Tag: <span>Bulimia</span>

Family holiday dinner

Supporting a Loved One Recovering from Bulimia Through the Holidays

While many enjoy a holiday feast, a loved one recovering from bulimia might feel stressed and overwhelmed. He or she might feel pressured to eat multiple courses because he or she doesn’t want to dampen anyone’s spirits. He or she might face relatives who point out the amount of food on his or her plate. The person might receive boxes of luxury chocolates and other food that he or she can’t refuse . Know more about Holidays More Enjoyable for People with Bulimia.

As a result, your loved one might not enjoy the festive atmosphere in Westport. Worse, it might throw his or her eating disorder treatment plans out of balance.

Take heart in the fact that there are many ways you can make the holidays more enjoyable for your loved one. Start by accepting that your family doesn’t have to follow holiday conventions. After all, Christmas is all about spending time with people that matter the most. It’s alright if you don’t serve dinner that looks good on social media; what’s important is that each member of your family has a good time.

Make the Holidays Less Food-Centric

When people think of Christmas, one of the first things that come to mind is food. For a person recovering from bulimia, however, this abundance causes stress. So, make the holidays a little less food-centric.

Focus on other traditions that your family enjoys, such as playing Christmas games, watching movies, or singing carols. Share stories or make arts and crafts. Give and open gifts. You can invite them to go light sighting or volunteer at a Christmas shelter.

Be Mindful of the Food

Celebrating the holidays without festive food is hard. To accommodate a loved one recovering from bulimia, involve him or her in the preparations. Ask what he or she would feel comfortable eating. Encourage the person to help you make that dish from scratch.

During dinner, be mindful of how you serve food. You can plate up meat and potatoes for everyone, for instance. You loved one will not feel singled out and, at the same time, have an agreeable amount of food on the plate.

A little encouragement to eat is enough; don’t push him or her to try each dish. Similarly, avoid praising the person when he or she eats. Don’t take offense, too, if the person refuses the chocolate soufflé you’ve worked on all day. Support your loved one in his or her mindful eating.

Steer Clear of “The Talk”

Many people invite extended family over for Christmas. While your family knows what subjects to avoid over dinner, the relatives you’ve invited might not. They might make comments that, though well-meaning, make a person recovering from bulimia feel uneasy.

So, before the get-together, gently remind your relatives to avoid talking about appearance, diets, and weight loss or gain. People recovering from bulimia tend to be self-critical towards their body image, and these discussions might fuel negative behaviors. They, however, welcome conversations about other subjects that take their mind off the food.

If your loved one excuses him or herself during the celebrations, allow them to spend time by themselves. This would help him or her cope with the flurry of activities and regain composure. You wouldn’t want to have disagreements during Christmas, after all.

Recovering from bulimia is not a one-person battle. Your loved one needs your support to overcome the disorder, especially during the holidays. For more information about bulimia recovery, don’t hesitate to contact us today.

Eating disorder

It Isn’t About the Size: Being Skinny Is Not the Sole Indicator of Bulimia

Would you believe that someone could be battling bulimia even though they Not All Bulimic Individuals Are Skinny? Being Skinny Is Not the Sole Indicator of Bulimia.

Bulimia is a serious, life-threatening illness characterized by binge eating followed by purging, fasting, or excessive exercise. It often goes undetected because the signs are not as blatant as the symptoms of anorexia, which manifests mainly in extremely low body weight. People with bulimia can still fall within the normal weight range and feel intensely unhappy with their body figure such that they desperately want to lose weight.

Bulimia Goes Beyond the Way a Patient Looks

People may stereotype patients with eating disorders as extremely skinny or stick-thin. This isn’t always the case, though.

Like other eating disorders, bulimia centers around an individual’s obsession with body image and weight gain. But bulimics may be underweight or overweight; their body size may still be average despite attempts to reach an unrealistic body figure or weight.

In fact, the condition might lead to the opposite of the slim figure that patients with bulimia desire.  The frequent consumption of high-calorie food, although routinely purged, may cause weight gain. Moreover, the condition might cause the abdomen to bloat.

Given this information, we can assume that detecting bulimia is not as easy as assessing someone’s body figure. Instead of just assuming that someone who looks alarmingly thin has an eating disorder, we have to pay attention to other symptoms:

  • Eating uncontrollably and purging after
  • Inducing vomiting after meals
  • Abusing laxatives or diuretics
  • Exercising to the point of exhaustion
  • Fasting or starving one’s self for long periods

Bulimia may also result in mouth-related symptoms, such as sore throats and dental problems.

Treatment will take a long time because the condition affects the physical as well as the psychological well-being of an individual. Treatment must also address other conditions closely linked with the eating disorder and body image distortion.

Bulimia May Not Occur Alone

Being Skinny Is Not the Sole Indicator of Bulimia, is already a serious condition, but it does not always occur alone. People with bulimia may also suffer from other conditions, such as mood disorders, anxiety, depression, or substance dependence.

Patients with bulimia may also experience other dangerous side effects, such as stomach ulcers, a ruptured stomach, muscular fatigue, and constipation. Women patients may experience irregular periods. In the worst case scenario, the condition may lead to sudden heart failure.

To address bulimia and the other conditions linked with it, people have to be more open to the idea that not everyone with an eating condition is stick-thin. This stereotype is what leads to a potentially large number of undetected cases of bulimia.

Break Free from Bulimia

The Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Health provides a bulimia treatment program in Westport, CT. We teach patients to identify and understand the reasons behind their eating behaviors so that we can help them develop healthy coping skills.

Our treatment plan lets you take back control of your thoughts and break free from bulimia. We know that the healing process does not happen overnight. So, we foster a safe and supportive environment that encourages you to heal mentally and physically at your own pace. Make an appointment with us, today.

a woman by the field

The Mental & Biological Causes of Bulimia and Eating Disorders

A person diagnosed with bulimia (or bulimia nervosa) faces potentially life-threatening mental and physical risks, if not treated appropriately. According to the National Eating Disorders Association, only 1 percent of women and 0.1 percent of men in the United States have bulimia, but researchers dispute this as the real figure; like other mental health disorders, many choose to keep their condition a secret. Causes of Bulimia and Eating Disorders.

Bulimia stems from both mental and biological factors. If you or a loved one shows signs of bulimia, seek immediate medical attention to help treat the condition and prevent further damage to you or your loved one’s body and mind. Some of the symptoms listed in the American Psychiatric Association’s DSM-5 include:

  • Evidence of recurring episodes of binge eating (e.g., large amounts of food disappearing)
  • Evidence of purging and inappropriate behavior to prevent weight gain (e.g., induced vomiting, laxatives, fasting, excessive exercise)
  • Uncomfortable eating around others, fear of eating in public
  • Stained teeth
  • Drastic weight changes
  • Self-injury, substance abuse, and other signs seen in mental health conditions

Different studies have found many causes related to bulimia, which stretches to both one’s physical and psychological health.

Emotional Stress & Mental Health

There is no specific mental cause for bulimia; one of the usual reasons is it is a coping method for emotional stress. Although it starts as a coping method, it quickly develops into an uncontrollable habit. Often, bulimia appears in a person along with other mental conditions such as depression, anxiety, stress, obsessive-compulsive disorders, and others.

Body Image and External Factors

Many people find an irrational fear of weight gain and, as such, perform dangerous methods to avoid food intake and weight gain. Research has shown that environmental factors such as the media and fashion industry’s portrayal of beauty as well as sports or other sectors that emphasize weight loss affects one’s body image. However, while bulimia is linked to the fear of becoming overweight, researchers found it is more related to emotional and mental health.

Contrary to popular belief, it is not always about one’s body image. Bulimia also stems from external problems. Problems such as within one’s family trigger some patients to develop bulimia, which is why studies have found involving parents in adolescent bulimia treatment are far more effective than treatment where the patient alone undergoes therapy.

Genetic Inheritance

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, bulimia and other mental disorders seem to have a hereditary factor, as it occurs within families in between generations. Studies have not sufficiently proven if this is the work of people’s genetics or because of their shared environment, and it is a study worth investigating in the future.

Regardless of the cause, patients who have bulimia are at risk of several mental and physical disorders, which, if left untreated, can be fatal. Diagnosis is difficult because some people choose to hide their condition and symptoms. However, if they spot such symptoms, they should seek immediate care for their physical and mental state. The Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Health offers bulimia treatment in Westport that addresses the symptoms of the eating disorders, as well as their possible triggers.

Click here to learn more about causes of Bulimia and Eating Disordersand their treatment today.