All about: the eating disorders

• Nutrition and neurodegenerative diseases
• What is anorexia
• Bulimia: Eating behavior disorder
• Drunkorexia: stop eating to drink alcohol
• Food craving, the danger of cravings
• What is the Megarexia
• What is orthorexia
• What is the Potomania
• The night dining syndrome
• The selective dining syndrome
• What is the Vigorexia

Nutrition and neurodegenerative diseases

In industrialized countries there has been a progressive ageing of the population. Life expectancy is increasing, and this carries the greater appearance and maintenance for more years of various chronic diseases. Refers to a percentage close to 20% of the population suffer any neurodegenerative disease. The most common are: multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Alzheimer's disease.
These diseases are characterized by progressive and irreversible damage to the nervous tissue that is diminishing the capabilities of the person who suffers it. In this case, it seems that all those nutrients, habits or effects that may relate to the proper maintenance of nerve structures (nerve cells or neurons, neural connections, cell walls, etc.) could be beneficial when it comes to a possible prevention in the emergence of these ailments or a slowing in the progression of symptoms, once already-diagnosed disease.
In any case, there are several lines of research which yield conclusive results: it is not easy to label nutrients separately with a beneficial or harmful effect, but that is the set of all diet along with some global healthy lifestyle habits, a proper nutritional state and a genetic basis that we be propitious which contributes to a good neurological health.

Food featured in neural diseases

If we do a review of the foods that contain beneficial substances at the neuronal level, we see that they are many and they belong to almost all the food groups: grains, leguminas, vegetables, fruits, oils from seeds, dried fruits, meat, fish, dairy, egg, liver, vegetables of leaf, yeast of beer, blue fish, etc.
For this reason, it can be concluded that a list of food recommended and not recommended in these situations, but rather, a healthy lifestyle that includes a reasonable consumption of these products there is.

Dietary components to protect the neurons

The dietary components that currently have shown in several studies to have a beneficial effect in neurodegenerative diseases are:

• Glucose. Glucose is the simplest carbohydrate that any food can be decomposed. And it is also the essential food for the brain, we could say, is a little gourmet in terms of diet refers and is not used to use any nutrient, since your favorite is quickly produced a greater energy efficiency, i.e., glucose. Therefore, it is suitable that carbohydrates in our diet are not missed.
  Sources of glucose: best those who go by the blood and can be used in a slow, progressive. In the form of cereals, vegetables, potatoes, leguminas, etc. Be careful, because the excess is not recommended, so it is good idea to increase, if it is low, or keep, if it is high, the use of sweet and sugary products.
• Phospholipids, such as phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylserine. They are molecules that contain fats, any particle of phosphorus, inositol and choline, and part of the cell walls, including neurons.
  Sources of phospholipids: as one of its main components are the lipids are found mainly in fatty foods: liver, brains, heart, egg yolk.
• Antioxidants. Within this group, mainly working on vitamins E, C and provitamin A or beta-carotene. It is clear that one of the processes which impair neuronal tissue is the inflammation that occurs in these diseases. On the improvement of the inflammation is where it will most affect the antioxidant components of the diet, controlling and avoiding these processes.
  Sources of antioxidants: the vitamin E is mainly found in oil seeds, nuts and egg yolk. Vitamin C and A are present in fruits, vegetables and colored vegetables. How much more color, better. Thus, carrot, tomato, Orange, kiwi, strawberries, spinach... are good examples of vitamin content. Beware their destruction by heat, sunlight or withdrawal of water from cooking light.
• Hill. In addition to joining the phospholipids, it serves to make acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter involved in memory, so their involvement in these ailments is twofold. In addition, a consumer right by pregnant women during pregnancy prevents possible defects of the neural tube of the baby.
  Hill sources: is mainly present in egg yolk of egg, liver, soybean, meat, milk and peanut.
• Acid folic, Pyridoxine, cyanocobalamin. They are included in Group B vitamins and involved in the proper functioning of the nervous system. Its deficiency may cause some neurological disorders. During pregnancy is also prescribed maternal supplementation with folic acid to correct neurological training of your baby.
  It sources of vitamins of the b group vitamin B12 or cyanocobalamin is in food of animal origin: meat, fish, dairy and eggs. Folic acid is in leafy, Brewer's yeast, liver. Vitamin B6 is widely distributed in nature and, therefore, food of plant origin, integral cereals and nuts.
• Polyunsaturated fatty acids omega-3, especially acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). They form part of the cellular membranes. Hence its lack can cause structural failures affecting the functioning of neurons.
  Sources of omega 3: this fat is found mainly in oily fish.
• Uridine. It is a molecule that has components that are part of the myelin sheath that covers part of the neurons and allow transmission of nerve impulses.
  Sources of uridine: there are significant numbers of uridine in meat, fish and vegetable.

Nutrition advice in neurodegenerative diseases

Then we tried to provide some tips and nutritional recommendations that can help you cope better with your neurodegenerative disease:

• A varied and colorful menu. It is more important to take a generous diet of plant foods, with more fish than meat, with emphasis on blue fish, to be selecting one foods that contain more or less of a particular nutrient. In short, choose a menu adapted to each situation and to help provide or maintain an adequate nutritional status of the person, getting a proper weight and avoiding the extremes, both excess and defect. The closest thing to this is the renowned Mediterranean diet, which is based on three fundamental pillars: cereals as the basis of food (wheat), consumption of olive oil as an ingredient star kitchen, and derivatives of fruit intake (in this case, uva). All accompanied by the use of vegetables: legumes and vegetables and fish.
• Diet suits your disease. Once established the neurodegenerative disease, herself, also may condition the food and possible malnutrition and lack of protective elements if the characteristics, both nutritional, physical or culinary do not fit well. For example, we talked about the importance of antioxidant vitamins contained in colorful and taken raw fruits. If an affected person's Alzheimer's disease can't eat whole, we must crush these fruits, but in crude oil, and be taken no more paddling so that they conserve its vitamin content. This is difficult on many occasions. Another example: If the patient suffers from dysphagia, difficulty swallowing certain foods in liquid state, is possible for this reason limiting excessive use of some of them, such as milk. So the main recommendation in these cases is adapt the diet to each situation.
• Beware of nutritional supplements. There are some nutrients that will supplement in pregnancy and lactation in a way more or less Protocol. For example the omega 3 fatty acids, folic acid, iodine, iron according to prior reservations, etc. Although these add-ins are studied and are recommended, the rest of supplementation for the improvement or prevention of neurological pathologies, where you can get a much higher dose of certain dietary component of man-made form, i.e., apart from the diet, it is not justified nor demonstrated, today, to provide benefits.
• Healthy lifestyle. Not everything is nutrition, to prevent diseases neurodegenerative must acquire as habits shares as physical activity on a daily basis, not to smoke, not to take drugs, use our free time in activities that we meet, live in little contaminated environments, avoid stress, keep us active mentally, physics and so on. A trend that seems difficult to adopt today, but constitutes the best anti-disease therapy.

What is anorexia?

Anorexia nervosa is a set of serious disorders of eating that includes periods of deprivation of food (anorexia), alternate times with compulsive periods of food intake and purging (bulimia), associated both periods to other unspecified eating disorders.
Diagnosed persons of anorexia nervosa have a rate much lower than those corresponding to their age, height and sex (BMI) body mass and body weight (under 18-19 is considered underweight and 17 severe underweight). Low body weight is caused in more than 50% of the patients, in addition to by food deprivation, by the abuse of laxatives or diuretics, uncontrolled generation of self-induced vomiting, and strenuous exercise session in order to lose weight.
In all cases the patients they are not usually able to recognize his problem of extreme thinness, given that are not aware of their status, categorically denying their status, and even isolated from nearby people because they believe that they want to make them "more bloat", and that the problem of vision of reality has its environment and not them.
This disease is very rare appearance before puberty and usually affect a greater percentage to the girls, although increasingly it is more anticipating the age of onset and comparing the percentage of cases among both sexes. On average, is considered that anorexia nervosa appears around the age of 17. The more early is the age of onset and more early detection and treatment, better prognosis of healing there. Over the 40 years it is uncommon. Its prevalence has been established in one case per 100 to 250 people.

Types of anorexia

Differentiate two types of anorexia, observed in both groups of patients a small percentage who has a single isolated episode, one much higher percentage adopts an alternative and fluctuating pattern of weight gain and relapse, and a last group does not exceed the first episode and develops chronic deterioration over the years.
Regardless of the type of anorexia nervosa developed, several studies have shown that these patients usually present patterns of depression and anxiety prior to the development of the disorder, which remain or even increase, throughout the illness and, in a significant percentage, persist once overcome anorexia, especially depression.

Restrictive anorexia nervosa

It's a clinical picture where patients achieves a low weight through very restrictive diets, very prolonged fasting, and abundant high intensity exercise. These patients do not resort to compulsive binge eating and subsequent purges.

Anorexia nervosa purgative/compulsive

They are patients who turn in a timely or systematic way to bingeing or purging (vomiting, laxatives, diuretics...). There is a sub-group that binge eating but if they resort to purge in a systematic way. Due to the loss of control of the impulses of this group, these individuals are more susceptible to suffer greater emotional variability, and to succumb to the consumption of addictive substances (alcohol, tobacco, etc).

Causes and risk factors for anorexia

It is extremely difficult to establish common parameters responsible of this eating disorder due to its psychological component and the great variation of signs and symptoms among some patients and others.
Developed studies have tried to determine the pathogenesis (origin of Pathology) disease have not been conclusive, pointing as the sum of some of these risk factors:

Individual factors

He has spoken of a possible genetic component linked to the presence of the 5HT-2A gene, found in a large number of patients diagnosed with this disorder activated by situations of malnutrition and food. Various twin concordance studies support this possible genetic component.
Detected an increase in the activity serotoninergic which seems to be closely linked to the decrease of food intake and changes in behavior. Also observed, through Imaging tests, anatomical and metabolic alterations in patients with anorexia, which could be linked to the presence of the disease.
Finally, the presence of this disease with such as major depression or obsessive-compulsive disorder-psychiatric disorders has been associated predominantly.

Family factors

Presence of alcohol or psychiatric disorders in relatives of the first degree (parents and siblings).

Cultural factors

Unattainable standards of beauty imposed by society and an excessive cult of the body.
In addition to these factors, the onset of restrictive diets is a precipitating factor in the disease.

Symptoms of anorexia

There are certain signs and symptoms that make you suspect that a person may be suffering from anorexia nervosa, however, diagnosis, treatment and follow-up always must be done by a health practitioner. These signs are:

Signs of anorexia

• Excessive weight loss in a short space of time.
• Constant feeling of obesity not founded and strong desire to continue slimming, with active control (repeatedly take a look in the mirror, weigh yourself several times a day, count calories...).
• Retardation of growth and development (in children and adolescents).
• Disorders of menstruation or absence of this.
• Realization of constant and excessive exercise.
• Employment of loose clothing, mainly pants.
• Avoiding meals in the company.
• Escape from the table after eating.
• Hide the food to not eat it (splitting into small pieces and spread it by the dish, throw it down, hide it...).
• Progressive isolation and loss of social ties.
• Mood disorders with a tendency to depression and anxiety.
• Obsession with the caloric content of everything it consumes, taking only foods low in calories.
• Employment not controlled diuretics and laxatives.
• Low self-esteem.

Symptoms of anorexia

In a clinical setting the main symptoms of anorexia nervosa are:

• Dryness of the skin, with the possibility of cracks.
• Appearance of fine hair (lanugo) on cheeks, back, thighs and forearms.
• Yellow pigmentation in the skin, mainly in the soles of the feet and the palms of the hands. This is because an increase of carotene in blood (precursor of vitamin A) by a disorder in your metabolism.
• Cold extremities.
• Brittle nails and hair loss.
• Hypertrophy of glands salivary glands Parotid and submandibular glands.
• Dental alterations, prone to corrosion in the presence of caries and dental enamel. This is especially evident in patients who are purged through the induction of vomiting.
• Gastrointestinal disorders: flatulence, bloating, abdominal pain and constipation (except if laxatives that can cause diarrhoea that alter the electrolyte balance are used).
• Cardiovascular disorders: low pressure (hypotension), lowering of the heart rate (bradycardia), changes in heart rhythm (arrhythmias), etc.
• Kidney disorders: indicative of malfunction. You can find potassium levels low (hypokalemia), elevated levels of compounds derived from nitrogen (azotemia), and elevation of serum creatinine levels.
• Blood count: low levels of red blood cells (anemia) and white blood cells (leukopenia).
• Biochemical levels: low levels of glucose (hypoglycaemia), increased triglyceride, transaminase and general proteinogram and cholesterol (hypercholesterolemia). If the patient, often also use laxatives, enemas, or is autoinduce vomiting, there are other specific parameters altered.

Diagnosis of anorexia

The diagnosis of this disease is based on:

• An interview with the patient and their closest family environment, and review your medical history and family history.
• A physical examination and evaluation of heart rate, blood pressure and respiratory rate.
• Additional clinical tests: complete blood count, biochemistry, etc.

According to the diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental disorders (DSM-IV) of the American Psychiatric society, the four leading from the anorexia nervosa diagnostic criteria are:

• Emphatic rejection to achieve and maintain a body weight equal to or greater than the normal minimum value considered according to age and size. In general, the weight is less than 85% of the minimum corresponding to age and size.
• Pathological terror to the weight gain and the conversion in an obese person.
• Alteration of the self-perception of weight and body silhouette, with exaggeration of its importance on the ability of self-assessment, and denial of the risks posed by a low body weight maintained.
• Amenorrhea in women pospuberales (disappearance of at least three menstrual cycles).

Key in the diagnosis of anorexia

The 10th version of the international statistical classification of diseases and other problems of health (ICD-10) remains approximately the same criteria of diagnosis of anorexia, although a little more expanded, indicating:

• Significant weight loss achieved through avoidance of foods "that get fatter", and two or more of the following symptoms: self induced vomiting, use of laxatives, excessive exercise, use of diuretics or appetite suppressants.
• Specific psychopathology with idea overrated and obsessive horror towards fatness or sagging, which implies that the patient is impose a threshold of low weight not justified.
• The presence of disorders in the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal axis that are manifested in the male as a lack of interest in sex and impotence and, in women, such as amenorrhea. There may be high levels of GH and cortisol, abnormalities in the secretion of insulin, and changes in the peripheral metabolism of thyroid hormone.
• In the case of prepubertal onset, growth is interrupted, with lack or total absence of the development of breasts and appearance of primary amenorrhoea in girls and, in the case of children, the genitals remain juvenile.

With recovery, these symptoms are reversed and continue with the normal pubertal development, except for delayed menarche.

Treatment of anorexia

Once evaluated the diagnostic parameters previously described, and discarded other psychiatric and organic pathologies, we proceed to treatment and patient follow-up. The process of treatment of anorexia nervosa is multidisciplinary, specifying a coordinated action of the doctor's family, psychiatrist, psychologist, endocrine and gynecologist. The main points of the treatment are:

• Modification of eating habits of the patient: you need a "re-education" of the patient in their eating habits. Therefore it starts a diet relatively low in calories (1,000-1,500 calories per day) is increasing progressively to achieve the caloric needs of the patient, respecting personal space for not pressing him, but not allowing that you eat alone, and watching do the five fundamental daily meals.
• Regular weight control: increases weekly 250-500 grams must be detected despite the naked person or in underwear (avoiding the tare weight of the garments and possible deceptions of the patient).
• Restriction of physical exercise: initially removed completely and re-injected very gradually.
• Regular analytical controls to prevent organic complications.
• Drug therapy: focuses mainly on the depressive or anxious anorexia component. It is a treatment individualised and constrained to the requirements and the psychological status of the patient.
• Psychotherapy: is used either isolated or combined, behavioral therapy, Psychoanalytical, interpersonal and group.

The monitoring of treatment may be combined between the treating physician and mental health unit. In the event that ambulatory monitoring has failed, and provided that the patient has a good family support, good predisposition toward treatment and tolerate therapy in group, you can try therapy in day hospitals, being a completely contraindicated option if the patient shows tendency to suicide, substance abuse or severe medical complications.
The patient may be hospitalised in case of manifest risk to his life, very serious psychological disturbance (suicide, other psychiatric disorders, etc.), or if the family situation is very unfavorable. Once started the treatment the prognosis is very variable, but they are considered indicative of good prognosis capacity of early acceptance of disease by the patient, the appearance and diagnosis for short-term disease, a good family support, and the absence of psychiatric antecedents in the family.

Prevention of anorexia

Early detection and put in the hands of specialists to follow an appropriate treatment are the best weapons to combat anorexia, once the disease is established. However, it is best to prevent its emergence with the broadcasting of programmes of prevention and promotion of health in the family, educational and social fields that would reduce the number of people who develop eating disorders whose consequences can impact your health irreversibly.

Prevent anorexia from childhood

Here are some clues that will help you prevent anorexia on your children or relatives of young:

• Teach children from small, both at home and at school, the importance of correct eating habits.
• Eating family whenever possible, making the time of food in a pleasant meeting in which are exchanged the experiences of the day.
• Menus should be varied and include all types of food needed for proper nutrition.
• Unless there are health reasons, the child's diet foods, not should be excluded because all are necessary in its fair measure, though Yes you should limit consumption of sweets and desserts industrial, replacing them, to the extent possible, with other acts at home.
• Try different vegetables and fruits until you find which you like the most. Even if you don't like cauliflower, maybe they love you spinach.
• Establish regular meal hours. Better if the food is distributed in four or five shots throughout the day (breakfast, lunch, lunch, snack and dinner).
• Fostering self-esteem. It is important that you know your capabilities and limitations, and learn to feel at ease with itself. This will prevent future complex.
• Reinforce their autonomy and encourage you to have their own opinions and be less vulnerable to the messages from the media and advertising that convey the idea that having a perfect body is synonymous with success and happiness, forgetting the values of people.
• Discuss with the child these messages about aesthetics and power broadcasting media, reasoning what is true and what not, and teaching him to value health above aesthetic constraints.
• Not propose goals, neither academic nor sporting, exceeding their capacities, to avoid frustration.
• Encourage you to exercise regularly. It is good for your health and help you to keep in shape.
• Facilitate their social relations and participation in extracurricular activities, excursions, cultural visits scheduled by the school, etc. If you feel socially integrated, it is difficult to grow up thinking that you are rejected for failing to meet a few specific canons of beauty.
• Establish good communication within the family environment, to make the child feel more secure, and be able to seek the advice and assistance of their own family when faced with situations that are difficult or stressful.

Prevention of anorexia in adolescence

• The majority of the cases of anorexia occur in women aged between 14 and 18 years of age. Young people who have received a false message that exalts thinness as the representation of the success, happiness, right and natural. Desire to change the physical appearance does not mean that you suffer a mental illness, but if increases the chances of developing an eating disorder when it becomes an obsession and misconduct are adopted. Adolescence is a particularly vulnerable phase because the personality is not enough formed, hence the importance of establishing anorexia prevention programmes, to prevent the development of this and other eating disorders.
• Educators in touch with teens play a very important role in the early detection of eating disorders, and must notify parents if you look emotional disturbances or changes in behavior or appearance of the young.
• If the young person needs to lose weight for health reasons, you should always do so under medical supervision and with the knowledge of the parents. If they observed that the desire to lose weight is unjustified or that the young man begins to reduce the amount of food without reason, they should immediately consult a specialist.
• Family members should avoid making derogatory comments about the physical appearance of others. You can criticize a bad action or the bad character of someone, but not mocking ugliness or fatness.
• In this same line, you must teach adolescent to appreciate the virtues of others instead of judging them by their appearance.
• Promote the integration and coexistence among people from different social and cultural fields, helps adolescents understand that being different does not mean to be worse or better.
• Enhance your self-esteem that you assess their qualities and capabilities and not be ashamed of its limitations.
• A positive family environment, without falling into the overprotection, will provide teen safety and support necessary to overcome its problems.

Bulimia: Eating behavior disorder

What is bulimia?

Bulimia nervosa is a disorder of eating behavior that consists of a lack of control over the food, with an intake of large amounts of food in a short period of time, accompanied by compensatory behaviors such as excessive consumption of self induced vomiting or laxatives. The patient keeps these behaviors in secret, so it is sometimes difficult people in your environment to detect the problem.
Along with anorexia nervosa, bulimia are eating disorders (TCA) fastest growing young population, characterized by a set of behaviors to achieve or maintain what the patient considered as acceptable weight, following a diet totally unreasonable and with an anguished fear of weight gain.
It occurs in 90% of cases in women; They can also suffer men, although their proportion is about ten times less. It is common in adolescents and in the beginning of adulthood.
Causes of bulimia
He has not been to find an organic cause, arising from this (TCA) eating disorder, but it is believed that there are several sequential factors that can trigger bulimia nervosa. Low self-esteem can lead to an excessive concern for the physical aspect, which leads to restrictive diets, that does not always produce the desired results, alternating with episodes of uncontrolled consumption of food, causing an metabolic imbalance. The patient has feelings of guilt as a result of the binge, and his concern about weight gain generates other behaviors such as self-induced vomiting and abuse of laxatives.
The patient can also feel pressured by the beautiful patterns considered lideales by the society, and the need to be slim and sexy to feel accepted. Experiences of social rejection or a sentimental failure can make you believe that losing weight is a prerequisite for success.
Another cause, present also in the disorder of anorexia, is a false perception of body image: the sick man looks fat even if your weight is normal for their age and Constitution.

Symptoms of bulimia

The patient with bulimia hides their binge-eating and vomiting, and unlike the anorexic weight not is usually too, so it is difficult, that people in your environment will realize his problem. However, there are certain signs that can alert of the presence of the disease:

The person with bulimia symptoms

• The person with bulimina has a continuous concern for food and feel uncontrollable desire to eat, especially foods with high calories (carbohydrates, sweets...). Consuming large amounts of food in a short period of time (every two hours or even less).
• To counteract weight gain, the patient may cause vomiting, abusing laxatives, consume drugs that reduce appetite or diuretics. There, nothing, suspect, when a person holds in the bathroom after a meal.
• In the same way, other symptoms of bulimia may be fasting for long periods of time, follow very restrictive diet and intense exercise.
• The subject expresses a strong fear to gain weight, setting as a goal their optimal weight, underweight.
• Bulimia usually occurs in patients with a previous history of anorexia nervosa, and the range between the two conditions of several months or years.
• Patients with bulimia manifest apathy, fatigue, irritability and changes in the rhythm of sleep, resulting in a loss of work or school performance, and the abandonment of personal care.
• Other symptoms that can be seen in a medical examination: a slight abdominal distention with presence of constipation, hypertrophy of glands Parotid, loss of tooth enamel, lesions in the throat, electrolyte imbalance, edema in limbs and abrasions on the back of the hands; all this is due to the induction of vomiting. The use of laxatives and diuretics also imbalance of fluids and electrolytes.
• The bulimic endocrine alterations; presents, in addition, the emergence of irregularities in the menstrual cycle or amenorrhea is common in women.

Complications of bulimia

The bulimic behaviors tend to have little impact on the weight of those affected. However, the alternation of binge eating and vomiting, along with the abuse of laxatives, causes other detrimental health effects:

• Dehydration and electrolyte imbalance.
• Gastrointestinal disorders, which may lead to irritable bowel, gastroesophageal reflux, hiatal hernia, pancreatitis, break esophageal...
• Injuries to the throat and esophagus.
• Deterioration of tooth enamel.
• Anxiety and depression.
• Alterations in metabolism (reduction in the levels of glucose, chlorine, calcium and potassium in the blood).
• Heart disorders (arrhythmia, hypotension, mitral valve prolapse).
• Decalcification and osteoporosis.
• Menstrual irregularities.
• Kidney problems.
• Loss of libido and lack of interest in social relationships.
• High risk of suicide.

Risk factors of bulimia

It bulimia nervosa is a serious public health problem, because it affects more than 2% of girls aged between 14 and 18 years, and males at a rate about ten times less, and several studies suggest that the disease continues to grow today. It tends to underestimate the problem, since patients tend to hide the symptoms and not seek help, by which many sufferers have not been diagnosed.
Among the risk factors for developing bulimia include:

• Dieting. In some cases, failure to eat carbohydrates, the person are deprived of an important suppressant of appetite, which makes you feel an uncontrollable desire to eat. In addition, strict diets can affect certain brain neurotransmitters such as serotonin, which predisposes to bulimia.
• Social influence. Film, television, advertising, fashion... constantly transmit messages that indicate that it is necessary to be thin to be happy and succeed. To achieve to be accepted socially, increasingly younger try to modify their appearance, using methods that endanger their health.
• The incorporation of women into the world of work involves a change in eating habits of families, in the absence of a person who set meal times and monitor their compliance. In this way, teens are less controlled and eaten, or stop eating, without the knowledge of their parents.
• In the most vulnerable, emotional problems as the divorce of the parents, the death of a loved one, family over-protection, or a history of depression and other mental disorders in the family, may be triggering factors of a food disorder.
• On the other hand, extreme concern about the figure and the weight can be a trigger for bulimia, as well as low self-esteem and perfectionism.

Treatment of bulimia

It is necessary to employ a multidisciplinary treatment to cover all the physical and psychological complications of bulimiapatients have. The goal of treatment is that improve self-esteem a person and accept herself, to restore your emotional balance and that is able to adopt a healthy lifestyle.
During the last decades we have developed a large number of therapeutic for this type of disorder strategies. More applied therapies are individual, group, or family psychotherapy, self-help groups, and drug treatment.
The method used most often in the treatment of this disease is the combination of antidepressant therapy cognitive-behavioral (CBT).
Antidepressants serotonin inhibitors are efficacious in reducing the frequency of episodes in which the patient eats wildly during short periods of time, and self induced vomiting, influencing the improvement of anxiety, depression and global decline, although it does not help to solve the problem of background about the overvaluation of the weight and the body figure. For this reason, often relapse in the long run.
Therapy cognitive-behavioural, for its part, is the most effective way and that better results achieved in the treatment of bulimia. Therapy cognitive-behavioral, as well as improving symptoms, also modifies the tendency to perform extreme diets and influences attitudes towards weight and figure, as well as other symptoms of psychopathology such as depression, low self-esteem, the deterioration of the social relations of the patient, etc); in this way, the results are long-term.

Prevention of bulimia

We talk about eating, that both young people and adults should avoid a dangerous disorder. These tips should be taken into account by anyone who wants to prevent the bulimia:

• See what you like about your body, remember it, and power that appeal with clothing that best suits your physique. You can also hide the negative aspects. It is normal that certain parts of the body does not like you, and want to improve or hide those defects is not bad, provided that it does not become an obsession.
• You do not compare with others. The physicist is, above all, a matter of genes, and although you can improve practicing sport and with a balanced diet, bone structure and stature cannot be modified. Learn to feel comfortable with your physique because this security is transmitted and resultarás more attractive.
• Knows and values your qualities, and show them when you meet new people. When someone is friendly, witty, kind, says interesting things and knows how to listen, the physicist is in the background.
• Do not criticize the appearance of others. Value them for their qualities and their character, aside from its beauty.
• If you are wrong with your body, don't start a diet on your own without first consulting a professional. You do not isolate, talk to your family and friends. There are always alternatives to improve without falling into bed

Drunkorexia: stop eating to drink alcohol

The main victims of the drunkorexia are concerned youth for staying thin that they don't want to give up the consumption of alcoholic beverages for fun, the solution: not to eat.
Wanting to have perfect measures attached to the so-called social acceptance which has the teen a drink are the bases on which this new food disorder rests. Also known as alcohorexia or ebriorexia, although less is the name, drunkorexia is a term not official that derives from the English word drunk (drunk or intoxicated) and the Greek suffix -orexia; (appetite).
With the arrival of weekends, holidays or periods of feast, young people leverage to go out and drink alcohol as one form of fun. At this point, some of them (mainly girls) are beginning to worry about his physical and consequences letting them alcohol in your figure. The dilemma arising then is would waive? to drink or I drink while fattening?
Result of unconsciousness and the whim of the age, young people choose something much worse: neither one thing nor the other, is best left to eat to be able to keep drinking. What seems so strange is not it if we extrapolate it to another context. Surely you've heard someone who prefers to eat the least to afford this dessert that both like or decide to skip any food to compensate for a previous meal. It is the same speech, although much more worrying: in this case it has been consumed in excess is not food but alcohol. According to experts, we could be facing a more serious than anorexia case, since is a wasteful consumption of alcohol in a body that is practically malnourished and entails negative consequences for health.

The negative effects of alcohol

As he showed a study published by the medical journal The Lancet earlier this year, alcohol is a substance addictive and harmful than heroin and crack, if it is considered in a combined way the damage that causes to the consumer and the people who surround him. The authors of the study emphasized that the alcohol, as well as being more harmful drugs in general terms, is almost three times more harmful than cocaine and tobacco.
The alcoholic drinks are a source of empty calories, this is lacking micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) that are beneficial to the body. In terms of its nutritional value, one gram of alcohol brings to the Agency 7.1 calories, more than one gram of sugar (4 calories), so a can of beer (350 ml) brings to the Agency about 110 calories, a glass of wine, about 80, and mix any drink distilled with a soda exceeds the 200. Therefore, simply provide us some energy, which will be offset by the depressant effect on the central nervous system by reducing the ability to speak, think, walk, etc.
In addition, alcohol consumption has a major impact in terms of health. The World Health Organization has warned of the magnitude of the public health problems associated with alcohol consumption: short-term, interfere in the processes of use of nutrients and causes a decrease in appetite, which helps the drunkorexia behavior become serious. And taken unlawfully and regular, are clearly related to the development of: obesity, hypertension, hypertriglyceridemia, liver disease, pancreatitis, gastritis, stomach and esophagus and cancer, in another order of things, the risk of traffic accidents.
These effects are even higher in women, since they metabolize alcohol faster with damage affecting more quickly to their vital organs, especially heart disease is concerned.
Therefore, the best thing is consuming alcohol only sporadically and with control or directly not to do so.

How to treat the drunkorexia?

The question arises when a friend or close family member think it is drunkorexico. What do we do if we know someone with this pattern? Eugenia Moreno, a psychologist and Director of the clinical disorders food in Valencia, advises looking closely at the eating habits of our young people and, if we recognize this type of pattern, not ignore it: "talk to the person involved and know their level of awareness on the issue; If still remain drunkorexia behaviors, you should then seek professional advice. In addition, you should investigate the possibility of an addiction to alcohol".
In the treatment of the drunkorexia must intervene a multidisciplinary team, that is, at least one psychologist (used to treat addiction, associated problems, and the acquired erroneous pattern), a nutritionist to restore the lost nutritional balance and a primary care physician.
Your family, your environment, your intimate circle of friends are the other pillar of the treatment, of them dependent on largely make him feel affected or impacted drunkorexia which beauty is not the thinness of a person - or at least that there are other healthier ways to achieve a stylized figure of healthy-looking. In this sense, reinforcement of the self-esteem of the patient is essential also to understand that you have other tools inside that will make you attractive and interesting face to others without drinking alcohol or stop eating for this.

Food craving, the danger of cravings

The 'food craving' feels easy to recognize because all have experienced it more than once. If we analyze this English term won't cost us understand its meaning: 'food' means food, and 'craving' can translate it by craving, craving, desire, even addiction. We are then referring to the uncontrollable urge to we sometimes feel by eating a particular food.
"'food craving' - explains Andrea Navarrete, health psychotherapist integrative Paideia (network of social and health care and educational professionals) - cannot be defined as a syndrome or disorder because to do so they would have to have performed studies that will indicate a series of concrete and easy to identify in a community, symptoms and there is still little information on this subject and has not established a diagnosis clear."

Is the 'food craving' a pathology?

"At the level of therapy and an extreme level, yes it can be understood as such. If a person is in constant search of a certain food, this may interfere with your normal life and here is where appears the alteration", Navarrete responds. In addition, 'food craving' can have serious consequences, both at a physical level - obesity, diabetes, hypertension--due to excessive consumption of unhealthy products, such as psychological, since after this massive intake, those affected feel guilty for his conduct.
In our country there was much research about the 'food craving' yes but there are international works that reveal its existence. The study of Weingarten and Elston (1999), for example, determines that 97% of teenage girls had ever episodes of uncontrollable desire for food, and 67% of the guys confirmed that they had also suffered. According to this work, teenagers are the target group more likely to suffer these episodes of uncontrollable craving for a particular food. This has been one of the paradigmatic studies from which has begun to talk more about it.

Causes of the 'food craving'

It is important to clarify the causes that cause a person to develop 'food craving' are considered still hypothesis, since there is not sufficient research that determined its origin. It is normal to associate it with the desire to drink something sweet or rich in carbohydrates.
"One of the theories out there about this problem, is related to low levels of serotonin (neurotransmitter responsible for regular sleep, appetite and mood), also related to the emergence of anxiety and depression." It has been observed that when there is a deficit of serotonin is tends to have an impulse to eat foods which help secrete this substance and normalize the lack", clarifies the Paideia integrative psychotherapist. Among the variety of food we eat, some that it reset before our serotonin levels, are carbohydrates and sweets, that make us feel better.
This guideline is also closely related to the menstrual cycle and pregnancy, i.e. when there are major hormonal changes in the woman's body. Why give to many women for taking chocolate, ice cream or cookies when they are Ovulating, and that is mostly females who more presents this trend.
Although not only sweet foods generate this kind of impulses, inclinations towards salt-rich products have also been (crisps, olives, cheese, pasta, pizza...). "It is normal that the"food craving"appears in people who are following a diet very restrictive, deficient in nutrients or where salt has been removed," adds Andrea Navarrete, sanitary psychotherapist. For precisely this reason healthy diets and controlled by experts are not in favour of eliminating any type of food in the diet, everything can be done if it is a control and moderation. "The problem is that if weather is that you do not eat food, the body end up claiming it and we will give it in the worst possible way: by binge", explained Navarrete.

Hypothesis to explain the 'food craving'

The main hypotheses that purport to explain the emergence of 'food craving' are:

• Low levels of serotonin: when there is a deficit of this substance grows the desire of taking certain food that increase their levels in the body.
• A restrictive dieting: body just claiming the nutrients that are missing if they are not provided by the diet. It is the feeling of "forbidden food" that keeps you wanting to eat it more.
• The needs of the Agency: if your body something missing, a nutrient or a vitamin, is logical that "you ask" eat that you need. So you tend to want foods that can provide you this micronutrient that you need.
• Stress: found that when we have high levels of stress, we need energy, and wish to foods such as carbohydrates, which have the ability to deliver it more quickly. It tends to produce a vicious circle that consists of that anxiety pushes to eat compulsively, what makes us feel guilty and that we eat again to placate this negative sentiment. "The pace of modern life does not facilitate us to five meals a day, you are going to be more gentle, to do exercise, in short, that we have time to dedicate to our personal lives", complains Navarrete.
• Feel 'empty': there are people who feel empty and try to "fill" the gap with the food and the pleasure that you eat (both in the physical and psychological levels). They tend to be people who are not satisfied with their lives, which have a low self-esteem, relationship issues... and they need to make up for it somehow. In this situation, it is easy to attach to foods that produce pleasure, albeit momentary.
• Society: live in a consumer society can facilitate the development of such conditions. We are exposed to numerous stimuli that invite to spend, buy, need and want certain items. "Promoting the resolution of immediate pleasure"indulge","give away you it", but in a very superficial way." No power take care yourself really", says Navarrete. The food before was a necessity, whereas we are now supercharged, and at each step we find cafes, restaurants, shops... "In addition, in our country eating is almost as a way to socialize." Many social roles revolve around food", added the expert.

Symptoms of the 'food craving'

According to Navarrete, not be criminalized as a disease, the 'food craving' does not have a picture of symptoms clear, but according to what is explained in the preceding paragraphs, then you describe some signs that may indicate that certain limits have been transferred and he suffers or there is imminent risk of this disorder. These are:

• Have an emotional state that is conducive to the pursuit of a particular food.
• Consume impulsively and over a particular snack.
• Present obesity or diabetes, due to the high intake of 'empty calories' (those that do not provide nutrients, but yes energy).
• Have high blood pressure, especially if the food chosen is something very salty and is taken continuously.
• Be sad, depressed, or sit empty. "It could arise guilt, problems of image, low self esteem, feeling of lack of control over your life, possibility of triggering an eating disorder that a latent psychological disorder from getting worse...", according to the sanitary psychotherapist Andrea Navarrete.
• You can reach even to want to reduce virtually all other foods the diet just to eat only the meat, which is the only one that produces pleasure. Although this is already a most paradigmatic real and possible case, since live food it is very difficult.

Who could suffer 'food craving'?

The fact that is not a problem so well studied as other eating disorders, makes it difficult to define the characteristic profile of the person who suffers "food craving". "What Yes has been that women tend to present it more than men, for what that is related to the hormone issue." Although this does not mean that there are no men with this problem, but women have increased susceptibility to happen we, concludes Navarrete.

Tips to avoid the 'food craving'

Although it depends a lot of the factors and causes that is associated with this problem, to General, to avoid the 'food craving' our health expert psychotherapist, Andrea Navarrete, he offers some tips:

• Follow a healthy lifestyle and make five meals a day (if we skip an intake, we arrive at the following with more hunger and anxiety and desiring to take carbohydrates, since levels of glucose are low ebb).
• Establish a plan of individual feeding and scheduled by an expert, based on your tastes and preferences, which serve you to adopt a routine. This plan must include or promote the consumption of foods (vegetables, nuts, oily fish), tryptophan that will regulate serotonin levels.
• Reduce or eliminate the consumption of foods that put you nervous - caffeine, carbohydrates, stimulants...- or that predispose you to having more anxiety.
• For avoid "attacks on the fridge" is a good thing to have on hand healthy snacks (fruit, whole grains, foods rich in fiber...) that you filled, you feed and entertain you. "We must educate in good nutrition, more time to take care of ourselves and, in general, have a healthier lifestyle. "This is what we will give pleasure to long-term and not based on immediate pleasures", suggests the psychotherapist.
• Exercise is very important as a way to release stress and energy that we have accumulated. To exercise we release endorphins which lead us to a pleasant mood, the brain relaxes and keeps busy thinking about the activity carried out, thus enabling us to enjoy and not think what we stressed.
• The psychological aspect of the treatment to solve this food disorder is based on managing anxiety and address psychological discomfort that is leading us to the "food craving". It may be beneficial to apply techniques of relaxation and meditation. If the symptoms continue, you should consult a specialist because it is possible to suffer a deficit of any vitamin, mineral or some other nutrient. "It may be a notice of our body. " Not be ruled out that that desire may be due to a lack, a deficit or a hormonal problem", explained Navarrete, and adds that "therapists we always say that if something happens in us is for a reason. It's the way that has body warn you that something's wrong, physically or emotionally, as if it were a sign of warning or alarm".
• It entertainment is also very useful as a way to escape from these behaviors "is very good to find some activity that produces you pleasure: practice relaxation, stroll, take a shower, sewing, draw... each must find their own ways and find things that keep him busy and unconcerned", suggests Andrea.
• Not to ignore the problem. Although the "food craving" is something that we all have experienced and is considered normal - even necessary-, taken to the extreme can cause social isolation or serious health problems. It is a new disorder, recent addition, which does not have many references and studies. However, it is known that you beautiful with different pathologies that are serious - anorexia, bulimia, depression, anxiety..., by what might be dangerous.

What is the Megarexia

What is the megarexia?

If people suffering from anorexia looks in the mirror and are obese, but marked them the bones under the skin and suffer from a thin boundary, to the megarexicos happens exactly the opposite, they are not able to perceive his excess weight, found his comfortable physique, and not only do not worry about the line, but that they crowd of unhealthy food such as sweets and fats. They are obese malnourished, who increasingly eat more and worse.
The megarexia is an eating disorder, less well known than anorexia, bulimia, or orthorexia, but no less serious. In addition, bearing in mind that obesity is a phenomenon on the rise, which already affects more than 500 million people around the world, it is possible that many overweight individuals are undiagnosed megarexicos, that they will prove to be obese if they do not become aware of your problem and rectify their style of life in time.
The Spanish Jaime Brugos nutritionist was who gave the name of megarexia to a disorder of eating behaviour, which consists of being obese not wanting to see it or admit it. It is, in fact, a distortion in the perception of their own body image and, therefore, is a problem of psychological origin which has resulted in weight gain and malnutrition in those who suffer from it.

Consequences of the megarexia

Overweight and, above all, obesity, are risk factors that significantly increase the possibility of numerous diseases such as metabolic syndrome, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, apnea, gout, cancer...
The megarexicos, in addition, as they considered that the size is correct and they do not have any health problem, they don't care to include in your diet nutritionally adequate food that they eat what they most like, and feel like, and often consist of fried, carbohydrates, fat, candy, pizza, and all kinds of foods that provide what experts regard as empty calories , so in addition to obese, another consequence of the people suffering from megarexia is that they are malnourished and often suffer from anemia due to the lack of nutrients.
Regardless of physical appearance and size to reach the megarexicos, an unbalanced power causes lack of energy, so people turn to food to feel better, and so the vicious circle is formed. On the other hand, both the extra kilos and the shortage of energy, not invite precisely to lead an active life, and sedentariness increases even more excess weight and the risk of suffering from other illnesses.
In the case of the megarexicos, it is considered that obesity, in addition to representing a health problem in itself, is a symptom of malnutrition.

Treatment of the megarexia

As it is the case with the rest of the eating disorders that have psychological origins, to deal with the megarexia it is necessary that the patient recognizes that it has a problem. But, as in the case of Anorexics, the image which reflects the mirror, which does not coincide with the perceptions of his own body, not makes them change their minds, so it is necessary to his family to help them to see reality, and will normally need help of a medical professional (family physician, psychologist...) that orient them disorder sufferers , and a nutrition specialist determined the guidelines of good nutrition so that they begin to lose weight at the same time improving their impaired nutritional status.
Jaime Brugosnutritionist, who created the term 'megarexia' to define obese that are thin and healthy, has written several books that expose his theories on what should be a healthy diet, which help to lose weight to those who need it, but in a healthy way and revitalizing. Brugos considers that to lose weight there to eat little, but to choose nutritious foods, because low-calorie diets weakens the body, reduce the amount of muscle mass, and encourage sedentary lifestyle, as well as cause the known ' effect I - I ' (return to fatten rapidly as soon as the diet is not followed to letter).
To achieve and maintain a proper weight, this nutrition expert recommended to distribute food in five or six shots a day, make breakfast the most important meal, do not begin to eat less without going to a specialist because we could restrict essential nutrients for the body, and reduce especially the intake of sugars. It also recommended to avoid energy (like sweets or carbohydrates) food shortly before bedtime, since during the night's rest we will not be able to eliminate that excess energy, which will accumulate in our body in the form of fat.

Prevention of the megarexia

The best prevention against eating disorders, including the megarexia, is to establish a healthy lifestyle that includes a balanced diet and regular physical exercise practice, which is missing any food, but that limit to the maximum intake of calorie and little nutritional products from childhood. Teach children that are at ease with their physical, but monitor not causing overweight already since childhood and, in the event that they need to lose weight, always request the advice of a professional physician, to avoid falling into dangerous behaviors like starving.
Some parents confuse the extra kilos with a sign of good health for children, and you should not remove importance to the fact that the child eat more than normal for their age and Constitution, or feed almost exclusively of hamburgers, pizzas and hot, accompanied by sugary sodas, dog thinking that already will change and have time to worry about the line when I grow up. An obese child has a much better chance of becoming an obese adult.

What is orthorexia

It orthorexia is a disorder of eating behaviour consisting in the obsession with eating the affected considered healthy, rejecting all those who can not be included in this category from your point of view.
At first, orthorexia can seem that it's appropriate behavior (eating only healthy and natural products), and that it will be beneficial for the organism of which practice it. However, it can become a serious problem and cause serious repercussions, both on the quality of life and health.
Who affect orthorexia?
Anyone can develop this pathological inclination, but the most vulnerable are those very demanding with themselves and with others, with a character straight and strict, who like to plan and implement comprehensive control over their lives and their daily activities.
Women and young people are also more likely and, in general, all those overly worried about his physical, since the decision to eat "only healthy food" is associated to achieve and maintain a good body image. This desire for physical beauty through diet is reminiscent of other disorders such as anorexia and bulimia eating.
People suffering from an obsessive-compulsive disorder to some degree, as well as those suffering from anorexia nervosa, also are more likely to fall in the orthorexia.
Athletes are another group of risk since they care especially their food, or adapted to your type of training, so they end up eating only foods that are considered appropriate to strengthen their muscles or improve physical performance.

Effects of orthorexia

Orthorexia has negative consequences on the health of the patient, but also on their social life. To restrict the number of allowed foods, the daily menu becomes a real problem, you should plan and prepare in advance. As they need to have the safety of the products used in the kitchen are appropriate, they cannot eat outside the home, not only in restaurants, but they can not do it at home of family or friends, unless they follow the same rules when it comes to prepare the menu. If we take into account that eating is a real social event, accompanying numerous celebrations (birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, Christmas celebrations, business meetings...), the fact to be considered harmful to the majority of the food prevents these people to enjoy any event of this nature, leading them to social isolation.
If on occasion are permitted to transgress its own rules, feelings of guilt overwhelms them and produces a great frustration to them. His obsession, also goes beyond food and ends up also include form that is preparing the food, and utensils and vessels used for this purpose.
Although reject fats, foods that contain additives and artificial substances, or vegetables and fruit grown with pesticides and chemical fertilizers, is not bad in itself, since ideally, food to be as natural as possible, at the end of the ortorexicos excluded from its nutrient diet which are considered necessary for the proper functioning of the body , and this can lead to, more or less serious disorders, including anaemia, lack of vitamins and minerals, malnutrition, osteoporosis, increased incidence of infections with a decreased function of the immune system, etc. Specialists insist that we must eat everything in perspective, and that vitamin supplements can or should replace a balanced diet.
Orthorexia is a serious problem for vital anguish, but an ortorexic can reach the end of starve rather than eat food that does not consider healthy; Therefore, although the motivation is different, orthorexia, in extreme cases, can be as dangerous to health as anorexia.

Diagnosis of orthorexia

The American doctor Steven Bratman suffered PTSD, and appointed as orthorexia in the late 1990s. According to Bratman, the ortorexicos think that they'll get great physical and psychic benefits thanks to their eating behavior, and this can lead them to a unit of the health food similar to that other addicts with drugs.
In addition to the benefits that healthy foods now expect, the ortorexicos also intended to get rid of threats in food rejected as anisakis, salmonellosis, or the evil of mad cow disease, and in this sense, his attitude is similar to that of a schizophrenic, who fears being poisoned, or a hypochondriac, intending to collapsible a disease if it does not take the necessary precautions.
Bratman established a series of guidelines that will help determine what behaviors or behaviors toward food could indicate the presence of this type of obsession, and developed a test to facilitate diagnosis. Some of the questions that will make you the patient are:

• Do you spend more than three hours a day thinking about their diet?
• Planning your meals several days in advance?
• Do you consider that the nutritional value of a food is more important than the pleasure that brings?
• Has decreased their quality of life while increasing the quality of your diet?
• Has it become stricter with itself at this time?
• Has it improved their self-esteem eating healthily?
• Has it renounced eating foods he liked to eat 'good' food?
• Your diet is a problem when it comes to eating out, and this distance you from your family and friends?
• Do you feel guilty when his regime is jumped?
• It feels at peace with itself and believes that everything is under control when you eat healthily?

If the patient answers Yes to four or five of these questions, it means that it starts to obsess more account with the diet, and that it should pay less attention to what you eat. If you respond affirmatively to all questions, it is necessary to worry because this indicates that feeding healthy has become an obsession for him.

Treatment and prevention of orthorexia

The treatment of those affected by orthorexia aims to replenish nutritional deficiencies which it incurs the patient to exclude certain foods from your diet, establish correct dietary habits, and treat possible organic complications stemming from poor nutrition. To complete the treatment, it is necessary to also address the possible psychological disorders, as well as the social and family problems that each patient.
Fundamental is the collaboration of the patient, although in these cases it is easier to that when it comes to other eating disorders such as anorexia, already that the attitude of the patient before the food is not the desire to lose weight, but to the living healthier, that it is actually the result of a balanced diet. However, it should modify the behaviour that has been adopting the ortorexic over time, as well as the obsessive thoughts, social isolation, and changes in mood.
It is important to explain to the patient the need to have a varied and complete power, and inform you of the negative health consequences that can have the lack of certain nutrients, which must be reintroduced in the menu progressively, until you get a balanced diet that includes protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals.
Psychotherapy You can help the patient modify their behavior and encourage self-esteem, correcting their vision distorted about the harmful effects of certain foods.
Prevention of orthorexia
As in the case of any disorder of eating behavior, instilling healthy habits in children, both in the family and in the school, it will strengthen the appropriate behavior, minimizing the negative effects that fashion or advertising to exert over his personality.
It is important that children can become familiar since childhood with foods that should be part of a balanced diet, and explaining them the nutrients they provide, what they are and why.
In addition, should pay attention to any signs that make you suspect that there is a deviation from the feeding behavior, since early detection of orthorexia or any similar condition is essential to correct the problem before you go to more.
In the case that it is people with obsessive compulsive behavior, should be especially alert, since they are very susceptible to orthorexia

What is the Potomania

What is the potomania?

The potomania is an unspecified eating disorder (TANE) which is defined as the desire of drinking large amounts of liquid, usually water, compulsively and without having a prior sense of thirst. It is also called psychogenic polydipsia.
This massive intake provides to the person concerned a pleasurable sensation, so it can reach eating between 8 and 15 liters of water, depending on the severity of the case.
Drinking more than two or three liters of water a day is beneficial for the body and is harmful to health, because it can alter the functioning of the kidneys and the composition of the blood (which must contain 8% water), and endangers the balance of fluids and electrolytes in the body.

Causes of the potomania

The hypothalamus is a brain region that, among other functions, is responsible for keeping the amount of water needed for the organism and warn the lack of liquid emitting the signal of thirst. An alteration in the mechanism of operation of the hypothalamus could cause episodes of potomania (neurological potomania), but experts agree that this is extremely strange, by which associated with an imbalance psychiatric disorder and that, in general, eating disorders are associated with psychological problems and personality disorders.
There are several risk factors that may influence the onset of this disorder:

• Certain mental illnesses, such as personality disorders, delusional pictures and hysterical symptoms.
• Chronic kidney disease.
• Organic disorders or hormonal conditions (such as diabetes mellitus, one of whose symptoms is, precisely, excess thirst or polydipsia).
• Suffering from anorexia nervosa. In this case the affected drinks plenty of water, with the aim of satiated without ingesting calories, either to increase body weight just prior to attending the specialist to weigh yourself, and thus mislead the professional.
• Use of medications such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, thiazide diuretic, and lithium, which interfere with the function of the kidney, and anticholinergic drugs, causing dry mouth, among others.
• Alterations in the functioning of the hypothalamus.

Symptoms of the potomania

The human body tries to maintain a constant volume of water and the concentration of electrolytes necessary for the proper functioning of all its organs. Thus, when the level of sodium is high, the body retains more water to dilute the excess and the feeling of thirst, is increased at the same time decreasing the need to urinate. Conversely, when the level of sodium is insufficient, the organism excreted more water to restore the balance.
A healthy person needs around two litres or two-liter and a half of water a day, that you can get both ingested liquid and food you eat: fruits and vegetables are foods with more water in its composition, so a diet rich in these products already brings a good dose of water required.
Excess fluids does not usually cause hyperhydration (over hydration) when the kidneys, pituitary gland and heart working properly because the Agency is responsible for excess, but frequent and prolonged episodes of potomania can ALTER renal function and the balance of the internal fluids, and cause symptoms such as:

• Muscle cramps and fatigue as a result of the dilution of sodium and potassium in the blood.
• Nausea.
• Headache.
• Hyponatremia (low blood sodium concentration), that seriously affects the functioning of the brain.
• Paralysis.
• Congestive heart failure. The lack of potassium (a mineral which is excreted in the urine) can change the rhythm of the heart muscle.
• Loss of mental agility.
• Profound drowsiness and prolonged (lethargy).
• Seizures.
• Coma and death.

Diagnosis of the potomania

The potomania is usually the sign of a psychological disorder that must be treated as soon as it is detected. It is common, in addition, that this eating disorder is associated with other disorders of the same spectrum as bulimia and, especially, anorexia, so the affected health may be seriously compromised if it does not intervene as soon as possible.
The kidneys are able to eliminate between 600 to 840 ml/hour, so you should not exceed this limit, although in times of heat or when performing lots of physical activity or sport, fluid intake needs increase.
When a person ingests more than four liters of water a day for no apparent reason, and especially if it surpasses the six litres, you must see a doctor without waiting for the symptoms described in the previous section. Once ruled out that there is an organic problem as an alteration in the hypothalamus or diabetes mellitus, the physician will result the patient to the specialized care required, usually a psychologist, psychiatrist, or nutritionist specializing in eating disorders.

Treatment and prevention of the potomania

To treat the potomania, initially may be given diuretics to the patient, serving to increase the excretion of fluid by the kidneys, which contributes to increasing the level of sodium and to alleviate the symptoms. However, to eradicate the problem treatment must be different depending on the cause that has resulted, although usually begin by restricting fluid intake to no more than a litre and daily average.
In the event that it occurs because of mental illness, the treatment should be psychotherapy, accompanied in some cases by psychotropic medication. This medication that acts on the central nervous system, characterized by alter perception, mood, the State of consciousness and the behavior of the patient for a period of time.
If disorder appears as a result of the use of drugs, these must be replaced by other medicines that do not cause this side effect.

Prevention of the potomania

In case of not receiving treatment, the disorder can have fatal consequences, since it can cause a picture of shock in the body that results in paralysis and death. The best prevention to avoid their undesirable effects on health is banish misconceptions, favored by misleading advertising, that proclaims that consume water in large quantities is very healthy and promotes weight loss.
Indeed, water is necessary and beneficial for the body, but in perspective. In this sense, mineral water ads should have taken this into account and have warned since the beginning, recommended for a healthy person is drink around two litres of water a day. Fool the stomach-based ingest liquid is not the best way to lose weight, but yes is can lose health, and even life, if this situation intensifies and prolongs.
Therefore, if you feel an unstoppable desire to drink, especially if you are not motivated by thirst, heat or physical activity, you must check as soon as possible with your doctor to find the source of the problem and prevent it to more.

The night dining syndrome

In this condition he eats little throughout the day because the consumer comes after night, with the consequence that appears overweight and sleep disturbances. Find out if you suffer from syndrome of the night dining and how to deal with it.
"I didn't understand what was happening to my father, though out his daughter could see those many extra pounds that disturbing you and what cost a simple stroll around the neighborhood. The strange thing is that he didn't eat too, used to chop a little in the morning and drink something light to eat and thereupon he said to be satiated. Until one night desvelé me and I went to the kitchen, my father was also there and a plate of spaghetti that had left over food was taking. I figured it was something normal, since he had eaten nothing all day and I went to bed. But this behavior did not stay here, it was repeated one night after another, until we decided to consult a specialist. My father suffered from the syndrome of the night dining".

What suffers syndrome the night dining to whom?

Due to the disorder that occurs with the normal routine of meals, "people with syndrome of the night dining obesity are often or are predisposed to be it," explains gels Duch, a founding partner of the company of group nutritional support (GAN).
According to nutrition experts, the daily normal intake should be distributed in five meals. Teresa González, nurse expert nutritionist at the iron gate Hospital de Majadahonda Madrid, explains how it should distribute calories throughout the day: "the breakfast and lunch should provide 30 percent of the total energy, the mid-morning snack and lunch between 10 and 15 percent and, finally, the dinner would be consumed between 10 and 20 percent of the calories of the day".
It is estimated that a 1.5 per cent of the general population suffers from the syndrome of the night dining and up to 42 per cent are obese
Meals must go decreasing calorie along which passes the day, since dinner the body does not need a large energy input when not subjected to physical or mental effort. On the other hand, in people who suffer from syndrome of the night dining, these scales are unbalanced, being capable of ingesting up to 70 percent of the calories night at those moments that are awake.
The second great effect of nocturnal eaters is that these people are raised repeatedly throughout the night and this behavior can end up causing insomnia. "There is no doubt that levels of a series of molecules in the body are altered, and as a result, amending also circadian rhythms or the so-called 'biological clock' (related to the sleep pattern, humor and the mechanisms of hambre-saciedad)," explains nutritionist gels Duch.
Other effects according to the Assistant of clinical psychology at the University Hospital of Guadalajara, Merino Mercedes, are the melatonin and leptin levels decrease during sleep, substances that are involved in the regulation of the weight, and that relate to the night hunger impulses and insomnia problems. The increase of the levels of plasma cortisol, involved in the metabolism of glucose, through the secretion of insulin. This alteration is not hungry during the day. And because of changes in the biological clock, produce alterations in the mood of the person being more irritable or sad.

Symptoms of the syndrome of the night dining

We are accustomed to hear about teenagers who suffer from anorexia or bulimia, but there are also other types of eating disorders that share plentiful symptomatology with any of the above, in addition to negative health effects.
In the case of the night dining syndrome, the guidelines are clear and are often repeated among the different observed people, tells them Rosa María Raich, Professor of psychological intervention and research of eating disorders in his book 'Anorexia, bulimia and other eating disorders':

• People with syndrome of the night dining don't eat nothing or almost nothing throughout the morning, at breakfast or in the food, since their sense of appetite at this time is very low.
• They are often highest mood in the morning, but that decays as they pass the hours.
• They suffer from sleep disturbances, difficulties to reconcile it and frequent Awakenings throughout the night.
• After dinner they made excessive consumption of food coinciding with periods of insomnia.
• The most widely consumed foods tend to be rich in carbohydrates (sweets, pastries, bread, pasta, rice, etc). These foods secrete serotonin, a flattering molecule of sleep and improve mood.
• Not consumed a large intake of food at once (non-binge eating), they are small intakes, pecking, or snacks, but which are made continuously throughout the night, depending on the number of Awakenings. Being unable to recover the dream if not swallowed some food.
• The person is fully aware of his behavior, and often feel sad, helpless and with feelings of guilt, especially if their intake.
• Intakes are increased when the person suffers periods of stress (work, personal, family...).

How is the night dining syndrome treated?

Although still causes of the syndrome of the night dining and its treatment are still under investigation, what is known is that initially should not be addressing the problem of overweight, but first treat the eating disorder. This has an explanation for the nutritionist gels Duch, "Unlike other eating disorders, this disorder is not related to the concern by the weight or body self-image, patients don't feel necessarily dissatisfied with your body".
Priority is to understand where that anxiety comes from that person and why you try to placate her with food. The solution often required a multidisciplinary intervention where involved experts in psychology, psychiatry and nutrition.
The issue of control of the weight would come later, it is not good to add stress that produces a restrictive diet to an emotionally unstable person.
Therefore, firstly, discussed how to help the patient from the psychological aspect, giving you tools that you learn to deal with your problem and change their attitudes and habits with food.
For all this help you also carry a few guidelines controlled food, as keeping a journal with what you eat, what hours, how is ready, gives what calories, and attempting to follow a diet basically diurnal, with at least five meals a day and punching something low in calories and rich in fiber before bedtime, that way at least reduce the risk of obesity associated with the syndrome of the night dining.

The selective dining syndrome

Selective dining syndrome refers to the nutrition where there is an inadequate food variety. That diet which is limited to between five and ten foods, and, in addition, correlates with rejection to try new products (designated as neophobia disorder), as explains it the psychotherapist and responsible for the area of knowledge management and research at the Institut de Trastorns Alimentaris (ITA), Toni Grau.
Sometimes, the rejection of certain foods focuses on certain textures (e.g. fibrous), which excludes diet large families of foods such as fruits, vegetables and vegetables. Products followed closely, in terms of avoidance, by the fish and vegetables. On other occasions, this rejection is directed toward the outer appearance of certain foods (shape, color, size...) and not so much to their taste.

Profile of the selective dining

The selective dining syndrome has been described in children, although there are already some studies with adolescents. As for adults, the available scientific literature is non-existent.
This disorder is most often occur in boys than girls (with a ratio of four boys for each girl). Although a characteristic profile is not defined, these kids tend to have problems of social avoidance, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive traits, low adaptation to change and novelty. Factors which are, mostly, personality traits, and that it therefore remain over time, while also remaining in adulthood, as describes the psychotherapist Toni Grau.
So far, this disease was classified within the diagnostic category 'Food intake of infancy, or childhood disorder', unless there is a specific category for the selective dining room syndrome. However, "the next diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-V) provides for their inclusion as a new diagnostic category: 'Avoidant/restrictive Eating Disorder', explains the expert of the ITA."

Negative effects of the syndrome of the selective dining

The main consequences of the syndrome of the selective dining are derived from nutritional deficiencies of a restricted diet, and more taking into account that avoided major foodstuffs are those rich in vitamins, minerals and fiber (vegetables, fruits, legumes, fish...), indispensable for development. "The lack of these nutrients can be attended with problems of growth, lethargy, and poor concentration. In this sense, has been a decrease of between 13 and 15 points in IQ of selective eaters", concludes the psychotherapist Toni Grau.
As for the psychological part, Grau explained that these children have a higher risk of developing an eating disorder in later growth stages; Since certain traits of the personality that combines also they are present in these pathologies and who share the problem with the power supply.
In addition, selective eaters and their caregivers is often social avoidance of those events in which the limited diet of the child do not can be developed normally (retreats, trips, birthdays, to sleep at friends house...). "This refusal by the food hinders the proper process of socialization with people surrounding the child and the world", explains the psychotherapist. In addition, "tantrums, crying, and other disruptive behaviors increase conflicts in the family," concludes Grau.
To summarize, the symptoms of the dining room are selective, at the same time, consequence (expression of discomfort) and cause (conflict avoidance), concludes responsible for the area of knowledge management and research of the ITA.

Causes of the syndrome of the selective dining

Although there is not a single and clear principle that do emerge the selective dining syndrome, if found related causes problems on the link that is created between the child and the caregiver. "Babies, to not be able to express themselves with words, use other forms of communication (waving arms, cry, shout, throw or spit meal...)." These behaviors are stressful for caregivers, to avoid these behaviors opting to prepare and give only the least problematic foods. "With this attitude, the initiative of introducing new foods is lost and is perpetuated the circle that the child does not want to eat anything else is not known", explains the psychotherapist Toni Grau.
In addition, the stress that carer suffers to the nervousness of the child makes that the link between them is not suitable and it impact on the trust relationship to be created between the two, "still one factor more so there is rejection of the baby before any food or thing that caregiver offers. Making thus the vicious circle that we spoke of earlier", continuing the psychotherapist.
Although not everything is a product of a lack of link between the child and the caregiver, as authors all the experts in the field, the selective dining syndrome follows a multicausal model. This disorder can become "a way of expressing the personality", as says Grau. This way, the novelty rejection or stiffness (characteristic of obsesivo-compulsivas persons), presented through the repudiation to the meal, are brought to light "through the primitive features of the power", says the expert.

How anticipating the emergence of the syndrome of the selective dining

A simple "I don't want" or an "I don't like", pronounced by a child before a plate of food that does not like, has to be carried with tranquillity and intelligence. Children are great imitators of their parents, so if children see that their parents are selective and do not eat such or which food, they certainly tend to reject it to them also. Hence the importance of stress, from the outset, to include in the diet food of all kinds (if appropriate to the physiological characteristics of the child) or which will prevent nutritional problems of behavior in the future.
To get a correct nutrition of children will have to arm themselves with patience once started the period of introduction of new foods. It will be essential to play with your child, make the food that it appeals to you and go it gradually incorporating in your diet so that you do not notice a very sudden change.

Treatment of the syndrome of the selective dining

To question many parents if you can treat the syndrome of the selective dining room and get back to a normal diet, the psychotherapist Toni Grau says Yes, although "as in all complex health conditions, treatment requires an interdisciplinary approach, in which they are present disciplines such as medicine, psychology, and nursing during all of the therapeutic process" explains the expert.
To address an effective treatment of the syndrome of the selective dining , these are the steps that follow us:

• First, you must assess the nutritional status of the affected person. It is important to see in what condition the child arrives and how are their nutritional levels. In the same way, it is necessary to rule out the existence of an organic origin of the picture (allergies, sensitivity to certain foods, etc). In extreme cases (those in which the biological scales have come to be compromised) is it necessary even a brief hospitalization.
• Once discarded organic problems should explore the explanatory factors that have led to this behavior. These are who are going to show what therapeutic strategy should follow. Taking into account that in many cases the symptoms of selective dining room constitute the expression of a discomfort, it is important to be able to access the factors underlying the problem behavior.
• Reached this stage, it was noted that in the majority of cases there has been to prioritize the restoration of the link with the main caregivers. Similarly, in certain cases the restructuring of certain dysfunctional family patterns, is necessary to equip the family unit of functionality to deal with this and other problems.
• In parallel to the treatment of syndrome of the selective dining-related factors, be progressive to novel foods exposure, by selecting different groups of food and textures in order to be able to generalize this exposure to other products that make up a normal, healthy and balanced diet.

Tips to prevent the selective dining syndrome

The value of prevention and these behaviors is relative, since the behavior of a person with the syndrome of the selective dining is only an expression related to the temperament or the character of the individual (i.e., that the person does not eat because you can't, but because you don't want to), so the psychotherapists say that, despite this, environment in which viva and the child moves may be a protective factor against these issues.
These are some of the strategies and tips that can enhance this protection against the emergence of the syndrome of the selective dining room or the simple rejection of certain foods:

• Devote time and attention to nutrition: is recommended that during the lunch the family care focuses as much as possible in the Act of eating and rituals associated with it, discarding, to the extent possible, other activities (watching TV, watch mobile phone, getting up from the table, read...).
• Maintain a varied family feeding: all members of the family should eat everything, so varied and balanced, and comply with the general recommendations of the food or the Mediterranean diet pyramid.
• Stimulate curiosity in exploring new tastes and textures: creativity and fleeing the routine in the kitchen get appetite opens and that novel foods are better accepted. Cuisine in different ways (iron, steam, oven...), vary the diet foods always looking for substitute and looking for different recipes each time.
• Must not give food a character of reward or punishment: "If you behave, you repeat dessert", "you don't move the table until you eat lentils", this type of phrases, repeated over time, only generate the child is accustomed to getting what he wants with a certain behavior and is encapriche or be angry if you don't get what you want.
• The family hierarchy should be: As a rule, children, between two and three years, show an oppositional behavior towards adults in a first attempt to test the family hierarchy. It is at this time when it is crucial to establish a hierarchical structure in which parents have their executive capacity.
• Avoid mediate before other people feed the children when they are not at home: is the case, for example, calls to teachers to negotiate the diet during the gatherings or in the dining room of the school. The child must get used to eat what they put on the plate whether or not in his house, as a form of personal learning and behaviour in society.

What is the Vigorexia

What is the vigorexia?

The bigorexia is a mental disorder in which the person becomes obsessed by his physical condition to pathological levels. These people have a distorted view of themselves, and they are weak and figure. For this reason, the disorder has a direct impact on their eating and living habits, and is characterized by an extreme physical activity, leaving the social relations and neglecting other aspects of his life, to devote all his time to train.
Exercise addiction is accompanied by an exaggerated intake of proteins and carbohydrates and the abusive consumption of substances such as anabolic steroidsto increase muscle mass and get a muscular body. This disorder is also known as Adonis complex, reverse anorexia or muscle dysmorphia.
The vigorexia, which is not recognized as a disease by the international medical community, mainly affects young men, aged between 18 and 35 years old. Its incidence is four of every ten thousand people.

Causes of the vigorexia

The vigorexia may be caused by physiological or emotional problems almost always related to the environment of the affected.
The physiological problems are associated with disturbances in hormones and mediators of nerve transmission in the Central nervous system.
In the event that this disorder appears linked to the patient's relationship with their environment, are involved social, educational, and cultural factors that influence so that the individual may develop a type of obsessive personality.

Symptoms and complications of the vigorexia

The main symptoms that show people with vigorexia are:

• Low self-esteem.
• Trend towards self-medication.
• Follow diets high in protein and carbohydrates and low in fat, which usually include steroids and anabolic products.
• They suffer a distortion of body image, and often continuously take a look in the mirror and be weak.
• They are continually weighed.
• They are obsessed with the cult of the body.
• Every day, dedicated his free time to a comprehensive training.
• They are socially isolated.
• They have a disproportionate body.

Complications of the vigorexia

The attitude and habits of life adopted by the vigorexicos have as a consequence a number of organic problems and injuries caused by excess of exercise and a diet unbalanced with abuse of doping substances. These patients may develop possible complications include: cardiovascular diseases, liver or renal injury, prostate cancer, testicular atrophy, and erectile dysfunction.
In addition, the burden of excessive weight during the sessions in the gym resents the bones, muscles and joints, especially those of the lower limbs, and can result in sprains and tears.
Diet modification may also cause eating disorders. The abuse of anabolic to try to improve physical performance and increase muscle volume resulting in disorders such as:

• Disorder of the menstrual cycle in women.
• Appearance of acne.
• Heart problems.
• Testicular atrophy.
• Reduction in the volume of sperm.
• Fluid retention.

Treatment of the vigorexia

A common problem for those affected by bigorexia is that not sick, are considered so you tend to go to the doctor when the disorder is very advanced, or has progressed to an obsessive-compulsive disorder, anorexia or bulimia. It is essential, therefore, that the person recognizes that it suffers from the disorder and is willing to undergo treatment to overcome it. The goal of treatment should be to modify behavior and the patient distorted perception of his own body.
Indicated a treatment that combines psychological aspects (cognitive behavioural therapy), nutritional and pharmacological. As for other emotional disorders and disorders of eating behavior, such as anorexia and bulimia, the support of loved ones of the patient is essential to improve.
Likewise, it is important to reduce the number of hours the patient engaged in exercise, and replace this activity by others to their liking, which also relates to other people, so they become to feel included in society and acquire new habits and hobbies, so as to ensure that his obsession will be reduced by the cult to the body.

Forecast and prevention of the vigorexia

The bigorexia is a serious disorder, and its recovery will depend on several factors, as the moment they begin treatment, the way in which the patient front problem and the means available to do so, the support received by the society, and the presence of other associated emotional problems.
You have to take into account that it is a condition that can become chronic and lead to more complex syndromes, so already not could speak of recovery, but rather control the disorder and to prevent relapses.

Prevention of the vigorexia

Here are some clues that can help you prevent the bigorexia:

• It is not bad or pathological wish to have an attractive body image, but all those who begin to become obsessed with this topic must be vigilant, and ask for help if that desire begins to become a problem that interferes with their relationships and their emotional well-being.
• Exercise is very healthy, but all the free this time it cannot be reversed. If you notice an excessive addiction to the gym, should reduce progressively the hours spent in training, replacing them with other types of activity.
• It is very important to not fall into this kind of disorders care for personal relationships and share leisure time with other people.
• The people in the environment of the patient can also be seen signs that indicate that it may have the condition: socially isolated, spends too many hours to train, change your diet, complains of being slim and enclenque..., and intervene as soon as possible to help you.