Children with eating disorders on the rise

Source: http://www.bedfordshire-news.co.uk

More than 40 children, some as young as six and seven, have been referred for treatment for eating disorders over the last two years.

Across Bedford and Luton there were a total of 23 children aged between six and 15 passed to the South Essex Partnership Trust (SEPT) for eating disorders.

The figures revealed after Bedfordshire on Sunday submitted a Freedom of Information request showing that the youngest were a six-year-old boy and a seven-yearold girl and the oldest were four 14- year-olds and five 15-year-olds.

But SEPT says the numbers are low compared to the national average.
...Continue reading here.
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With statistics revealing the startling young age that children are developing eating disorders, what are ways to encourage healthy eating behaviors in children that might help prevent these behaviors?

Support for food issues

Published on Thursday 27 October 2011
Source: http://www.iomtoday.co.im

A NEW support group to help people with eating disorders and their families, friends or carers is being established in the Isle of Man.

The new group, the island’s first such organisation, is called the Manx Eating Disorders Support Group and has been publicised with a poster campaign around the island.

The idea has spent months at the planning and preparation stage after organisers realised there was a demand for such a group on the island.

The plan is to expand the group into two in the future, depending on demand and number of volunteers available to help.

The group will be affiliated with B-EAT (Beating Eating Disorders), which is a UK charity that provides helplines, a network of UK-wide self-help groups and online support to help adults and young people beat their eating disorders.

The Isle of Man support group will be part of this UK-wide self-help network and all the group organisers will be fully trained by B-EAT.
...Continue reading here.
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What is the importance of having a support group while in recovery from an eating disorder?

Camilla: Glossy magazines and my fear for girls who crash diet to look like models

By Rebecca English
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk

Young women who go on drastic diets to copy celebrities face a ‘ticking timebomb’ by putting themselves at risk of osteoporosis, the Duchess of Cornwall has warned.

In particular, she highlighted the need for women’s magazines to be more responsible about their use of thin models and the way in which they encourage girls to perceive themselves as overweight.

In yesterday’s Mail, Camilla described her anguish at losing her beloved mother, the Honourable Rosalind Shand, to the cruel fragile-bone disease.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2053521/Camilla-Parker-Bowles-warns-girls-crash-diets-result-osteoporosis.html#ixzz1brm7cCDa

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What are some of the serious health implications associated with eating disorders that may not be as well-known?  If you have a loved one suffering with an eating disorder, how might you gently encourage them to seek the appropriate help they need?

The True Freedom of Eating Disorder Recovery (Part II)

Posted by Rebecca Cooper
Source: http://www.jewishjournal.com

Early recovery is difficult. When we stopped the eating disorder, feelings start to surface. Many times you do not even know what the feeling is. So one of the first new skills in recovery is to be able to identify your feelings. You cannot take care of yourself if you don’t even know what you are feeling. What makes this even more difficult is that the feelings you have been suppressing with the eating disorder now start to surface.

The next new coping skills you need in early recovery is how to deal with the stress and anxiety of everyday living. You need to be comfortable around other people and implement new ways of taking care of yourself. It can be hard not having your usual coping mechanism and feeling so raw. You need to be able to identify your stressors and deal with them in a healthy manner.

One of the most important new skill is in eating disorder recovery is learning to identify your negative self-talk. Again, some people are not even aware of the messages they are telling themselves. This can be one reason why you are using the eating disorder to just stop that negativity going on in your head. If the negative self-talk is not addressed to it can lead you back into the eating disorder.
...Continue reading here.
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What are new coping skills that you have learned to use while in recovery?

Eating disorders: more than a food problem

The mental illness of ED can push its victims to new extremes

Tabitha McCarl — Interrobang (Fanshawe College)

Source: http://cupwire.ca

LONDON, ON (CUP) — It’s 5:30 a.m.; I can’t get back to sleep. My body aches all over, even though I take as much Tylenol as I am safely allowed (if not twice as much, most days) just to get by. I tiptoe down the stairs to my basement, trying not to wake my still-sleeping family, and start my two- to three-hour run on my treadmill. I know that I should stop, especially since I’ll be going for an hour (or longer) swim at the YMCA that evening, after I've completed my four-hour shift at work and my schoolwork. I have decided to treat myself and eat half a carton of strawberries for dinner. That is all that I will eat today besides water and the orange that my parents will monitor me eating after my morning shower. I will cry three times for various reasons, or no reason at all.

My parents’ eyes are full of worry every time I look into them, sometimes brimming with tears after our daily argument over what I eat.

This is what almost every single day of my life looked like three years ago. No, I wasn’t trying to fit into a special dress. I was anorexic. I devoted almost a year-and-a-half of my life to making the number on my bathroom scale go down. After a few months of this mission, the devotion was no longer my choice.
...Continue reading here.
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What are some of the misconceptions of those who struggle with an eating disorder?  What obstacles make it most difficult to seek treatment?

The UK has its first ever ‘Fat Talk Free week’

By Nick Watts
Source: http://www.mentalhealthy.co.uk

Fat talk free week has officially come to the UK for the first time, thanks to UK charity The Succeed Foundation. The weeklong event has been running successfully in the United States for the past 3 years, run by one of the USA’s largest sorority’s Tri Delta. It will be running in the UK from the 16^th to the 22^nd of October 2011.

In a society where we are frequently bombarded with comments about appearance and weight, even positive ones, it makes us think all too much about our image. We all have bits we like more than others about us, but we have become a society of people that concentrate on the negative aspects of our image, as opposed to celebrating the positive. Body Image is an important topic, with problems such as low self-esteem, depression and anxiety becoming all too common as peoples dissatisfaction with their appearance reaches an all-time high.
...Continue reading here.
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Establishing a positive body image is essential in the prevention of eating disorders.  What are ways that you can begin to encourage self-esteem and positive body image within yourself today?

Nirvana Through Food?

Elyse Glickman, Jewish Exponent Feature
Source: http://www.jewishexponent.com

With Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, in the rear-view mirror, many Jewish women still find themselves atoning on a daily basis, especially about what they look like and what food sins they may have committed to get there.

Knowing in her heart there was a better road to inner peace, author Ellen Frankel proposes that if we see our physical selves through a more enlightened perspective, real internal bliss will be easier to come by.

 The message comes via her spunky, middle-aged Jewish alter-ego character, Syd Arthur, in her just-published first novel, named after the character.

"One of the main things I learned about myself and other women struggling in their relationship with food was the question of whether or not they are entitled to pleasure," muses Frankel, who has worked in the field of eating-disorders treatment for 15 years.
...Continue reading here.
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Do you ever experience feelings of guilt for satisfying your needs of hunger?  How can society/media contribute to these feelings?

Dieting: A weighty issue

By Sarah Lang Source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz

Sarah Lang was 16 when she first dieted. At 18 she was anorexic, then a few years later she was overweight. Body image was her all-consuming obsession for nearly a decade. Here, she recounts her journey of disordered eating — and how she finally found her way out.

I see her every lunchtime, wind, rain or shine. As I'm walking into town along the Wellington waterfront, she comes running towards me. She looks about 20. Her cheeks are hollow and there is desperation in her eyes. Her tiny shorts hang off her bony thighs. Her shoulder blades protrude like an angel's wings. It's a skinniness that's not natural, not even for the thinnest model.
..Continue reading here.
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Every recovery story is as unique as it is valuable.  What can you share from your recovery journey that may encourage others who are experiencing a similar situation?

Body image pushing girls to attempt suicide

by Haneen Dajani
Source: http://www.thenational.ae

ABU DHABI // Teenagers increasingly are experiencing suicidal thoughts because of poor body image, a result of greater exposure to international media, experts said yesterday.

During a conference held in the capital and attended by members of the health, education and police sectors, officials agreed that eating disorders, learning disabilities and study pressure are the main factors behind suicidal intentions for young people.

At the same time, depression and stressful professions remain high factors for society in general.

Solving these issues is complicated by a shortage of psychologists and a lack of insurance coverage for psychiatric treatment.
...Continue reading here.
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If you are a teenager who is struggling with an eating disorder, know that you are not alone and that there is hope for recovery.  What are some of the greatest obstacles that might be preventing you from getting help?