Food Addiction

Obesity in the news this week…and the kids are back!

Posted by Meredith Terpeluk on August 18, 2011 / Posted in General Interest

There is just too much to cover today so it’s all going in. First of all, had a great run over on Notre Dame campus this morning. The kids are starting to show up. The parents are carrying their stuff in, the retailers in town are getting ready for the college madness, and the Notre Dame band is playing in the parking lot. Bring it! Going to be speaking in a few of the girls dorms this September, and at St. Mary’s…looking forward to it.

In Obesity news…

Here’s a big shocker that came across my twitter @Psychcentral. The article is titled “Cultural Messages Lead to Fat Stigma.” (Click on article here.) If this is surprising to you, news alert – this is not new. This is just another challenge in the obesity debate, actually a pretty serious one. The cultural message in society is the umbrella that makes those who struggle with weight hate their bodies. I’m pretty sure half the reason we say, “Do I look fat?” to those we love is because culture is putting that pressure on us…like that person we’re asking is the authority on what is fat for our society…If you struggle, do not let this news keep you down. Let it be an opening to not beat up on your own willpower. You’ll get to read more in my book about how this is just one factor of many, and how you can empower yourself by knowing all the things that influence you. The message of society does not get to determine your self-worth.

Also this week, I’ve been seeing the news about whether or not all obese people should lose weight. Click here for an article about it on cnn.com entitled, “Should all obese people lose weight?” According to that article, these two studies that came out Monday “suggest reframing suggest reframing the way medical practitioners look at overweight and obese patients. The studies question the notion that BMI and weight determine health — even when someone is severely obese.”

I’m not expert on either of these, nor am I a doctor. But I’ll tell you that if you had taken my BMI 15 years ago, you wouldn’t have gotten the whole picture of my health. If you told me to lose weight because my BMI was high, I probably would have – and then gained it back. Why? Because it wasn’t about the number on the scale or what my BMI was – it was about my emotional attachment to food, my unhealthy relationship with it that no one knew about – not even me at that time. What am I getting at? Well – if someone is knee deep in a food addiction, or they are showing signs of depression about their weight and the number is going up – I’d say, red ALERT. They are at risk because I do believe that your mental state is a huge predictor of your physical state. I would not discount that relationship with food the patient has, although I know this isn’t something doctors really get into. But it’s an important factor. There are plenty of people who are overweight and healthy. They workout. They aren’t ashamed of their bodies. They have a healthy mental attitude. Those people are in great shape. It’s the people who struggle with more mental stuff that I’d watch out for, the people who are very depressed about their weight, or a circumstance and the number on the scale keeps rising, and the disease risks start compounding. That’s when you’ve got a serious issue on your hands…

Addiction as a brain disorder, my thoughts and experience…

Posted by Meredith Terpeluk on August 17, 2011 / Posted in General Interest

The American Society of Addiction Medicine has made something very clear this week and it’s all over the news. It’s on msbnc.com, ” Addiction now defined as brain disorder, not behavior issue.” It’s on yahoo.com, “A brain disorder, not just bad behavior, ” and it’s on The Fix, “The Dramatic New View of Addiction”. It’s everywhere and I’m excited about it.

Addiction isn’t just a willpower thing, or a behavior thing, it’s a brain disorder. A doctor from the National Institute on Drug Abuse says that, “The behavior problem is a result of brain dysfunction.”

Now I’m not a brain surgeon or scientist but I’m glad to hear they are getting this message out there. Why you might ask? Because it’s time for people to stop looking down on those who struggle with addiction and realize it’s got something to do with their brain. And more people who struggle deserve the opportunity to change rather than the fear of changing out of fear of what others will think.

When I was a little girl my grandmother would say, “The trick is to just have half of what’s on your plate.” Do you know how hard that is for a food addict? Or you try not to drink and then when you pick up a drink you want more, or you pick up sugar and you want more. You can’t just tell an addict to stop doing something. Our brains just don’t work that way, especially if we’re in the middle of it. When I was in college, I did not want to drink because I knew what it would do to me. But instead of taking care of myself, I drank more because I thought it was my fault that I was always out of control with it. I thought there was something wrong with me because I couldn’t just drink like everyone else. If I knew as a kid, that my brain just worked a little differently – or before I got to college that alcohol may not agree with me? I don’t know for sure, but I think it would have made a difference in my choices. Did I listen to my Dad when he told me the gene was in our family? No. I just tried to prove I didn’t have it. Would I not have given into peer pressure? Probably not. But if it was more accepted on college campuses and in society in general, I probably would have been more willing to take a step back and make a different choice. I probably would have sought some help if I knew I could get it…

But you know what? I found this out when I did, when I got into recovery and I’m so grateful for it. I’m grateful that this organization is making it known this the idea that this is NOT just a willpower or social issue – is awesome. More people deserve freedom from their addictions instead of public scorn. They deserve to get their needs met, not go further in their addiction because they are ashamed of it. Do I think we can make it an excuse? No. I think it’s just another thing that can help us know ourselves better, more evidence that we don’t have to blame our willpower. More evidence that we CAN get help for our addictions if we struggle with them…

New Link Found Between Obesity And Insulin Resistance

Posted by Meredith Terpeluk on August 03, 2011 / Posted in General Interest

New Link Found Between Obesity And Insulin Resistance.

I am SO glad that scientists found a link between obesity and insulin resistance because I’ve learned that I struggle with it myself. It wasn’t until recently that I realized it but it’s been totally empowering that I have another reason to make healthy choices.

This past year when I was working with Curves and the Cleveland Clinic creating a lifestyle and behavior program called Curves Complete, we taught coaches about insulin and what too much of it does to your body. We talked about Diabetes in a very general way, which really if you think about it – only the people at risk for it or that have it, pay attention to it. So we tried to simplify it in the curriculum we wrote. But my part in the process was really bringing the real life perspective and the motivational piece to help women make their own changes and so I want to share with you my real life perspective on how it’s affected me.

I’ve got a wonderful doctor at the new Physicians Holistic Health Alliance, Dr. Uthman Cavallo, MD, FACOG, OB/Gyn. We met a few months back and discussed the whole me including my physical and mental health, which I loved. I talked about my food plan and how I pretty much stay away from flour and sugars and eat whole foods because I can get so easily triggered. So he decided to have me do a blood test for my insulin.

So about two weeks ago when I got the call from him about my test results I was surprised, but I also wasn’t. He told me I’m insulin resistant and then I’m just under the mark for being pre-diabetic, not THERE but almost there. That means the hormone in my body called insulin is less effective when lowering blood sugars, which would explain why sugars make me nuts! lol

But the results came as a shock to me because I’m pretty active and eat mostly whole foods. But then I remembered that the gene is in my family. My grandmother had diabetes and so I thought, okay I’m at risk for it. This isn’t something I have to fix within myself (like I used to love to do). This is something that is just in my genes, like my addiction. So he asked me to write up a food journal for two weeks and so I did. Interestingly enough it made me more aware to what felt like it was spiking my blood sugar.

So the doc and I talked earlier this week and he basically said, you’ve got a sensitivity to grains and carbs and suggested that I limit it to minimal that i need so I don’t feel deprived and and try to get it mostly from fruits and vegetables. Even more important – keep my protein UP, I would do a lot better. That is so important because I know that if I were eating a diet of donuts, bagels, and Burger King I would be starving ALL the time. Pasta? Forget about it. Protein is so essential for my diet it’s not even funny – for both my physical and mental wellbeing.

Best part is that he said to me he doesn’t want me doing any Atkins, he just said he wants me to set a cap on refined sugar and grain. He also talked about alcohol and it made me so grateful that i don’t touch it because that could just make the whole thing worse.

Here’s the kicker. If I didn’t already know about the affects of sugar and flour on my body from my experience in treatment, I wouldn’t have probably been so open to what Dr. Cavallo had to share. If I didn’t know that it already makes my cravings go up and how serious that is, I wouldn’t be able to make the link now that my sugars going up affects my insulin levels. I know that I don’t get satisfied when I eat processed stuff. It just makes me get in my head and makes my stomach want more. The mental and physical affects just aren’t worth the aggravation. Doesn’t mean I’m perfect about it, but I know mostly what to steer clear of.

So I can tell you that it made me feel empowered to know that I’m a bit insulin resistant and that there is a way I can eat that takes care of that and I’m already on the road to it. What a gift. So I hope when you are thinking about what you put into your body, you check out your insulin levels, even if you don’t have diabetes but especially if it runs in your family.

A Conversation about Food Plans with Theresa Wright, MS, RD, LDN

Posted by Meredith Terpeluk on July 28, 2011 / Posted in General Interest

When I was riding back from Lake Michigan this weekend, I had a revelation about how I can serve you, my reader even better. One of my dreams is to take all the experts that I know in the field of health, wellness, obesity and addiction and build a Healthy Voice network for you to get educated. But in order to get to that place, I’ve got to start bringing you into the conversation. So every week I’m going to have a blog dedicated to a conversation with what I’m calling a Healthy Voice Insider – someone who gets that there is more to this national problem than the weight. I want to bring you into the conversation so that you feel like you are in it with me….So here’s the first one:

I was talking to my friend Theresa Wright, MS, RD, LDN on the phone Tuesday. She owns a practice called Renaissance Nutrition in Philadelphia and focuses on the treatment of addictive and compulsive eating disorders. She prescribes food plans for her clients who struggle with food to help them stop manipulating the food and start living. One of the things we often talk about is the benefit of food plans for those who struggle with food the way her clients do.

When I work with people I don’t prescribe a food or exercise program. I help them get to the things that are holding them back so they can break through and learn to live a full life. I’m a complement to whatever people are doing exercise/nutrition-wise. So for me it’s important to work with women like Theresa who can provide that grounding device of a food plan for the ones that want it.

She said, “The food plan is what takes the argument of your addictive voice down a notch. It’s a solid base.” She writes her food plans in pencil because they aren’t supposed to be carved in cement.

I always talk about how it helps me not have to think about the thing I used to obsess about the most – food. I know in the past, if I was at a friend’s house and they bought donuts, I could easily make that my breakfast. But today, I now have a food plan and I know what that donut will do to me for the rest of the day. It will physically bother my stomach. It won’t give me the energy I need to last me through my day and they way my blood sugar works (which can seem nuts), it will shoot it up so high that it will actually make me hungrier. That’s why I value my food plan, because I don’t have to make that choice. I know what I need to keep me going. Does it mean that I’ve never had a donut? Nope. I remember last year I tested the old munchkin’s I used to eat as a kid. I had one and thought, “Wow, SO not as good as they used to be.” It just showed me how much power I gave those things as a kid and they just don’t hold that same power for me today.

Sometimes people hear food plan and they get fearful so I asked her what she would tell folks who fear it. She said she asks them, “What’s your biggest fear? Try it for three days and see.” She said, “What we’re really scared of is not that it won’t be enough, but it won’t get me to the weight I want.”

She calculates the food plan closely and listens to what her clients say carefully. She is fairly sure that if they follow the food plan it will take them to the weight they want to be at.

You know what it makes me think of? That issue of control. We want to control the only thing we can- our food. So giving that control to someone else is scary stuff. Man, I know when I went to treatment I was terrified! But I believed that others knew better than me because my way just wasn’t working anymore. In fact, it was making me nuts!

Like I said earlier, food plans aren’t everybody’s thing. I know plenty of people in recovery who use mindful eating and it works for them. I was reading Sunny Gold’s book again last night and she was talking about how she changed her relationship with food. She talked about her “food plan” and how a lot of people in her support group used it. For her, she created her own that made her feel sane and she walked through her fears with food at her own pace. That’s what worked for her. Everybody is different. But if you think you are obsessing about the food too much and you just want something that works for YOUR body type and schedule and life – I’d check out the food plan idea.

I’ll talk next week about some other mindful eating programs that are wonderful. But I know my food plan works for me. Do I do it perfectly? No. It’s my food roadmap and I walk through my food fears with a power greater than myself. I no longer have to give power to the food that I used to and I’m grateful the food plan could help me with that.

Here’s Theresa’s Website http://www.sanefood.com/index.htm if you want to get more information. Next week will be a conversation with Michelle May, MD, author of “Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat,” so check back in!!

Why Food is Deadlier Than Drink | The Fix

Posted by Meredith Terpeluk on July 07, 2011 / Posted in General Interest

Why Food is Deadlier Than Drink | The Fix.

I meant to post this article last week. But I’ve been busy watching all the fascinating comments people have posted on the bottom of it and stepping away from the chaos of people arguing over whether or not 12-step recovery works. I know it works for some and not for others. I also know it works for me, deep down in my soul. I don’t need a doctor to dispute whether they believe it or not. I know it because my life has gotten better.

On the article, the author is speaking to which one is deadlier – the food or the drink. For me, you could argue it all day long but to me they are the same. I’m blessed that I treated them together and I treat them both today by working a program. One thing I’ll also say is that I think there are two kinds of people – you either struggle in your relationship with food, or you are amazed at people who do struggle. I’m one of those people in the first category. I have to navigate food every day with the help of my Higher Power so it can be a little more complicated that alcohol. I can’t avoid places that have food or cut it out of my life. It’s a reality in my life that I have to learn to live with – which is exactly why I created the Healthy Voice tool for those on the walk with me.

I know that my food addiction is just as deadly as the alcohol and like this guy, I’ve seen food addiction kill. People joke about food addiction. It shows up in weight gain, in people’s behaviors with food, in obesity, in fast food restaurants, in gastric bypass clinics, in diet centers. It’s no joke. If someone has gone through something traumatic and they are gaining weight because they are eating over it, they deserve more than to be in the trance of food that is so much like alcohol it’s not even funny.

I hope that those who struggle can find support in those who go there with them whether it’s in the rooms of 12-step or in another form. But we certainly can’t do it alone. We need a strong sail to navigate the wind and storms and we need to learn how to operate it or else we’ll be sailing along letting our unhealthy relationship with food try to stop us at every wave.

My two-cents on this new USDA MyPlate

Posted by Meredith Terpeluk on June 03, 2011 / Posted in General Interest

Kudos to Mrs. Obama for taking another initiative on our unhealthy eating behaviors with the new My Plate at www.choosemyplate.gov.

Funny, when I saw it all I could think was “Here we go again!” I was having flashbacks to one of my first days on the President’s Council on Physical and Fitness and Sports at the Department of Health and Human Services. USDA was launching the Food Pyramid at a press conference over at the department and we were partnering. Denise Austin was with us to announce it. Ah, the good old days.

We launched it then (or, USDA did) because the pyramid needed a facelift. I assume that’s why Mrs. Obama and the USDA launched it again – needed a facelift. It’s almost like someone behind the scenes is thinking, “If we can just update the pyramid, maybe that will get people to eat better.” I think it definitely will give people a template that they can remember in their minds or throw a copy on their fridge for the whole family to see.

But here’s my two-cents. First of all, I’m not even going to get into the dairy industry factor, the portion sizes question, or the fact that there isn’t physical activity in the equation anymore. I’ll leave that political stuff to the nutrition political people.

But, as I’ve always said on here, love that Mrs. Obama is all over this obesity issue. I wish that was the case when I was at the White House. But I left because I knew that all of these things like the food pyramid, the dietary guidelines, the physical activity guidelines were just that – templates. None of them, nor the work I did in partnership with HHS, USDA, and Education was going to get to the root of the problem. I had way too significant of a relationship with food to dumb it down to something as simple as a pyramid. I don’t expect USDA to get into why people eat the way they do. But as a writer and coach whose battled with that issue myself and even worked on it at these highest levels of government, I can’t not touch on it.

Think about this.If someone is totally emotionally attached to their Oreos or physically addicted to some other processed food – ain’t no chance they are going to stop it. They are at Point A. They look at Point B (myplate) and think well, that’s great but how do I get there? They are so entranced with whatever food behaviors they are in now – that they haven’t the foggiest clue how to get to the healthy stuff. It’s like holding up a sign 20 miles down the road that says “Just do this and you’ll be fine!” But you’ve got 300 pounds holding you down, an eating disorder telling you to restrict, or a food addiction that is much more powerful than a desire to eat healthy. That’s not everybody – but it’s more than you think.

There are too many people attached to food in unhealthy ways who don’t know how to get from Point A to Point B. We can talk all we want about nutrition and fitness but how are we going to get them to change? We need to meet them where they are at. I want to sit next to that person whose got that myplate picture in front of them and they are thinking, “It’s just too hard” and talk about what is blocking them because I can tell you – there is a helluva lot more blocking them than just the making the right choices.

But, that’s why I left government. That’s why I blog on this stuff because I know there are people like me out there who just need to get past their mental blocks and their habits that have been ingrained for years and years. THAT’s what is going to get people to change – meeting them right where they are at – not telling just telling them where they need to be.

Psychology Today Article: Making my case for eating disorder as addiction

Posted by Meredith Terpeluk on April 28, 2011 / Posted in General Interest

The article is titled, “If Food Addiction is Real, How Do We Treat Eating Disorders?” by Marcia Herrin and Nancy Matsumoto. It’s a conversation between Nancy and Chevese Turner, CEO of Binge Eating Disorder Association about whether or not food addiction is a viable treatment for Eating Disorders. I responded and as you can see I’m pretty passionate below. Check out the article and Marty Lerner’s response as well….

Treating my BED as an Addiction gave me an amazing life

Submitted by Meredith Terpeluk on April 28, 2011 – 9:04am.

I am a graduate of Milestones and a life coach. I am a recent board member of BEDA and Chevese and I have had discussions about the different treatments of our eating disorders. I am recovering cross-addicted food addict. It was when I got into treatment for this at Milestones that I finally let GO of the idea of weight. I realized I had a disease of the mind and body.Before that I was doing Intuitive Eating and that alone didn’t work for me. I needed structure. I needed to learn about how my body reacts to processed foods and alcohol and get myself off of it. Today, I work a 12-step program which has given me an amazing life. It’s not about the food for me, it’s the attachment to it. I find FREEDOM in having a structured food plan and thankfully I can combine in it with mindfulness with some of those foods that used to make me crazy. I do not live in extremes. I just know what works for me and what doesn’t. It’s a learning process every day. It’s a way of life and I’m grateful I have a 12-step program, a relationship with my Higher Power, an understanding of how my body works and I’ve done major work on the trauma that created my relationship with food. It’s got nothing to do with the weight. In fact – the message I teach is to take yourself OFF the surface and go beneath. I DO know how difficult life is when food is a problem and I’ve even created a tool called the HEalthy Voice to help people navigate their triggers and the roadblocks in addition to whatever help they’ve gotten from medical professionals and a Higher Power. We all need a guide. We all need something different. We just have to find out what that is. I’m grateful for me that it was going to treatment for my food addiction.

Conquering Food Addiction

Posted by Meredith Terpeluk on January 19, 2011 / Posted in General Interest

Check out this interview with my friend Michael Prager, author of “Fat Boy, Thin Man” in Washington Post today. I am so glad it hit the Washington Post to raise more awareness. Food Addiction is a real thing, I believe. It’s also a very controversial thing because so many people believe it can’t be possible. But for those people who can relate to Michael, and know it in their heart? There isn’t a doubt in the world that can stop it. Michael and I are actually going to be on a panel next week in Houston at the Food Addiction Professionals Conference together talking about “The Process of Recovery”. It is a truly fascinating arena for me because it’s helped me so much in my recovery and I love to pass on the knowledge. I also know that it’s a very small field, just one potential part of the whole obesity epidemic and it’s important to me to educate about it. You never know who it’s going to help, like it helped me!!

“Craving for alcohol linked to obesity”

Posted by Meredith Terpeluk on January 05, 2011 / Posted in General Interest

This afternoon, I saw this article, “Craving for alcohol linked to obesity” on msnbc and thought to myself – thank you for researching this!!!!

“People with a family history of alcoholism, especially women, have an elevated risk of also becoming obese, according to a new study. And the link between the two appears to be strengthening — the risk of becoming obese, for people with alcoholics in their family, is higher now than in the past, the researchers said.”

So you know there is alcoholism in your family. You either watch it every day or you just know you aren’t really supposed to drink cause it’s done bad things in your family. So you eat and you eat. And you gain weight, and you feel like crap and you keep craving sugar and carbs. Then you keep gaining weight. Then you diet. Then you get older and you finally have a drink and the drink makes you crave more sugar and bread and so you gain weight from the beer and all the extra food your eating. I know they say pot makes you munchie but who agrees that beer does the same thing?!

So then you wonder – why can’t I stop?

So you go for a while longer and just keep doing it over and over again and never quite figure it out. Well, I did for you. I went to treatment and found out that the family addiction gene was in me and I just couldn’t see it because I was trying to pretend it wasn’t there for so long and also hiding behind my food addiction. (Cause it’s legal!). I also learned that alcohol is a MAJOR trigger for my food addiction and it causes me to lose control in a lot of ways. Not a place I want to be anymore…not worth it.

I know food addiction is very controversial. I’m not here to make everybody a food addict. What I do know is that knowing it can be THE most powerful tool you can ever give yourself (once you get past the label of it) – if you think you might be one. What I also know is that when I spoke at a conference this year, a number of people told me that’s what worked for them. When I met a woman this summer who couldn’t figure out why she couldn’t stop her brother from dying of alcoholism recently, she realized on her own that she had what he has with food and you can see the light shine forth in her eyes! She could immediately relate to him and it changed her. It doesn’t work for everybody, but it does work for a lot of people. I’m so glad this study was done. I hope more research is done on it.

Thoughts on the World’s Fattest Woman: Terri Smith

Posted by Meredith Terpeluk on December 10, 2010 / Posted in General Interest

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1337077/World-s-fattest-woman-Terri-Smith-told-Diet-die-hitting-50-STONE.html

This woman deserves to live a healthy life and celebrate it with her husband who loves her so much. But she’s stuck. She gets told that she has to lose the weight or she’s going to die. So they are putting her on a weight-loss regime, which is great. But they are missing one thing. She needs to learn how to change her behaviors. It’s something they are probably passing up - meeting her where she is at, helping her understand how she got there (mentally, physically, spiritually) and how to get back. They aren’t taking into account that she is totally in the dark. She’s got blinders on and there are SO many people who suffer from morbid obesity who are like this, it is unbelievable.

In one article I can see how her unhealthy voice tries to tell her to keep eating, and how her Healthy Voice through these physical problems is telling her it’s time to stop. But the docs don’t know how to tell her because they don’t know all the reasons why she does it. They only see what it’s doing to her. So – her eating is out of control. Why not teach her how to change her behaviors to get out if it? But that’s not what the docs are for…

I would love to meet Terri, find out what she DOES know about changing her lifestyle and teach her what she doesn’t.My heart is with Terri. I hope she gets the help she needs.