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Tattoos have become more acceptable over the years but are often only seen as having decorative value. My guest Donna Torrisi has written a book about the connection between tattoos and trauma. While a tattoo sits only on the skin, the meaning of tattoos may be much deeper for some individuals, telling a story of a difficult time in their lives, a loss or a story of abuse. In this way, tattoos are a form of self-expression that can tell you something about the person and their life’s journey. We heal from trauma in many ways…tattoos are one of those ways.

Many people who struggle with food addiction, binge eating, or emotional eating also have money problems – overspending, impulse buying or you may have had a bad divorce that left you with financial problems. In this video, you will learn: 1. About the 13 money traumas and how they may be holding you back 2. Why how you manage your money can be a window into your other life challenges. 3. The difference between being deserving and being worthy and how that affects your ability to attract money into your life.

If you struggle with binge eating, emotional eating and food addiction, you may also have body image issues. Your body image issues may keep you from doing what you want to do in life and keep you from being the best you can do. Think of your body identity as a role or archetype you have chosen to play in your life for the time being until you are able and willing to be your best self. This is the way you’ve learned to cope with being in a bigger body. Are you the rebel, wounded child or sexy mama? Whatever role you’re playing it may be covering up the truth of who you are. In this podcast, you will learn: 1. How identifying your archetype may help you to see your authentic self. 2. How negative self-talk just makes binging, food obsessions worse 3. Why you can’t “hate yourself thin.”

Self-sabotage is common and happens to people from all walks of life. Many people with food addiction, emotional eating or binge eating self-sabotage with food as a way to numb unpleasant emotions or cope with stressful situations. This can lead to feelings of failure and can worsen the behaviors or body dissatisfaction. In this video you will learn: 1. What the connection is between perfectionism and self-sabotage 2. How trauma can be a cause of self-sabotage 3. 4 tips on how to stop self-sabotage in its tracks

Traumatic life experiences, including childhood trauma and the relationships you have with your caregivers growing up, has a direct affect on the nervous system – often throwing it out of balance. An out-of-balance nervous system can make it difficult for you to tolerate your emotions and this then leads to using food (and other substances and behaviors) to numb or manage your anxiety, sadness, fear, anger, and other emotions. In this episode, I talk with Irene Lyon from Vancouver, Canada about the links between trauma, body memories and binge eating, compulsive overeating, food addiction, and emotional eating.

Behaviors such as binge eating, compulsive overeating, emotional eating and food obsessions are part of systems of power that rank human bodies by size and race and create an illusion that health and virtue are obtained by being thin. Being controlled by size and food is still an accepted way of controlling the futures of women, leading them to wait to have the lives they deserve and desire until they can change their size.

You've realized that diets don't work for binge eating, compulsive overeating, food addiction or emotional eating. You've been on a lot of diets and even though you lose weight, it doesn't last. After many diets, you've come to the conclusion that there's more to your food and body image issues than a diet can fix. You feel good about this insight. You may even be working towards taking steps to make peace with food and your body. But why can't you stop thinking about dieting!

Most eating disorders, including binge eating disorder, food addiction, and emotional eating occur in women during their reproductive years. It’s not unusual for someone with an eating disorder to also be pregnant or for relapse of an eating disorder to occur during or after a pregnancy. My guest will discuss some of the issues related to nutrition that occur when eating disorders like binge eating disorder, food addiction, and emotional eating occur in pregnancy. In this podcast, you will learn: 1. What is the most critical time for your baby to get the best nutrition for health and development? 2. What are some of the triggers during pregnancy for binge eating disorder, emotional eating, and food addiction? 3. How to nourish yourself during the fourth trimester.

There's been a lot of talk about whether foods can be addictive or not. In truth, there are a group of foods, called “ultra-processed industrial formulations” that have been engineered in the nutrition lab and that contain high amounts of fats, sugar, and salt. These foods can lead to eating behaviors that are addictive. Studies show that 50% of the American diet consists of these ultra-processed food-like substances and that these foods are a cause of increases in weight, diabetes, heart disease, and other medical problems.

Whether you've been stressed about your health, suffered losses, tired of the quarantine, had financial stressors, working long hours or had a relationship breakup, stress has become a constant irritant for many of us. If you're struggling with binge eating, emotional eating or food addiction, your eating behaviors may be the first sign that you are stressed to the max. When the situation goes on for weeks or months, and the stress becomes chronic, the adrenal glands burn out from chronic production of cortisol and may cause what is called adrenal fatigue syndrome (AFS).

If you have binge eating disorder, emotional eating or food addiction, you may use food as a way to manage your feelings or to numb your pain. Rationally, we know that the hollowness of grief cannot be filled with chocolate cake. We understand that binging on a big plate of macaroni and cheese won’t truly make us safe or loved. But if you have food addiction, binge eating or emotional eating, you may have spent years eating for the emotional/stress reasons, it can be easy to lose track of the proper purpose of food. Now is the time to put an end to emotional eating, to get help for food addiction and to stop binge eating and change your relationship with food and your body.

When you hold a negative picture or are dissatisfied with your body, it can be a significant predictor of compulsive overeating, binge eating, emotional distress, depression, and problems in your relationships. Having positive feelings about your body if you are in a bigger body may be difficult in a culture filled with images of the thin “ideal,” but it’s not impossible.

The ketogenic diet is a relatively new darling of our weight-loss culture. It has been touted as offering significant weight reduction as well as delivering numerous health benefits, particularly for diabetes. The keto diet is a low-carb, high-fat diet that some articles report has been shown to offer health benefits against diabetes, cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease. But is the keto diet just another fad diet that can’t deliver on its promises?

Despite the research, many people continue to look for a "perfect diet" (diet to go on) and cycle from one fad diet to the next, hoping that they will find a quick fix or a solution to their food and body image issues. They are often excited when starting a new fad diet, then disappointed when they are not able to stay on their chosen diet or to maintain their gains. But have you ever considered that you’re going about this entirely the wrong way?

There are over 200 million searches on Google for the term “food addiction.” Food addiction affects a large number of individuals, even though it's not accepted as a true diagnosis (yet) by the medical profession. Using the Yale Food Addiction Scale, 5-10% of the general population test positive for food addiction. Over half of individuals diagnosed with binge eating disorder also meet the criteria for food addiction. When you struggle with food addiction, the basic principles of healthy eating can get buried beneath your beliefs, fears, and obsessions.

Grief is a normal reaction to any major loss. If you've lost a loved one during the pandemic, you may have experienced complicated grief. The normal feelings of yearning and sadness may have been complicated by not being able to be with your loved one or not even being able to go through normal rituals that can bring a sense of comfort and closure. Maybe during the pandemic, you've experienced other serious losses - loss of a job, the breakup of a significant relationship, loss of a long term friendship or you've been diagnosed with a serious illness (including COVID-19).

Are you struggling with food cravings? Well, you're not alone. At least 50% of people experience food cravings on a regular basis. If you have binge eating, emotional eating or food addiction, these cravings can threaten to overwhelm you and lead to unwanted behaviors. You may use food as a way to "self-medicate" your emotions. Essentially, the stress or unpleasant feelings are the “problem,” and eating is the “medicine” that makes you feel better.

The New Year is usually a time when we make resolutions, express our hope for the future, and shake off our past troubles to make a new start at whatever we want to change. But 2020 was a much different and more challenging year!! So, how should you approach THIS New Year? Should we still be optimistic?

When we began talking about the quarantine it was 8 months ago and I'm sure you, like me, had no idea that it would last this long. Because it has lasted so long, I am hearing from people all over the world and also reading the research showing that there are record increases in mental health issues. Social isolation, fears about the virus, home-schooling, working from home, unemployment and financial stress can lead to binge eating, emotional eating and food addiction behaviors. Building resilience will help you get through difficult pandemic/quarantine struggles. As well, many people are finding they have grown in response to their struggle or loss.

You may not be aware that if you have binge eating, food addiction, or emotional eating, your relationship with food may be a mirror for your relationship with money. If you binge with food, you may also be a binge shopper or spender. My guest, Francine Rogers, says she can easily look at a client’s credit report and identify everything about their relationship with money. Both food and money can be used to self-soothe emotional upset, to celebrate, and to numb yourself.

Azure Moyna has written a memoir about her journey to healing from an eating disorder and how her childhood trauma and family dysfunction contributed to the development of her food and body image issues. You will learn: 1. How and why family dysfunction can lead to an eating disorder 2. How writing a book can be a form of therapy 3. The role food plays and doesn’t play in binge eating disorder, food addiction and emotional eating

Midlife eating disorders are increasingly common in women. Some midlife women experience binge eating, compulsive overeating, food addiction or emotional eating. Others may develop anorexia or bulimia. Midlife eating disorders may lead to unhealthy dieting as a way to solve uncomfortable transitions in life, grief and loss issues or other stressors associated with aging. There are many causes of eating disorders in midlife that can include pandemic depression, menopausal changes in body image, perimenopausal depression or anxiety over the future.

In some studies, the association is between 84% and 100% of those with these eating disorders also having depression and anxiety. Binging, food obsessions and body image issues can trigger or exacerbate depression and anxiety. Depression and anxiety can also lead to binging and emotional eating. There are many types of depression including – pandemic depression, seasonal affective disorder and some types of depression unique to women.

Being isolated has pushed us to really encounter a lot of internal issues. Without the mental protections that social interaction provides, some can be susceptible to things such as eating disorders.

If you've been using binge eating, emotional eating or food addiction behaviors or body dissatisfaction as a way to deal with your stress, emotions or to deal with underlying childhood beliefs of unworthiness or unlovability, it is hard to change. Want to know how to deal with stress and food cravings? Want stress relief, food addiction help and an end to emotional eating. In this episode, you will learn: 1. How to deal with emotions without using food as a crutch. 2. Specific actions you can take to deal with stress without using food as a crutch. 3. Why your body is the result not the cause of your problems.

Many of the people I work with - whether it be with anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, food addiction or emotional eating - see their bodies as separate from their lives (and never the twain shall meet). Like the separation of church and state. They don't realize that negative body image is often directly related to what's happening in their lives or what has happened in their lives.

The Anchor Program is an online program that offers a non-diet approach to treating binge eating, compulsive overeating, food addiction, and emotional eating. I wanted to do these interviews as a way to demonstrate the successes these amazing women have achieved in the program and to highlight what "success" means when you take a deeper approach to dealing with food and body image issues.

Dr. Carolyn Ross gets it. The legacy of trauma may span generations prompted by nature or nurture. Dr. Ross has a front row seat to the pain and challenges experienced by patients and clients with eating disorders and addictions.

If you want to overcome binge eating, focusing on preventing your next binge may not be the best strategy. If you have a junk food addiction or binge eating disorder, emotional eating or want food addiction help, it’s time to take a look at what to do after binge eating. In this video you will learn: 1. How to build overcome binge eating 2. Three things you can do after you binge eat 3. What you need to know to avoid setting yourself up for the next binge

Have you ever heard someone say: "The reason I overeat, is because I just love food"? I hear this a lot from my patients with food and body image issues. But when you think about it - food doesn't taste any better if you eat just enough versus if you binge or overeat. So the question is: can you love food without having to eat more than your body needs. How does know this change your behaviors such as binge eating, emotional eating or food addiction? In this video I discuss: 1. How impulsive behaviors around food are driven by deeper needs. 2. What dopamine has to do with your food and body image issues. 3. Why your journey to healing is sacred.

The question above comes from the 1984 movie “Starman” and has stuck in my mind because the answer to that question is what exemplifies what makes Americans great. Protests about the death of George Floyd and the COVID-19 pandemic may be triggering your binge eating, food addiction and emotional eating. In this video you will learn: 1. Four techniques to help yourself stabilize and avoid unwanted behaviors during stressful times 2. What makes Americans a beautiful people. 3. Why your experiences during this time can take you deeper into the work of your own recovery.

Many childhood educators have said: "children are sponges." They soak up everything in their environment - both positive and negative. Did you have anyone in your life who made you feel safe and secure as a child? Did you have anyone who was nurturing, someone you could really trust to be there for you? 1. How do early life experiences prepare or injure your ability to deal with your emotions or cope with stress? 2. How do you build res ilience? 3. How does your family’s dynamic affect your current food and body image issues?

If you’re one of those people who have tried for so long to end stress eating because it’s making your food and body image issues worse, you may be surprised to know that there is a natural stress cure, that will give you stress relief. You will also learn about supplements for stress and 3 simple steps you can use to overcome stress eating, binge eating and food addiction.

Are you getting enough sleep? How are you managing your stress? Are you stress eating? In this video you will learn about why stress should not be ignored as it can cause burnout and how to identify the stress symptoms.

Stress is a big cause of stress eating. If you want to know how to end stress eating, overcome stress eating it is important to learn to manage your stress better. Because stress is the #1 cause of overeating and binging. In this video, you will learn 3 quick tips to help you put an end to stress eating.

Shame and guilt can affect your eating behaviors and can exacerbate binge eating, compulsive overeating, food addiction and emotional eating. This is a very difficult subject and one most of us don’t want to think about. By keeping our shame secret, however, we will remain stuck in the vicious cycle of overeating and binging and body dissatisfaction alternating with more shame and guilt.

Is it possible to overcome the shame, and feelings of failure? Ever blame yourself for something you think you should have done or something you did that was wrong? This can lead to guilt and shame which can make you stuck in a vicious cycle of overeating, binging and emotional distress.

In this video I will be discussing how shame which can start in childhood can impact your eating behaviors, self-confidence and self-acceptance.

Many people with binge eating disorder, emotional eating or food addiction don’t consciously feel they are trying to hate themselves thin, but their food obsession alternating with deprivation, obsessive weighing, compulsive exercise and negative body talk and scale talk are all examples of this. . If you can recognize that you’ve been in this mindset of “hate yourself thin,” ask yourself “how is that working?” Instead, why not try self-compassion.

In this video you will learn that the number one NY resolution is to go on a diet or eat healthier. Many people who make this resolution have good intentions but often don’t take the most basic steps to ensure their success. If you have binge eating disorder, emotional eating or food addiction, what can you do to make sure your resolutions for 2020 stick?

If you are an emotional eater, this problem probably began early in your life. If you were never taught to manage your emotions as a child, this could have put you at higher risk for overeating as an adult. Overeating can unconsciously be a way of trying to change your negative feelings. If you grew up with a lot of toxic stress in your life, you may have found solace in binging on sugar or other foods as a way to cope with your feelings of depression, fear, and shame. That is why overeating are not about food.

Emotions can be called the energy of self-expression. How we express ourselves emotionally becomes part of how others identify us and often how we think of ourselves. But what are you really hungry for? What if your emotions are the breadcrumbs that can lead you to the secret meaning of your hunger?

Healing food, weight, and body image issues, which are often lifelong, requires you to take a journey through the parts of yourself that are at the mercy of your emotions – the part of you that needs to “clean house,” to remove the things that no longer fit your current life that may have been left over from your past.

If you have binge eating disorder, food addiction, emotional or stress eating, you may be experiencing more stress than usual and more difficulties in managing your eating behaviors.

What is the best treatment for binge eating disorder? What are the challenges that keep you from overcoming binge eating disorder? In this video, I will be talking about the 5 points of resistance to overcoming binge eating disorder. Why is the diet mentality or diets in general a problem if you have binge eating disorder? What is food confusion and how does it contribute to binge eating disorder?

What is binge eating? Is binge eating disorder a real diagnosis? What are the signs and symptoms of binge eating disorder. In this video we will discuss all you need to know about binge eating disorder which causes severe emotional distress and can affect all areas of your life. Is binge eating the same as emotional eating? Also learn why dieting won’t fix binge eating disorder.

Not only can chronic stress in adulthood worsen food and weight issues, early life stress can play a potent role as well. Toxic stress in childhood can have an effect on the hardwiring of the brain itself. If you've experienced toxic stress in childhood, your brain is also likely to crave not just sweets but intensity and novelty. If you have binge eating, emotional eating or food addiction, you may have found it difficult to be consistent with your efforts to make peace with food and your body.

“If you are never tested, you won't be prepared.” Research has shown that toxic stress - for example adverse childhood experiences (prolonged and extreme stress without compensatory support) changes the brain - increasing risk for addictions, eating disorders and other mental and physical health issues. However, on the other end of the spectrum, NO stress deprives a child in particular of the brain changes that help them learn emotional regulation and resilience. In childhood, life experiences AND life stresses (when coupled with family support) help the brain develop pathways that allow the child to better respond to stress in the future. The most important life experience for children is how their parents and other adults interact with them.

Health, particularly behavioral health, has become bound up in morality. The term for this is “healthism” based on a philosophy that everyone is responsible for their health but in a way that makes “healthy behaviors” seem to be more morally superior.

For over a decade, beginning with the “Dove Campaign for Beauty,” how women feel about their bodies has been the subject of advertising and commentary in the media. Women have been subtly made to feel shame if they feel bad about their bodies. Your relationship with your body is a personal one. Many women have struggled with this relationship especially if they have binge eating disorder, food addiction or emotional eating. It can be difficult to feel good about your body when it seems that no matter how hard you try, your goals for your body are not being met. Beyond that, there is a movement to advise that you Love your body and at least feel positive about your body. Given the history that many women have with their bodies, including a history that may include bodies that have suffered with abuse or violence, it’s not realistic to jump from having a difficult or challenging relationship with your body to all of a sudden being in love with your body.

The quarantine due to the corona virus pandemic has been stressful for all of us. But for those with binge eating, compulsive overeating, food addiction and emotional or stress eating, dealing with that stress may lead to unwanted behaviors that exacerbate food and body image issues.

Self-talk is that little voice in the back of your mind that keeps telling you that you’re not doing anything right, makes you feel no one can be trusted or is mean to you. Negative self-talk is common in people with binge eating disorder, emotional eating and food addiction. Negative self-talk is part of a pattern that you may not be aware of but that can keep you stuck in the past or in repeating the same behaviors over and over whether you want to or not.

Most of us grow up with rules in our minds about food. It may be that some food are “good” and others are “bad” or that you have to eat everything on your plate. Unfortunately these rules are usually handed down when we are younger and then as adults, we don’t even realize we’re eating from a set of rigid rules that may no longer fit for us.

What do you think of when you think of food addiction? Is it chocolate or donuts or anything sweet? Or maybe you prefer a salty food fix.

If you have a food addiction, you may have noticed that you may do well for awhile avoiding your food fix, but then you relapse and binge or overeat. This can lead to a vicious cycle of restricting then binging then being emotionally distressed about the binge. In this video, I will discuss specific steps you can take to get out of this vicious cycle.

Ready to stop obsessing about food, stop hating your body and put an end to sugar cravings? Are you tired of being at the mercy of your emotions, being unable to control binge eating when you feel sad, mad, glad or angry? It may feel like your emotions are in control and you’re helpless to stop unwanted behaviors from getting out of hand. You can put an end to emotional eating and stress eating. The key lies in being able to identify and change your negative core beliefs? Core beliefs such as “I’m not worthy” or “I’m unloveable” may be unconsciously driving your unwanted binge eating, food addiction or emotional eating.

Are you an out of control eater? Can't stop with just one bite? Well, check out this video as I answer this most frequently asked question: "Why can't I stop eating everything?" If you are binging, engaging in emotional eating or eating under stress, you may feel out of control and hopeless you can change. But there is hope that you can change your binge eating, emotional eating and food addiction that makes you feel so out of control.

Emotional eating is very common and often hard to deal with. The key to understanding emotional eating is to understand the important purpose it serves in your life. Emotional eating, binge eating and food addiction are similar in that they are ways of dealing with unwanted or uncomfortable emotions.

You’re not born hating your body. So what happens to change that? Body hatred can be caused by experiencing weight stigma, being bullied in school or at home or your own internalized feelings that you’re not good enough in your current body. Body hatred, though, is associated with even more episodes of binge eating, higher rates of emotional eating. As well, body hatred can make it feel like you are divorced from your body and that your body is your adversary. You can’t go from body hatred or even body dissatisfaction to body love overnight. Listen to this video to learn what you can do.

If you are an emotional eater, this problem probably began early in your life. If you were never taught to manage your emotions as a child, this could have put you at higher risk for overeating as an adult. Overeating can unconsciously be a way of trying to change your negative feelings. If you grew up with a lot of toxic stress in your life, you may have found solace in binging on sugar or other foods as a way to cope with your feelings of depression, fear, and shame.

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