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Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Mindfully Walk Away the Urge to Eat

by guest blogger Susan Albers, Psy.D., author of 50 Ways to Soothe Yourself Without Food

It’s likely that an ordinary walk would be a helpful activity to substitute for stress eating. But you might want to try taking a mindful walk. Not only will this get your mind on something other than food and steer you out of the kitchen, it will also help you to calm down and center yourself.

Posted By / 12:00 AM / Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Biting Anorexia: Preamble

Excerpt from Biting Anorexia: A Firsthand Account of an Internal War by Lucy Howard-Taylor.

My name is Lucy Howard-Taylor. I am eighteen years old. I have starved myself silent. I have slipped through people and out of sight, into black. Rigid at night from fear, curled against another day, I fell: unmoved by the landing.

But this is not the exposé of an individual. This is a chronicle. Of anorexia. Of depression. Of you and me, perhaps. And a stumble back into the light.

Posted By / 12:00 AM / Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Is It Emotional or Physical Hunger? How to Tell the Difference

Excerpt from 50 Ways to Soothe Yourself Without Food: Mindful Practices for Finding Relief, Comfort & Calm

If you aren’t sure whether you want to eat because you’re truly hungry or because your emotions need calming and soothing, do a quick self-check before starting to eat. Ask yourself if any of the following statements describe your hunger. Then add up how many times you agree with these statements. Observe whether you agree with more statements under emotional hunger or belly hunger.

Posted By / 12:00 AM / Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Five Eating Patterns That Worsen Stress

Adapted from The Binge Eating & Compulsive Overeating Workbook: An Integrated Approach to Overcoming Disordered Eating

Stress is a natural part of life. Yet it seems that between the economic recession, multiple health crises, and other seemingly endless things, individuals are experiencing heightened anxiety. People often deal with stress by trying to find methods that will lessen their intense emotions. However, a number of eating patterns that people develop to cope during this time actually worsen the stress.

Here are some common eating patterns that you may fall into when under stress:

Posted By / 12:00 AM / Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Let's Dispel Some Sleep Myths

Now that you’ve learned some of the basics about sleep, let’s take a look at some common myths about sleep that may be contributing to your sleep problems. MYTH 1: Spending more time in bed at night will give me a better chance of falling asleep. Actually, the opposite is true. The longer you spend in bed without sleeping, the more your mind and body will associate your wakeful state with your bed, thus making it harder for you to fall asleep. So instead of feeling more relaxed and sleepy when you get into bed each night, you’re actually conditioning yourself to think of the bed as a place where you don’t get good sleep. This simply leads to more frustration. MYTH 2: I need at least eight hours of sleep each night to be healthy. This is not necessarily true, but it’s easy to see why you may believe this. The media often misinterprets research data, or reports on only one finding of a study. Many different factors affect your health, and blaming lack of sleep as t...

Posted By / 12:00 AM / Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Friday, June 05, 2009

Seeds of Service

In 1983, I [author Dr. Stewart] visited India for the first time. There I had the privilege of working at the Aravind Eye Hospital in Madurai, an institution that is the result of the pioneering work of Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy. From that time forward, my life as both a surgeon and a human being was permanently transformed. After his retirement in 1976 as the chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at the nearby medical school, Dr. V, as he was lovingly called, was moved by a desire to serve his community with a higher standard of ophthalmic care, regardless of caste or capacity to pay. He opened a small eye hospital in a converted house with two operating rooms and twelve beds. From this humble beginning, and with the help of Dr. V’s dedicated family, the organization has become the world’s largest eye care system. Presently more than 1.5 million patients are cared for and more than 250,000 surgeries are performed annually at five hospitals. What makes this even more remarka...

Posted By / 12:00 AM / Friday, June 05, 2009

Monday, May 25, 2009

Counting Experiential Calories

by guest blogger Pavel Somov, Ph.D. Put aside this annoying business of counting nutritional calories for a moment and ask yourself: what else am I getting out of this eating moment? How is my Mind being enriched? A Nutritional Calorie is a unit of energy. The job of a Nutritional Calorie is to fuel your Body. An Experiential Calorie -- to coin a term -- is a unit of awareness, a unit of conscious presence, a unit of meaning. The job of an Experiential Calorie is to enrich your Mind. Take a moment to count the latter... Ask yourself: What are the Meditational Calories of this moment? Indeed, as you eat, pause to consider the interdependence of people, places and events that converged into one seamless process in time to finally reach your lips. Of course, the Sun didn't shine for you and the grapes didn't grow for you and the farmer didn't collect the grapes for you and the canner didn't can the grape jelly for you in particular... And yet, somehow, as you are sprea...

Posted By / 12:00 AM / Monday, May 25, 2009

Friday, May 22, 2009

Thyroid: Small Gland, Big Deal

Your thyroid is a miraculous gland. Located at the base of the front of your neck, it produces the hormones that are responsible not just for a sharp mind, but also for the svelte figure and cheerful outlook of our youth. Do you look around and see yourself or friends, family, and strangers your age getting bigger, balder, and more irritable? As we age, many people, especially women, develop low thyroid function, which is reflected in weight gain, hair loss, constipation, dry skin, high cholesterol, fatigue, allergies, breathing problems, impaired vision and hearing, sleeping disorders, dizziness, numbness, loss of libido, aches and pains, more frequent infections, and increasing incidence of mental and emotional problems such as depression, rage, anxiety, irritability, and even schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (De Groot, Hennemann, and Larsen 1984). Let’s face it, any of these symptoms would be enough to make us depressed and irritable. Sadly, even though no other hormone affects su...

Posted By / 12:00 AM / Friday, May 22, 2009

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Mindful Acceptance

Your relationship with your body and how you view it can affect everything you do in life. When you’re feeling well and looking good, you give little thought to where you go or whom you might run into. But if you’re feeling self-conscious or preoccupied with something you don’t like about your body, then you might avoid other people or situations where others might see your perceived flaws. For example, one woman admitted that when her acne flared up, she spent days isolating at home. This next exercise will teach you how to accept your body nonjudgmentally. Begin by observing the negative thoughts and criticisms that you have toward your body, such as “I’m fat and ugly” or “I’m too scrawny and need more muscles” or “I hate my thighs.” Take a quiet moment to experience these random negative thoughts. Then, begin to practice nonjudgmental acceptance of yourself by saying aloud or thinking, “I’m not perfect. This is the body that I was born with and I am learning ...

Posted By / 12:00 AM / Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Illness Patrol

We’ve all done it. Dragged ourselves to work even though we’re experiencing flu-like symptoms or perhaps the worst case of allergies has just kicked in. You’re congested, achy, and sniffly, but you show up to work anyway. You just can’t bear the thought of getting more behind, and they need you, you insist. If you’re lucky, you’ll be able to quit in the middle of the shift and head straight for bed. But what if you can’t? What if you can’t afford to miss even one day’s work? Take five minutes to be mindful of every course of action that you can take to heal your illness. Below are reminders to be gentle with yourself and to move slowly and cautiously when you’re sick. Keep a cup of calming herbal tea beside you all day. Get some fresh air and feel the sun on your face. Give yourself permission to sit down, get comfortable, close your eyes, and remember that even a few minutes of rest will conserve energy. Replenish your body...

Posted By / 12:00 AM / Thursday, April 30, 2009

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