Daily Diet Tip! "Ditch The Diet Obessions"

There comes a point in every hard-core dieter's life when she must ask herself, "Have I become so obsessed with weight loss that I'm actually compromising my health? Dieting serves two purposes – looking better and feeling better. But when dieters become more concerned with being skinny than with being healthy, they hand over control of their life to food. This paves the way for eating disorders like anorexia nervosa, bulimia and binge eating.

Surprisingly, an obsession with calories, the scale and fad diets can backfire, causing you to gain weight. Here are some classic symptoms of an obsessed dieter:

• You ignore your body’s hunger pains
  
• You no longer enjoy eating food
  
• You constantly deprive yourself of indulgent food
  
• You rely too heavily on designating “bad” foods from “good” foods, ignoring the concept of portion control
  
• You avoid social situations where food is a centerpiece out of fear of temptation or feeling self-conscious for eating
  
• You fixate on achieving a nearly impossible standard of beauty 

 

I suffered from anorexia nervosa for many years. In the mid-late 80's no one really knew what it was yet. So when I was in the middle of starving myself to death, I had no idea there was a disease called anorexia nervosa or bulimia. Not until I met my love for the iron and started lifting weights did I find out what I had was a serious disease. I was down to 78 pounds when I graduated high school.

It was an obsession to be skinny first and being fit was second or even third. When I began bodybuilding I got better because I had to eat to feed my muscles. I trained so hard everyday and dammed if I was going to let this ugly disease take what I had worked hard for. My body became my temple! Being healthy came first, not being skinny!