Eating Disorders Can Eat Away Someone’s Life

Tags

Adults, Beautiful, Beauty, Eating Disorders, Self-Esteem, Self-Worth, Teens, Types and Signs of Eating Disorders, Unrealistic Expectations

Last week was Eating Disorder Awareness week (Feb. 21-27), and a lot of people don’t know much about eating disorders. A lot of it has to do with how complex it is, and how every person who struggles from it is different. But one thing that unites them all is low self-esteem and self-worth.

There are 3 main types of eating disorders.

1. Anorexia Nervosa:
   • Food intake is too low leading to a weight that is dangerous.
   • Has an extreme fear of gaining weight and will obsess in order to not gain weight.
   • Cannot see the severity of the situation of weight gets to a dangerous low.
   • (National Eating Disorders Association, 2015)
2. Bulimia Nervosa:
   • Has episodes of eating a large amount of food , followed by actions to prevent weight gain and rid the body of their food (purging/self-induced vomiting, using laxatives, etc.)
   • When this behavior continues, they begin to feel a lack of control during this binge-purge actions.
   • (National Eating Disorders Association, 2015)
3. Binge Eating Disorder:
   • Behaviors include episodes of ingesting a very large amount of food, but without the obsession/behaviors to prevent the weight gain.
   • Sense of being out of control with these binge behaviors.
   • Feeling shame and/or guilt after the binging behavior.
   • “Indications that the binge eating is out of control, such as eating when not hungry, eating to the point of discomfort, or eating alone because of shame about the behavior.” (National Eating Disorders Association, 2015)
   • (National Eating Disorders Association, 2015)
4. Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorder (previously known as Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (EDNOS) from DSM-IV. Below is the direct quote from the National Eating Disorder Association website.
   • “A feeding or eating disorder that causes significant distress or impairment, but does not meet the criteria for another feeding or eating disorder.”
   • “Examples include:

   • • Atypical anorexia nervosa (weight is not below normal)
     • Bulimia nervosa (with less frequent behaviors)
     • Binge-eating disorder (with less frequent occurrences)
     • Purging disorder (purging without binge eating)
     • Night eating syndrome (excessive nighttime food consumption)”

Beauty has a lot to do with eating disorders. Our society now has an unrealistic view of what beautiful is. If you google “beautiful women” and go to images, you will see a lot of (half-naked) women with flawless skin, large breasts, small waists, and curvy hips. Here is a video of a commercial that only aired a few times from Dove’s Beauty Campaign, but it captures how bombarded we are by the media.

But hey, guess what!?!?! IT AFFECTS MEN TOO!!! When you google “beautiful men” and go to images, you will see men with their shirts off, six pack abs, large arms from working out, and perfectly square jaws. Someone not affiliated with Dove made their own “Onslaught” video for men/boys. And it’s just as accurate.

Beauty is just the tip of the iceberg! It’s how it starts, affecting their self-esteem to believe they are not beautiful and need to diet or workout more.

But iceberg’s always go deeper…

There are many things that can result from, or bring on an eating disorder. For example:

• Their self-worth is low already from abuse, bullying, or family relationships.
• A large part of an eating disorder has to do with self-control. They get anxious when things change, or lots of things come up at once and they need to feel like they have control of something: their body and what they are doing to it.
• They are currently going through depression, or another mental health disorder, and a there’s a trigger of what someone can say/do. For example, a teen could be struggling with depression and a friend says “Wow! You eat a lot!”

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If you know someone, or you yourself is struggling with an eating disorder do not put it off as nothing. This disorder could get worse and can even result in death.

Some physical signs you can see is:

• Obvious weight lost (usually a dramatic amount in a short amount of time)
• Hair loss
• Extreme fatigue and weakness
• Obsession with food and calorie intake
• Denial of physical hunger
• Progression of food rituals: rearranging food on the plate to make it look like they ate more, or having to eat foods in a certain order.
• Consistent excuses to miss a meal
• Amount and/or length of exercise has increased: and will stick to a routine no matter the weather, time of day, or even if there is an injury.
• (National Eating Disorders Association, 2015)

Keep an eye out for abnormal behaviors for that person. This disorder is serious. Want a scary statistic?

Anorexia is the most common pursued eating disorder, and “between 5-20% of individuals struggling with anorexia nervosa will die. The probabilities of death increases within that range depending on the length of the condition.” (National Eating Disorders Association, 2015)

As the condition lengthens without treatment, many can believe that this is “just who I am.” It can be hard for those struggling with a chronic eating disorder (without treatment) to start over on who they are as a person: it’s a blank slate to them, which can increase anxiety. Prevent this problem and have them receive treatment early on!!!!

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Again, if you, or someone you know, is struggling with an eating disorder have them get help immediately before this condition gets worse!! Therapists can help them build up their self-esteem and self-worth, and so can you! Tell them how beautiful they are inside and out, and teach them about the unrealistic expectations of beauty at an early age.

Help your child, your friend, your family member, or yourself build a positive self-esteem: both emotionally and physically.

 

 

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References:

National Eating Disorders Association. (2015). Anorexia Nervosa. Retrieved February 2015, from National Eating Disorders Association: http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/anorexia-nervosa

National Eating Disorders Association. (2015). Health Consequences of Eating Disorders. Retrieved February 2015, from National Eating Disorders Association: http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/health-consequences-eating-disorders

National Eating Disorders Association. (2015). Types & Symptoms of Eating Disorders. Retrieved February 2015, from National Eating Disorders Association: http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/types-symptoms-eating-disorders

 

 

What’s Your True Color? Part 2.

Tags

family, friendship, kids, marriage, marriage tips, parenting, parenting tips, personality color, personality type, relationships, spouse, True Color

  In our last post we discussed what each color is like, in this post we will talk about what you can do to help with parent/kid, employer/employee, friendships, and spousal relationships.

The most important part of these two blog posts is to remember to take a step back, recognize and acknowledge the others perspective. Different colors can work together, and have a positive relationship successfully if both are open to understanding each other.

Parenting is hard in itself, but add having a parent and child having two different color personalities can add stress.

For Parents:

If you have a Blue child:

• These kids are very imaginative so they tend to have a hard time fitting into the structure of school. You can help with homework by making it creative. For example: if they come home with math homework, lets say adding and subtracting, bake cookies together and use the baked cookies as inspiration. “If you have 10 cookies, and I take 4 cookies away, how many cookies are left?”
• Blue kids feel the need to be unique and authentic. This can either show through their personality, or they use their physical self to be unique (such as clothing or hair). Your child will feel complete if they are able to express themselves.
• Kids with this personality color do better with encouragement, rather than competition. Consistent words of encouragement as simple as “great job!” will help keep their self-esteem positive.

If you have a Gold child:

• These kids tend to fit into the structure of school pretty easily considering they feel comfortable with rules and admire authority figures. But these kids can struggle if they do not have an academic routine. To help out at home, create a schedule that they can enjoy to follow everyday.
• Gold kids needs to feel useful and they value family and traditions. Have your child help you with chores on a daily basis, such as making dinner. This will help them feel secure and valued within the family.
• Children with this personality color succeed with routine and organization. They will also succeed if the family appreciates how they contribute to the family. Thank them for helping daily on different chores or duties.

If you have an Orange child:

• These kids learn through hands-on experience rather than by sitting and listening. Orange kids tend to have the hardest time in school because of this. Try helping with this at home by creating that hands-on experience: if they have a science project to do, go out and get  the materials needed to do the experiments with them at home. By having them see and feel what is going on, they will get a better grasp of understanding rather than sitting and doing homework through reading.
• Orange kids need variety! Without fun and excitement, they get restless, which tends to have others think they are troublemakers. Help your Orange child by keeping them stimulated, have them join different sports teams or different clubs. Orange kids love competition and love learning new skills.
• Kids with this personality needs constant excitement and fun. Keep this alive in them by doing different activities with them while they can enjoy learning to new skills. Plus you get to spend quality time with them and you might learn that you enjoy something you never thought you would.

If you have a Green child:

• These kids are very intelligent, and seem to be older than what they actually are. In school they love achieving in subjects that requires mental stimulation, but can appear to be stuck-up because they question authority. Green children question authority because they need to respect their teachers before actually learning from them. They are not looking to be snotty, they are looking for knowledge and answers to further expand their intellect.
• Green kids can get inpatient with routine and drill from school structure. After school take them to the library so they can challenge themselves by learning new subjects. Or buy them different books to study new topics at home.
• Children with this personality constantly seeks knowledge. Holding them back to study and read the same content over and over again will make them feel unsatisfied with their potential for learning. You can help your Green child by learning new topics with them: go to the library together and research on something neither of you know about.

If you’re not sure how to help your child, ASK THEM! Keeping an open communication with your kids will help your relationship no matter what personality color you are!

For Spouses/Families:

If your spouse/family member is Blue:

• They can be emotionally sensitive to family situations and actively avoids conflict or competition. Blue personalities often put the needs of their family members and loved ones before themselves. Focusing on others needs can make them forget their own, help them by spending quality one-on-one time with them. They love to listen, so when spending time together share feelings, beliefs, and dreams with each other: blue personalities love connecting on a deep and emotional level with people.
• The parenting and disciplining styles can be subjective sometimes due to their emotional sensitivity. Sometimes Blue’s are inconsistent with their disciplining because of how they are feeling that day. To help as a spouse, or friend, have the family meet together so all of them can discuss their thoughts and feelings on the situation. This will help because Blue’s like a democratic style that can bring in all family members so that everyone can feel fulfilled with their relationships within the family.
• Blue’s believe in self-expression and promoting a positive self-esteem. This belief coexists within themselves and promoting this in their children as well. They feel the need to be an important part in their children’s and spouses lives. Show your appreciation as a spouse, or family member, often: compliment them on what they do for their family and how you appreciate them as a person.

If your spouse/family member is Gold:

• They want to be viewed as responsible, hardworking, and dedicated to their family or marriage. They value family traditions and needs to be appreciated for all they do for their family. Just like blue personality, show your appreciation often. Gold’s are also very orderly and expect their family to be as well. If you say you are going to do something, follow through or they will feel let down. To help with a Gold spouse or family member, help with chores, follow through with chores and tell them you appreciate them often.
• The parenting styles of Gold’s is that they believe “work before play.” As a family member, help Gold’s by following through on responsibilities and helping them out with stuff around the house before you “play.”
• They appreciate it when you show your love through doing things for them.

If your spouse/family member is Orange:

• They love experiencing new adventures with loved ones. So go out and try to keep up with your Orange spouse/family member! Try new things and experience it together. Who knows, maybe you’ll learn that you enjoy something in the process!
• Orange personalities do not have a specific parenting style. They believe that their kids should be obedient, but they want them to go out and experience new things, and be the best they can be at anything they desire or are passionate about.
• They like a home that is friendly and more relaxed. They do not mind if the house is messy, but they absolutely do not like routine. If you have a Gold and an Orange relationship, work together to compromise between routine and change.

If your spouse/family member is Green:

• Green personalities value intelligence and knowledge. Take family outings to different museums or events so that they and their kids can learn about new things.
• Green’s parenting style is very clear-cut and concise. They use informative critique to use as a tool to use for their kids to understand their actions and consequences. They prefer logical and objective parenting, rather than emotional, and will reward their kids for their achievements.

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No matter what color you are, everyone can successfully work together! Do you have any tips that could help others? Tell us in a comment!!

All of these colors are beautiful and unique: EMBRACE yours!

 

What’s Your True Color? Part 1.

Tags

authenticity, Blue, Carl Jung, colors, David Keirsey, Don Lowry, duty, Gold, Green, Isabel Myers, Katherine Briggs, knowledge, Orange, Personality, personality color, personality type, skillfulness, strengths, True Color, value, who you are

Once upon a time in the late 1970’s, there was a man named Don Lowry and he created the True Colors Personality test. He studied different psychologists such as David Keirsey, Isabel Myers, Carl Jung, and Katherine Briggs to understand how different personalities can work together. He wanted to improve interpersonal communication and relationships by having others understand how and why others act the way they do.

The four colors of personality are Green, Blue, Orange and Gold. Take the quick assessment below to figure out what color you are:

Before taking this assessment, remember there is NO RIGHT personality type. You are who you are and embrace it (or learn about it)!

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If you are Green then you are:

Intellectual, theoretical, philosophical, complex, cool/calm/collected, you can never know enough, you tend to be perfectionists you like to work independently, you always strive for improvement ,and you explore all facets before making decisions.

Others may see you as arrogant, cool/aloof/unfeeling, critical and fault-finding, devaluing relationships, an intellectual snob, or stingy with praise.

But remember that your strength is your KNOWLEDGE! You feel best when you are problem solving and when your ideas are recognized and then implemented. Your idea of fun is to come up with solutions to problems that require your analytical thinking.

Your leadership and management style is logical and you communicate in a matter of fact style. You stress the work and needs of the organization over the staff issues. You meet to make decisions, not plans. You set high standards that everyone should meet and you are open to change if based on data. And you always seek ways to improve systems.

What stresses you out is lack of control, lack of independence, lack of options, small talk, subjective judgement, and emotional displays.

As a Green you tend to value answers, intelligence, and explanations. Foster inventions and technology. And promote effectiveness, competence, and know-how.

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If you are Orange then you are:

Spontaneous, energetic, competitive, a risk-taker, you like to test limits, you tend to be impulsive with the mindset of “just do it”, you are inventive, a non-conformist, and seeks adventure.

Others may see you as irresponsible, not able to stay on task, uncontrollable, indecisive, disobeys rules, and goofs off too much.

But remember that your strength is SKILLFULNESS! You need freedom to take immediate action. You possess a zest for life and test the limits to best express yourself. And you take pride in being highly skilled in a variety of fields.

Your leadership and management style is open. You welcome change and are always open to new ideas. You show appreciation easily and in many ways. You work in the here and now, expects quick action, and expects people to make it fun.

What stresses you out is deadlines, rules, redundancy, criticism, abstract concepts, and being stuck at a desk.

As an Orange you tend to value skills, finesse, and charisma. You dislike rigidness and regulations and express optimism, eagerness and confidence.

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If you are a Gold then you are:

Detailed-oriented, loves to plan, helpful, trustworthy, punctual, predictable, you value order, you are loyal, believe in procedures/policy/rules, you strive for a sense of security and you value family traditions.

Others may see you as rigid, boring, system-bound, unimaginative, uptight, stubborn and predictable.

But remember that your strength is DUTY! You value traditions, you provide support for the structure of society, you are steadfast and loyal, and you are very generous.

Your leadership and management style is to be the backbone of the organization. You establish policies, rules, and procedures to keep things efficient. You are also supportive of team efforts and likes to provide feedback. And you expect people to play their roles and to follow through.

What stresses you out is incomplete tasks, ambiguous tasks, disorganization, irresponsibility of others, non-conformity, and changing of details.

As a Gold you tend to value dependability, accountability, and responsibility. You respect loyalty and obligation and you promote groups.

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If you are Blue then you are:

Natural caretakers, passionate, cause-oriented, honest, communicates easily, strives for peace and harmony, is sensitive to the needs of others, have a need to feel special, you like to motivate and encourage others, and you are cooperative rather than competitive.

Others may see you as overly emotional, too nice and trusting, soft,  naive, too tender hearted, and a pushover.

But remember that your strength is AUTHENTICITY! You seek to express the inner you. To you, authenticity and honesty are valued more than anything else. You enjoy close relationships, you tend to be sensitive to subtlety, strong spirituality (not necessarily religious), and making a difference in the world is very important to you.

Your leadership and management style is very people-centered. You treat your staff like they are family, and you value every person within an organization. You show appreciation easily and personally. You like to work to develop others potential, and you then expect others to use their potential. You expect others to express their views. You are democratic, flexible, and an open listener.

What stresses you out is too much criticism, conflict, insincerity, lying, rejection, placing “the system” as a priority before the people, too much conformity without having outlets for your own expression, and being compared to others rather than being looked at as an individual.

As a Blue you tend to value compassion and empathy. You dislike hypocrisy and deception. You express vivacity, enthusiasm, and inspiration.

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 Those are the four colors in a nutshell. If you’d like to look at how these personality colors can help with relationships (including parenting, romantic relationships, friendship, or at work), then take a look at Part 2 (coming next week)!