Health is Wealth

Have you ever had one of those days when you feel like things cannot possibly get worse? No matter what you do, you don't feel strong enough to carry on. You start to wonder why on earth things are not getting easier or better. My faith has always played a significant role in my life and upbringing. When I feel distressed, tired, weak, and hopeless, I know that I can turn to God for comfort. In times of despair and weakness, I need to stop and think: what - or who - am I relaying on? Our own strength is limited; we cannot do or accomplish things without Christ. When we can come to this realization, we see that perhaps we were focusing too much on ourselves, and that we lost sight of God.  I am blessed that my writing on this topic has been published on Fr. Anthony's site. You can read the post here - and as always, please feel free to drop a comment there and let me know your thoughts on the topic, any experiences you may have had, etc. Thank you to everyone for th...

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? This is a common phrase we often use when we do not know which event preceded the other. In terms of anorexia nervosa (AN) and various psychiatric illnesses, this phrase is highly applicable. A recent study showed that patients with AN and a mental or psychiatric illness (such as depression, substance abuse, etc.) were almost two times more likely to die than those without another condition . Is this surprising? Well, I suppose it comes as no surprise that having more than one illness increases your risk for death. Nor is it shocking that a psychiatric illness in particular increases this risk. After all, we are all well aware of the effects that mood and emotions can have on our functioning, views of the world and future, and overall health. But on another note, the fact that the risk increases this much is a bit shocking. But to be honest, the numbers aren't the important thing here. What IS important is what we do with this i...