Men Hiding Eating Disorders Too

Today I've published an article on my website contributed by Anthony Organ who is interning at a journalism project called The Conversation. Nice name.


You will find it published here http://eating-disorders.org.uk/men-get-eating-disorders-too-guest-blog/


I wish a had a tenner for all the men I've met who have eating disorders.  Not in treatment mind you, journalists ask me if I am seeing more men in treatment and I say no I don't, but I meet them everywhere else, at dinner parties where they confess their struggles or in my day to day life outside the office.


They are remarkable for hiding their struggles; maybe because they do feel ashamed at their lack of control over their food and their weight. They hide their struggles inside exercise compulsions, marathon running, daily visits to the gym to work out, taking lifestyle drugs or steroids, purging - but not thinking how serious this is - you name it, I've seen how they hide their terrible struggles with control of food.


I think it will always be the same despite all the publicity; looking into the future I can't really see that it will change, men finding a million terrible ways to control their eating behaviour but never accepting that they are out of control.  It's really good that it has all come out into the open, like homosexuality.... but I still cant envisage a time when guys will willingly come forward for treatment if eating begins to rule his life.


So if you are a guy reading this blog, go and check out my website, if you don't want therapy we can offer you coaching to put your eating and body image difficulties behind you. So that you can be happier and more effective in your life.

Barbie Doll In The Family

My 3 year old granddaughter has fallen in love with her first Barbie doll; given to her by someone else of course. She has a beautful pink dress and is called Princess Dayna.

Until now, the Barbie has been known to us as she-who-shall-not-be-mentioned; the toy equivalent of Lord Voldemart. She who is the cause of body image problems in young girls and the one who stimulates anorexia and bulimia. The doll with breasts and a BMI of 13. If she was a real woman she would probaby be dead by now.

We tried.; we swore that no Barbie doll would cross our threshold. We bought ragdolls with real size bodies and we bought boy dolls and pirate ships. To no avail.  Delilah wanted a fairy doll with wings and asked Santa for one at Christmas. I found a long legged Fairy Barbie in our local department store and refused to buy her, so Santa honoured her request with a curvacious Princess Belle.  We hid the Barbie, but our grandchild hunted for her day after day. We gave in.

So I got to thinking; what is the appeal of this Barbie thing that eating disorder professionals despise. Is she really responsible for all the bad press she is getting in the eating disorder world?

Perhaps but perhaps not.  She is certainly easy to carry around and it's very easy to move her different parts. That's part of her hand-appeal.

I think that we have given the Barbie too much influence. We have been looking for something to blame for the self worth issues faced by our daughters and for the growing appeal of breast enhancements and liposuction. Perhaps first we need to look at ourselves, the TV programmes we allow our kids to watch and the examples we set them with our fat comments, silly diets and excessive exercise habits.

So perhaps in the right home environment Barbie and Ken could be benign. Just a nice little dressing up toy for girls and boys. Or am I wrong?

Ghrelin Or Gremlin - To Coin A Phrase

Title with acknowledgement to Richard Robinson
Did anyone see last nights Horizon Programme about Obesity .... the ultimate facts?

The programme pointed to some distinct differences between people in terms of their suceptibility to overweight, with focus on two hunger and satiety hormones, ghrelin and Pyy3-36. The programme suggested that bariatric surgery would correct the appetitive brain and make fatty sugary foods unattractive.

Having watched the programme, I feel that it was unduly reductionist. For example the distinct differences between the hunger and satiety hormones ghrelin and Pyy may have been caused by overeating and may not be endogenous. There are many other less well understood appetitive hormones which play a role in eating.behaviour.


The brain changes in bariatric patients affecting reward systems and the drive to eat high fat/sugar foods might well be influenced by gut function. Bariatric patients do tell me that they feel transformed by their operations. However the programme did not inform us about the cons of surgery.

I have sought the opinion of someone who is overweight and not an obesity professional, who didn't find this programme very useful. He said, I don't want surgery, is this the only thing that I can do?

It might be useful to have people believe that obesity is "not their fault". There are differences between individuals in terms of genes, life experiences, cognitive function, maternal eating habits in pregnancy, emotional resilience, environment and physiologcal makeup. So obesity treatment will remain complex and personal. One day there may well be a brave new world where each child showing risks for obesity can be fitted with a gut implant to control their appetitive brain. Until then, the battle against our fat cells continues.

Obesity Surgery: North Staffs NHS Trust & Mr Condliffe. Barking Up The Wrong Tree?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-14084455

This gentleman has been refused obesity surgery and is appealing the decision of the North Staffordshire NHS Trust. He claims that he will die if he doesnt have it. The Trust says that he isn't fat enough yet. Many people overeat to gain weight so that they can qualify for the surgery. Then they have to undereat to prove to the Trust that they are capable of managing their diet.

Heyho.

Mr Condliffe who wants the surgery needs to understand that the surgery isn't a panacea. If he has a bypass or the gastric sleeve his diabetes will go away and he will lose a lot of weight for a while. He will have to eat a very modified diet and he won't be able to turn to the jam butties very easily if he is stressed. If he doesn't sort out his relationship with food, he could get in  trouble down the line.

On the other hand if he has a gastric band, it may be a total waste of money.

North Staffordshire NHS Trust could have saved itself a great deal of time and money if it had paid The National Centre for Eating Disorders for Mr Condliffe to have an eating disorder assessment. This would have cost them about £55. If Mr Condliffe is eating for comfort a great deal, a course of eating disorder treatment would have gone a long way toward dealing with his weight problems and also his diabetes. His family would also benefit from the knock on effects of his counselling - in terms of their overall lifestyle and his ability to exercise.

Who is to blame here when someone gets into such a fix? Is it the GP who treats the diabetes but doesn't provide the help for the underlying problems with food? Is it the Trust who doesn't see that a course of counselling costing, say, £500 - is far cheaper than everything else? Why is everyone barking up the wrong tree?

Would someone please find a way to get this Blog to North Staffordshire NHS Trust and to Mr Condliffe and I will offer this gentleman an eating disorder assessment free of charge. Call 0845 838 2040 or email admin@ncfed.com