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How Do I Stop My Bulimia?
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Bulimia nervosa, or “emotional eating, ” involves using food as a coping mechanism to help you feel better. Typically, this condition has nothing to do with physical hunger and everything to do with relieving or suppressing uncomfortable feelings and situations.
Bulimia is one of the most common eating disorders that has a lot of adverse effects on the personal and social life of sufferers. It is interesting to know that 2 out of every hundred people have bulimia. In these cases, a person eats much food and then feels ashamed and guilty. Because he is afraid of getting fat, although this disorder has been observed in all ages, teenagers are at a higher risk.
One of the things that should be considered about bulimia is that this disorder is usually chronic and affects the affected person until the end of his life. As a result, its side effects will always cause mental harassment.
What are the symptoms of Bulimia?
People who suffer from Bulimia are often troubled by their high weight and feel ashamed of their body shape. Of course, it is essential to mention that occasional overeating does not mean having a binge eating disorder. If the following symptoms are observed in a person, there is a possibility of suffering from bulimia nervosa:
- Overeating and more than usual
- A person continues to eat until he feels remorse, but after overeating, he is still hungry.
- eating alone; Because a person feels ashamed of overeating in public
- Lack of self-confidence and dissatisfaction with body shape
- Refusal to participate in friendly gatherings and social activities
- People with bulimia will vomit immediately after binge eating or eliminate this amount of calories through vigorous exercise. However, people with binge eating disorders; do not burn calories. Therefore, these people suffer from severe overweight.
Can binge eating disorder be treated?
Binge eating (BED) is a disease. Therefore, it needs treatment and help from a specialist. If you go to a specialist and talk about your problem as soon as you see the symptoms of this disease, There is a possibility of treatment. Do not forget that severe cases of BED can sometimes lead to death. Psychologists and psychiatrists have specific treatment methods to treat this disorder and use various tools to achieve the desired result.
In that regard reading the article “Medical Conditions That Cause Morbid Obesity” will be useful.
In the first step, cognitive behavioral therapy is usually used. It means that the person suffering from this disease will gain more understanding about his thoughts, feelings, and overeating through conversation therapy and speaking frankly and openly about his problem. The therapist may then teach you about thought patterns and eating behaviors. At the same time, this method offers you tools to deal with the anxiety caused by your physical problems and excess weight.
Sometimes, anti-depressants or anti-anxiety drugs are prescribed to deal with overeating. In most cases, effective and successful treatment of overeating will be a combination of various treatment approaches.
How to prevent bulimia?
We want to introduce some simple but beneficial solutions to overcome bulimia:
Increasing the number of meals and reducing the amount of food per meal. For example, you can eat small meals every 4 hours
Do not forget breakfast
Increasing the volume of meals by adding fiber to them. Pay attention to the consumption of vegetables in meals.
related: “Diet And Exercise Plan For Obese Men.“
Use fresh fruit instead of dried fruit because it has fewer calories. For example, three teaspoons of raisins are equivalent to a container full of grapes in terms of calories.
Be sure to use protein in your diet because you will be less hungry.
You may need to read the “Top10 High Protein Snacks For Pregnant” article
Bulimia treatment
In addition to the methods suggested in this article that we mentioned earlier, other things are very effective in treating bulimia. Some of these methods are:
- Replace binge eating with other activities.
Although food cannot always be avoided, when stress is high, and food is around you, you need to find other ways to relieve that stress.
Here are some ideas for dealing with this situation:
- Walk for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Practice diaphragmatic breathing (abdominal breathing) for 3 to 5 minutes.
- Drink a glass of water. Add your favorite fruit juice to it to make it taste better.
- Call and talk to a friend or family member.
- Write about what upset you.
- Do some stress-relieving yoga poses like standing forward bend, butterfly pose, triangle pose, or legs up the wall
- Grab an adult coloring book and your favorite colored pencil or pen, and get creative and de-stress.
- Take medication.
- Read a chapter or two of a book or solve a table.
- Keep your hands busy knitting, drawing, making, or squeezing a stress ball.
- Be physically active.
It does not matter if you run or walk outside or pick up a yoga mat and do yoga. Moving your body and increasing physical activity is one of the best ways to reduce stress.
Exercise not only helps your body stay healthy but also calms your mind. By reducing stress, physical activity reduces the chance of suffering from the following problems:
- blood pressure
- Heart disease
- obesity
- Chronic headaches
- sleep problem
- Control the connection between bulimia nervosa and depression
Researchers have found that depression and binge eating are closely related because some people use food to cope with depression symptoms. These people find that food can improve their mood, even if only temporarily. So they turn to food to reduce depression.
Treatment of bulimia nervosa with fluoxetine is recommended for these people. In other words, fluoxetine improves depression by increasing serotonin, an anti-stress hormone, and reduces people’s need to overeat.
- Practice meditation and mindfulness.
According to the American Heart Association, daily mindfulness meditation, relaxation, and deep breathing exercises can help prevent stress before it happens.
Start by devoting 15 minutes daily to one or more of these activities. Add 5 minutes to your daily weekly routine until you reach 30 minutes.
Drugs for bulimia nervosa
Lisdexamfetamine (Vyvanse) is FDA-approved for the treatment of bulimia nervosa. However, sometimes doctors use some other drugs to treat this condition, including anti-depressants, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), bupropion (Aplenzin, Forfivo, Wellbutrin) and topiramate (Topamax).
Herbal medicines against bulimia nervosa, treatment of bulimia nervosa with traditional medicine
Lifestyle modification is the most crucial thing traditional medicine emphasizes for treating any disease. Modification of sleep, food, physical activity, and possible constipation are at the top of all treatments.
In the next step, herbal medicines are usually prescribed to control stress and strengthen the nerves. Infusions of lavender, hyacinth, lemon balm, and other herbs are on the list for treating bulimia nervosa with traditional medicine.
Conclusion
Obesity has become a significant problem in modern societies. Bulimia, also known as “emotional eating, ” involves using food as a coping mechanism to help you feel better. The decrease in self-confidence and the feeling of shame caused by this disorder affects the daily life of the sufferers. The solutions for this problem mainly include psychological solutions. Some techniques help people to control their overeating. In addition, in the case of mental illness such as depression, some medicines are prescribed.
Therefore, it is better to get the help of experts and start a healthy and new lifestyle to eliminate the symptoms of this disorder as soon as possible.
Dr.sanaz bellucci
I am Sanaz Bellucci , a dentist. In this electronic magazine, I publish my collection of research and studies on various topics related to health and beauty that you may face with it.
You can also share your questions of interest with me so that I can give them complete and comprehensive answers. stay with me.
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