Dr. Linda Mintle

Tag: overweight

  • Signs of Compulsive Overeating

    Julie is frustrated with her weight. She has been steadily gaining for months and can’t stop bingeing on candy. The more her weight goes up, the more depressed she becomes. Every night Julie promises herself that she’ll be “good”. Tomorrow she’ll start a diet and get control of her eating. But tomorrow turns out like today–she eats compulsively.

    It’s hard for Julie to tell the difference between physical hungry and eating out of boredom or stress. She hates feeling this out of control and won’t look at her body in the mirror.

    Julie is a compulsive overeater who doesn’t binge eat but “grazes” all day on food. She picks a little here, a little there, until she has grossly overeaten and gained weight. The compulsion to eat is emotionally based but adding physical pounds to her 5’2” frame. Julie reports she can’t get control, vows daily to diet and fails.

    Compulsive overeaters usually:

    · Overeat due to emotional issues and stress, not because they are hungry

    · Diet often because of guilt and weight gain

    · Feel out of control when eating

    · Feel disgusted with their bodies because they are overweight

    · Binge eat or overeat throughout the day

    Another type of compulsive eating is called binge eating. Binge eating is similar to bulimia because the person experiences uncontrolled eating episodes (binges). The difference is that compulsive binge eaters don’t purge. They eat until they are uncomfortably full. Most binge eaters are obese and struggle with weight fluctuations. About 2% of people are binge eaters with about one-third of those people involved in medically supervised weight control programs.

    Look for these signs if you think you may be a binger:

    · Recurrent episodes of binge eating

    · Feel out of control during a binge

    · Eat fast and feel uncomfortable

    · Eat large amounts of food when you are not physically hungry

    · Eat alone because you are embarrassed by how much you eat

    · Feel disgusted, guilty or depressed by the way you eat

    · Are distressed by the above

    · Binge at least 2 days a week for a 6 month period

    · Don’t purge to get rid of the food

    The tell tale sign of compulsive overeating is usually overweight or obesity which can have serious medical consequences. If you or a loved one struggles with compulsive or binge eating, get help now. There are no magical shortcuts but you can get control over food and learn to eat healthy.

  • Male Eating Disorders

    Not much media attention is given to men and eating disorders. One in ten males suffer.

    Not much media attention is given to men and eating disorders. One reason may be that these disorders are disproportionately female. In recent years, however, the number of males afflicted has risen from one in twenty, to about one in ten. Approximately one-third of adolescent boys report bingeing with food.

    Men, like women, are affected by cultural media stereotypes that promote a fit and buffed body as signs of attractiveness and success. But men are more concerned about their shape than weight. Men also are affected by other sociocultural factors such as the pressure of a demanding job market and the changing view of masculinity and gender roles.

    Exercise appears to be a common entrée into symptom development. Dieting plays a role related to playing sports, past obesity, gender identity conflicts, and avoidance of feared medical illness. Boys may begin to diet to lose a few pounds, exercise to lose more weight, and then refuse to eat normally. Exercise is usually the chosen route for weight loss.

    Like women, certain subgroups of men are more at risk. For example, male wrestles have a high proportion of eating disorders. In addition, men who develop eating disorders are more likely than women to have been obese.Clinical symptoms are similar with the obvious exception of amenorrhea.

    Onset of a male eating disorder can begin at preadolescence, adolescence and young adulthood, or adulthood. Men benefit greatly from treatment and are often happy to find someone who appreciates their concerns. They typically have more alcohol related problems and obsessional thinking than female eating disorders. Female eating disorders are more afflicted with mood disorders in addition to eating problems.

    Why are these disorders more typically female? One thought is that males don’t diet as often to control weight. In addition, males increase muscle during puberty and are less concerned about fat than girls. Males want to be bigger and taller. It also may be that eating disorders in males are under diagnosed and underreported since they are known as female disorders.

    Whatever the reasons, it is important to know that males do use food to cope with emotional difficulties. For more information about eating disorders in general, refer to other articles in this section.

  • Why Do I Overeat?

    Question: I know that when I overeat, I gain weight but I can’t seem to stop. I hate how I look and am embarrassed to have people see me in a bathing suit. Why do I keep overeating? I don’t want to but I do it anyway.

    Dr. Linda: First of all stop saying you can’t stop. You can. It just takes becoming a mindful eater–the subject of my book, PRESS PAUSE BEFORE YOU EAT. An eating problem is not like a drug or alcohol problem. You can’t abstain from food and you aren’t physiologically addicted when you eat. But food can become a psychological addiction.

    Let’s face it. Food is soothing and tastes good. Some people feel there is nothing better than food! It is always available, not illegal, can’t talk back, provides immediate gratification, gives pleasure, smells good, tastes good and is enjoyable.

    People overeat for many reasons. A small percentage of people have medical problems that relate to overeating and obesity. Most people, however, overeat out of emotional distress.  You may eat when you are bored, stressed, sad, depressed, anxious, angry, hurt, happy or for any other emotional reason. Food can be a way to celebrate or soothe and numb you from a bad experience.

    Many of my clients overeat when they face conflict and don’t know how to handle it. They are unassertive and swallow their upsets. They might agree to a resolution but secretly be unhappy or upset.  Their low self-esteem leads them to believe they can’t handle problems or stress. Sometimes they lack the skills necessary to do so.

    Sometimes people overeat to protect themselves from trauma. If they have been raped, sexually hurt or deeply rejected, eating may be used to cover up the wounding or ward people off. Perhaps when they were thin, someone traumatized them and now they associate thin with trauma.

    Men and women sometimes overeat to deal with sexual impulses. Unconsciously, they may be afraid that if they had a trim body they would act out sexually, or be the target of sexual advances. Fat can serve as protection and is often blamed for other undeveloped parts of our self. For example, maybe I’m a critical person and that’s why people stay away from me. As long as I’m fat, I can blame their avoidance on my weight.

    Most people aren’t aware they use food to cope with emotional issues. When I ask, “Why did you overeat”, the typical answer is, “I don’t know.” If you think about it hard and long enough, there was a reason for overeating.

    Next time you find yourself overeating, think about what happened before you ate. Were you upset, angry, bored, excited? See if you can identify an emotion that may have led to overeating. The first step in breaking a compulsive pattern is to recognize what sets it off. Then force yourself to substitute some other activity for eating.

    PRESS PAUSE WEEK Introduction

  • The Social Stigma of Obesity

    “She’s fat.” “He’s fat.” “You’re fat!” “I’m so fat.” How many times have we heard or said these phrases in our lifetime?

    America’s obese are subject to tremendous psychological burdens. Obesity may be a medical state but people create the psychological burden associated with it. Often, the pain involves self-hatred that can lead to depression and anxiety, social isolation and alienation.

    There is unbelievable social bias toward the obese. Obese people are stereotyped and often viewed as ugly, lazy, unwanted, unhealthy, weak-willed, uncontrolled, etc. If you are obese, you are less likely to marry and more likely to fall in social class. You are likely to be discriminated against concerning jobs, college entrance and be stereotyped by your physician. Basically you are stigmatized by an unsympathetic society; we’re “allowed” to discriminate against you. Fat jokes abound.  But what does it mean medically to be obese?

    Obesity is an excess of body fat. Little agreement exists on just when body fat and weight become a health issue. (Opinions range anywhere from 5% to 30% above ideal weight.) And to make matters worse, a variety of tables are used to measure ideal weights.  Researchers use the body mass index (BMI) as a measure of body fat and health risk. BMI is weight in kilograms per height in meters. The National Center for Health Statistics defines overweight as a BMI of 27.3 in women and 27.8 in men. Obesity is a BMI of 30 and over. Obesity is referred to as a public health issue because of the associated medical complications leading to morbidity and mortality.

    Obesity is not a psychological condition. It’s a medical condition that has multiple causes, consequences, and treatments. However, obesity can cause or be caused by psychosocial problems. So to ignore these issues is irresponsible.

    Moreover, the stigma against obese people must be attacked. The National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance is one advocacy group trying to do this. Other programs focus efforts on recognizing the stigma, preparing obese people to respond to it, and repairing the damage to self-esteem.

    The next time you are tempted to make fun of someone obese, think about the incredible complexity of his condition and your role in reducing social stigma. You don’t know an obese person’s life story or unique medical make-up. You don’t know how much he may struggle to be accepted.  Stop judging and adding insult to injury. People need to be encouraged to make better choices, not ridiculed. Weight loss is hard work . So next time you see someone overweight, be kind and know that plenty of people will give them a hard time. You do not need to be one of them.