Author: frivvy89

During the coronavirus pandemic, people around the globe report feeling anxious, fearful, stressed and socially isolated. Those emotions can lead many to turn to food as an escape. Emotional or stressful eating is when you consume more food than you regularly should under stressful and emotional environments, according to Laura Lange, Director of the Binge Eating Treatment and Recovery Program at Eating Recovery Center, Illinois. In times of stress your body produces increased amounts of cortisol, a stress hormone. Eating unhealthy foods with high amounts of sugar and fat actually dampens that cortisol level. “I always tell my patients that…

During the coronavirus pandemic, people around the globe report feeling anxious, fearful, stressed and socially isolated. Those emotions can lead many to turn to food as an escape.Emotional or stressful eating is when you consume more food than you regularly should under stressful and emotional environments, according to Laura Lange, Director of the Binge Eating Treatment and Recovery Program at Eating Recovery Center, Illinois. In times of stress your body produces increased amounts of cortisol, a stress hormone. Eating unhealthy foods with high amounts of sugar and fat actually dampens that cortisol level.”I always tell my patients that you’re doing…

    Growing up, I never really paid much attention to my body. I didn’t care because it was the least important thing about me.      Fast forward several years, and body image was everything to me. I became obsessed with appearance and how people saw me.  And maybe that’s why I get emotional when I think about my eating disorder. Because I remember not caring – not caring about weight or food or my physical appearance. And I remember the dramatic shift from not caring to caring a lot. My whole thought process changed. What started as an innocent desire…

We are recruiting cases nationally from diverse geographical, socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic backgrounds via Recovery Record, social media and National Eating Disorders Association. Specifically, we launch tweets and Facebook posts that direct potential participants to the BEGIN url https://www.med.unc.edu/psych/eatingdisorders/research/participate-in-a-study/begin-study/ where they can take a preliminary screen. In addition, Recovery Record pushes notifications about BEGIN to users. Recruitment flow is detailed in Fig. 1. Fig. 1BEGIN study recruitment and sampling flowProcedureInformed consent is obtained digitally via the Recovery Record app. Participants complete an eating disorders diagnostic questionnaire. Those who screen case positive and meet all inclusion criteria are offered the opportunity to…

One of the most rewarding aspects of my job is the opportunity to engage with patients in long-term therapy.  In my practice today, I have a number of patients who began treatment with me years ago, in adolescence, and are now in their 20’s.  These patients first presented in my office with their parents during middle school or high school, suffering from severe eating disorders or depression or debilitating anxiety or, in some cases, all of the above.  Some entered treatment kicking and screaming; others reluctant but resigned; still others wanting help and suffering desperately but requiring immense parental support to…

Female students reaction to food was studied under different emotional states They found emotional eaters found food tastier and eat more when feeling downThis didn’t apply to restrictive eaters who only became more aware of their foodAuthors hope to use the findings to spot early warning signs of eating disorders  Comfort eating when you’re feeling down is such a cliche it is a staple of popular culture – now scientists have discovered that there is some truth to it.Researchers found that ’emotional eaters’ – those who eat when sad – preferred the taste of food and had a larger appetite when…

Comfort eating when you’re feeling down is such a cliche it is a staple of popular culture – now scientists have discovered that there is some truth to it.Researchers found that ’emotional eaters’ – those who eat when sad – preferred the taste of food and had a larger appetite when they were feeling negative emotions.The study, by the University of Salzburg, studied the way 80 female students responded to food images while under different emotional states.Overeating when feeling down ‘is a serious problem’ for emotional eaters and can lead to the development of eating disorders, according to the study authors.Researchers…

Findings on emotional eating – a risk factor for binge eating and bulimia – may help in the early detection and treatment of eating disorders. Image: Shutterstock.– by Nora Belblidia, Frontiers Science WriterTurning to a tub of ice cream after a break-up may be a cliché, but there’s some truth to eating in response to negative emotions. Eating serves many functions – survival, pleasure, comfort, as well as a response to stress. However, emotional overeating – eating past the point of feeling full in response to negative emotions, is a risk factor for binge eating and developing eating disorders such…

Introduction While food search and metabolic energy balance represented a key challenge for the longest part of human evolution, today’s modern, affluent societies secure the continued supply with energy dense, palatable and affordable foods. Eating has since assumed multiple roles and functions beyond energy homeostasis: it serves enjoyment, relief from boredom and sometimes, stress reduction and emotion regulation. Although such non-homeostatic roles of eating are natural, emotional eating is involved in difficulties with losing weight, linking it with the alarming rates of overweight and obesity worldwide (World Health Organization [WHO], 2018). Emotional eating has also been identified as a risk…

Introduction While food search and metabolic energy balance represented a key challenge for the longest part of human evolution, today’s modern, affluent societies secure the continued supply with energy dense, palatable and affordable foods. Eating has since assumed multiple roles and functions beyond energy homeostasis: it serves enjoyment, relief from boredom and sometimes, stress reduction and emotion regulation. Although such non-homeostatic roles of eating are natural, emotional eating is involved in difficulties with losing weight, linking it with the alarming rates of overweight and obesity worldwide (World Health Organization [WHO], 2018). Emotional eating has also been identified as a risk…