TONE OVER BONE

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Eating Disorders: Silent and Deadly

Eating Disorders: A Silent Killer

Eating disorders are a mental illness that is extremely prevalent in the society today. It’s more dangerous than a regular illness because unlike other diseases, eating disorders are brought on by oneself. It’s an act of self-harm, but in the person’s mind it becomes so twisted that they actually think they are helping themselves and are in control of their lives. Having gone through an eating disorder myself, I can relate to others who are or have experienced this illness. It’s much more than just self-harm in a physical form, but eating disorders affect every aspect of your life... social, physical, emotional, mental, and even spiritual. You give yourself a false sense of control and security when in actuality you are falling apart and more often than not, the person going through an eating disorder knows this. Here are some statistics that I found about eating disorders:

PREVALENCE

· It is estimated that 8 million Americans have an eating disorder (7 million women and 1 million men)

· One in 200 American women suffers from anorexia

· Two to three in 100 American women suffers from bulimia

· Nearly half of all Americans personally know someone with an eating disorder (Note: One in five Americans suffers from mental illnesses.)

· An estimated 10 – 15% of people with anorexia or bulimia are males

MORTALITY RATES

· Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness

· A study by the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders reported that 5 – 10% of anorexics die within 10 years after contracting the disease; 18-20% of anorexics will be dead after 20 years and only 30 – 40% ever fully recover

· The mortality rate associated with anorexia nervosa is 12 times higher than the death rate of ALL causes of death for females 15 – 24 years old.

· 20% of people suffering from anorexia will prematurely die from complications related to their eating disorder, including suicide and heart problems

ADOLESCENTS

· Anorexia is the 3rd most common chronic illness among adolescents

· 95% of those who have eating disorders are between the ages of 12 and 25

· 50% of girls between the ages of 11 and 13 see themselves as overweight

· 80% of 13-year-olds have attempted to lose weight

ATHLETES

· Risk Factors: judged sports: 13% vs. refereed sports: 3% prevalence.

· 20% higher rates of eating disorders found in elite athletes.

· Female athletes in aesthetic sports (gymnastics, ballet, figure skating, cheerleading…) found to be at the highest risk for eating disorders.

MEDIA, PRECEPTION, DIETING

· 35% of “normal dieters” progress to pathological dieting. Of those, 20-25% progress to a partial of full-syndrome eating disorder.

· The body type portrayed in advertising as “ideal” is only naturally possessed by 5% of American females.

· 47% of girls (5^th-12^th grade) reported wanting to lose weight due to magazine photos.

· 69% of girls in 5th-12th grade reported that magazine pictures influenced their idea of a perfect body shape.

· 42% of 1st-3rd grade girls want to be thin.

· 81% of 10 year olds are afraid of being fat. (10 years old!!! Are you kidding me?)

These statistics are shocking and I was astounded by how many men and women struggle with this disease. Even more so I realized how eating disorders are portrayed as shameful and something to keep quiet about, which in my opinion is increasing the problem. If we continue to avoid this subject and try and sweep the problem under the rug, then we are ignorant! We need to raise awareness for this disease just like any other disease out there. We as a society have this irrational fear of helping other people because we don’t want to invade their privacy. However, from personal experience, when I was going through my eating disorder all I truly wanted was someone to know that secret in my life and support me through it. When someone is going through an eating disorder they may act like they are annoyed and don’t need your help, but more often than not they are secretly praying that you won’t give up on them like everyone else has.

See the main issue behind an eating disorder isn’t the fact that the person thinks they are overweight, but it’s an emotional one. Like I addressed before, an eating disorder is a way of controlling their spinning out of control life. Just being a friend to someone who is struggling can be a huge help to them on a road to recovery. Remember to come off in a nonjudgmental way because even though you want to help, some people may not be ready for change and your job may be just being there for them. I’ve been passionate about this subject for a while and hope to work in some sort of way addressing this issue in my future. The recovery process is a constant journey and we as humans are here on earth to help and support each other.

If you or someone you know is suffering from an eating disorder please get help. One website that offers a lot of information about this disease is www.nationaleatingdisorders.org

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Gluten / Dairy Free Lemon Bars

Gluten/Dairy Free Lemon Bars

Ingredients:

Shortbread Crust:

1 cup rice flour

½ cup cornstarch

½ cup powdered sugar

¾ cup coconut oil

Lemon Curd Filling:

4 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 tbsp rice flour

1 tbsp cornstarch

¼ cup lemon juice

1 tbsp lemon peel, zested

Powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven at 350F.

2. Cut coconut oil into the flour mixture (I just sort of smashed it together with my hands… but that’s because I didn’t want to get anything else dirty).

3. Pat into the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Bake 18-20 mins. Let cool

4. Beat eggs. Add sugar, rice flour, cornstarch, lemon juice, and lemon peel. Whisk until smooth.

5. Pour over crust and bake at 325F for 20 mins or until filling is set. Dust with powdered sugar.

3 ingredient pancakes

Ingredients:

2 ripe bananas

1 egg

1-2 tbls peanut butter (or any other type of nut butter)

Optional:

Vanilla extract

Cinnamon

Chocolate chips

Directions:

Mash bananas in bowl, add egg and nut butter. Mix until combined. Grease frying pan with coconut oil (or whatever you have). Heat greased pan over medium heat. Pour about a 1/4 cup batter in frying pan. Flip pancake over once you start seeing bubbles and holes forming.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Apple Carrot Peanut Butter Bread

Apple Carrot Peanut Butter Bread

I was looking in my refrigerator today and realized how many carrots I had. Solution... it’s baking time! In this recipe I added some peanut butter to see how it would taste, but you also can omit the peanut butter and replace the ¼ cup of coconut milk with ¼ cup squeezed oranges instead for a more citrusy and summery flavor.

Ingredients:

1 cup coconut oil (melted)

1 ½ cup granulated sugar

3 eggs (added one at a time)

½ cup peanut butter

¼ cup coconut milk

4 tsp vanilla extract

3 cups flour

½ tsp salt

2 ½ tsp baking powder

¾ tsp baking soda

1 ½ tbls cinnamon

4 cups shredded carrots

2 cups diced, peeled apples

Directions:

Preheat oven at 350°.

Grease and flour two 8x4 inch loaf pans.

Mix coconut oil, sugar, eggs, peanut butter, coconut milk, and vanilla until well blended.

In separate bowl combine dry ingredients.

Fold dry ingredients into wet along with carrots and apples.

Pour into prepared pans.

Bake for 45mins or until golden brown.

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Stress Less

If you are anything like the typical American in society today then you are bombarded with some sort of stress on an everyday basis. Stressful situations are consistently around us and can be hard to avoid. Avoiding stress isn’t the problem, it’s how we deal with the stress that is the problem. We as humans tend to go from one extreme to the next when we deal with stress. Stress comes in many forms… relationships, work, the need to be successful or to be perfect, and then not having enough time to complete everything … I really could go on and on.

I used to be a compulsive stressor, (yes it’s still an ongoing struggle for me, but what in life isn’t a journey?) what I realized was what needed to change wasn’t what I was putting on my plate to complete, but it was my mentality about it. We all have coping mechanisms when it comes to the stress in our lives, usually comes in either ignoring the situation as long as possible then having a full blown panic attack until the stressful situation is over. Stress is not only harmful to us mentally (where we feel like we are going insane), but stress affects our bodies in a very physically detrimental way.

So the question is when we feel stressed what are some things to do to calm ourselves down? I ran across a list of ways to stress less and I added some of my own… now I’m sharing them with you!

First thing on my list of ways to minimize stress in our lives is Laugh More. How often in life do we tend to take ourselves too seriously? I know I do. Laughing is a natural stress reliever, this is because it reduces stress hormones such as cortisol, epinephrine (adrenaline), and dopamine. So laugh it up! Nobody feels horrible after a good laugh, unless you laugh in an absolutely inappropriate situation, we’ve all been there (some more than others… why is everything funnier when you know you aren’t allowed to laugh??). Secondly, Breathe. Sometimes all we need in a stressful situation is to take a step back and breathe. Life can look daunting when we are trapped in the middle of the storm, but when we take a look at the whole picture we more often than not realize it isn’t as bad as we think. Sometimes all we need is a little air to remember we are rock stars and we’ve made it through 100% of stressful situations so far. Get Organized. If you are anything like me, then you understand that clutter adds twice as much stress. You are franticly running from mess to mess, forgetting important details and remembering things that aren’t important. If you have a mess of schedule, try getting a planner and writing down what needs to get done for the day, week, month exc. Believe me it’ll help… and you don’t have to get all complicated and color-code, sticky note, or freak out cause you miswrote something (I might have a small problem… I know). Third, Pray. In my opinion there isn't a more comforting thought then knowing there is a God out there who cares about me and my problems. Sometimes saying a quick prayer is all it takes to calm me down because it is no longer in my hands and whatever happens I can now trust it’s for my best wellbeing. Serve Others. Stress, 99% of the time is because we are focused solely one thing... ourselves. When we serve others the focus shifts from a “me” mentality to the greater good of others. It takes us out of our little me focused life and paints us a bigger picture of the world. Our problems turn into small things in comparison to what others are going through. Work Out. This could not be a truer fact especially in my life. Every time I go to the gym I feel like a whole different, happier person. When we exercise our body releases endorphins which creates a drug-like effect and makes us relax and become happy. In the words of Elle Woods, in Legally Blonde, (yes, I know this quote) “Exercise gives you endorphins - endorphins make you happy and happy people don’t shoot their husbands… they just don’t”. So get your exercise people…! Think of the Good Times. Nothing makes me feel better than thinking about good times. It makes me remember that my life isn’t always a disaster and in fact I have it pretty good. For everything there is a season, but the thing to remember is that seasons end… stay strong. Get Hugs. Now for the people out there who are all into the touchy and feely this is an easy thing to ask, but if you don’t really like to be touched... at all, then this step might at first make you feel more stressed. However, we need hugs, human interaction is a good thing! I do not like hugs nor do I like asking for them, but if I'm stressed and someone gives me a hug I feel 100% better. Talk About It. Most of the time in life we don’t need someone’s opinion, we need to just hear ourselves speak and we usually can figure it out on our own. So pick a best friend that owes you a listen and just talk away. Another thing that happens when we talk through things is that we realize the problem isn’t as big as we have made it up in our minds to be. Finally Smile. Fact of life is that it is next to impossible to be upset or stressed if you are wearing a beautiful smile on your face. Smiling is the perfect way of tricking your brain into believing you aren’t stressed until you actually calm down.

Well there is my list of what to do when you are feeling stressed. I’m sure there are many more ways to calm ourselves down, but it’s a start. The best thing to keep in mind when stressing out is to remember that you’ve always made it through situations in the past and worry isn’t going to do anything for you except lower your immune system and make you sick. So smile because you got this!! J

Dried Fruit Bars

Ever wonder what the heck is in granola bars today? If not… I’m sure you realize how much you are forking over to buy one, especially if it’s a good quality one. Here’s a recipe for homemade snack bar recipe that is similar to larabars at the store.

INGREDIENTS:

12 dried dates, pitted

1 cup raw almonds

¼ cup raisins

A food processor

DIRECTIONS:

Pour dates, almonds, and raisins into your food processor and blend for about 2 ½ mins or until the ingredients have the consistency of firm cookie dough.

Tear off a 12 in x 18 in piece of wax paper or plastic wrap (whatever you have handy). Place fruit mixture in the center of the paper and start to press the mixture out into a large bar. Wrap the paper around the sides of the bar to help smooth out the mixture (I used a rolling pin). You should end up with a ¼ in thick bar that’s about 4 in x 8 in.