chapter 1. the stress-eating conundrum. hiraa ebook

8/10/2019 Chapter 1. the Stress-Eating Conundrum. Hiraa eBook

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Ch 1 The stress eating conundrum

There's a reality in life that states, no matter in what location, there's a global epidemic that far

surpasses hunger. Let me call it the stress-eating conundrum.

Does this mean that this condition is more deadly than, say Tuberculosis, Cancer or Diabetes? That

may not be the case. tress is a daily part of e!eryone's life. "ou may get it at home, at wor# and atschool. $t can afflict a layman and a royal man on a similar note. %n another note, if you thin# hunger

in &frica #ills, you may be right but the eact opposite of it happens for millions of &mericans (and

possibly many others in the de!eloped world) which ha!e chronic effects that are *ust as deadly.

+hen you're obese, you may ha!e heart complications, difficulty to perform physical acti!ities and

mental health setbac#s. This can also be true for binge-eaters, anoreic and bulimic. &ll can be due tothat one factor that seems to be connecting it all.

ut come to thin# of it. $s stress the only causal factor in here? ating disorders can, inflict as much

damage as possible as well, so it can be the source of all stress you may ha!e in life pertaining to foodand diet. & !icious cycle that seem to ha!e no beginning nor end.

$f you go bac# to ila and /atie's stories did you always percei!e stress as the factor causing stress?0a!en't you thought of it the other way around too? +eren't they eperiencing eating malfunctions

early on the onset before they were e!en stressed? ust li#e how ila eats and e!ery new opportunity to

sociali2e in the stages of her life had been shaped by how she loo#ed?

That one almost depicts the old rhetorical 3uestion in3uiring about what came first4 chic#en or egg?

+hich is which? Let me ta#e you into a tra!el down memory lane with a bac#ground on both these

concepts that are too intertwined nowadays that they seem so inseparable.

A little backgrounder

tress as a medical term was first mentioned with a 5sychological tag only during the early 1678's. $t

was first used with a wider connotation from the Latin word 9strictus: which means compressed and

the ;rench word 9destresse: or narrowness and oppression.

o these Latin spea#ing countries ha!e found a way to discuss stress away from the medical common

term it is mostly coined with. ut in 5sychological circles, it was ) its use (mainly by


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&noreia ner!osa was depicted in the life of the Dominican Doctor of the Church aint Catherine of

iena who refused to eat food as part of her ascetic de!otions. ulimia was first depicted by the

affluent families of the iddle &ges but 0ilde ruch (16=>) first made an academical compilation of

different case studies re!ol!ing around eating disorders. $t must also be noted that increase in cases ofbulimia and binge eating started during the =8's or 8's, eactly the same time where obesity shot up in

&merica. (most sources came here4 http4@@www.psychologytoday.com@blog@e!olutionary-

psychiatry@A8111A@history-eating-disorders)

ut as it became hea!ily discussed throughout !arious media (scholarly articles, TB and mo!ies),

medical eperts also shone some light regarding its pathology, cures and e!en causes which didn'teactly points to *ust one lump of causes. ating disorders first entered the official bible of mental

health professionals the D or Diagnostic and tatistical anual of ental Disorders in its D-$$$-

< edition bac# in 16= (the same decade depicted earlier).

ut how and when did stress became synonymous to eating disorders and !ice !ersa?

Real People Suffer as you Read

uch to your disdain, stress and eating disorders happen e!en to the best of us. ating Disorder 0ope,

an affiliate of eating disorder organi2ations across &merica, head3uartered in Teas, aiming to sic9promote ending eating disordered beha!ior: with a mission to sic 9offer hope, information and

resources to indi!idual eating sufferers, their family members and treatment pro!iders: has listed a lot

of testimonials from real people mostly women who ha!e had eperienced eating disorders sometimein their li!es and ha!e successfully reco!ered. Common conditions are anoreia, %bsessi!e

Compulsi!e eating and bulimia.

outh Carolina's Department of ental 0ealth e!en construes that there are about million &mericanssuffering from eating disorders while in &ustralia, the pre!alence of eating disorders ha!e doubled in

total figures in *ust a span of ten years from 166E to A88E . $f you *ust carefully loo# at statistical trends

then you'd obser!e that this phenomenon happens worldwide.

ut if you thin# that only regular people eperience this #ind of struggle, you are mista#en. There had

also been a list of famous people and celebrities who succumbed to the disorder, namely /arenCarpenter, 5aula &bdul, /ate ec#insale, /elly Clar#son, &nne eton and /ate +inslet among many

others.

What Science is Telling Us?

+e'll get this in two parts. o far you ha!e been eposed with the stress and eating conundrum li#ethey're two words born together but science may be telling us something else. Deanne pring (A88)

and many other research concentrating on eating disorders tells that it isn't caused by *ust one factor

alone. he enumerated childhood obesity, seual identity problems, genes, parents with food issues andtrauma or loss early in life among many others. he further reiterated that there are a number of things

that ma#e a person !ulnerable from contracting an eating disorder.

There are e!en some studies that correlate religious beliefs with the disorder. $n Dr. +illiam's academic

paper 9tilling the torm of an ating Disorder,: she ha!e opined about how some members of the

Latter Day aints who ha!e eating disorders also struggle with spiritual concerns.


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eanwhile, stress, though not really a disorder, may be contracted by anyone, anywhere. $t is related to

both internal and eternal factors and may affect a lot of different body parts at once. $t can affect the

heart, intestines and brain etc. (+ebD) That's how wide-reaching it is. $t can orchestrate a number ofmany other complications that border mental and physical failures such as depression and hypertension.

arly wor#s of brilliant minds such as Claude ernard (milieu interieur, an early concept of eternalfactors causing stress)F +alter Cannon (coined homeostasisF first to determine stressors are emotional

and physical) and 0ans elye (studied pituitary gland and how cortisol affects the way we react to

stress) all contributed into shaping the term into what it is now (ore on elye's research on the netchapter).

elye's research ha!e actually put stress in a bad light but that was *ust the beginning. 0ow come thetwo terms though sharing no common history ha!e managed to merge o!er time and produce a problem

that must be concei!ed as one.

Stress and Eating disorder: two sides of the sae coin

That is the case at least if you're dealing with eating disorder or stress. ating disorders can happen to

anyone. tress can happen to anyone. !eryone's !ulnerable. "ou see common ground?

ut how can we pinpoint it to the core? ost eating disorders are social in nature (but this doesn't mean

other factors can already be downplayed as stated pre!iously that there are *ust a lot of factors in!ol!edin contracting this #ind of disorder). $f you eamine testimonials you can see floating online or from

people you #now you can always find a lin# for this two.

& woman in her teenage years started abrupt weight loss program due to medical conditions.& mother of one trying to preser!e the perfect image of herself, including body image, all to be

frustrated in the end.

& woman who's crusade to lose weight started after deciding to stop gi!ing birth.There was e!en a !ery creati!e woman who treated her eating disorder li#e she has an on-off

relationship with it.

The buc#et list may not end e!en if this chapter does but do you see a pattern up there? +hen people

get stressed, especially us women, we tend to retaliate with unhealthy eating habits. any women

resort to food as their ha!en. &nd *ust as when they're already eperiencing the !icious cycle of eatingdisorders then they get more stressed in the process.

+hen you're anoreic, the amount of nutrients you ta#e in wanes in the same direction as you restrict

food inta#e thereby not gi!ing your body enough supply to ma#e it replenished. +hen you're purgingdue to bulimia, you rid your body of essential nutrients it needs or it may need due to fear of becoming

fat.

"ou see *ust as when you #now you're stressed, you become so openly !ulnerable to eating disorders.

&nd when you're finally inside the loop of an eating disorder, you maintain destructi!e beha!iors that

result to fatal conse3uences and possibly more stress. +hen stress is present then your eating disorderwill not find its one way tic#et away from your system.

"ou must face them li#e anus, the god of beginnings and endingsF li#e a two-faced deity who would

ensure that you eliminate not *ust stress or eating disorder alone. "ou hit them both and flush them


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away together.

ut belie!e it or not, that case is easier said than done. There are a lot of ways to go about the cure but

if you don't #now what it is you're fighting against then winning might be a far-fetched idea.

chapter 1. the stress-eating conundrum. hiraa ebook

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