“Whereas the average individuals “often have not the slightest idea of what they are, of what they want, of what their own opinions are,” self-actualizing individuals have “superior awareness of their own impulses, desires, opinions, and subjective reactions in general.”
Abraham Maslow
Dear Readers,
I would like to share a wonderful article on hidden dangers of dieting with you. It’s from my all time warrior Ali Kerr and hope you’ll find it as informative as I did. This comes after a young person went on a drastic diet to lose weight. What’s really sad is how her kidneys have been affected. Her mother was in tears and had no idea daughter was using such a dangerous method to lose weight. Prayers for her well-being. I believe self-awareness is fundamental principle in recovery from an Eating Disorder. Please be aware of your actions. In this age of information we can no longer say we didn’t know ‘my ED behaviour will have this consequence’… we all know.. we just have to become more aware and take responsibility for our actions and seek help. Please keep in mind all Eating Disorders are lethal and can kill. Your health is your wealth. Please Take Care.
Quick question…
Do you know about the dangers of diets?
If not, here are a few interesting FACTS about diets and eating disorders.
“Dieting is a primary trigger for the downward spiral into an eating disorder (Thompson & Sherman, 1993).“
“Dieting and starvation are believed to be a trigger which switches on the biology and changes in the brain associated with the development of eating disorders. (All Party Parliamentary Group on Body Image ”Reflections on Body Image”, 2012).”
“Severe dieters have already begun the process to an eating disorder (Patton, G. C., et al. 1999).”
“Girls who severely dieted were 18 times more likely to develop an eating disorder within 6 months than those who did not diet (Patton, G. C., et al. 1999).”
“It doesn’t even have to be a severe diet – 2/3 of new cases of an eating disorder came from those who dieted moderately (Patton, G. C., et al. 1999).”
This leads us to the simple conclusion that food restriction or dieting precedes the vast majority of eating disorders.
Or more clearly:
Food restriction is the number one cause of eating disorders.
Put simply, dieting causes bulimia!
If you restrict your food intake you are susceptible to becoming bulimic.
If the healthiest, happiest person on the planet restricted their food intake, they would make themselves susceptible to becoming bulimic.
If you had never restricted your food intake in the first place then the chances are that you would have never felt compelled to binge and purge, meaning you wouldn’t now have bulimia. I know for some of you this may come as a bit of a surprise, but it’s really that simple.
So why does your body create what seems like a huge “hunger monster” inside you that just wants to gorge on a ton of food?
Well, this is actually a basic and natural human survival mechanism. There is nothing wrong or weird about this type of hunger. In fact, it is healthy for your body’s survival mechanism to kick in when it detects that something is wrong. This is happening because your body thinks that you are in the middle of a famine and it is doing everything it can to ensure you are eating enough food.
That is why overcoming food restriction is an essential component of recovery.
And please keep in mind, that ALL forms of purging are considered a form of food restriction.
The strange thing is that many recovery programs ignore this aspect completely.
In health and love,
Ali Kerr
Recovery Coach, Nutritional therapist, Author & founder of Bulimiahelp.org
P.S Our message of recovery is continuing to spread. We have just launch the Spanish verison of the Bulimia Help Method book on Amazon here. You can pick it up for the launch price of €1. If you find it helpful please consider leaving a review.
