Anorexia Diagnosis

Eating disorders have long been a serious problem among people
of all ages. However, this disease usually begins somewhere in
the pre-teen stages of life, and although many adolescent boys
suffer with this disorder, it usually affects and is much more
severe in young girls.

People who do suffer from an eating disorder like to place
blame on factors such as television and family life-styles.
Although these situations do influence eating disorders, the
basis for this disease lies within the person whom it is
affecting.

Most girls and boys who suffer from an eating disorder usually
are unhappy with themselves and their own performance in life.
With girls, eating disorders may arise if they do not succeed
in activities such as cheerleading or gymnastics, or if they do
not seem to attract the attention of boys. Many girls believe
that they cannot be beautiful unless they are thin, sometimes
due to naturally thin girls that surround them both in real
life and in fashion. For boys, causes may also result from
sports that are weight orientated like wrestling.

There are two types of eating disorders called anorexia
nervosa, and bulimia nervosa. The person who is anorexic will
place herself on what she considers to be a “strict diet.” This
diet usually involves cutting down calorie intake to an absurd
level. The average person should consume around 1500 calories a
day. An anorexic person will gauge her daily intake anywhere
between a few hundred to less than 100 calories.

The bulimic person will usually try to restrict her diet.
However, if she feels that she has eaten too much, she will
induce vomiting or over-consume laxatives. Frequently, this
sets off a pattern of binge eating and purging.

What Parents can do

There is a way of preventing your teenager being susceptible to
these diseases. Allow your teenager to be on a diet, but monitor
the diet plan with her.

If you notice that your teenager is concerned with his weight,
do not brush it off as a phase. Instead, sit down with him and
work out a dietary and exercise plan together. Help by
purchasing healthy foods such as fruit, raw vegetables and
salads. Show your teenager that it is OK to eat – it is just
the types of foods he consumes that he must be careful about.

Understand that this is a mental disease, and grounding or
punishing your teenager for having these disorders will only
make things worse. If you believe your child may be suffering
from an eating disorder seek professional help immediately. As
the parent in situations like these, you may feel undermined or
helpless, but understand that this disease greatly affects your
teenager’s health and must be dealt with as soon as possible.

About The Author: Christina is a member of the National Writers
Association, is listed on Cambridge Who’s Who and is a proud
member of the National PTA, offering support to that
organization and other non-profit groups by offering her book
to use in fundraising campaigns.
http://www.helpwithteenagers.com/parentinghandbook.html
http://www.helpwithteenagers.com

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The Power of Moderation

By Dr. Joan F. Marques

If you allow yourself you can drive everything to the extreme. Most of
the time that’s not a good idea. Even the pleasant things in life become
hazardous when applied excessively. Some examples? Excessive eating can
lead to obesity, excessive dieting to anorexia; excessive partying to
empty pockets, excessive working to stress; excessive traveling to
alienation of loved ones, and excessive home-boundness to boredom.

The art of living may very well lie in finding the right balance between
all extremes that are offered to us. Seen in that light, successful
living could easily be defined as applying the right degree of
moderation. “The right degree” is a very subjective amount, though,
because it will vary from one person to another, depending on variables
such as age, environment, preferences, and in many cases also financial
capacity.

All of the above may seem pretty straightforward when merely reading it,
and perhaps even unnecessary to mention, but it is far more difficult to
apply once you really get confronted with the choices in life. We often
get overzealous when we engage in enthralling activities, and lose touch
with our rational side until it’s too late and the damage is hard to
repair.

The other day I was visiting Las Vegas and found myself in a crowd of
people staring at the ceiling over Fremont Street. Those of you who have
been to Las Vegas know how high the top of this fancy street overarch
really is. There, on the top, stood a man, and the rumor went that he was
about to jump in an attempt to commit suicide. Why? He had gotten out of
touch with his sense of moderation and lost a large sum of money through
gambling. More money than he could justify – so his only way out seemed
to end it all.

This example may illustrate how difficult it is to remain moderate when
we face fascinating temptations. Our specific area of weakness determines
what we should be overly cautious about. If we like eating, we should
instate alert mechanisms in that area. If it’s gambling, dieting,
partying, working, drinking, smoking, or anything else that we are overly
zealous in, we should do the same with those. How? Here’s an idea:

1.. First determine your zone of weakness. You may very well find more
than one. Most people do.
2.. Determine what you consider “moderation” in this area. What level
should you apply to stay out of physical, psychological, legal, or
spiritual trouble? Consider this when you are sober and not around or in
desperate need of your object of weakness. So, for instance, don’t
determine what is moderate in eating if you are hungry.
3.. Set a time frame to your self-determined moderation. Your time
frame could be a day, a week, a month, or a year. If you want to moderate
your smoking, for instance, determine how many cigarettes you consider
reasonable per day.
4.. Decide on a control mechanism. If you feel strong enough to
moderate yourself, write down your resolution and keep track of your
actions. If you feel that you need external help, identify a buddy of
whom you’re willing to accept advise – and stick to it.
5.. Evaluate your achievements regularly. Monthly may be the best way
to go for most weaknesses.

As you may have concluded by now, it’s not as easy as it seems to
moderate ourselves. The numbers of obese and anorexic people, excessive
smokers, drug-, alcohol-, and gambling addicts, workaholics and other
excessive performers attest to this fact. Moderation, once achieved, is a
private but very rewarding victory – and can make a difference like day
or night about our self-perception.

About the author:

Dr. Joan Marques is a professor of business and management, and
co-founder/board member of the Business Renaissance Institute. She has
authored 2 books on the topics of Leadership and Global Awareness, and is
currently working on two additional ones on Workplace Spirituality, and
Leadership. She regularly co-organizes workshops for business and
non-profit organizations in Los Angeles.

Visit my website at: www.joanmarques.com

It is better to live in serene poverty than in hectic affluence.
Everything has a price. The price for nurturing your soul is turning away
from excessive stress, destruction of self-respect, and the constant
strive in lifestyle with the Joneses. But it’s worth it.