Yes, you should be afraid of food.

I don’t remember how I stumbled upon this website this morning, but it has been a very interesting read. I can’t say I agree or disagree with this “McDougall Program.” Dr. McDougall advocates an extremely strict, all-vegetarian (nearly vegan) diet, insisting that it is the healthiest way to live. Now hmm… maybe the food is healthy… but I’m a skeptic when it comes to following any black-and-white food regimes. It does seem… socially healthy? Nor realistic — although that’s another matter.

The website really addresses everything from an “obesity epidemic” standpoint. While this is probably the largest nutrition issue in today’s society, being underweight is just as dangerous as being overweight. No attention is paid to eating disorders or those who are not trying to lower their blood pressure, decrease their cholesterol levels, etc. What’s more, is that this method encourages food fears. People SHOULD be afraid of most foods because they are EVIL, and YES, eating that one cookie will make you fat! I’m very curious as to how Dr. McDougall views anorexia, and even more curious on how nutritionist who fallow the McDougall Program treat those with the disorder.

Anyway, some food for thought, from Dr. McDougall’s Proram:

“Americans have always had a love affair with animal protein – an affair that, unfortunately, is making us sick. What the world needs now is carbohydrates – and lots of them.”

“Osteoporosis is not a disease that results from too little calcium, but rather primarily from too much animal protein animal food derived acids that rob the body of calcium and structural materials, and thus weaken bones.”

“In general fruits should be limited to 3 servings a day. They are tasty, high in simple sugars and easy to over consume.”

“An undeniable fact is that the more you see doctors, the more likely you are to be tested and treated—for better or worse. Therefore, establishing a relationship with a doctor opens the door for you to become an active patient. You don’t want to be a patient. Most major health organizations agree there is the risk for serious harm in establishing a regular doctor-patient relationship and all have agreed that routine annual checkups for healthy adults should be abandoned.”

“Offending a doctor should be your last concern—the issue on the table is your health and your life or the future health of a family member. No sense in investing all your time and money in a doctor who ultimately ends up contributing to your early demise. “

science: the key to, well, everything

Science Could Erase Stigma of Anorexia

Science is going to do that, eh? By… vaccinating the public for anorexia stigma?

Sorry, it’s early in the morning and I haven’t had any caffeine yet. But my first thoughts were really along those lines. Misleading headline — although I did click on the link, so it served its purpose.

Too bad the title was better than the article. It’s a really short article so you should just go and read it, but to sum it up:

Results:

“Students who read about the sociocultural factors were more likely to agree that parenting, vanity and lack of social support were causes of anorexia. Unlike those who read the genetics/biology sheet, they were also more likely to believe that people with anorexia are to blame for their condition.”

Conclusions:

“This study suggests that even a nugget of accurate biological information can influence how health care professionals perceive the illness,” study senior author Dr. Cynthia M. Bulik, director of UNC’s Eating Disorders Program, said in a prepared statement.

“It opens up new horizons for accurate information campaigns to help the public understand that people with anorexia nervosa are not to blame for their illness and that biology plays a role,” Bulik said.

While I feel bad critiquing this article without being able to read the actual study, based on these results, these are not the conclusions that I would make! Nowhere in the results did it say that the students who received more scientific information were less likely to blame anorexics than control subjects–just that those exposed to sociocultural factors were less understanding than those with scientific knowledge. Thus, I wouldn’t conclude that scientific knowledge is helpful, but that non-scientific media exposure is harmful. So media perpetuates (or increases) the stigma of anorexia. How revolutionary.

Now, let’s say that we did go along with their published conclusions. How exactly would you publicize science in the media, without sociocultural factors? Certainly not with a documentary like Thin. You’re going to see vanity, poor living habits, relationship issues, the “thin ideal”… you’re not going to see the science. Are you going to publish a lot of psychiatric papers? That’s probably not going to “erase [the] stigma of anorexia.”

Besides, while there definitely is a large biological/genetic role, and people with anorexia are not to blame for their condition… they’re still involved! I don’t think you can choose an eating disorder, but I think that further down the path you have some choices. And yes, parenting and lack of social support are contributors to anorexia — that’s why so many inpatient treatment programs require family therapy…

Tags: anorexia stigma, biology of eating disorders, eating disorder, university of north carolina

Gum: Fad diet of 2008?

This morning, a friend sent me a link to this news article: Chewing Gum Sweetener Linked to Severe Unintended Weight Loss.

“Sorbitol, one of the most commonly used artificial sweeteners in chewing gum and candy as well as liquid medications, is poorly absorbed in the intestines, giving it the qualities of an osmotic laxative at higher doses (20 to 50 g).”

“Patients who popped 16 to 20 sticks of sorbitol-sweetened gum daily lost about 20% of their usual body weight, reported Juergen Bauditz, M.D., of the University of Berlin here, and colleagues in a case report in the Jan. 12 issue of BMJ. “

Wow, crazy! Especially crazy given all the other negative talk surrounding artificial sweetener and weight. Remember WebMDs article, Drink More Diet Soda, Gain More Weight?.

“Williams detected a “dose-response” effect: Those who drank the most diet soft drinks had the highest incidence of weight gain. This was a particularly interesting finding. After adjusting for age, sex and ethnicity, Williams found that regular soft drinks were no longer significantly linked to the incidence of becoming overweight or obese, but diet soft drinks were.”

Hmm… so, trying to unravel this:

1. With gum, the sorbitol invokes a physical response (due to it’s poor absorption and laxative effect) that results in weight loss (among other things).
2. The the diet soda, the artificial sweetener confuses your body’s hunger / thirst instincts, resulting in overeating and weight gain.

Even with that straight… I would argue that diet coke causes bloating and gas, and probably is bad for IBS. What makes it so different from sorbitol? Any biochemists out there?

On a more amusing note… this SciGuy expressed exactly what I was thinking:

It’s true that this information is clinically useful to physicians, but does anyone else see the great potential for abuse here by those wanting to go on crash diets?

1. Eat 20 sticks of gum
2. Get really sick
3. Lose 20 pounds
4. Fit into that wedding dress

Tags: sorbitol, gum sweetener, gum and weight loss, artificial sweetener

It's not about control!

Perceived incompetence and disordered eating among college students

doi:10.1016/j.eatbeh.2007.06.004

Amanda G. Ferrier, a, and Matthew P. Martens

 

A few comments on a couple of notable remarks…

 

“One study found that individuals who generally restricted their dietary intake ate more after they had “failed” on a laboratory task (Heatherton, Polivy, Herman, & Baumeister, 1993). Another study found that the same effect existed for women exhibiting symptoms of bulimia nervosa; in this study, the authors found that eating more after induced failure on a laboratory task served to improve the mood of those who had failed (Kisler & Corcoran). Both studies concluded that women overeat after failure as a means of coping with negative affect. Additionally, it appears that women with disordered eating are more likely to pay selective attention to their failure experiences (Mansfield & Wade, 2000). Clearly, the concept of failure also shares a relationship with immediate eating patterns.”

 

While emotional eating is very common in our society, I bet most people would not assume that those with anorexia would (generally) also eat more in response to the feeling of failure.

 

The concept of perceived incompetence is distinct from the related concepts of ineffectiveness or task-specific failure, because it refers to a sense of inadequacy in a specific life domain, as opposed to a broader global sense of inadequacy or more specific failure on a specific activity.

 

Disordered eating may reflect an attempt to cope with negative affect inherent in feeling incompetent; some researchers have found that engaging in such unhealthy weight loss behaviors serves to increase affect ([Kisler and Corcoran, 1997] and [Stice et al., 2000]).If someone is not able to perform satisfactorily, or feels incompetent, in one area of his or her life, that person might be more likely to engage in unhealthy weight loss strategies as a way to maintain adequate self-esteem. In fact, it is possible that self-esteem acts as a mediating variable in this equation; feeling incompetent may lead to a decrease in self-esteem, and engaging in “successful,” albeit unhealthy, weight loss may serve to increase self-esteem by allowing the individual to feel that he or she is competent in the eating domain.

 Sure, starving or bingeing/purging may numb some of the negative feelings — or provide a distraction, if nothing else — and many anorexics and bulimics form an identity based on their success as an eating disordered individual. But I think that there is a third component. I think it goes beyond incompetency. There’s that persistent feeling of “not being enough.” The eating disorder shields you from that, because you are SICK. No one is expecting you to be the captain of any team or to handle everything in life yourself, because you have that sick identity. And you hold onto it because what if you AREN’T enough and you do fail in life–and as a person. You’re scared of screwing up and it’s a big risk to take, especially when you could hide from the real world behind the ED shield.

It’s not about control!

Perceived incompetence and disordered eating among college students

doi:10.1016/j.eatbeh.2007.06.004

Amanda G. Ferrier, a, and Matthew P. Martens

 

A few comments on a couple of notable remarks…

 

“One study found that individuals who generally restricted their dietary intake ate more after they had “failed” on a laboratory task (Heatherton, Polivy, Herman, & Baumeister, 1993). Another study found that the same effect existed for women exhibiting symptoms of bulimia nervosa; in this study, the authors found that eating more after induced failure on a laboratory task served to improve the mood of those who had failed (Kisler & Corcoran). Both studies concluded that women overeat after failure as a means of coping with negative affect. Additionally, it appears that women with disordered eating are more likely to pay selective attention to their failure experiences (Mansfield & Wade, 2000). Clearly, the concept of failure also shares a relationship with immediate eating patterns.”

 

While emotional eating is very common in our society, I bet most people would not assume that those with anorexia would (generally) also eat more in response to the feeling of failure.

 

The concept of perceived incompetence is distinct from the related concepts of ineffectiveness or task-specific failure, because it refers to a sense of inadequacy in a specific life domain, as opposed to a broader global sense of inadequacy or more specific failure on a specific activity.

 

Disordered eating may reflect an attempt to cope with negative affect inherent in feeling incompetent; some researchers have found that engaging in such unhealthy weight loss behaviors serves to increase affect ([Kisler and Corcoran, 1997] and [Stice et al., 2000]).If someone is not able to perform satisfactorily, or feels incompetent, in one area of his or her life, that person might be more likely to engage in unhealthy weight loss strategies as a way to maintain adequate self-esteem. In fact, it is possible that self-esteem acts as a mediating variable in this equation; feeling incompetent may lead to a decrease in self-esteem, and engaging in “successful,” albeit unhealthy, weight loss may serve to increase self-esteem by allowing the individual to feel that he or she is competent in the eating domain.

 Sure, starving or bingeing/purging may numb some of the negative feelings — or provide a distraction, if nothing else — and many anorexics and bulimics form an identity based on their success as an eating disordered individual. But I think that there is a third component. I think it goes beyond incompetency. There’s that persistent feeling of “not being enough.” The eating disorder shields you from that, because you are SICK. No one is expecting you to be the captain of any team or to handle everything in life yourself, because you have that sick identity. And you hold onto it because what if you AREN’T enough and you do fail in life–and as a person. You’re scared of screwing up and it’s a big risk to take, especially when you could hide from the real world behind the ED shield.

Complexity is Bliss?

New York Times: The New Year’s Cocktail: Regret With a Dash of Bitters

This is a great article on rumination.  I’m not going to do much to explain / summarize it, so you might want to read it before continuing:

Complexity reflects an ability to incorporate various points of view into a recollection, to vividly describe the circumstances, context and other dimensions. It is the sort of trait that would probably get you killed instantly in a firefight; but in the mental war of attrition through middle age and after, its value only increases.

This definition makes complexity seem so… clear-headed. So “Ah! Now I see the light.” I would argue that no, complexity is, well, complicated. It’s a dozen different ah-ha! moments added up. And each of those times, you thought “This explains it. It all makes sense now.” There’s that clarity. But in the end — when you reach that higher level of complexity — all the different causes, influences, situational factors, relationship issues, genetic components, perspectives, dimensions, etc. are just tangled in a big mess.

Not that you don’t reach some state of higher wisdom. You role your eyes at girls who are “only anorexic because they don’t want to get fat.” (Riiiight.) It is very valuable to be able to identify contributing factors and understand your response.

“I feel fortunate in a backhanded way to have experienced misfortune as a young woman. I feel it taught me humility … and the ability to regroup. … Life is good but not lavish. It’s hard work and we have to give each other a hand once in a while.”

Huh. This is the phenomenon that I call “having had too much therapy.”

What I really wonder after reading this article… is how does complexity relate to Maslow’s stage of self-actualization? It came to mind immediately while reading the article. And, in this case, how does the following excerpt apply? Because not everyone reaches the self-actualization stage… and I would make an argument that many people never reach a high level of complexity, either. At least not in some domains. I think that some people will always view their divorce, depression, eating disorder, etc., from a simple, one-dimensional perspective.

Dr. King has followed groups of people for years and found that this knack for self-evaluation develops over time; it is a learned ability. “To elaborate on loss, to look for some insight in it, is not just what a psychologically mature person does,” Dr. King said. “It’s how a person matures. That’s what the studies show.”