7 tips to help someone with negative body image

negative body image and how to build body image resilience

Negative body image and building body image resilience

 

Body shaming has become a significant issue around the globe, potentially attributable to social media influencers and diet culture creating and promoting unrealistic body ideals.

It’s important to remember that everyone has flaws and imperfections, and this is what makes us unique. How someone looks is probably the least interesting thing about that person, but we know that body shame and negative body image is a serious issue, affecting 61% of adult men and women and 66% of children (UK Parliament, 2020), and this can lead to low self-esteem and confidence in all areas of life.

In this article, we will discuss how you can help someone with negative body image.

 

What is negative body image?

A negative body image is when someone has a distorted view of their appearance. It may be caused by poor self-esteem, lived experiences, unrealistic expectations, or a combination of both. 

People who suffer from negative body image tend to compare themselves unfavourably to others, which leads them to feel dissatisfied with their bodies. They may even find fault in every part of their body, and this can progress to finding fault in other elements of their lives too. 

People with negative body image may also feel uncomfortable about certain parts of their bodies. For example, if they don’t have society’s ideal of a flat stomach, they might feel embarrassed to wear tight clothes. Or, if they don’t have clear skin, they may feel compelled to wear make-up.

 

Where does a negative body image come from?

Developing negative body image stems from the culture we live in, the messages that were internalised when we were younger, traumatic lived experiences such as being bullied and the media.

A negative body image comes from society’s obsession with body ideals, such as thinness. The media, although beginning to change, has constantly promoted pictures of skinny or athletic models, and encourages the belief that these are the ideal shapes for women. You may find that you have, or someone you know has, been chasing these body ideals, and this can lead to an unhealthy relationship with your body, with food, and with exercise.

 

What are the consequences of negative body image?

When you put so much emphasis on your appearance, you can become obsessed with it, spending hours looking in the mirror or comparing yourself to others, and what others think of your body. This obsession can lead to the belief that your appearance defines you, or you place all your self-worth on how you look, and lose sight of all your other qualities, abilities, and achievements.

When someone feels low or ashamed of their body or themselves, this may lead to emotional eating to suppress these feelings and provide comfort.

Emotional eating combined with society’s emphasis on thinness, can lead to restriction or over-exercise to ‘counteract’ the food eaten, and more feelings of guilt and shame about yourself and your body. This is known as the ‘binge-restrict cycle’, which for some can spiral into bulimia nervosa, a severe eating disorder with medical consequences. These negative feelings can also lead to feelings of unworthiness, which can cause restriction of food eat and exercising out of punishment, which is associated with anorexia nervosa (Hosseini, 2021).

If you notice any of these signs, speak to your doctor: 

  1. You avoid social situations because you feel bad about yourself or are concerned about what you look like.
  2. You have trouble sleeping because you can’t stop obsessing over your weight and size. 
  3. You feel guilty about eating or drinking anything. This may look like lying to your family members about what you ate, eating in secret, or engaging in punishing behaviours after eating such as exercising, restriction or self-induced vomiting.
  4. You use alcohol or drugs to cope with your problems.
  5. You have thoughts of suicide. 
  6. You are constantly trying to lose weight, and relationship with food or your body has progressively become worse.
  7. You think you may be suffering from depression or another mental health problem. 

 

How can you help someone struggling with negative body image?

If you know someone who is struggling with body image, here are seven ways you can help: 

  1. Be there for them and support them. When you notice someone being judged by another person, or judging themselves, protest it.
  2. Compliment people on attributes, not looks. This can help remind people that they are loved for things aside from their appearance.
  3. Offer advice. Sometimes, we need to hear other people’s perspectives.
  4. Encourage them to try new things. This can help remind people that there’s more to life than obsessing about how they look.
  5. Show interest. People open up much more when they feel listened to and understood. Maybe sharing your experiences with body image, or even showing interest by asking questions and listening carefully can help people. 
  6. Remind them that their opinion matters. People with negative body image might struggle to take complements because their opinion of themselves is different than yours. Advise them that the only opinion that will make the most difference to them is their own, and they can improve their opinion of themselves starting by practicing some self-kindness.
  7. Help them find support if they need it. Negative body image often leads to depression and anxiety, which may require psychological intervention.

 

If you or someone you love are struggling with negative body image and it is affecting other areas of your or their life, we are here to help! At Embody Health London, we are experts in treating disordered eating, eating disorders and negative body image. Book your free discovery call to learn more about how we can help you.

 

Elle, RD, BSc, MSc

EHL x

 

References

Hosseini, A. (2021). Body Image Distortion. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK546582/

UK Parliament, 2020. Body Image Survey. https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5801/cmselect/cmwomeq/805/80502.htm

 

Everything you need to know about intuitive eating and health at every size

intuitive eating and health at every size

How to get started with intuitive eating and understanding Health at Every Size

 

Dieting can be harmful to our health, both physically and mentally.

Diet culture paints dieting as normal and encourages unhealthy and unrealistic body expectations. As a result, we lose touch with what we actually like to eat, what our body wants and needs, how to eat to for health and wellbeing, and also how to feel comfortable in our own skin.

In this article, we will explore intuitive eating and health at every size (HAES), two concepts which can help you to nourish and respect your body and enjoy what you eat, and as a result, lead to a happier and healthier lifestyle.

 

What is intuitive eating?

Intuitive eating is an evidence-based self-care eating framework that involves trusting the body, listening to and honouring its physical, emotional, mental and social needs. Intuitive eating is not a diet, it doesn’t impose rules about what to eat or not eat- it is about becoming embodied, fine-tuning your capacity to hear your body signals, acknowledge your emotional needs, moving with joy, and eating when you’re hungry and stopping when you’re full. In this way, intuitive eating encourages a healthy relationship with food and your body.

Although this way of eating is referred to as ‘intuitive’, for many people it’s not. Years of dieting or eating mechanically, having rules around food and depriving yourself of foods you enjoy, can send your hunger and fullness cues out of sync, making it hard to trust your body.

 

The 10 key principles of intuitive eating 

  1. Reject the diet mentality

Intuitive eating is not a diet and is about embracing neutralising all foods in addition to eating for physical and emotional health and satisfaction, not weight loss.

  1. Honour your hunger

You may not yet know what hunger feels like, or how to respond when you feel hungry if you have regularly dieted or eaten mechanically in the past. When you diet or restrict, your body may silence its hunger as a direct consequence of ignoring hunger signals for too long.

By learning how to respond to your hunger, you are less likely to overeat, and get stuck in a cycle of overeating and restricting.

  1. Make peace with food

Diet culture promotes rules and rigidity around food. In intuitive eating, no food is good or bad. Whilst there is a nutritional difference between an apple and an apple pie, there shouldn’t be an emotional difference.

  1. Challenge the food police

Challenging the thoughts and external influences that tell you what you should or shouldn’t eat. Intuitive eating is about eating in a way that works for you, and no one else.

  1. Respect your fullness

Your body will also tell you when it’s full, although this can be hard to detect when you’re used to dieting and eating strict portions. It may feel as though you are never full, and this could be due to being over hungry.

Check in with yourself throughout meals to see how food tastes and how hungry or full you are feeling.

  1. Discover the satisfaction factor

When you have foods you enjoy regularly, and eating is a pleasurable experience, you may find it takes less food to satisfy you. Remember, you should eat foods to physically satisfy you, but to also satisfy your tastebuds!

  1. Honour your emotions

Emotional eating is a common way of dealing with emotions. Explore other ways that you can cope with emotions and feelings you face, such as taking a walk, meditating or journaling. Identifying what physical hunger feels like is important when relearning to trust your body.

Physical hunger: This is the biological urge to eat in order to fuel and nourish your body. This comes on gradually and intensifies, from a rumbling stomach to fatigue and irritability. It is satisfied when you eat any food.

Emotional hunger: emotional hunger is driven by emotional needs. Stress, loneliness, boredom and sadness can create cravings for foods. Emotional hunger can be hard to satisfy, as it normally calls out for a specific food and cannot actually resolve the emotion being felt.

  1. Respect your body

You may not love your body but getting to a stage where you stop criticising yourself for how you look and can accept and appreciate it for what it does, can improve your body image and self-worth, which will reduce your likeliness for wanting to diet and help you trust your body more.

  1. Exercise because it feels good

Exercise for enjoyment and because you respect your body, not to burn calories or because diet culture makes you believe that you should.

  1. Honour your health with gentle nutrition

It’s important to enjoy the food you eat, but also to eat food that nourishes your body. This will usually come last once you debunk all food rules, food choices can be made from an unbiased authentic place using knowledge and what the body feels as key indicators.

 

Will you lose weight if you adopt intuitive eating?

Intuitive eating is not about weight loss, it is about providing your body with what it needs. You could gain, maintain, or lose weight with intuitive eating. Eating intuitively is likely to bring you to your set point. If you are underweight at the moment and under nourishing, your body may show signs of physical hunger and when you honour this, this may lead to weight gain. Conversely, if you’re currently overeating or eating emotionally, becoming more attuned with your body, and eating in response to hunger and fullness signals could lead to weight loss.

Studies have linked intuitive eating to better body image and relationships with food, lower BMIs and weight maintenance (Dyke & Drinkwater, 2014). Research also shows that people who intuitively eat are less likely to develop eating disorders (Bruce & Ricciardelli, 2015).

 

What is HAES?

HAES (pronounced HAY-S) is a weight-neutral approach to health, aiming to address weight-bias and stigma for those living in larger bodies, and emphasising that health is more than the number on the scale.

The HAES paradigm acknowledges that regardless of your body shape or size, if you engage in health promoting behaviours such as moving your body in ways you enjoy, nourishing your body in ways you can celebrate by honouring variety and moderation, and by engaging in self-care regimens – THIS is what promotes health and longevity, independent of your weight or ‘body mass index’.

Celebrating body diversity whilst encouraging health is achieved through:

  • Weight Inclusivity
  • Health Enhancement
  • Eating for Wellbeing
  • Respectful Care and Life
  • Enhancing Movement

 

Why is HAES important?

The principles eating for wellbeing and enhancing movement are shared by both concepts of intuitive eating and HAES. As discussed above, intuitive eating is associated with better body image and weight maintenance, suggesting that doing things for ‘health’ as opposed to ‘weight loss’, as diet culture encourages, is more beneficial our long term mental and physical health.

Body shaming does not help people improve their health; it actually does the opposite. By removing weight-stigma and promoting healthy behaviours regardless of what shape or size you are, it is not only winning the war against diet culture but improving lives.

If you would like to learn more about how you can improve your body image, eat intuitively and step away from the diet cycle for good, reach out to us at [email protected].

 

Elle, BSc, MSc

EHL Team X

 

References

  • Van Dyke N & Drinkwater EJ. (2014). Relationships between intuitive eating and health indicators: literature review. Public Health Nutr. Aug;17(8):1757-66. doi: 10.1017/S1368980013002139. Epub 2013 Aug 21. PMID: 23962472.
  • Bruce, L. J., & Ricciardelli, L. A. (2016). A systematic review of the psychosocial correlates of intuitive eating among adult women. Appetite, 96, 454-472.

 

How to eat in restaurants with confidence in recovery

eat out with confidence non diet

Dining out in restaurants whilst in recovery

 

Eating out can be a big fear for those living with an eating disorder (ED). Something considered to be a fun and relaxing social occasion for many of us may cause stress and anxiety for others.

Mealtimes have been a central part of human civilisation since as far as we know. Today, going out for brunch, lunch, or dinner has become a crucial part of modern life. However, people living with an ED may find excuses to skip out on dinners, not wanting to engage in this activity for fear of losing control of their food intake.

Going out to eat again can certainly be another hurdle on our recovery journey. So, how can we overcome this and learn to enjoy meals in restaurants? Read on to find out our top four tips for minimising fear and guilt when eating at restaurants. 

 

Explore your options beforehand

You may wish to choose a familiar restaurant or food you know you will be comfortable eating. A big part of our fear around eating out may come from the lack of control over a meal and not knowing how it is prepared or what goes into it.

Nowadays, the internet enables us to search and check out any menus before, and dish descriptions allow us to know more about what has gone into each option on a menu. 

Alternatively, you can contact the restaurant ahead of time to learn more about specific dishes and inform them of any dietary requirements or amendments. This way, you can bridge the gap by having more certainty about what you’ll be eating, and over time, feel more comfortable with eating out.

Feel free to browse menus beforehand if you find it gives you more comfort; however, if a restaurant’s menu contains detailed nutritional information such as calories and macronutrients, this may be triggering, and it may be better to refrain from reading or avoid these restaurants altogether. 

 

Choose your dining companions wisely, and be open with them

When in recovery, our support network is a crucial part of the journey. Our interpersonal connections have been shown to create further neural integration and stability, boosting our emotions, attention, mood, thoughts and behaviour. (1)

Studies have found an inverse correlation between social connectedness and ED symptoms – meaning that the more socially connected we are, the fewer ED symptoms we may present. (2) This may also have implications for reducing the chance of relapse.

Be sure that the people you are eating with are compassionate, loving, approachable people who will continue to support you in this next phase of your healing – particularly in the initial phase.

Good company and conversation can be a good distraction whilst eating, and a caring friend will ensure that you are feeling comfortable during the ordering process, will avoid any judgement, and assist you in confronting any fear foods. 

Be aware of eating with people who may have a continued record of strict dieting or openly place harsh labels on foods – as this may create more fear and not be ideal when re-familiarising yourself with eating out.

Inform your diners of your feelings and reservations around going out to eat, as it may have been a long time since you last did, and they may not fully understand your situation and mindset behind avoiding them, especially if they have not been in your shoes themselves or have no other relatives who have lived with an ED.

This way, they can be aware of any triggers or give you flexibility in choosing a place and your meal without judgement. 

 

Think up some conversation topics

By this, we don’t mean you need a rehearsed script for your dinner. However, being in the company of someone else and being out of your head can be a perfect opportunity to take the focus off of food for a few hours.

Ditch the discussion on diets, calories, and food labels, and why not discuss a movie or TV show you recently watched? Perhaps you or your friend(s) picked up a new hobby this year and are keen to share? Conversation can involve anything and everything, and we guarantee you’ll be feeling calmer if the focus is not on food. 

If challenging topics come up, protect your mental health and stop to think about how much you feel like sharing – particularly if you happen to be in the company of someone who isn’t a close friend. 

For more guidance on how to navigate some difficult conversations, why not check out our two-part article on how to respond to diet talk?

Remember – it’s ok to step back and change the subject if you don’t feel comfortable. Being transparent and authentic is a true sign of strength, and your guest will be grateful for your honesty. 

 

Be patient with yourself

If you are feeling anxious about having to dress up, converse with strangers or just generally being out in public, remember that you don’t need to! Whilst going to a restaurant may be a crucial stepping step, it may not always be the right time for it. 

Trust your instinct, and if you feel like it may be more valuable to order in and enjoy foods in the comfort of your own home, then maybe that’s the right decision for you. You can always invite a friend or companion over to share it with you and watch a TV show or movie to take your mind off of things. 

Be gentle with yourself – you are taking a big step, so offering yourself kindness and compassion throughout is essential. 

We are so proud of you wherever you are in your journey, so remember to take a moment to think about how far you have come and all of the incredible things you and your body are capable of.

Keep thriving!

 

For more support on how to confidently eat in restaurants and even in the comfort of your home, our team is here to support you. Book your no-strings-attached discovery call and we would love to guide you towards food freedom!

Priya Chotai, BSc ANutr 

EHL Team x 

 

References

  1. Siegel, D. (2014). Interpersonal Connection, Self-Awareness and Well-Being: The Art and Science of Integration in the Promotion of Health. Lecture, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

 

  1. Nunez N. Social Connectedness and Eating Disorder Symptomatology. Psychology. 2019;38.

 

What is diet culture and what is its impact?

the impact of diet culture

How diet culture affect physical & mental health

 

It is almost considered ‘normal’ when you hear a friend say they want to lose weight, when you see someone in the office claiming to be on a diet or when you think that you’re bad because ‘bread is bad’ … thank you diet culture!

 

What is diet culture?

Diet culture is the belief that your appearance and body shape are more important than your physical and mental health, and we will explore the implications of this belief and how you can combat it in this post.

 

How is diet culture harmful?

Diet culture presents dieting as the only way to attain satisfaction with your body, but we know that this simply isn’t the case. Diet culture also perpetuates the myth that thinness equals healthiness, which is also far from true.

Dieting can create what is referred to as ‘the diet cycle’. The diet cycle in itself is a harmful phenomenon and can lead to shame and disordered eating. With dieting, it is considered ‘normal’ to be hungry and to not honour hunger, which can mean that we notice these hunger cues less frequently. With diet culture encouraging ignoring hunger cues, eating becomes routine and regimented, and we lose our ability to eat intuitively, which means you’re always on a diet!

Diet culture focusses on weight loss, rather than health. It is fashionable to be following a new diet, or to be seen choosing low calorie options rather than what you would like to actually eat. A recent survey highlighted that 35% of people in the UK follow some sort of ‘food rules’, with ‘low or no carb’ being the most popular (Statistic Global Survey, 2021).

Dieting, or having any kind of rules around food, can lead to disordered eating in many forms. It is interesting to note that the rate of disordered eating is higher among individuals with diabetes and within the athletic population, with researchers finding that this is linked to the emphasis on awareness of types and quantities of food (de Borja et al., 2021; Philippi et al., 2013).

Disordered eating is a risk factor for the development of eating disorders, such as Anorexia and Bulimia Nervosa (Bakalar et al., 2015). Diet culture also carries a weight stigma and idealises thinness, which are features associated with eating disorders.

Diet culture glamourises being ‘thin’, without taking into account the side effects that come with maintaining a very low weight or with dramatic weight loss. Maintaining a weight that is too low for your height can lead to:

  • Loss of menstrual cycle which can severely impact bone density and lead to infertility
  • Nutrient deficiency related conditions such as anaemia, brittle hair and nails
  • Feeling cold, as the body does not have sufficient energy or fat stores to generate heat
  • Low mood and energy

 

What alternatives are there to dieting?

There are alternatives to dieting, and these can range from being mindful of what you eat to embracing your body.

Acknowledging that health is not dictated by your weight can help you to question the need for you to diet. Health at every size (HAES) is an approach which aims to reduce weight stigma by encouraging healthy habits at every size and seeing that this is more important than a number on the scales or at the back of your jeans. Encompassing the principles of HAES, such as eating and moving for well-being and removing stigma around weight, can help combat diet culture too.

Another alternative to dieting is intuitive eating. Put simply, intuitive eating is a framework that embraces a mindset where you leave behind ‘good’ or ‘bad’ foods, and you make food choices based on what feels good for your body and gives you pleasure.

 

Are there any diets that are healthy?

Diet culture promotes fad diets such as Keto and the Atkins diet, and these can be harmful. As mentioned, diets that cut out specific food types don’t contribute to our physical or mental wellbeing. 

A fad diet is rarely going to work, and you’re very likely to give it up, because often diets that cut out key food groups are simply unrealistic. Diets that do work come down to the principle of creating a negative energy balance, and this can be done through exercise, including more fruit and veg in our diets and less processed foods. You don’t have to cut out the foods you enjoy, despite what diet culture tells you!

 

The takeaway?

We have all been a victim of diet culture at some point and stepping away from it can be difficult but remember, you weren’t put on this earth only to diet, and you are worth so much more than your clothes size or that number on the scale.

If you would like support to break free from dieting, drop out of diet culture and learn how to trust your body once again, we are here to help! Book your no-strings-attached clarity call with one of our experts.

 

References

  1. Bakalar, J. L., Shank, L. M., Vannucci, A., Radin, R. M., & Tanofsky-Kraff, M. (2015). Recent advances in developmental and risk factor research on eating disorders. Current psychiatry reports, 17(6), 1-10.
  2. de Borja, C., Holtzman, B., McCall, L. M., Carson, T. L., Moretti, L. J., Farnsworth, N., & Ackerman, K. E. (2021). Specific dietary practices in female athletes and their association with positive screening for disordered eating. Journal of Eating Disorders, 9(1), 1-10.
  3. Erez, G., Tirosh, A., Rudich, A., Meiner, V., Schwarzfuchs, D., Sharon, N., … & Shai, I. (2011). Phenotypic and genetic variation in leptin as determinants of weight regain. International journal of obesity, 35(6), 785-792.
  4. Philippi, S. T., Cardoso, M. G. L., Koritar, P., & Alvarenga, M. (2013). Risk behaviors for eating disorder in adolescents and adults with type 1 diabetes. Brazilian Journal of Psychiatry, 35, 150-156.
  5. Statistia Global Survey, 2021; https://www.statista.com/forecasts/997894/diets-and-nutrition-in-the-uk

 

 

Noom: Is it really intuitive? A review and user experience

Noom vulnerable users intuitive eating

The Weight Loss App scandal and how it is NOT intuitive 

 

In the last few years, the app ‘Noom’ has taken the nutrition world by storm – yet what is it all about? We tried the app Noom in this week’s article, so you don’t have to!

 

What is Noom?

Noom is a subscription-based nutrition and fitness app used for tracking calorie and nutrient intakes, as well as weight loss.

The company emphasises that it is not a diet, is unrestricted, and aims to work with behaviour and habit change and mental wellbeing instead of imposing strict food rules on the user. 

Noom additionally provides over 1000 recipes, has the option to ‘log’ food intake, and plots graphs to show the user their progress in their weight loss journey. The user is also provided with a health coach to provide regular support and accountability through the programme.

Noom has been scrutinised by many nutrition professionals as being ‘just another diet app’ – but what is the real deal? We at EHL have done the investigating for you, so you don’t have to.

In this article, our co-founder and lead dietitian Ariana went undercover to follow the journey on the app, using fabricated data of what might look like a typical ‘user.’ 

 

Our ‘individual’:

Gender: Female

Age: 30

Weight: 47kg

Height: 166cm

BMI: 17.05

Even with a calculated BMI of 17.05, what is considered to be underweight, the app allowed us to continue. It even formulated a weight loss plan after choosing a change of ‘0 lb’ (no loss or gain) as our weight goal!

Noom then asks about medical conditions, including any active diagnoses of eating disorders – and doesn’t let the user continue if ‘Yes’ is selected. 

Whilst this is a significant step, we know many people who live with these conditions are undiagnosed – and the fact that one can simply press back and re-answer the question with ‘No’ to proceed doesn’t make it a very effective barrier. 

Despite the goal of no weight change, the app continued to create a chart of our weight loss over the next 15 weeks – leading to an end weight of 42 kilos! This shocked us as this would significantly reduce our user’s BMI to 15.2!

This concern was also raised by Noom Health Coaches themselves who stated in a recent interview with the Financial Times,  “female clients were given calorie targets that were unhealthy, restrictive and unrealistic”.

When the FT tested the platform they stated “There are no warnings when a user logs just a few hundred calories a day” , which means disordered eating patterns are not likely to be detected or discouraged.

In this recent scandal it was also mentioned that Noom coaches (who are not trained health care professionals, are given unrealistic performance targets amounting to over 100 interactions (on a 1:1 basis) per day, which lent to health coaches reporting “they couldn’t give the user what they deserve in terms of a response”.

 

The verdict

Noom might be a helpful app for weight loss goals as it seeks to achieve more sustainable change and habit building – which is also something we strive for at EHL. If weight loss is something you want to work on and have no history of an eating disorder, it may or may not appropriate for you. Of course, there is no one-size-fits-all approach and you are more than a number or simple metabolic calculation. The human body is complex and this needs to be taken into consideration.  We encourage you to consider your intention behind seeking to lose weight and invite you to consider what you are really looking to achieve.

It is important to remember that weight loss through dieting usually isn’t sustainable, with numerous studies indicating that it is short-lived, unsustainable, and the restriction it invokes is often linked to increased hunger. Therefore, weight loss isn’t the most viable indicator for our health and positive lifestyle change. 

Is Noom a diet? Yes. Whilst it aims to stray away from the classic yo-yo dieting approach, one could argue that it isn’t far off from other typical weight loss programmes that we have tended to name and shame. 

Dieting has been shown to increase levels of hunger hormones such as ghrelin, even though our goal may be the opposite. (1) Dieting impacts our behaviours and thought patterns when it comes to body image and disordered eating. (2)  It negatively affects our perceptions of others, our stress levels, quality of life, and so much more. (3) For more on this, read our article to learn three reasons you shouldn’t go on a diet and what to try instead.

If you have a more complicated relationship with food, an active/history of an eating disorder, or have known food restriction to take a toll on your wellbeing and mental health, Noom isn’t going to allow you to heal and develop in the way you need and truly ditch the diet culture.

If you are genuinely seeking to become a more intuitive eater and improve your relationship with food, we don’t recommend this app, as it may still encourage limiting beliefs around food and dietary habits. 

We hope you enjoyed this review, and until then, stay strong, be bold, take up space and keep up your fantastic progress, wherever you may be on your journey.

 

Priya Chotai, BSc ANutr

EHL Team x 

 

References

  1. Cummings DE, Weigle DS, Frayo RS, Breen PA, Ma MK, Dellinger EP, Purnell JQ. Plasma ghrelin levels after diet-induced weight loss or gastric bypass surgery. N Engl J Med. 2002 May 23;346(21):1623-30. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa012908. PMID: 12023994.
  2. Stice E, Ng J, Shaw H. Risk factors and prodromal eating pathology. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2010 Apr;51(4):518-25. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2010.02212.x. Epub 2010 Jan 14. PMID: 20074299.
  3. Dirks AJ, Leeuwenburgh C. Caloric restriction in humans: potential pitfalls and health concerns. Mech Ageing Dev. 2006 Jan;127(1):1-7. doi: 10.1016/j.mad.2005.09.001. Epub 2005 Oct 13. PMID: 16226298.