Author: frivvy89

Body image distress is often seen as a symptom of an eating disorder. However, not every person with an eating disorder has a problematic body image, and many people who do not have eating disorders have poor body image. So how can we understand the relationship between body image and eating disorders? This article discusses how body image and eating disorders are connected and some treatments that can help. Watch Now: Common Signs of an Eating Disorder What Is Body Image? Body image is the subjective image people have of their own body, which is distinct from how their body actually…

The growing awareness of health and well-being among consumers is driving significant changes in the food industry. As people’s lifestyles become busier, with individuals dining out nearly every day, the need for nutritious food has increased. To meet this demand, the healthy food industry is quickly catching up and is likely to grow even more in the coming years. The worldwide health and wellness food market was valued at 841 billion USD in 2022 and is projected to rise to one trillion USD by 2026. If you are passionate about healthy food and want to start a small business in…

Widely used antidepressants cause “emotional blunting”, according to research that offers new insights into how the drugs may work and their possible side-effects.The study found that healthy volunteers became less responsive to positive and negative feedback after taking a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) drug for three weeks. The “blunting” of negative emotions could be part of how the drugs help people recover from depression, but could also explain a common side-effect.The work’s senior author, Prof Barbara Sahakian of the University of Cambridge, said: “In a way, this may be in part how they work. They take away some of…

Woman on weight scale (Photo by: BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)Universal Images Group via Getty Images A recent study published in the journal Menopause found that women can experience body dissatisfaction during perimenopause and that could make them more vulnerable to developing eating disorders. While efforts to prevent eating disorders mainly provide support and resources for teenagers and adolescents, researchers say that women belonging to all age groups are just as susceptible. Eating disorders are common psychiatric disorders and have been associated with high morbidity and mortality. According to a 2019 JAMA study, the estimated lifetime prevalence of eating…

Clinical Relevance: Antidepressants, particularly SSRIs, cause emotional blunting in about half of patients taking them In a new study, volunteers taking the SSRI escitalopram, performed about as well on “cold cognition” tasks (memory, attention, and reasoning) and “hot cognition” tasks (moral judgment, and emotion recognition) compared to those given a placebo. However, they did not perform as well on two tasks that measured reinforcement learning, a behavioral principle based on trial and error.  The findings suggest that escitalopram reduces the way that people respond to rewards and punishments but has no effects on other types of thinking or behavior. It…

Think of it as a primitive brain glitch. Emotional eating—consuming food in response to emotions, not hunger—is caused by stress, boredom or loneliness, say experts. The gratification is addictive.“While there is nothing wrong with eating for pleasure—in fact, it enhances the digestive process—emotional eating can be habit-forming and detrimental,” says Gurugram-based nutritional consultant Vindhya Pratap.New research says it can damage the heart, too. The syndrome is associated with a higher pulse-wave velocity (stiffer arteries) and an increased risk of diastolic dysfunction (stiffer heart), according to research published on January 11in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.Comfort eating is a vicious…

In this series, we dig into our strange phobias, fixations, and neuroses, and ask ourselves — Is This Normal?I love eating daal-chaawal with aam ka achaar — it’s my ultimate comfort food. But the prospect of them accidentally touching each other on my plate makes me acutely uncomfortable. My momos can’t touch their chutney either until I decide to dip them in it, and neither can my butter naans touch the accompanying butter chicken. And, under no circumstance, can my fries touch anything remotely liquid — be it ketchup, cheese dips, what have you! It’s not just that I don’t like…

“What If The Only Resolution We Made This Year Was To Love Ourselves More?” (By: Ashton Maguire) The new year frequently introduces pressure to create goals that oftentimes are unattainable. Frequently the resolutions that are made upon the New Year involve an expectation of change, of improving ourselves, but ultimately, changing ourselves. In a world that constantly expects change and improvement, how can we focus on self-compassion rather than change? How can we focus on acceptance and love rather than pressured improvement? In terms of eating disorders and disordered eating, the expectation of change during the New Year presents the expectation…

 Eating disorders are stereotypically associated with adolescents and young adults. Growing evidence, however, suggests that these conditions can occur at any time during a woman’s lifespan, including at midlife. A new study finds that body dissatisfaction is a primary cause of eating disorders, especially during perimenopause. Study results are published online today in Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS). Eating disorders are serious mental health conditions characterized by disturbances in eating behavior and body image that occur in approximately 13.1% of women across the lifespan. The prevalence of any eating disorder specifically for women aged older…

Written by Jenna Matisz, MSW, RSWJanuary can be a tough time of year to be working on eating disorder recovery. Many people experience a dip in mood due to the dark and cold weather. Life can feel more mundane after the excitement and the busyness of the holiday season. Some may have had challenging times with family or food during the holidays that have left them feeling guilty or drained. On top of all that, diet talk is in full-swing with unrealistic promises that starting a new diet or changing our exercise routine is going to make us feel better…