Lighterlife. Deters Drastic Dieting Diaries

Here are three bits of articles lifted off the net - they are referenced. Enjoy

Addiction Recovery
by: Mary F. Zesiewicz, MD

Addictions are pervasive in our culture. Addictive habits are forms of dependence. They are habits- performed time after time- done so often, they are performed in involuntary or compulsive fashion.

Ask any addict how hard it is to break a habit. One reason these habits are so hard to break is the physiological basis for addiction. Diana Schwarzbein, MD, does a stellar job in articulating these physiological mechanisms in “The Schwarzbein Principle”.(Diana Schwarzbein, MD, Nancy Deville, Health Communications, Deerfield Beach, FL,1999)

Addictions and brain chemicals

Many substances that people are prone to become dependent on tend to lower serotonin levels in the brain. Examples include high glycemic carbohydrates, alcohol, and street drugs, such as methamphetamines and cocaine; even stimulants like caffeine results in lowered serotonin in the brain. Lowered serotonin, as we know, leads to depression and the tendency to increase craving.

Why reach repeatedly for the addictive problem?

Typically we seek what is easy and what is available to us. If alcohol isn’t available, we will reach for chocolate. Or, we will resume smoking, if we quit years ago.

Then what happens?

All these compulsive habits do initially cause a rush of serotonin. The initial rush of serotonin is followed by a serotonin depletion that we know as depression. Addicts are no longer able to naturally support the rush of serotonin and the subsequent serotonin drop. It is at this point, addicts really “crash”-they hit “rock bottom” and often face hopelessness and despondency.

Addictive personalities?

So no matter what the addiction, if we do not get off that physiological roller coaster, we will simply substitute one addiction for another.

And how do we get off this roller coaster?

A proactive total commitment to health and recovery is the only way.

Use all aspects to recover

Physiologically,...
...the need to infuse the body with a balanced set of nutrients is essential.

Balance in intake of proteins, fats and carbohydrates is essential. However, the carbohydrates need to be “good” carbs- the ones found in starchy vegetables like peas, corn, leeks, lima beans, turnips and the like; legumes such as beans and grains in their natural state, yogurt and most fruits. Breads should be eaten sparingly, and crackers, which contain hydrogenated fats, are best avoided altogether.

Fast foods are best avoided altogether. So are gravies and ketchup. So are processed snack foods like chips and pizza. Sugar pastries and desserts are out as well.

The more foods we can eat in the natural state the better. That means fresh, organic produce. Also, our meats need to be lean and be free of injected chemicals as well. If you notice, a lot more of our larger chains are carrying organic selections. Clearly people are becoming more knowledgeable about their grocery selections.

mental and emotional health as part of recovery...
Transforming our negative belief systems into positive ones can go along way in promoting recovery from seemingly insurmountable addictions. This includes overcoming insecurities, fear of rejection, anger, rage, bitterness, guilt, shame, and a root of unforgiveness.

Even if we have been treated unfairly, overcoming these feelings will release a process of healing and restoration that will actually help us reduce our risk of relapse into addictive behaviors. These issues are like layers that need to be brought to the surface and resolved, for life to be lived to the fullest. And it is the only pathway out of addiction for good. We cannot live life to the fullest harboring these feelings.

Spiritually...
And a deepening sense of spirituality is vital towards recovery. A belief that there is a Power greater than ourselves who we can depend on when things get rough. It’s really the only type of dependency that frees us up to live life to the fullest. And it takes openness, time and commitment to deepen our spiritual connection and beliefs.

Addiction recovery is achieveable

Addiction is a complex, and gripping state of imbalance that overtakes a person’s body, mind and spirit. Clearly recovery is a complex and lifelong process, but so worthwhile. And it is achievable.

The more we understand the complex physiological processes taking place that reinforce addiction, the more we can invest in better self care, and heal. Our lives depend on it.

Some more stats

Early binge eating field trials suggest that as many as 30% of people who participate in weight control programs actually have binge eating disorder (BED). This same study suggests that binge eating disorder affects 3% of female college students and 5% of obese people in the general community (*Spitzer et al.1992.1993).

Other studies suggest that binge eating disorder is associated with a much broader demographic distribution than is the case with Bulimia Nervosa, in terms of gender, race and age.

Treatment Goals of addiction recovery:

Primary goals of treatment are to:

- Reconnect with the body and with feelings
- Identify cognitive distortions
- Recognize perfectionism and "all or nothing" thinking
- Identify physical vs. emotional hunger
- Increase capacity to tolerate feeling states
- Learn how to communicate needs and set boundaries
- Improve body image
- Learn self-care
- Recognize recovery as a "process" filled with ups and downs

As treatment continues, clients at Acoria are encouraged to use other services, such as psycho-educational programming, support groups, consultations with a dietitian, a physical conditioning specialist and/or a psychiatrist, and telephone coaching services. A dietitian works with the client to help normalize eating behaviors and patterns, while a physical conditioning specialist works with the client on exercise resistance and body movement issues.

Am i getting better now?

Change starts to occur when clients begin to understand that their original maladaptive coping strategy of using food is no longer working.

Once clients understand the process, they may choose to manage mood differently, through the learning and application of healthier coping strategies. The clients who do well are those who come to see change as a choice, a choice for which only they can take responsibility.

taken from this clinics webiste http://www.athealth.com/Consumer/disorders/BingeInterview.html The Acoria Eating Disorders Treatment Center is located in Cincinnati, OH.

More:

The Causes of Food Addiction

All of these people exhibit one or more of the three major reasons that drive or fuel food addiction. The first reason people struggle with food addiction is because they are afraid of their feelings and they use food to cope with negative emotions. The second reason people are addicted to food is because they feel the need to reward themselves with food when they are frustrated or unfulfilled. The last reason is that people use food to assert their independence, to feel safe or to fill an emotional emptiness.

Food Addiction and Emotional Eating

All three of these are psychological motives and reflect deep primal needs that can drive us to drugs, alcohol or food. We end up addicted to food to satisfy these deep psychological needs rather than biological needs (real hunger). That is what I call Emotional Eating.

And if you are addicted to food, you engage in Emotional Eating.
And like most addictions, it is virtually impossible to beat the emotional forces behind the addiction on your own. Understanding these emotions and their interaction is the essence of the solution of breaking free from your addiction to food once and for all. Don't worry if you are not totally sure about this. I am.

The Three Causes of Binges...

Francine and Roxy both exhibited the first of the three major reasons you binge:
You binge to cope with your feelings.
You binge to create the illusion of feeling good.
You binge to assert your "independence" or to "be safe".

All three of these are psychological motives for binging. You binge to satisfy psychological needs rather than biological needs(real hunger).

This was taken from a pay site http://www.masteringfood.com/welcome.asp?bhcp=1
Book I might get - Passages Through Recovery: An Action Plan for Preventing Relapse. Terence T. Gorski

Research on rats reveals connection between binge eating, food addiction

By Chika Anekwe
Princetonian Staff Writer

The researcher

The side wall of psychology professor Bart Hoebel's office is lined with dozens of storage boxes. One is labeled "salt," another "self-stimulation," yet another "crave." Then there is the cluster of boxes resting prominently on top of a file cabinet, each labeled, "Food Addiction."

Food addiction — or more technically, "the neural basis of appetite" — has been the focus of Hoebel's research for the past 47 years. Initially looking to study brain mechanisms that control eating and are also involved in drug addiction, Hoebel's research led him to study whether food can be addictive.

What they did

Hoebel and his students placed rats on different feeding cycles, then observed their behavior in response to those cycles and subsequent changes in the brain.

"We had to create an animal model with an eating disorder that might reflect food addiction," he said.

What they found out

His research has shown that a prolonged cycle of binge feeding on sugar induces dependency in rats by causing them to become dependent on their own natural brain opiates. The experiment involved placing rats on a cycle of no food for 12 hours, followed by 12 hours of regular food plus a sugar solution. Hence, the rats were binge feeding on sugar for alternating 12-hour spans. As time progressed, the rats consumed an increasing amount of the sugar solution.

After about three weeks, the rats experienced an increase in brain receptors for opiates and dopamine. Opiates are chemical messengers that identify sweet tastes as desirable, while dopamine is a chemical messenger that works with memory to urge people to pursue sweet tastes in the future.

When an injection of an opiate-blocker was administered, the rats experienced withdrawal symptoms, including teeth chattering, body quivering and anxiety. The rats were essentially "getting addicted to their brains' own morphines," Hoebel said.

Another component of the study examined lasting changes in the behavior of sugar-addicted rats after ten days on a normal diet. Sugar whet the rats' appetite for chow more than usual, and the animals were hyperactive to amphetamine, a chemical that releases dopamine.

What they concluded

These conclusions taken together show that sugar binging can cause "lasting changes in the brain, in that sensitization remains after a period of normal feeding," Hoebel said.

Yet, as Hoebel emphasizes, "It's not just the sugar, but how and when you eat it." In rats, binge eating promotes addiction, "just like binge drinking alcohol promotes alcohol addiction."

What is said about addictions

Addiction involves three stages: increased intake of a substance, followed by withdrawal symptoms upon deprivation and signs of craving and relapse.

Why research?

Hoebel's research could reveal the reasons behind food addiction in humans and could lead to more effective treatment for people with eating disorders.

The researchers advice about not having a food addiction

In the meantime, Hoebel's advice: "If addiction runs in your family, then repeated fasting and binging on sugar or alcohol may lead to an addiction that disrupts your life. You can choose your pattern of intake now when you are young. Otherwise you may not be able to reverse the brain changes later."

And a little more of a snippet…Right now over 50% of women in Britain are on a diet. Research shows that 96% don't work.
Taken from http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/onelife/health/addiction/excessive.shtml

Further research by someone else...

The researcher and what he thinks

Mark Griffiths, a professor of gambling studies at Nottingham Trent University, who has researched addictive behaviour for 16 years, believes any activity can produce chemicals in the brain that give the same high as cocaine. 'We are living in the most addictive society the world has yet seen,' he said. 'Society has changed dramatically in the last few years; we're living longer than ever before, we have more spare time, more disposable income and there are more socially excessive behaviours in which we can indulge.

Some statistics

According to the Government, at least one in 25 British people is dependent on alcohol, twice as many as are dependent on drugs, while almost one in four of us boasts an addiction to shopping, a rise of more than 6 per cent in just five years.

More than 370,000 Britons are addicted to gambling, while 6 per cent of 17,251 respondents in a recent online survey met the criteria for compulsive internet use, with over 30 per cent using the net to escape negative feelings.

So are habits addictions?

Hodson is critical of the therapy industry for its open-door policy. 'It's the definition of addiction that is on the increase, not the numbers of those genuinely addicted to anything,' he said. 'It is very distressing to be a compulsive gambler, but addiction is not the right word to describe what is, in fact, a conditioned or compulsive behaviour.'

Hodson also points to the tendency of psychiatrists to classify patterns of behaviour or compulsion.

'The word addiction contains a meaning which takes away the sufferer's freedom of action,' he added. 'It is a destructive word if misapplied. If you are told that you're someone who chooses to do things that are destructive, you have more hope of recovery than if you're told you have no choice.'

'It is a doctor's job sometimes to make moral judgements. I don't care what gets called addiction, as long as we recognise that compared to a drug, alcohol or food addiction, any other compulsion is trivial.'

Study findings

A new study finds that blogs are more likely to deal with personal matters than politics or current events, and nearly 50% of bloggers see the activity as a form of therapy.

According to an AOL survey conducted by Digital Marketing Services Inc., many bloggers write about "anything and everything." But while blogs often include comments on news topics, they are more likely to be about friends, family and other personal interests.

Although bloggers say they write about personal matters on their blogs, 43.9% of respondents said that they read other blogs to get a different perspective on the news. These findings are similar to a Harris Interactive survey from March 2005, which found that about 44% of US Internet users read political blogs, including 16% who read them less than once a month. And although most bloggers read other blogs, the AOL survey found that almost one-quarter of them do not.

About one-half of bloggers (48.7%) keep a blog because it serves as a form of therapy, and 40.8% say it helps them keep in touch with family and friends. Just 16.2% say they are interested in journalism, and 7.5% want to expose political information. Few see blogging as their ticket to fame.

Blogging making History

Bill Schreiner, Vice President, AOL Community, puts it in perspective: "In a way, blogs serve as oral history. When it comes to sharing blogs and reading other people's blogs, we like to connect with people, learn about their lives, and find common ground. There's no pressure to write about a particular subject or keep blogs maintained a certain way, and it's not necessarily a popularity contest."

Last few posts have been about food addiction, or emotional overeating.
in response to that, here's something.

Emotional Eaters use food to manage feelings.

We use food to self-soothe. People who have struggled with it,
and the professionals who treat it, call it by many different names; compulsive overeating, emotional eating, and food addiction. No matter what it’s called, people USE food
because food works

Food works as a tension reliever

Food and food thoughts can be used in reaction to and as a defense against any intense feeling or stressful life situation. The use of food to manage mood becomes a self-reinforcing habit.
(Today, scientists are also focused on the biology & brain chemistry
of overeating. There may also be many physiological reason why we
keep turning to food even when it feels self-defeating to do so?)

Emotional Eating happens on a continuum.

Emotional eating is normal. We all celebrate with food. When something sad occurs, friends and neighbors arrive with cakes and casseroles. It’s only when emotional eating begins to have impact on one’s emotional and/or physical well-being, and it’s used as a person’s primary strategy for mood regulation, that it becomes a problem. When eating becomes a primary coping strategy, it greatly impacts a person’s quality of life.
At the most extreme point on the emotional eating continuum, there may be a diagnosable eating disorder present –such as bulimia or binge eating disorder-and often, clinical depression as well.

[DETERS COMMENT: Instead of feeling anger coupled with frustration and helplesness (only in that combination), I eat. I used to be unable to deal with feeling angry and frustrated and helpless (i.e. I am unable to change the cause of it). I’m getting much much better now, after tons of therapy.]

The consequences

The emotional overeater then deals with the guilt and shame he/she feels every time he or she eats chips (or any other food that he or she has labeled “forbidden” – instead of dealing with the un-dealt-with feeling.
Convenient?
Perhaps at the time, but then it sure is seen on the hips.
And around the heart, and in the muscles, and in the blood, and …..

So, what can you do if Emotional Eating is a problem?

Two things:
Make a conscious effort to become more aware of how and why you may be using food.
Develop new skills for mood regulation.

"I saw a woman wearing a sweatshirt with "Guess" on it, so I said" Thyroid problem?"

Arnold Schwarzenegger

What the Experts say...

Many overweight people are fighting an addiction to food and don't realize it.

Here's more on the signs and symptoms of food addiction and who might have it.

Example of a food addict:

When Cindy Hines eats, it's not always because she's hungry. She says, "I'll go open up my refrigerator hoping the food fairy has come and added whatever food will make me whole."

And experts say that's how addiction differs from just eating too much.

Its more than overeating then?

Food addiction is an effort to fill an emotional need. Food addiction expert Anne Katherine says, "It's not due to a lack of sociability on their part. It's due to an actual brain chemical in a part of the brain that causes them to value food over contact with people."

Secretive habits...

Experts say that can include hiding food, eating large portions, or going to events for the food and not the people. Katherine says, "When they take sugar or carbs they have an elevated serotonin response inside their bodies and that gives them a feeling of relief and comfort."

Essential remedy

To stay in control patients must avoid trigger foods. For Cindy that means steering clear of refined sugar. "How many times have I been with a friend who said 'oh just one piece of pie won't hurt!' What they don't realize is it's my cocaine. It's my drug," explains Cindy.

Don't expect to conquer it alone...

That's why experts say group support is so essential because it's about reprogramming the brain to find comfort in people not food. And that takes friends who will help you succeed.

Deter's comment:
LigherLife is a group thing, and so is some of the cambridge diet thing too, depending on which counsellor you have. Personally i found the group invaluable at first. Now i think that i could go it alone, and i am on week 7.
I can find out myself how to stop it.
Although i am hoping that the remaining 7 weeks of LL group will enlighten me further.

It does help having people in the group to touch base with every week - it gives me a feeling of not being alone in this world on an already lonely journey.

I shall miss the group when i leave and do cambridge diet instead (its cheaper and tastes better!)

Research on food addiction:

Obesity researchers have found that the mere presence of food triggers brain regions associated with motivation and pleasure. This ScienCentral report has the skinny on what might be making us fat.

The Urge to Splurge

obesity has increased by epidemic proportions since the 1980s. How did we get to this point?

Studying the brain mechanism involved in feeding behaviors, obesity researcher Gene-Jack Wang has found that food stimuli— sights, smells and sounds— trigger the brain regions that are also associated with addictive responses to cocaine and other drugs. "The high sensitivity of this brain region to food stimuli, coupled with the huge number and variety of these stimuli in the environment, likely contributes to the epidemic of obesity in this country," says Wang.

Brain Scanning

Wang used a brain-scanning technique called Position Emission Tomography (PET) to see what happened inside the brains of 12 hungry subjects of normal weight when they saw, smelled and tasted— but didn't eat— food. The volunteers fasted for at least 17 hours before the test, and then they relaxed on the scanning bed while the smell of their favorite foods wafted in their direction. The PET machine captured snapshots of brain metabolism, or activity, in response to these food stimuli. The subjects also described their hunger sensation, on a scale of 1 to 10, at five-minute intervals for a total of 45 minutes.

As Wang reported in the April 2004 issue of NeuroImage, analysis of the brain scans and the hunger pang ratings showed that the mere presence of food stimulated certain areas of the brain that are involved in reward and motivation. In particular, the scans revealed activity in the parietal cortex, an area associated with taste perception, and the anterior insula, which previous research has connected to fasting conditions.

Most significant, however, is the activity in the Right Orbital cortex. Previous studies have linked this brain region to compulsive behaviors and intense cravings in drug addicts.

Blame it on the Brain?

Who hasn't succumbed to the aroma of a bakery and been enticed to buy a brownie or two? "You walk into a bakery and say, oh, it smells so good," says Wang. "You don't want to eat just one piece. You say, maybe two pieces, three pieces. And then some people eat the food as soon as they purchase it."

This sort of compulsive action feeds into fattening habits. "So we eat more and exercise less," according to obesity researcher Marie-Pierre St-Onge of St. Luke’s Hospital’s Obesity Research Centre. "And so these two, either in combination or one without the other, would lead to an increase in weight." St-Onge also says that people should limit how often they treat themselves to desserts or dinners at restaurants and balance energy intake with calories burned.

The cure

So how do we temper temptation? As Wang points says it is difficult because we face "constant exposure to food stimuli, such as advertising, candy machines, food channels and food displays in stores." In the end, curbing consumption likely comes down to mind over matter.

Deters comment:
"Great advice, Wang, Thanks for nothing!!!!