Anorexia Nervosa

Anorexia Nervosa

The mind and body are not seperate, if you ask an anatomist and a psychologist where the mind starts and the body ends and they will tell you that they are interconnected.  Anorexia Nervosa and bulimia are behavioural disorders involving eating, a physiological event in ones life.

Anorexia was first identified in 1874 by Dr William Gull.  The cause of the self starvation is unknown, researchers believe that a combination of hormonal, social and psychological factors are responsible, hence the disease often begins in adolescence when hormonal and psychological change is at its highest.

First physical signs of Anorexia Nervosa include (in girls) menstruation ceases, fatigue, hyperactivity, nervousess, dry skin, intolerance to cold and hair loss.

Professor Bryce-Smith of Reading University hypothesized that a zinc deficiency might be an impotant factor in some cases of Anorexia Nervosa.  Zinc supplementation kits for deficiency-testing and treatment are now widely available.  A greatly improved diet in which zinc is stressed, also a diet rich in B-complex vitamins and in vitamin C, which aids the absorption of zinc.  If you suspect your loved ones - increase the zinc in the diet.

So what is a Zinc Diet?

Shellfish - Fresh oysters - the most zinc rich food with an average of 450mg. per kilo  Other shellfish are whelks, winkles, crab, clams, shrimps, cockles and mussels - but with todays pollution of heavy metals contaminate with lead or cadmium may outweigh the advantage.

Muscle meats - Lean beef, the dark meat of chicken liver - particularly calf's and pig's, oxtail.

Fish - specially canned sardines, pilchards, herring roe, cod, mackerel and dover sole.

Eggs      Wheatgerm - All the wholegrain cereals.    Cheese, fresh cream.

All nuts - Especially brazil nuts, pecans, almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts and peanuts.

Other Superfoods are:-

Brewers' yeast, wheatgerm, wholegrain cereals, bread and flour, yogurt, bananas, carrots, herbs and spices.

Danger Foods are:-

All refined foods, tea, coffee and alcohol.

But there is no point planning menus as you should encourage them to eat anything rather than nothing.  The anorexic, like the alcoholic are devious and dishonest.  Bullying them into eating will not work, and will just add to the stress.  Affection, security love and support are a far better way to encourage them to eat. 

Now the best thing to do is not have any junk food in the house, always have a readily available supply of easy-to-eat, high nutrient -value snacks and nibbles like:-

Homemade sugar free muesli enriched with wheatgerm, soaked in fruit-juice and served with low-fat yogurt and fresh fruit.

Home-made bread and muffins with extra wheatgerm and sesame seeds.

Home-made soup using lots of root vegetables and parsley, liquidised to a smooth cream nthat can be drunk out of a cup.

Purees of carrots and other green vegetables, such as courgettes, broccoli, spinach.

Yogurt, enriched with a teaspoon of brewers' yeast (available from any health food stores), a teaspoon of wheatgerm, and a teaspoon of honey.

Low-calorie fromage frais and add the same as yogurt (above)

Baked or stewed apple pureed with yogurt and ground almonds

Small dishes of dried fruit, nuts and seeds - leave these lying around the house.

Fish pates - especially made from oily fish like kippers, herrings or sardines

Oatcakes baked with extra oatgerm

A lot of the above are low calorie foods remember something is better than nothing.

Health

Health is a massive subject and I’m a firm believer that the more human intervention with our food the unhealthier it is. If you can grow your own all the better, you know exactly where they have come from and how much (hopefully none) pesticides they contain.

Poor nutrition and a diet of too much fat, sugar and salt are the culprits of unhealthy living today; we need to increase our intake of fruit, vegetables and whole-grain cereals for a healthy balanced diet, ready-made meals are full of salt and sugar so choose carefully, and always read the labels. I know when you work full time preparation of meals can be hard, but for your health I hope you can at least reduce the amount of ready-meals consumed and eat more vegetables and fruit.

Heart disease is the major cause of premature death 70% of UK adults over 40 have high blood pressure and cholesterol levels – leading to overweight which is increasing every year – All this through unhealthy eating an unhealthy lifestyle.

Another statistic is that one in five men and half of all women suffer from osteoporosis (brittle bones) and also an unhealthy diet can increase the risk of type 2 diabetes, cancer and some digestive problems.

But we can turn this around – it’s never too late, we just need to educate ourselves with understanding our bodies, our food intake, nutrition and exercise. I can help you with this very important process, but remember it’s a whole new lifestyle, which will increase your energy levels, this will lead you onto a healthy life style that we all deserve and need. But this is no quick fix, it won’t happen instantly so have patience and above all enjoy.

First job is to go and look in your cupboards and pull out all the munchies that you have, crisps, chocolate unless dark as this is good for you (in small quantities) if you have a friend or a member of the family that you can store these foods with – great, if not then lock them away in a box and hide the key. I think it a waste to throw these in a bin and you do deserve a reward now and again.

This healthy life style is not just for you include the whole family in this project;
It’s always nice to share.

Now having three children I do realise that it can be difficult getting some of them to change their diet, so I have included juices this is a fantastic way of getting vitamins and the 5 a day of fruit and vegetables recommended for our dietary requirements. If you can invest in a juicer then I suggest you do.

Keep watching this space as I will update regularly with articles, recipes and juices. Being vegetarian for 35 years most of my recipes will be vegetarian but you can adjust and add meat but with only lean meat, as who am I to preach to you that you should not eat meat, but please try the vegetarian option as I hope it will surprise you, and also eating too much meat is not healthy on the digestive system.

A healthy body starts with what you have on the inside, how you think and feel is directly affected by what you eat. It has been proved that eating the right food can boost the IQ, it can improve your mood and your emotional stability, what makes a high performance body is what you feed it on – kind of like a car the better grade of oil you use the better the performance.