How to get off this diet track

Dear Globalcounselor,

I am 28 years old married and with one child. I gained a few extra pounds after I got my daughter and I have been trying unsuccessfully to lose it. My daughter is two years old and I am still struggling. I have tried every diet I think and bought a lot of exercise equipment but something’s not working. I would lose a few pounds on the Atkins diet but as soon as I start adding carbs I get the weight back and I don’t seem to be able to stay off carbsfor more than three months. Recently I’ve gotten on to eat right for your type and raw food diet combined and I am posessed and obsessed. I have to check everything I eat to see if it is good for my blood type and can be eaten raw. I am losing weight but I am frenetic. Sometimes I feel out oif control being controlled by the food and it seems like I am losing weight and with it a lot of energy, friends and the respect of my husband.  He thinks I love my diet more than him and our daughter. He does not eat raw food because he said he cannot stand it. I got upset with him for not trying for my sake. Globalcounselor, I want to jump off this wagon but I don’t know how. I feel guilty and not only guilty but contaminated if I eat something I shouldn’t. Help

Help

Dear help,

I was looking at TV last evening and for the first time I heard the term orthorexia. This is a condition similar to anorexia except that in the former case you are obsessed with purity of food, health foods and just the right type. Girl, you have to start living before you eat yourself down six feet. No joke. A few people have died rather than contaminate themselves. The point is, this is a mental or psychological illness that requires intervention. You need to seek the help of a psychotherapist, if you cannot do it yourself, who can help you to slowly integrate normal food into your regimen. What are you afraid of my dear? Is it fat or that you will not be loved?  While eating a healthy diet is always commendable it must be  done in moderation and with rationality. I know you are aware that you are over the top therefore you have to get the help you need to take care of your beautiful child and your husband or you could lose everything and then you will have something really tangible to worry about. Good luck.

Afraid of being anorexia

Dear globalcounselor,

I think I’m in the early stages of anorexia and I think my mom is to blame. She always balks at me about eating too much and that I will get fat. She is not concerned about my health, just that I eat like a pig and that I will get fat. She has criticized so much that each time I want to put something iim my mouth I think of getting fat and ugly and my appetite disappears. I feel fat and ugly. My friends tell me I am not fat but all I can see when I look in the mirror is my fat and ugly self.  Am I anorexic, is my perception crazy. What should I do. I hate being anorexic but I seem to be afraid to eat.

Anorexic

Dear Anorexic,

What your mother is doing is not effective.  Some parents think they are helping their children by ridiculing them about eating too much but they are doing more harm than good. You sound like a sensible girl and the fact that you are worried about being anorexia means that you are conscious of the dangers and do not want to be that way.  What you may be trying to do is to please your mother. You are afraid you might gain weight and she might not love you as much.   While it is true that some teenagers eat a lot of junk food and do not exercise a lot and that could result in being overweight, I don’t think that parents should deter children from eating healthy food.  Parents should be concerned if a child is inactive and eating a lot of empty calories. Parents should encourage their youngsters and teenagers to engage in some form of exercise or sports to bet a minimum amount of exercise per week but parents should not make their children hate food which is what your mother is doing though she may not mean to do that.

Food is something we should love. Eating food is pleasurable but we have to know our limits. If you feel you might be overeating keep a journal of the amount of food you eat. Generally if you stick to lots of fruits and vegetables, whole wheat breads and stay away from white breads, sugary stuff, chips and stuff on a regular basis you will be fine.