Health and Wellness: What to Do When You Can't Stop Eating

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September 22, 2011

In This Issue...

Tired? Stiff Joints? This Secret Can Help
What to Do When You Can't Stop Eating
Amazing Non-Toxic Liquid Kills Cancer Cells
$50 Fix Reduces Sleep Apnea By 36%
Why NSAIDs Are Making Your Arthritis Worse

Tired? Stiff Joints? This Secret Can Help

EXPOSED: The outrageous reason why millions of us are stumbling through life exhausted, despite spending billions on stimulants, supplements and energy drinks...

AND: The incredibly simple secret that will fire you up all day long, keep you sharp as a razor at any age, and drop you off to sleep at night like a very contented kitten.

Learn more...

What to Do When You Can't Stop Eating

There’s such a thing as eating too much... and then there’s binge eating. I guess all of us have experienced the uncomfortable sensation that comes with eating too much at a restaurant or holiday party, but I was a little surprised when I read recently that binge eating -- eating much too much, and doing it repeatedly -- is a problem for about two million Americans and that about one-third of them are male.

Another interesting fact is that binge eating is even common among people in their 40s and 50s (though it may be that these folks have been suffering from the disorder for 10, 20 or 30 years and are just now acknowledging it or seeking help). To get the details, I contacted Stanford University, where research is currently underway on effective treatments for binge eating. I spoke to Athena Robinson, PhD, instructor of psychiatry and behavioral science at the Stanford School of Medicine and leader of the research.

It’s Not about Food

Although you would expect binge eaters to also have weight problems, surprisingly, some are actually of normal weight, Dr. Robinson told me, noting that a binge eater’s problem is not necessarily related to food -- not in the sense that we normally associate with overeating. "A large body of evidence demonstrates that negative emotions often precede binge-eating episodes," she said. "Depression is often a component in binge eating, and learning how to cope with negative emotions may help people who struggle with binge eating to stop."

Whereas normal eaters enjoy their occasional overindulgence, binge eaters typically are very unhappy after their eating episodes, generally feeling ashamed and disappointed in themselves. Since these are people who may not know how to handle their emotions productively, this is a situation that sets them up to do the same thing again in short order.

Dr. Robinson told me that binge eating disorder (BED) is the most common of the eating disorders. A person is diagnosed as having BED if he/she eats an unambiguously large amount of food in an hour or two (e.g., more than would be eaten in two separate meals) while experiencing a sense of loss of control over the eating episode. In addition, the person must meet at least three of the following five criteria:

Eating large amounts of food when he or she is not physically hungry.

Eating quickly, far faster than is normal.

Eating until he is past the point of being uncomfortable.

Eating alone because he is embarrassed by how much he is eating (many binge eaters also hide their binge food and the evidence that they’ve eaten it for the same reason).

Feelings of disgust, depression or guilt associated with overeating.

It’s important to note that unlike people with the eating disorder bulimia, binge eaters do not purge after they eat.

Research Underway

To help binge eaters get to the root of their challenges and stop the cycle of eating, Dr. Robinson’s research team designed a study to evaluate two kinds of self-help treatment for BED -- integrative response therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy -- to determine which is most effective. Recruiting started in June 2010 and is still ongoing, with results expected in 2015.

Dr. Robinson told me that the two treatments for BED that are most supported by research are cognitive behavioral therapy (which emphasizes establishing regular patterns of eating) and interpersonal therapy (which focuses on interpersonal relationships and handling your emotions). A third option -- integrative response therapy (IRT) -- is a new approach developed by Dr. Robinson and her team that focuses on teaching emotion-coping skills to help individuals cease binge eating. IRT is delivered via group therapy, which can be effective since people gain valuable support and feedback from others, helping them feel less isolated and ashamed, and guided self-help, meaning they do many activities and exercises on their own with support from a therapist. The goal of the research is to measure the effectiveness of integrative response therapy versus the more traditional cognitive behavioral therapy.

Heal Thyself

It may be difficult for a binge eater to overcome the problem without professional help and sometimes medication, such as an antidepressant or the anticonvulsant topiramate (Topamax), which has been shown to reduce episodes and also to help with weight loss. In addition, lifestyle changes can be made that are helpful. These include:

Learn strategies to cope with emotion. Finding alternative methods of effectively reducing overwhelming negative emotions may be instrumental in overcoming binge eating.

Eating regular meals, including breakfast. Sometimes binge eaters eat in the absence of hunger, so it’s important to train yourself to eat reasonable amounts of food at regular intervals. Breakfast is particularly important -- many binge eaters skip breakfast.

Avoiding diets. Trying to lose weight may lead to more binges -- it’s better to first work on modifying your diet by eating regular, well-rounded meals overall... and exercising regularly.

If you happen to live near Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, you may be interested to know that Dr. Robinson’s group is recruiting participants for her ongoing research on this topic (learn more at http://med.stanford.edu/clinicaltrials/psychiatry/detail.do?studyId=7362 or by calling 650-724-9251). Dr. Robinson also identified a few Web sites that offer useful self-help resources for binge eaters, including the National Eating Disorders Association (www.NationalEatingDisorders.org)... the Binge Eating Disorder Association (www.BEDAOnline.org)... and the Something Fishy Website on Eating Disorders (www.Something-Fishy.org). If you or someone you know is a binge eater, I urge you to get help quickly.

Source(s):

Athena Robinson, PhD, instructor in psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Stanford School of Medicine and lead researcher, Stanford University, Stanford, California.

Amazing Non-Toxic Liquid Kills Cancer Cells

"If I could pick only one treatment to cure my cancer, this would be it," says a top expert on alternative cancer treatments.

It’s one of the world’s most powerful cancer cures, according to research conducted by a scientist at the Detroit Institute of Cancer Research. Click here now and watch a new video presentation about this amazing discovery.

Even the mainstream National Cancer Institute confirmed that this do-it-yourself treatment kills cancer cells. My investigators have been searching for six years, and NO at-home treatment is better, as far as we’ve been able to confirm. And you can purchase this amazing breakthrough over-the-counter without a prescription.

A 54-year-old terminal cancer patient named Robert totally got rid of his cancer in six months. Another patient named Arch was told he had only a 15% chance to live. He’s still alive three years later with "no evidence of cancer in repeated CAT scans." Click here and watch this important presentation.

$50 Fix Reduces Sleep Apnea by 36%

Would you rather wear a strange-looking and uncomfortable mask while you sleep... or tight stockings during the day?

The obvious answer is "um, neither"... but it is entirely possible that people who have a certain type of chronic obstructive sleep apnea may be presented with exactly this choice, based on new European research. A study just published in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine reports that wearing compression stockings can reduce sleep apnea episodes significantly for one-third of the people whose apnea is caused by chronic venous insufficiency -- a pretty dramatic difference for such an easy treatment. Since it was a small, brief and preliminary study focused on just this one cause of obstructive sleep apnea, it’s entirely possible that longer treatment may yield even more impressive results that are helpful to even more patients.

Out From Behind the Mask

I don’t know if you have ever seen a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) mask, but -- even though the designers have done their best and there now are quite a few different models to choose from -- there’s not a single one that is truly comfortable. They are bulky and uncomfortable on the face and force many wearers to sleep in positions they’d rather not sleep in. Many people who need them refuse to wear them. That’s why the news that there is a safe, easy-to-use and inexpensive treatment option for a good portion of people with sleep apnea is quite welcome!

I contacted Stefania Redolfi, MD, of the University of Brescia in Italy, lead researcher of this practical and surprisingly promising study. She explained that chronic venous insufficiency is a vascular problem in which veins (primarily in the legs) can’t efficiently pump blood back to the heart. Fluid builds up in the legs during the day and then shifts at night to the neck, bloating tissue there. This causes the person to experience the partial collapse of the pharynx in between breaths during sleep -- and so begins the loud, unpleasant "gasp and snore" pattern that characterizes obstructive sleep apnea in these patients.

What does wearing tight stockings during the day have to do with insufficient oxygen at night? It is actually quite ingenious. "Wearing compression stockings during the day helps to reduce the daytime fluid accumulation in the legs," Dr. Redolfi explained, "which in turn reduces the amount of fluid flowing into the neck at night." Absent the pressure created by that fluid, the respiratory system does not narrow as much and, for many people, this intervention is enough to allow them to get adequate oxygen into their lungs by breathing -- and sleeping -- normally. This is a wonderful thing, because sleep apnea and the constantly interrupted sleep that goes with it can severely undermine a person’s health.

What the Right Socks Can Do

The study was small, involving 12 patients -- half randomly assigned to wear compression stockings during the day (putting them on as soon as they awakened and taking them off only after getting into bed for the night) for a week, while the other half served as the control, with the two groups switching places after the first week. Subjects spent their nights at a sleep center, where their physiological signs (including brain waves, respiration and eye movements) were measured continuously. Researchers also measured each person’s overnight changes in leg fluid volume and neck circumference at the start of the study and at the end of both the compression-stocking and control periods.

Dr. Redolfi told me that the researchers expected the compression stockings would help -- but they were somewhat surprised by the degree to which they helped! Wearing the stockings resulted in:

An average of a 62% reduction in overnight leg fluid volume change, as compared with when subjects did not wear the stockings.

A 60% reduction in neck circumference increase (used as a proxy measurement to estimate fluid shift into the neck).

A 36% reduction in the number of apnea episodes.

Effective and Inexpensive

This is a very basic intervention that has the potential to make a big difference for patients who are struggling with obstructive sleep apnea. The stockings cost less than $50 and, though they aren’t exactly cute or comfortable, Dr. Redolfi told me that all the study participants preferred them to the CPAP mask. As simple as it sounds, though, she told me that people with sleep apnea shouldn’t try this on their own -- she said it is important to have a sleep study done to measure whether the stockings are making a difference and if so, how much. Talk to your doctor about this. Dr. Redolfi plans further research to ascertain whether wearing the stockings for longer than a week shows more significant results... to learn whether other measures, such as using diuretics or exercises to reduce fluid volume, are useful... and also to examine whether wearing compression stockings can help people with sleep apnea due to other causes, such as obesity. I’ll keep a watch for further findings and keep you apprised of the results.

Source(s):

Stefania Redolfi, MD, university researcher, Respiratory Medicine Department, University of Brescia, Italy.

Why NSAIDs Are Making Your Arthritis Worse

When Joe first went to see Dr. Mark Stengler, he could barely walk. His pain was deeply etched into every line on his face. Poor Joe was only 55 years old. But for years, he had suffered from arthritis that was only getting more painful and debilitating. He feared he wouldn’t be able to walk much longer.

Joe’s doctors had prescribed painkillers such as NSAIDs and aspirin to ease his agony. But Dr. Stengler worried they were making matters worse. When he told Joe these medications could actually cause his joint cartilage to deteriorate faster, Joe replied, "Great! Why didn’t the other doctors tell me this?"

Dr. Mark Stengler has successfully treated hundreds of cases of knee and hip arthritis like Joe’s. So he knew exactly what would do the trick...