Author: frivvy89

We’ve all done it. Munched mindlessly to take the edge off a bad mood or stressful situation. That’s because food can be a quick fix, releasing calming dopamine in the brain and temporarily making 
us feel better. But the trouble starts when the urge to use food 
to soothe becomes a hardwired habit that’s hard to stop. And, at this time of year, comfort eating can go into overdrive. We’ve evolved with a subconscious urge to eat energy-dense food and store fat during the colder months. Having fewer daylight hours doesn’t help either, with one in three of us suffering…

One of the coolest things about having this blog has been its ability to grow with me. As I’ve changed, it too has changed. I love that I have a record of what I was experiencing and the way I was feeling up until a couple of years ago, because honestly, if I were to go off my own recollection (now) of those days, I don’t think it would be a very accurate depiction. I think I would downplay it, because in many ways, it doesn’t even feel like it was my own life. I’ve actually found that I’m able…

Binge eating disorder is the most common eating disorder in the United States, affecting an estimated 3.5 percent of women and 2 percent of men, according to the National Comorbidity Replication survey, making it more prevalent than anorexia and bulimia combined. As a clinical psychologist at the Women’s Center for Binge and Emotional Eating at Green Mountain at Fox Run in Ludlow, Vermont, Haica Rosenfeld, PsyD, is part of a team that treats women with binge eating disorder and emotional overeating. Established in 1973, Green Mountain is a mindfulness-based retreat for women who have health, weight and eating-behavior concerns that…

Angle down icon An icon in the shape of an angle pointing down. Some of these signs are more subtle than others. Shutterstock There is no shortage of myths about eating disorders out there that continue to prevail — but the truth is that people of all ages, genders, and body types can develop an eating disorder. With recent research showing that a third of adults are unable to recognize common eating disorder symptoms, as well as our cultural fixation with disordered habits like fad diets, weight loss transformations, and beauty treatments designed to fix perceived “flaws,” it can be…

It was almost automatic. I’d get up, search hastily through my ever growing pile of notebooks and stationary to find the hardback copy with the pretty colourful flowers on the front, and then set to work, usually over breakfast, in writing down my weekly goals. The months passed and changed, and I changed, too. And now so much is different from before, there are a few things that remained unchanged and static.  ED’s actual presence is one of these. It’s true that his presence in my life is not as perceptible, as manifest, or as patent as before. Sometimes I…

Beautiful October, so radiant in her gold and copper finery; so richly adorned with the bright treasures of autumn’s exquisite bounty. But yet she can also reveal a slightly more malignant side in her summoning of the first dark winter storms.And Friday was just one of those such days when this side to her became more manifest. Walking upon the bog with Daisy it was as if a giant hand had taken a crayon to the canvas of a formerly blank virgin sky. To the north; the horizon was so clear and radiantly blue; whereas, to the south, an angry…

So they said, on reaching weight restored, one should start eating intuitively.Eating intuitively. It’s easy, right? Eat when you’re hungry and stop when you’re full. Eat what you feel like eating, what your body and mind are telling you you want. Simple.Easy for them to say. For me, it’s quite a different story, indeed.If I were to do as they say and eat intuitively, I would stop eating my dinner after a couple of mouthfuls as that’s when I feel physically full. I wouldn’t eat half of what I am currently eating now, because it’s rare that I feel physically…

It seems “hangry” isn’t just a made-up term. University of Guelph researchers have revealed that the sudden drop in glucose we experience when we are hungry can impact our mood. “We found evidence that a change in glucose level can have a lasting effect on mood,” said Prof. Francesco Leri, Department of Psychology. “I was skeptical when people would tell me that they get grouchy if they don’t eat, but now I believe it. Hypoglycemia is a strong physiological and psychological stressor.” Published in the journal Psychopharmacology, the study examined the impact of a sudden glucose drop on emotional behaviour…

Recovery represents a new life, a new beginning. I knew this all along, but now, this concept takes on a new and profoundly beautiful relevance.For not only does recovery mean a new life for me, free from the shackles of the eating disorder. It also means that, from my body, new life may be brought into the world. Me this Summer I’ve been with my boyfriend for almost a year now. Something I haven’t really talked about on my blog; for at first I didn’t discern a connection between my relationship and my recovery.For through this extraordinary and beautiful boy…

And as the night creeped in like a stalking leopard, so too did the familiar feelings of uncertainty. The claws of doubt raking through my mind, the sharp-toothed fear biting deep into my spine. The jagged self-disgust opening wounds that everyone else thought long since healed; the burning anxiety, roaring like a savage beast, terrible and formidable, in the shadowed recesses of the night. That anxiety throbs perceptibly, a beating pulse of its own. Every feeling, every thought in my head gradually leads straught back to it, as if they are all connected by a complex channel of veins. And…