You are currently browsing the monthly archive for August 2011.
The problem of obesity is not getting better – it is getting worse. Until obesity is treated as the addiction that it is, the problem can’t change. Acceptance that you can’t stop eating and that your will alone is not sufficient to overcome the problem is the first step in finding help.
The link below leads to an interview with Dr. Nora Volkow, Director of the NIDA. In the first few minutes she discusses compulsive eating. At 4:15 she talks about the underlying, neurologic basis of addiction and some of her thinking on the issue of human impulse control:
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2011/06/13/science/100000000862646/nora-volkow.html?ref=science
OUT THERE
Out there
you’ll see it all.
The floating ends will
meet and mend,
and you will be yourself,
your fully formed,
though always changing,
self of selves.
Every clumsy backward look
will pay for itself.
Every tear you’ve cried,
or wanted to cry,
will set your broken bones.
The rips in your heart
will no longer need to be guarded
by steel girders,
banyan tress,
or even rice paper.
Not so much as a
dragonfly’s wing
will you need to cover the bludgeoned place,
to protect the private you
you love so much
and hope to save intact
from what has seemed years
of relentless pummeling.
Go and live and love
in peace, my friend,
for surely there is love to enfold you,
and life to be feasted upon:
your portion is boundless.
Love will be the more
you’ve wanted.
You will know it
when you see it.
You will love yourself
as no lover
has ever had the courage
to love;
and the warmth you’ve wanted
will line your pillowcases,
dance upon your windowsill,
and hide
at the ends of your socks
awaiting your toes.
-Deborah Mears
This change in the designation of addiction from a psychiatric disorder to a chronic neurologic condition represents a watershed moment in medicine. The US is facing an epidemic of drug abuse which the previous approach to addiction management was incapable of addressing. The new designation for the disease has terrific implications with regard to health care funding, management, and potentially success in treatment.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44147493/ns/health-addictions/#.Tkmz9829eeY
The link below leads to an article on CNN that discusses a recent study that illustrates the relationship between feeling anxious (restless, irritable or discontent) and the use of various substances to ease that anxiety. It underscores how alcoholism/drug addiction/overeating is learned behavior in response to emotional stress.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/08/01/alcohol.anxiety.risky.health/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
The Spiritual Experience 