Poor Self Esteem and Eating Disorders

An article, “Self perception score from zero to ten correlates well with standardized scales of adolescent self esteem, body dissatisfaction, eating disorders risk, depression, and anxiety”, was published in International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health 2009. It introduced a quick and reliable method to assess mental health status and the new measurement is correlated very well with the complex standard assessment such as the Harter Self Perception Profile, Beck Junior Depression, Speilberger State and Trait Anxiety and the Eating Disorders Inventory. This new measure can help social workers and school counselors to early diagnosis of adolescent eating disorder, and further to early intervention.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20306763
Here is a link for helping in building up self esteem.
http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/publications/allpubs/sma-3715/activities.asp

Health Eating

10 great health foods for eating well
• Almond
• Apple
• Blueberries
• Broccoli
• Red bean
• Spinach
• Sweat potato
• Salmon
• Vegetable juice
• Wheat germ

These 10 health foods are among your best bets for eating well because they meet at least three of the following criteria: 1) Good or excellent source of fiber, vitamins, minerals and other nutrients; 2 )High in phytonutrients and antioxidant compounds, such as vitamins A and E and beta carotene; 3) May help reduce risk of heart disease and other health conditions; 4) Low in calorie density, meaning you get a larger portion size with a fewer number of calorie; 5) Readily available.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/health-foods/MY01108&slide=3

Eating Disorder Awareness Week

How Can Patient Right Be Protected?

Risperdal

• Developed by Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen pharmaceuticals Unit
• FDA proofed for psychotic disorders linked to schizophrenia
• At its peak year 2007, Risoerdal produced $ 4.5 billion in revenue
• 2003 approved for bipolar disorder
• 2007 approved autism
• Never approved for dementia

False Claims:

1. In 1994 FDA ordered J & J to stop making false and misleading marketing claims about the drug’s superior to its competing medicine.
2. In 1999 FDA warned J & J on its overstated Risperdal’s benefits while understated its risks because J & J indirect marketed it is effect for bipolar.
3. 2004 state of Louisiana sued J & J for off-label marketing of Riperdal to elderly and children.
4. 2010 FDA accused J & J paid kickback for recommending Risperdal to nursing home patients.
5. Riperdal was promoted by J & J through doctors, nursing homes, and VA's on treating bipolar disorder, dementia, mood and anxiety disorders and other unapproved uses.
   

This is one example of misleading drugs marketed by pharmaceutical companies. As the table on the right corner showed that off-label marketing is such a common practice in the Pharmaceutic industry, $ 634 million to 2.3 billion was paid for settlement, but what about the patients who get medicine which does not treat their diseases? How can patients' rights be protected? For the dementia patients who are given Riperdal: who will be responsible for their disease's continued progress instead of being slowed down or being stopped after treatment? Should there be more rules to constrict the drugs to their proven treatment?
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_12/b4171068582130.htm

Orthorexia

Have you ever heard of “orthorexia”? Orthorexia is a very new term or concept even for the medical and psychology fields, because it is not list in newest updated DSM-V draft published online. Orthorexia is a disease belonging to the banner of eating disorders, but very different from the more common anorexia or bulimia nervosa. Orthorexia is “ a controversial diagnosis characterized by an obsession with avoiding foods perceived to be unhealthy.” As you read the hyperlink, you will know people like Kristie Rutzel only eat uncooked broccoli and cauliflower.
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1963297,00.html
ABC had interviewed her for what happened and following link is in her own words.
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCall/orthorexia-obsession-healthy-foods-leads-eating-disorder/story?id=10173614
Orthorexia is a rising problem. So while we consider to eat helthy, we should not restrict our diet to only healthy food because ballance our nutrition is more important. Following are some screening question for people who might think ---Do I Have Orthorexia? Those questions are from national eating disorder. org.
The more ‘yes’ responses, the more likely you are dealing with orthorexia.
• Do you wish that occasionally you could just eat and not worry about food quality?
• Do you ever wish you could spend less time on food and more time on living and loving?
• Does it sound beyond your ability to eat a meal prepared with love by someone else – one single meal – and not try to control what is served?
• Are you constantly looking for the ways foods are unhealthy for you?
• Do love, joy, play and creativity take a backseat to having the perfect diet?
• Do you feel guilt or self-loathing when you stray from your diet?
• Do you feel in control when you eat the correct diet?
• Have you positioned yourself on a nutritional pedestal and wonder how others can possibly eat the food they eat?
http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/uploads/file/Orthorexia%20Nervosa.pdf

A Healthy Image

The main stream of beauty is skinny and which affected many young girls’ self images. The cause of anorexia nervosa seems rooted on how we feel about and see ourselves or “self-image". Even though anorexia teenagers have a beautiful body in normal peoples’ eyes, but in anorexia sufferers’ eye or brain that they feel fat, or imperfect or other negative body images. Therefore, I think in order to change those young ladies’ mind we need to put a effect to change the multimedia images of beauty from extreme skinny style to images of healthy body.

DSM-V

Following are some of the main proposed changes recommended by the American Psychiatric Association (www.dsm5.org).
1) Binge Eating Disorder
a)The addition of Binge Eating Disorder as an independent diagnosis. Having previously been classified as an Eating Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified, Binge Eating Disorder could now be a diagnosis in its own right.
b)Binge Eating Disorder is proposed to be defined as:
A. Recurrent episodes of binge eating. An episode of binge eating is characterized by both of the following:

1. eating, in a discrete period of time (e.g., within any 2-hour period), an amount of food that is definitely larger than most people would eat in a similar period of time under similar circumstances
2. a sense of lack of control over eating during the episode (e.g., a feeling that one cannot stop eating or control what or how much one is eating)

B. The binge-eating episodes are associated with three (or more) of the following:

1. eating much more rapidly than normal
2. eating until feeling uncomfortably full
3. eating large amounts of food when not feeling physically hungry
4. eating alone because of being embarrassed by how much one is eating
5. feeling disgusted with oneself, depressed, or very guilty after overeating

C. Marked distress regarding binge eating is present.
D. The binge eating occurs, on average, at least once a week for three months.

Definition of Eating Disorders

Eating disorders are a group of serious conditions in which you're so preoccupied with food and weight that you can often focus on little else. The main types of eating disorders are :

• Anorexia nervosa, in which you become too thin, but you don't eat enough because you think you are fat

• Bulimia nervosa, involving periods of overeating followed by purging, sometimes through self-induced vomiting or using laxatives
• Binge-eating, which is out-of-control eating

Women are more likely than men to have eating disorders. Following two factors demonstrate how common this problem is:

• Statistics show that 1 in 5 women suffer from an eating disorder.

• Eating disorder 24 million American and 70 million worldwide.
  

Eating disorder is a sever behavior problem. Eating disorders can cause heart and kidney problems and even death.

http://eatingdisorderinfo.org/

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/eatingdisorders.html

National Eating Disorder Awareness week

The week of February 28 to March 6, 2010 is National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, so I dedicate my blog to eating disorder. Please take some time to learn or review your knowledge on eating disorders in order to recognize someone around you may be at risk. According National Eating Disorders Association, there are 10 million female and 1 million males are suffering eating disorders from various degrees such as struggling with binge eat to a life and death fight. Therefore, this topic should raise more awareness.

The profile of this disorder was a teenage white girl in the middle to upper class socioeconomic group. However, recently eating disorders are spreading to young children and adults with all socioeconomic groups and of all ethnic groups as social normal obsessed on slim appearance. The multimedia are filled with skinny, “beautiful” celebrities. We have to educate our youth to realize the unrealistic body images of media. And more urgently we have to take action to advocate the media to play a responsible role, replacing the skinny body images to diverse body images to help our youth to feel more positive about their own images.

The two important things to teach youth to prevent eating disorders are self love and eat health. Nature is beauty, so to love your body and accept everything about yourself is the philosophy of life and also the best defense to against eating disorder. To maintain their daily activities, teenage girls need 2000 calories a day.

I invited you join me to raise our community’s awareness on eating disorders.