Eating Disorders

One of the consequences of living in an image-saturated society is that many of us develop a rather superficial, image-oriented relationship with our bodies. Our nearly non-stop exposure to advertisements, TV, films, the internet, and other media trains us to see, understand, and experience our bodies as "moving pictures"-that is, as images for others to view-rather than as the moving home and ground of our being. Read More

Many of you are simply exhausted by the pace of modern life, and have found that sugar and caffeine give you a quick energy boost. What you've likely missed is that these are also "energy loan sharks." Borrowing money from a loan shark is a bad idea, and so is getting your energy from energy loan sharks. Read More

In this series of posts (started January 18th), I’ve been encouraging you, the reader, to forego the standard New Year’s promise to improve your figure and focus instead on practicing peace with your body by treating it with kindness and giving it the care it needs. This suggestion has special relevance during Eating Disorders Awareness Week. Yet some readers have worried that my emphasis on being kind to your body and critical of our society’s devotion to thinness somehow endorses an unhealthy lifestyle. Read More

It's Eating Disorders Week around the world, and Ireland's finally has its first-ever residential eating-disorder clinic. It was long overdue; before the Lois Bridges Centre opened last fall, three beds at St. Vincent's Hospital in Dublin were the only ones in all of Ireland designated for the treatment of eating disorders. Read More

Patients have come to me in despair, saying, “There’s nothing left that I can eat! Beef contains hormones, chickens are raised under cruel conditions, salmon is endangered, cheese and eggs have too much saturated fat, and tofu contains estrogen-like compounds, I think I’m sensitive to gluten. I'm avoiding tomatoes and potatoes because I've heard that the nightshade family can make arthritis worse, and dairy products give me gas. I don't have anything left to eat!!“ Read More

As a culture we spends millions of dollars and millions of hours trying lose weight and curb our addiction to too much food.  Medical Doctor and wellness expert Susan Biali shares simple, highly effective tips from her own successful battle against compulsive overeating (and dieting) that you can easily start to implement today. Read More

Next week is National Eating Disorder Awareness Week (February 21st-27th). The theme this year is "It's Time to Talk about It." It is sponsored by the National Eating Disorders Organization. There will be events taking place all across the country in honor of this week. If you are interested in getting involved, you will find free screenings, fashion shows, scale smashings, documentaries, and lectures. Many events are taking place or sponsored by universities and health fairs. Read More

This is the third in a series of blogs designed to elaborate my suggestion (originally posted January 18th) that you make a different kind of New Year's resolution in 2010-one that replaces the conventional pledge to downsize your figure by going to war with your appetite with an alternative commitment to practice peace with your body. Read More

I've got a question for the other moms of teenage girls out there: Have you ever noticed how alike the girls in your daughter's peer group look?

I'm not talking about their physical features -- those are as different as can be. I'm talking about hairstyles, clothing styles, make-up and mannerisms. Read More