Eating Disorder Pro

What Is It?

HabiTrack is an effective, accurate metabolic monitoring and nutritional analysis system. It provides you with the information you need to manage your weight, whether you are re-feeding, losing or maintaining. It is customized specifically for you and it works! (Please check out the equipment that we are using by visiting http://www.korr.com/ads/mc_ad1.htm)

Accurate, individualized, and continuous feedback are the key success factors in any behavioral change program! That is what we have created, a feedback loop that will allow you to re-establish or perhaps establish for the first time, a healthy relationship with food.

How Does It Work?

HabiTrack gives you a comprehensive analysis of your resting metabolism and 5 days worth of your typical food intake.

For those whose metabolism is unusually slow or fast, the goal will be to bring it into the normal range by making changes in food intake, exercise and supplementation. The system will allow us to accurately track the progress that you are making in doing this and make adjustments where necessary.

For those whose metabolism falls within the normal range, the system will take the guess work out of eating healthy, as you will know exactly how many calories/day you can eat to gain, maintain or lose weight. Research shows that most people needing to lose weight guesstimate too low, which results in YoYo’ing and increases the likelihood that they will fail and regain the unhealthy weight.

I believe that this is a program that many of you have been waiting for and I can’t wait to share it with you!

Who needs it?

Anyone trying to manage an eating disorder and everyone wanting a more healthy lifestyle!
If you are re-feeding as a result of being Anorexic, Bulimic or Bulimarexic your biggest fear is gaining weight in an uncontrolled way. Knowing your resting metabolism and the foods that you can eat without fear of rapid weight gain, allows you to begin the process of re-feeding with significantly less anxiety.

If you are overweight or suffering from Obesity, the research is clear that you probably cut your calories too much by dieting, which inevitably leads to failure and additional weight gain. Knowing the exact number of calories you burn while at rest usually allows you to eat much more than you think you should. This prevents you from slowing your metabolism down and insures your long term success.
The Process

Diagnostic Session:
In the initial session your RMR (resting metabolic rate) is taken, which will establish a base-line for your metabolism. You will be asked to provide us with a five-day food record, which we will analyze using a state of the art food analysis program. We will combine the results of the RMR and nutritional analysis in preparation for your consult with Dr. Norton.

Consulting Sessions:

During this session with Dr. Norton, you will be given feedback that accurately describes your metabolic status along with recommendations for eating and exercise strategies as well as supplements that have been shown to positively impact metabolism. The information has been customized to meet your unique nutritional, psychological and physiological needs.

Armed with this information, you can take charge of your recovery and/or your weight management. For individuals who are recovering from Anorexia or Bulimarexia, the information will greatly reduce the stress of re-feeding. For individuals suffering from obesity, or for those who are overweight, it will eliminate the need to diet, WHICH DOESN’T WORK!

Follow-up RMR Sessions:

We recommend that you repeat the RMR assessment monthly until you have met your metabolic goal. If you are engaged in activities to increase or decrease your metabolism, this will allow us to monitor the relative effectiveness of the changes that you are making and to make suggested changes when necessary.

Follow-up Food Analysis:

You can submit another food record for analysis at this time, or any time you wish, to Lesley or Elisa. Simply fill out the form below, cut and paste it into an email and send it to us at AnalyzeThis@eatingdisorderpro.com. Your results will be emailed to you. If you are already a client, they’ll be in your chart at your next visit. We can even generate recipes and grocery lists that have been analyzed especially for you. Just let us know what you need!

Filed under: Uncategorized on June 19th, 2008 | No Comments »

Re-feeding: What is Normal? Posted March 2008

The central and most difficult issue to be dealt with in the treatment of serious eating disorders is the issue of re-feeding and/or the establishment of a healthy relationship with food. The degree to which the patient can do this determines her success in conquering her disorder. The problem is that “normal” eating is a very complicated phenomenon, let alone the intricacies of re-feeding. This is one of the reasons that the “cure” rate for eating disorders is so low.

In some ways, it is more difficult to treat a severe eating disorder than it is to treat alcoholism or drug addiction. There is no such thing as cold turkey when it comes to eating. We have to eat every day, preferably 5 or 6 times a day. Likewise we cannot avoid the situations that trigger maladaptive eating behavior like the alcoholic or drug addict can do in an attempting to recover from their addictions. We eat for many reasons, under many different circumstances. We eat when we are hungry, not hungry, starving or full. We eat to socialize, to celebrate and to mourn. We eat to reward, nurture or punish ourselves. We eat when we are procrastinating, trying to relax or as part of a “working” breakfast/lunch/or dinner. We eat when we are happy, sad, mad, or for some of us, whenever we feel emotional.

Dieting Doesn’t Work

An equally important part of eating is the whole “not eating” thing, also known as “dieting”.  Ninety-five % of US women believe that they are overweight and 65% of the general population diets. The dieting mind-set is so well ingrained in our society that some 5 and 6 year olds are worrying about how many calories and how much fat is in their Lunchables. Indeed, so many people in the US are dieting that it is a 93 billion dollar a year industry. There are hundreds of “diets”, diet workshops and diet programs, the vast majority of which fail. In fact, without exercise, 95% of all diets fail.

So why do so many people do it?  We try to lose weight out of fear, vanity, pride or guilt or we may diet to feel stronger, more disciplined, superior and/or healthier, or we may just diet because everyone else seems to be doing it. The combination of being bombarded with advertisements  to eat along side strong media pressure to be thin is constant in our culture.

Eating Disorders (Posted April 2008)

All of the above behavior comes under the heading of “normal” eating. For those whose eating problems have risen to the level of a disorder, eating triggers feelings such as euphoria, guilt, shame and intense anxiety. Those suffering from Bulimia or Bulimarexia (restricting, binging and purging or just restricting and purging) engage in mindless eating or binging to numb or distract themselves from stressful situations or unhappy thoughts and memories.
Purging by vomiting or abuse of laxatives can last hours, keeping the individual up late into the night or causing her to miss work or school when she cannot resist the impulse to binge and purge during the day. One patient recently described a nightmarish scene in which she could not purge into her toilet because it was broken and so took a chance on using the tub drain as she showered. Unfortunately, the food would not go down that drain either. In horror she continued to vomit into the tub until she was standing in a foot of water thick with vomit.  It took her and her mother hours to scoop the vomitous water out with buckets, which they then had to carry to another bathroom and flush down another toilet.  The unbelievable part?  Though repulsed by the mess, she was astonished and secretly impressed by the amount of vomit that she was able to produce!

Once she has binged (or simply eaten something she is uncomfortable eating) the need to purge is often so compelling that it goes beyond all reason, as in the case above.  However this is a temporary “fix”.  The purging gives the individual a temporary “high” followed by feelings of guilt and anxiety and a determination not to repeat the experience. Unfortunately this leads to restricting, which eventually leads to binging and the cycle begins again.
Sounds like drug and alcohol addiction, doesn’t it? Eating disorders are very much like other addictions, i.e. they are part of a classic addictive cycle. This includes an increase in tension, which the addict believes can only be relieved by the “fix”. In most addictions, relief from the fix is of shorter and shorter duration before the cycle begins again. This is what is known as a very vicious cycle.

Though not as obvious, the individual suffering from Anorexia is also an addict of sorts, i.e. she restricts to overcome feelings of inferiority, helplessness and hopelessness and to make herself feel in control. Often, she can only be proud of herself when she is pushing starvation to the extreme. This is her “fix”. Many of my patients describe the feeling of being able to function or stay alive on as few calories as possible as a “high”. Indeed there is scientific evidence that fasting does cause the release of endorphin’s, which do make us feel good. Not coincidentally, they report to the same part of the brain that drugs and alcohol do.

To summarize, even “normal” eating behavior can be stressful. Disordered eating takes over the individual’s life, much like alcoholism and drug addiction take over the addict’s life, robbing her of her relationships, her independence, her health and in far too many cases, her life. The mortality rate for eating disorders is higher than that of any other psychological disturbance.

Unfortunately, eating disorders are less likely to be understood as addictions, and more likely to elicit a judging stance from the general public, families and even a surprisingly high proportion of treating professionals. It seems as though the more serious the disorder, the more likely it is to be viewed as an attempt at getting attention or being manipulative.

Take, for example, the Cincinnati physician that said to one of our very attractive patients suffering from Bulimarexia, “You’re beautiful and you’re rich. You have it all. You should be counting your blessings. Why would you want to do something as stupid as refusing to eat?”

But the topper might be the psychiatrist that had another very attractive patient stand up at her first appointment so that he could “assess” her physique and make the following brilliant observation “Yup, you have breasts, hips and thighs. In other words you have curves, what’s the problem?” Individuals such as this often view Anorexia and Bulimia or Bulimarexia as vanity issues.

What Causes An Eating Disorder? (posted May 2008)

The causes are complicated and for most of the people suffering from an eating disorder, not the result of one factor, but many. The well-known causes are societal pressures to be thin, peer pressure, a major set-back at a critical point in the individual’s life, such as a loss or a traumatic event, childhood disturbances and/or dysfunctional family relationships, etc. However, there are also bio-physiological issues that play a significant role, although they tend to be poorly understood.

Many eating disorders are driven by cravings that are part of a classic addictive cycle, which may actually be perpetuated by food industry profits. In the early 70’s, the food industry discovered that high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) was much less expensive than sucrose. This was primarily because it was much sweeter. So, in it went into our foods, everything from baby food to hot dog buns and cigarettes! They ultimately took it out of most of the baby food, but it is still in the cigarettes, just in case cigarettes aren’t addictive enough without the sugar!

In Cincinnati, there are many fast food establishments still using HFCS’s in their buns, including; Arby’s, Blimpie, Burger King, Chick-fil-a, Dairy Queen, Jack in the Box, KFC, McDonald’s, Subway, and Taco Bell. You’re not safe at the Cincinnati Kroger’s either, or any of the major grocery chains for that matter, since it is actually harder to find foods at the supermarket without HFCS’s, than it is to find foods with it. For example, there are no less than 10 teaspoons of HFCS’s in a single 12 once can of soda. Likewise they are found in almost all snacks, dairy products, condiments, canned goods, cereals, bread, even supplements and vitamins. In total, the average American eats 83 pounds of corn syrup a year plus 66 pounds of sucrose, for a total of 149 pounds of refined sugars.

What does that mean in terms of unnecessary weight gain? Well let’s do the math: We have 159,360 calories from the corn syrup, and 102,168 from the sucrose totaling 261,528 calories per year from sugar. If it takes 3500 calories more than you use in a given period of time to gain 1 pound, that means that unless you work it off, you could gain 75 lbs/year from ingesting sugar you don’t need and probably don’t realize you are eating. To avoid gaining weight from the HFCS’s added to processed foods, the average person would have to run a total of 438 hours per year or 8 hours per week. The net/net of all of the above is to avoid processed foods, i.e. if it didn’t have a face (meat, poultry, fish, fowl) or come out of the ground (fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes), think twice about eating it. (The exception would be dairy products, such as yogurt, soft European cheeses, and milk. The lower fat varieties of these foods are very good for you, especially when they are lactose free.)

Sugar and Eating Disorders

What does HFCS have to do with eating disorders? For starters, sugar has recently been shown to be the main culprit in insulin resistance, which is the precursor to obesity. In this country, obesity has become the nation’s most critical health problem. Ultimately it leads to such chronic diseases as Type II diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. These diseases are threatening to dismantle our entire health care system because of their increased incidence and skyrocketing cost of treatment.

Binge eating, bulimia, and bulimarexia are basically sugar addictions, as most individuals suffering from these disorders binge on simple carb’ s (highly refined foods that are often loaded with HFCS’s). Simple carbohydrates convert to sugar in the blood stream. Research has shown that sugar is as addictive as alcohol and/or cocaine.

Recovery from a food addiction (eating disorder) requires a basic understanding of the addictive nature of food and a commitment to replace the offending food(s) with something equally satisfying but less addictive. Otherwise you find yourself in a perpetual and very vicious cycle of restricting or deprivation (dieting) followed by the onset of withdrawal symptoms (food cravings, obsessive thoughts) a build up of anxiety and behaviors designed to quiet the beast, (bingeing, cutting, compulsive spending, binge drinking) and possibly efforts to compensate (purging with vomiting, excessive exercising, abuse of laxatives and/or diet pills). This leads to guilt and a profound sense of failure, which is followed by renewed determination to stop the cycle by not “eating so much” which is a euphemism for restricting or dieting, at which point the cycle begins again.

Unfortunately, many in an effort to avoid the offending food(s) restrict too much and end up avoiding the foods that could break the cycle, proteins or complex carbohydrates i.e. low fat meats, cheeses and fish or fresh fruits and vegetables. Instead they eat foods that actually contribute to the food addiction and cause the cycle to begin again. For example, so many of my patients avoid all protein because of their fear of fat and eat simple carbs, like pretzels or diet soft drinks when they are in restricting, dieting or “being good”. Or worse, they eat candy that has no fat, like jellybeans, thinking that this is a safer snack than a piece of chocolate or a handful of nuts. The chocolate, especially if it’s dark chocolate, does have some fat, but it has fewer sugars than a bag of jellybeans and, because it is dark chocolate, it has antioxidants. And the nuts have a good deal of fiber, which means that they usually have a glycemic load of 0. (This means that they do not enter the blood stream as a sugar and therefore do not contribute to a sugar addiction, which is the primary culprit in the weight gain that leads to obesity).

The jelly beans, on the other hand, and even the diet drink, make the problem much worse because they enter the blood stream almost immediately as glucose, adding to the sugar addiction, which in turn drives more binging behavior. They also have dyes and additives and no nutritional value. The real kicker however, is the long term negative impact that carb loading followed by purging or restricting has on ones’ metabolism, i.e. it slows it down to such a degree that it is almost impossible for the individual suffering from bulimia to eat normally without gaining weight. Until she understands which foods and supplements will stimulate her metabolism instead of suppressing it, she is stuck in this terrible self-perpetuating vicious cycle.

Once she understands how delicious real food can be and how much more of it she can eat without fear of gaining weight if she is exercising and supplementing, she has begun the journey toward a healthy relationship with food and the end of her eating disorder. But this requires courage, patience and lot’s of support from family, friends and allied professionals.

Filed under: Eating Disorder as Addiction on May 9th, 2008 | No Comments »

Eating Disorders Common In ADHD Girls: Compulsive Behavior Tied To Body Image Problems: Girls with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are more likely to have an eating disorder, a new study said.”Adolescent girls with ADHD frequently develop body-image dissatisfaction and may go through repeating cycles of binge eating and purging behaviors that are common in bulimia nervosa,” said University of Virginia psychologist Amori Yee Mikami. ADHD is thought to be three times more common in boys than girls, so researchers are still learning its long-term effects on girls. But eating disorders are 10 times more common in girls. “Our finding suggests that girls may develop a broader range of problems in adolescence than their male counterparts,” Mikami said. She said girls often go undiagnosed and untreated for ADHD, which could increase the risk of eating disorders. “As they get older, their impulsivity may make it difficult for them to maintain healthy eating and a healthy weight, resulting in self-consciousness about their body image and the binging and purging symptoms,” she said. The results are based on a study of 228 girls in the San Francisco Bay area; 140 had ADHD. “An additional concern is that stimulant medications used to treat ADHD have a side effect of appetite suppression, creating a risk that overweight girls could abuse these medicines to encourage weight loss, though we have not yet investigated that possibility,” Mikami said. The findings appeared in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology. Note: if you treat both eating disorders and ADHD, then consider joining our sister organization at www.addreferral.com

Filed under: compulsive behavior on April 2nd, 2008 | 1 Comment »

Daikon relish
1. Dice Daikon radish, cucumber and carrots in equal amounts (small squares are best but not grated) and combine
2. Pour rice vinegar over to cover
3. Salt and pepper (garlic pepper)
4. 1 to 2 capfuls of garlic juice
(teaspoon of olive oil optional)
Combine ingredients and refrigerate for several hours turning every once and awhile and enjoy. Gets better as it ages.

Edamame
1. Boil frozen edamame according to directions on package and drain
2. Sea salt to taste
3. Eat warm

Popcorn to Die For
1. 2 tbls’s of Organic Cold Pressed Coconut Oil
2. ½ cup of popcorn (Organic)
3. Salt to taste
4. Butter flavoring

Heat 2 qrt pan on high. Put the coconut oil in hot pan to melt, add salt and butter flavoring to the un-popped corn. (The secret to good popcorn is salting it before it pops and the use of coconut oil) As soon as the popping starts, put lid on, and lower heat to medium. Shake pan to keep corn from burning. When popping slows down or when popcorn is at the lid, remove lid and serve immediately. You will not need butter, I promise.

Fake Reuban
1. Heat ½ to ¾ cup of sauerkraut in microwave for 5 minutes or until done
2. Toast 1 slice of pumpernickel bread and cut in half (from a large round loaf)
3. Use Chavre Cheese to “butter” it and/or mustard
4. Place the sauerkraut on bread
5. Take slices of left over or warm Turkey Tenderloins and put on top of sauerkraut and cover with other piece of cheesed bread

Meijers also makes a corned beef that is no-fat and actually quite good. Use the same recipe for a great Corned Beef on Rye (Pumpernickle) sandwich.

Filed under: Recipe Corner on October 31st, 2007 | No Comments »

1. Heat frying pan til it’s hot
2. Brown an infused filet of any of the above on both sides – may need a little bit more olive oil depending upon your pan
3. Pour No fat organic Chicken broth or Heines No Fat Chicken, Pork or Turkey gravey over, enough to cover. Put lid of pan on
4. Reduce heat and let cook for a total of 6 minutes (time to finish frozen vegetables or a salad)

I do frozen green beans with the Turkey Tenderloins. I pour the TT’s and the gravy or broth over the green beans when they are done.

With fish, I brown yellow or green zucchini in the same pan that I am browning the fish and then add the No Fat Chicken broth to the pan with both and cover to finish, about another minute or two. (takes about 6 minutes or less total)

With Laura’s Beef Tenderloins, I either do frozen organic spinach or frozen organic broccoli. Sometimes I put butter and garlic juice in the spinach and a low fat cheese sauce over the broccoli.

I tend to stick with organic and/or free range protein and stay away from farm-raised fish and livestock that has been given antibiotics or hormones. I also stick with the tenderloins as they have the least amount of overall fat, and no trans fat.

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp. Garlic juice

Garlic Pepper

Salt

Mix this up in a small bowl and swish the piece of meat/fish or turkey in it until covered. Freeze, let sit in fridge for a few hours, or use immediately.

When I make this infusion for fish, I substitute Soy Sauce for salt.

Other Dishes Using This Method as the Starter:

Salads

Use any of these infused meats/fishes/poultry on top of salads (Salmon is really good cooked like this on top of a salad) I usually make my own Organic Balsamic Vinegar-based Dressing with herbs, olive oil, garlic juice and garlic pepper or an organic Garlic Tomato Dressing that I get at Costco. I also put cucumbers, tomatoes and Bermuda onions on the salad. Try to use organic dressings with Olive Oil, Sesame Seed Oil, or Grape Seed Oil as the base.
Stir Fry
These infused meats/fishes/poultry make a a great stir fry with Chinese frozen (or fresh if you feel energetic) vegetables in olive, peanut, or coconut oil. (Yes coconut oil, it is so good for you that it could be a supplement)

Italian

Or to the infused turkey or beef tenderloins: Instead of pan frying them whole, dice them up into 1 inch pieces and saute them in olive oil with Italian spices and diced Italian tomatoes, onions and peppers.

Or sauté it in garlic juice and olive oil and add a can of your favorite store bought marina sauce. Simmer for about 5 minutes and put on top of Pasta Nada (a good low carb pasta) or organic pasta made with flax seed, which you can find in the organic food section. Delicious!

Or try the Tofu noodles in the organic food section for even fewer carbs, only 3 grams of carbohydrate per serving and I defy you to find a better pasta substitute.

Filed under: Recipe Corner on October 31st, 2007 | No Comments »