and binge eating for nearly 15 years she has been free for nearly 15 years now and has done it by studying meticulously what lean healthy happy people seem to be able to do naturally.
Debbie has turned the lessons she has learned into products where you can have the benefit of a therapy session for the fraction of the cost of a one to one.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6041314