Health is Wealth

It is no secret that Christmas is my absolute favourite time of the year . I love the Christmas songs and hymns, the decorations, TV specials, etc. I love staying home on a cold winter night and spending time with my family, watching a classical holiday movie. Of course, t his time of the year can also be stressful for many of us. There is always the rush to try to get everyone's gifts and not go bankrupt in doing so. Others worry about the New Year or their resolutions. Others are concerned about their weight changes during the festive season, having to reconnect with relatives or friends or coworkers that are challenging, and so forth. For me, the holidays are about spending time with people I love and care .about. It is as though this season gives me permission to feel care-free, to not worry about all the problems that may be going on in. There is just something incredibly relaxing and calming about Christmas...perhaps it is the feelings of love, warmth, and peace associat...

Your body gets you to places. Your strong legs keep you walking - even running when necessary. Your strong heart pumps blood night and day to keep you alive. Your liver metabolizes substances and excretes toxic chemicals through your kidneys. Your lungs supply the much-needed oxygen. Your arms lift up heavy things, and your hands write stories or type assignments. Your eyes see the beautiful things around you, and your ears heart the glorious sounds of nature. Your lips allow you to communicate with others, and your nose helps you smell the sweet scents of nature. Your stomach digests the food that you eat, and your intestines do the same. With an eating disorder, nearly all of this is impaired. Your muscles become weak and it becomes harder to move, run, or exercise. Your heart becomes weak and it is harder to pump blood effectively. Your brain cannot concentrate because it does not have enough nutrition; it thus becomes harder to concentrate. Your organs are lacking the nutrition...

What does it mean when we say that a patient is 'non-compliant' with his or her treatment plan? Usually, this refers to the fact that they are not following what they should be doing to manage their health conditions. Of course, we can see how frustrating this can be for healthcare professionals to deal with. After all, how can we make patients better if they aren't even doing what they should be?! The issue, however, is much deeper than what appears on the surface. T he key to working with a patient who is seemingly 'non-compliant' is to actually reframe the situation - and to understand that 'non-compliance' needs to be explored. First, let's consider the fact that 'non-compliance' means that the patient is not doing what we told them to. Well, this alone is problematic! Patients need to be at the CENTRE of our care . Therefore, if we prescribe them a treatment (this could be a medication, a lifestyle change, etc.), and they are not moti...

I love to write. When I wrote my first book a few years ago, it was a long and tiring process. But my passion for sharing information and my experiences in words drove me to continue to write, page by page, until I had an entire book! I also love to journal. Writing down about my vacations, school year, or even just my day is fun for me. I like to look back on my journal and read through what I did two or three years ago - it is quite nostalgic for me! We've talked before about how sharing or expressing our emotions is important. When we talk about our feelings and label them, we feel better. We are better able to cope with our experiences and to handle difficult emotions. What about writing down our emotions? Does this have any effect? Well, this study  is one example that shows that writing down our emotions can actually have important effects on our mood and functioning. In this study, participants were about to take a math test. Half the group were given a piece of p...

Why is it so hard for patients with ED to choose recovery, make a plan, and stick with it? Why can't patients simply decide that they will get help, enter into a treatment program, and start eating? There seems to be evidence that patients with ED may have a hard time planning their meals/food intake ahead of time . While they could do this well in all other areas of their lives, making decisions and plans about their meals/recovery was harder. Are patients stupid or dumb because of this? No. It is simply that their brains have not had to think about eating in so long. So, making plans for recovery is something new to them. And new things take time to get used to or to master. Why is this important? Does it really matter if meals are planned beforehand? Well, yes. Kind of. Imagine this: if the patient is anxious about food intake, it is already difficult to eat. Now, it is time for the individual to eat. And there are so many options to choose from! Instead of thinking, ...

'Why is recovering from ED so hard?'. It can be difficult to understand why and how eating can be so difficult for someone. If you have read around this blog, you will likely have noticed that I am very interested in the brain/hormone changes that occur with ED. You will have also noticed that there are many of these changes, thus partially accounting for the changes we see in people who battle EDs. Well, yet another study now gives us more insight into why eating for ED patients is so hard ( http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/eat.20937/full ). This study found that in patients with ED, eating does not stimulate the 'reward' centre in the brain (the dopamine system, DA). In people without ED, eating causes DA release, which makes our brains realize that it is 'happy' or 'good'. As a result, our brains learn that food = happy and food = reward and food = good. But, what if our brains DID NOT release DA when we ate? What would h...

Stop what you are doing now, and answer this question. How do you feel right now? 
 This is probably a lot harder to answer than you may think. Maybe that is because right now, nothing is truly happening. But try answering the same question when you've just found out that you may be laid off work. Or that your best friend is in the hospital. Or your parent has a car accident. Or you failed an important test. What are the feelings associated with those situations? Why is it important to label how we feel? Why do we even bother with putting a word to our emotions? Well, interestingly, labeling our emotions is actually a lot more important than many of us (myself included!) once thought. This study  is a great example of how labeling emotions can have positive effects. In this study, participants who were scared of spiders were asked to either label an emotion (ex. I am anxious about being near a spider. I feel scared that it will hurt ...