Eating Disorders

Sex is a physical act as much as it is an act of emotion, psyche, and spiritual connection. Engaging in physical, sexual intimacy is a physical closeness that makes many people uncomfortable. Low self-esteem, insecurity, vulnerability, and even trauma regarding sexual intimacy is not reserved for those who might struggle with a mental illness. However, it can be a particularly complicated area for those living with and recovering from eating disorders. Eating disorders are usually talked about with a focus on food, control, perfectionism, weight, and body image. These factors can contribute to difficulty in sexual intimacy. Because sex is so physically close, if someone is at odds with their physical appearance, sex can be triggering. Furthermore, if that physical appearance is still toxically connected to how one perceives themselves (i.e. “today I feel fat, so today I have low self-esteem”), it can cause a deep level of discomfort. The effects of eating disorder on one’s sex life can range from preventing intimacy due to insecurity. Eating disorder behaviors like restriction, starvation, and purging, can deplete the body’s natural energy as well as throw off normal hormonal balance. Finding a desire for sexual interaction can be challenging when there is hardly a desire to eat. The Double Edge Sword Of Eating Disorder Recovery And Sex Recovery from eating disorders is usually successful as a patient starts to normalize their weight, working through underlying issues contributing to the eating disorder, and learn to be more body positive. Working on raising levels of confidence and body acceptance leads to tremendous shifts in perception and sexual desire. Unfortunately, there is still the old programming regarding weight, body image, and being wanted. As sexual desire increases with weight gain, there could be a newfound insecurity in the body. Though the individual has learned to accept and embrace themselves, they are still aware of the shame, stigma, and stereotype which gets applied to the physical form and what is defined as sexually desirable. True Self-Intimacy Before getting intimate with others, recovery demands that we become most intimate with ourselves, in mind, body, and spirit. Eating disorders separate us from ourselves. Through recovery, we learn how to be close with ourselves, our bodies, and our minds, creating a holistic whole self once more. Avalon By The Sea provides primary mental health care for men and women needing to recover from eating disorders. Call us today for a confidential assessment and more information on our residential treatment programs at 1 888-958-7511.

ADHD is commonly mistaken for depression and vice versa. One of the unknown sides of depression is the ability to create cognitive difficulties. Popularly known symptoms of depression include symptoms of being sad, tired, lazy, and without hope.However, all that emotional strain and imbalance in the brain can cause a difficulty in concentrating, focus, making decisions, and just thinking clearly. According to Science Daily, the American Chemical Society is studying rats to find out just how intensely the brain is cognitively affected by depression. Even with treatment for depression, as common symptoms pass and become more manageable, the cognitive symptoms can remain for quite sometime. Having to deal with lack of focus, forgetfulness, and an inability to make decisions is challenging. The pressing extreme emotions of depression can be challenging enough to live with and manage as feelings of sadness can take over. However, not being able to think clearly, remember, or make decisions is even more impairing. Relationships, jobs, schooling, and care taking can be compromised by this. The research suggests that certain proteins are more available in rats without depression than those who do have depression. In simple cognitive tests, rats without depression performed better than the rats who had the depression. Implications from this study could contribute toward advancing treatments for depression to include targeted treatments for cognitive functioning. Supporting Your Mental Health While Living With A Mental Health Disorder There are some practices which can be helpful in sharpening your focus, clearing your mind, and giving your brain more power when you're living with depression. Mindfulness meditation is scientifically proven to change the brain in positive ways and enlarge the prefrontal cortex which is where cognitive functions live. Exercise produces endorphins and is helpful to gaining mental clarity and energy. Depression is also helped by a healthy balanced diet which includes amino acids and omega-3 fatty acids from foods like eggs and avocado. Some studies suggest that the right diet could eliminate negative symptoms of depression entirely. Avalon By The Sea is one of California’s only mental health facilities providing primary care for depression. Our program is centered on mind, body, and spirit, to help facilitate healing holistically and clinically. For a confidential assessment, call 1 888-958-7511.

Mindfulness and mindfulness based stress reduction are helpful therapy and treatment methods for mental health disorders and substance use disorders. Creating a sense of calm and a tranquil foundation aids in emotional regulating reducing cravings, and managing stress. Benefits Of Mindfulness Through The Brain Reducing symptoms of stress is the primary benefit of mindfulness based practices. Depression, anxiety, cravings for drugs and alcohol- symptoms from all of these mental health issues can be found rooted in stress. According to The Big Thing, in one study conducted on the brains of long time meditators during meditation and when they’re not meditating, there is a key difference in areas of the brain associated with stress. Stress comes from the human “fight or flight” response to threats, which produces the hormones of adrenaline and cortisol. The amygdala is where stress primarily lives in the brain. After an 8 week mindfulness course, the amygdala shrinks, as it is shown through MRI imaging. Another benefit of mindfulness based practices is clarity, the ability to focus, make better decisions, and have more awareness in daily life. The practice of noticing and paying attention are an integral part of mindfulness. The MRI imaging found that the prefrontal cortex region of the brain becomes thicker, compared to the shrinking amygdala, after mindfulness practice. Awareness, such as the awareness built during mindfulness practice, as well as decision making and other “higher” brain functions, live in the prefrontal cortex. Blazing New Neural Trails One of the interesting things found in the study, The Big Think writes, is that there are some developments of dualism which indicate the brain changing its relationships. For example, there was more activity in pain-sensing areas of the brain. However,people who meditate reported feeling less pain. “This demonstrates the capacity of meditation to create new neural connections and change how different regions relate to one another,” the article writes. What’s more fascinating is that over time, the brain stops shifting. The benefits achieved through meditation become the “norm” for the brain. Avalon By The Sea knows that the power of the mind can be harvested and used for good in recovery. Our dual diagnosis treatment program is certified to treat both mental health disorders or substance use disorders as primary conditions. For a confidential assessment, call us today at 1 888-958-7511.

Relationship obsessive compulsive disorder is a small and unknown form of OCD. Obsessive compulsive disorder has two main components, as designated by its name: obsession and compulsion. FIrst, the mind finds a fixation and becomes obsessive about it. The fixation can be a trauma from the past, anxieties over the future, or the hyperfocus on the compulsive behavior. When there is no tolerance left for thinking and obsessing, the compulsive behavior is a form of relief and control, bring order to the chaos that is OCD. Applying these characteristics to a relationship causes relationship based obsessive compulsive disorder. According to Health Line, relationship obsessive compulsive disorder, or OCD, leaves one partner in an ongoing cycle of obsessive thoughts regarding their partner. Specifically, they are in anxiety over the relentless doubt they feel regarding the authenticity of their relationship. Concerns about the love being real, the attraction being real, and whether or not their happiness within the relationship is real, distract from the ability to be present in the relationship, as well as other areas in life. The confusion which comes from these obsessive thoughts goes through a pattern. First, there is the doubt and insecurity. Next, comes doubt and insecurity about that doubt and insecurity. For example, if someone were truly happy with their partner than they wouldn’t have to constantly be thinking about whether or not they were happy with their partner. Lastly, there are feelings of guilt and shame for thinking these thoughts and having these concerns in the first place. Feeling remorse, out of control, and continually insecure, the process continues. Treating ROCD There is no tangible meter to gauge how authentically in love or not in love one might be with their partner. Therapy is a process of working through the intangible- feelings. Confronting and overcoming fears which encourage the insecurities of OCD can help release some of the tension. Learning new coping mechanisms for dealing with doubts can help maintain long term recovery. Relationships can be triggering, frightening, and challenging when you’re living with a mental illness. In our residential treatment programs for primary mental health care, we provide relationship counseling for all levels of partnership to help each partner grow and heal. For information on our recovery programs for relationships and obsessive compulsive disorder, call Avalon By The Sea today at 1 888-958-7511.

Clinical style check-in’s at the beginning and end of a yoga session helps the teacher understand where each client is in their day as well as their recovery. Eating disorders are sensitive, dealing with the tedious challenge of embracing imperfections. Often, normal yoga teachers encourage their students to correct their posture, focus on particular areas of the body, and always remind them to keep their core tight. Such language can seem aggressive and triggering to someone who is recovering from an eating disorder. By checking in, a teacher can understand if a client will be sensitive or not to certain language, modifying the yoga sequence accordingly. The check in following the session always reveals a happier note. Most often, clients are relieved, feel more grounded, have a greater sense of connection to themselves and their bodies.

Eating disorders can be life threatening and cause ongoing health complications without recovery. Recovering from an eating disorder is tedious because it involves something that every human needs to survive- food. Most of the world struggles with insecurities about food and body image. It is easy to project that onto someone who is struggling with an eating disorder. Here is a quick guide of what not to say, even when you might be thinking it:

Eating disorders are finally being given the attention they deserve in the media for both men and women. Once reserved for the deathly ill, eating disorder treatment has broadened its horizon. Most treatment centers offer treatment services for eating disorders as co-occurring disorders with substance use disorders or other mental health disorders. Binge eating disorder has become a nationally known eating disorder as research, celebrities, and treatment centers have come forward about its presence. Recently, Harvard University Medical School conducted what is being called the first national census of eating disorders. The survey found that binge eating disorder is the leading eating disorder compared to anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.

New Year’s resolutions can set high expectations which early on lead to shattering disappointments. This is no more true than when it comes to weight loss. January marks six months before “bikini season” and is the weight loss industry’s favorite time of year. Companies, gyms, supplements, and more advertise for the beginning of the year to help everyone make that new years resolution: losing weight. Gym memberships and attendance spike in the beginning of the year, only to dwindle off by February or the spring. Setting high expectations like going to the gym everyday, reaching an unrealistic weight, and more, can be damaging to mental and physical health. What starts off as a resolution can quickly turn into an obsession. Disordered thinking, acting, and eating when it comes to food and body image are symptoms of an eating disorder.

Problematically, causal negative talk about body image during normal conversation doesn’t stay at the conversation. Instead, it follows us and impacts us on a deep level. According to Refinery29, “these comments don't just affect the person making the complaint — studies suggest that so-called "fat talk" is associated with increased body dissatisfaction,” and, they continue to explain, “these types of disparaging remarks from peers "can reinforce those [media] messages to the point that we internalize them." Negative remarks about body image, even when it isn’t about our own, exacerbates a point that society and mainstream media goes out of their way to make all the time. Bodies are flawed and worth being discussed all the time. Additionally, we ought to feel bad about the fact that none of us have “perfect” bodies and likely never will. Here are some of the ways Refinery29 cites to dissect negative body talk to protect yourself and a loved one:

2016 was the rise of clean eating and widespread veganism. Out of the dust of limiting a diet to only healthy super foods came Orthorexia, a new eating disorder that focuses on an obsessive need to eat only healthy foods. Predictions for the health trends, however unhealthy they may be, for 2017 is “Flexitarianism”. New Trends According to The Independent, Whole Foods is citing flexitarianism as the new trend. It’s an easier approach to maintaining a happy, healthy, balanced diet while also making eco-choices. Veganism and vegetarianism might be desireable for someone’s ecological agenda but does not agree with their biological agenda (though many vegans might argue). Instead of trying to diet in extremes, flexitarianism will help people maintain a mostly vegetarian diet while still allowing for, and encouraging, eating meat. Eating flexibly is by no means new or revolutionary. However, in a diet-identified world, it helps to have a name. Going meat free a few times a week or a few meals per day is encouraged for many reasons. Eating more fruits and vegetables in addition to protein heavy substances is good for health. Meat is necessary for many people as a source of iron, protein, and other essential nutrients. However, meat production is terrible for the environment. Many see reducing their intake of meat as a balanced political statement. Quite literally, they can have their meat and eat it too. How To Eat Flexitarian Getting savvy with vegan and vegetarian cooking is easy to do today with so many blogs, Youtube channels, and Instagram accounts dedicated to healthy eating. With a doctor, decide how many times per day or per week your unique body is in need of meat and animal based protein. Plan your meals around when to have meat and when not to have meat. Don’t worry, eating plant based for some meals will not mean only eating salads. Stews, soups, and plenty of other foods can be created from plant based ingredients. Avalon By The Sea supports healthy, balanced eating by providing residents with a personalized nutrition plan and regular sessions with a dietician. Our in house chef prepares locally sourced organic meals each day. For information on our treatment programs, call 1 888-958-7511.

Holidays tend to involve a lot of eating. For those in recovery from an eating disorder, the holidays can be especially difficult. Here are some tips and suggestions to make the holiday season manageable while recovering from an eating disorder.

Men and Women Are Affected By Binge Eating Disorder Men and women receive different assignments of eating disorder based on gender stereotypes. Eating disorders can and do affect millions of both men and women. Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are two of the most well known eating disorders. However, the population of both men and women suffering from eating disorders does not compare to binge eating disorder. Binge eating disorder is the most common diagnosis for eating disorders among adults. Binge Eating Disorder Doesn’t Discriminate Mental illnesses does not discriminate based on gender, race, culture, language, skin tone, weight, size, or shape. Mistakenly, many assume that binge eating disorder might occur most often in heavy to obese adults. On the contrary, binge eating disorder affects normal weight adults, even those with high metabolism and characteristics like athleticism. Compulsive Overeating and Binge Eating Are Not The Same Though overeating is a compulsive issue which affects many, it is not a diagnosable psychiatric issue. Unfortunately, compulsive overeating is not met with the same clinical support as binge eating disorder. There are twelve step support groups like Overeaters Anonymous which provide emotional support and helpful eating plans. Binge eating disorder, however is a psychiatric issue. Binge eating is not the same as overeating. Binge eating refers to involuntary episodes of eating much more than an occasion would warrant, not being able to stop, and experiencing feelings of remorse or guilt afterwards. Binge episodes are not the same as overeating episodes as they are not emotionally based. Binge Eating Disorder Isn’t Just About Eating Bingeing episodes of the binge eating disorder caliber can gravely affect health and wellness. As a result, binge eating disorder impairs quality of life and the ability to participate in one’s life. Signs and Symptoms of Binge Eating Disorder