DIETING

Reasons to Give it Up!

DIETS DON'T WORK! Even if you lose weight, you will probably gain it all back and you might gain back more than you lost.

DIETS ARE EXPENSIVE! If you did not buy special diet products, you could save enough to get things that are even more important.

DIETS ARE BORING! People on diets talk and think about food and practically nothing else. There's a lot more to life.

DIET DON'T NECESSARILY IMPROVE YOUR HEALTH! Like the weight loss, health improvement in temporary. Dieting can actually cause health problems.

DIETS DON'T MAKE YOU BEAUTIFUL! Very few people will ever look like models. Glamour is a look, not a size. You don't have to be thin to be attractive.

DIETS ARE NOT SEXY! If you want to feel and be more attractive, take care of your body and your appearance. Feeling healthy makes you look your best.

DIETS CAN TURN INTO EATING DISORDERS! The obsession to be thin can lead to anorexia, bulimia, bingeing, and compulsive exercising.

DIETS CAN MAKE YOU AFRAID OF FOOD! Food nourishes and comforts us, and gives us pleasure. Dieting can make food seem like your enemy, and can deprive you of all the positive things about food.

DIETS CAN ROB YOU OF ENERGY! If you want to lead a full and active life, you need good nutrition, and enough food to meet your body's needs.

LEARNING TO LOVE AND ACCEPT YOURSELF JUST AS YOU ARE WILL GIVE YOU SELF-CONFIDENCE, BETTER HEALTH, AND A SENSE OF WELL-BEING THAT WILL LAST A LIFETIME.

LAXATIVE ABUSE

Laxative abuse occurs when a person attempts to get rid of unwanted calories, lose weight, "feel thin", or "feel empty" through the repeated, frequent misuse of laxatives. Often, laxatives are misused following eating binges, when the individual mistakenly believes that the laxatives will work to rush food and calories through the guy and bowels before they can be absorbed. But that doesn't really happen. Laxative abuse is serious and dangerous, often resulting in a variety of health complications and sometimes causing life-threatening risks.

The belief that laxatives are effective for weight control is a myth. In fact, by the time laxatives act on the large intestine, most foods and calories have already been absorbed by the small intestine. Although laxatives artificially stimulate the large intestine to empty, the "weight loss" caused by a laxative-induced bowl movement contains little actual food, fat, or calories. Instead, laxative abuse causes the loss of water, minerals, electrolytes, and indigestible fiber and wastes from the colon. This "water weight" returns as soon as the individual drinks and fluids and the body re-hydrates. If the chronic laxative abuser refuses to re-hydrate, she risks dehydration, which further taxes the organs and which may ultimately cause death.

Health consequences include upset of electrolyte and mineral balance, severe dehydration, laxative dependency, and internal organ damage.

Overcoming laxative abuse requires working with a team of health professionals who have expertise in treating eating disorders, including a general physician, a psychiatrist or psychologist, and a registered dietician. Support from close friends and family is also crucial. Meeting with others to talk over anxieties, concerns, and difficulties can greatly aid in getting through tough times in the recovery process.

COMPULSIVE EXERCISE

Too much of a good thing...

Warning Signs:
-constant preoccupation with exercise routine or intrusive thoughts about exercise that interfere with your ability to concentrate or focus
-finding time at any cost to exercise, like cutting school or taking time off from work
-exercise is your social life - you turn down social activities so as not to miss your scheduled workout
-you feel overly anxious, guilty, or angry if unable to exercise and you can't tolerate changes or interruptions of your exercise routine
-you exercise alone to avoid having your routine disturbed
-you exercising is driven primarily by a desire to control your weight, body shape, and body composition
-food choices are based solely on exercise (you exercise as punishment for eating "bad" foods, to purge calories, or you overly restrict what you eat when you can't exercise)
-you lie about exercise or you always have to exercise alone
-you can't take rest days or time off from exercise - even if you're injured or ill
-persistent desire and/or unsuccessful attempts to control or reduce exercise
-you engage in non-purposeful or excessive exercise beyond a sensible fitness or training program
-how you feel about yourself on a daily basis is based on how much exercise you perform or how hard you work out
-exercise isn't fun or pleasurable or you're never satisfied with your physical achievements
-in females, amenorrhea
-stress fractures




(c) 2004 National Eating Disorders Association