While you may hear a lot about bulimia and anorexia, one of the lesser-known weight loss problems in the US is binge eating. Binge eating is devastating for your body.

It may cause heart disease, diabetes, and a number of other medical conditions, which at the end may unfortunately lead even to death. Therefore, it is essential to learn about binge eating and to seek qualified medical help if you think this could be a problem for you.

Binge eating is mainly a form of overeating at its worst. There are times when we all do to excess in good foods, such as at a holiday or when eating out at a restaurant. However, a binge eater faces overeating troubles more than a few times a week, they often find themselves overweight and gloomy, which can make the situation worse.

Binge eaters will overindulge to the extent that they feel sick. In many cases, they will consume thousands of calories in one sitting. Foods that someone will binge eat vary and can even change for a particular binge eater from day to day. Many of the foods they are eating are not even nutritional at all, these might be sweets or savory foods, or sometimes alcohol. It’s not unusual that a binge eater may eat more in one day than the normal person will eat during an entire week.

Binge eating goes hand in hand with a number of other physical diseases, and it can effect a person even mentally and emotionally. They are also usually very emotionally charged about their body weight and may experience depression because of it, regardless of if they are overweight or not.

Unlike those who are suffering from bulimia, binge eaters will not provoke vomiting in order to rid themselves of the food they’ve eaten. Therefore, binge eaters tend to be overweight. In some cases, a binge eater could eat frenziedly for an entire day, but then spend the next days cutting back on food and starving or exercising energetically in order to maintain his or her weight if possible.

Binge eating is not only dangerous the person itself, but can affect everyone in his or her life. If you or someone you know is suffering from this disease, it is important to seek help as soon as possible. This is not a good way to lose weight.

source: www.healthadvices.org/weight-loss/146.php

A study in 1957 showed that animals lose weight at high altitudes, and weight loss has long been known for people at high altitudes, but the subjects were all extremely fit and active mountaineers and skiers.

Obese and overweight people tend to suffer altitude sickness and resultant nausea, dizziness and heart attacks, when at very high altitudes, so the research team from the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich decided to find out what would happen if overweight people spent some time at a moderately high altitude of 8,700 feet.

Their 20 subjects, all male, were of average age 56, obese (average BMI of 34), and with risk factors for diabetes, strokes and heart disease. They were all from Munich, which is around 1,740 feet above sea level, and were housed for a week in a research station 1,000 feet below the peak of Zugspitze, Germany’s highest mountain. They were encouraged to eat and drink as much as they wished, and apart from leisurely walks around the station, were not allowed to do any exercise. The research team monitored their subjects’ weight, calorie intake, metabolic rate, and hormone levels before their stay, during the week, and a month afterwards.

Leader of the team, Dr Florian J. Lippl, said that during the week the subjects ate around an average of 730 calories less than they had before their stay, and they lost 3.5 lb on average. During the month after their stay they regained an average of 1.5 lb, but they were still burning slightly more calories than they had before their alpine stay.

Dr Lippl said the levels of the hormone leptin, which suppresses appetite, rose during their week at high altitude, while the hunger hormone grehlin was unchanged, and this meant they were less hungry during their stay. Their metabolic rate was also higher at altitude, which meant they burned more calories and this, combined with the lower calorie intake, caused the weight loss.

The research is in a preliminary stage; no data was collected on whether the weight loss was fat tissue, water, or muscle weight, and there was no control group. The researchers plan to use a higher mountain in Italy for the next stage of the research.

One drawback to the mountain retreat for weight loss idea is the finding that after only a month the subjects had re-gained one third of their lost weight. Other studies have shown that appetites return to normal if people are living at high altitude for around six months. Another drawback is the potential for adverse health effects for overweight people at high altitudes, since they can be more prone to heart attacks and other conditions.

Professor Richard N. Bergman of the University of Southern California said the study was preliminary but interesting, and noted that in the U.S. the state of Colorado, which has the highest mean elevation, also has the lowest rate of obesity rate, while the highest rates of obesity tend to occur in states with low mean elevations.

The research paper was published in the journal Obesity on 4th February.

Although many people know the health risks that come with obesity, new research finds that it may increase the risk of cancer.

According to a study published in the journal Cell, obesity can lead to an increased risk of liver cancer. Researchers believe if they could curb obesity, they may be able to reduce cancer deaths by as many as 90,000 a year.

The study reveals that obese people have a 4.5-fold greater risk for developing liver cancer and a 1.5-fold greater risk of overall cancers.

Researchers believe that physicians spend too much time focusing on other obesity risks such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

“Doctors always worry about our weight, but the focus is often on cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, both of which can be managed pretty well with existing drugs,” said researcher Michael Karin. “However, we should also worry about elevated cancer risk.”

For people who are worried about their extra pounds, adopting an alkaline diet of fruits, vegetables and whole grains may help control weight gain.

In this five-day low fat,  eat low calorie plan is nutrient packed. If you stick to the meal plans you should be able to drop a dress size. There’s a list of snacks to choose from too.

What is it?

A low-fat, nutritionally balanced five-day plan designed to leave you feeling and looking trim. Follow it exactly and you could lose enough weight to drop an entire dress size.

How does it work?

The meals in this diet plan are low fat and low calorie but still packed with nutrients so you’ll lose weight without missing out on anything. There’s plenty of fruit, veg and fibre in the meals that should fill you up.

Even if you do get peckish, there’s a list of snacks to choose from. There’s also a wide choice of breakfasts, lunches and dinners so you shouldn’t get bored.

People who want to lose weight quickly for an event or party. People who don’t like calorie counting, as long as you follow the meal plans, that’s all been done for you.

What are the drawbacks?

It’s a quick fix not a long-term solution so you could put back on any weight you lose after the plan.

What do you do?

Each day you should choose one breakfast, lunch and dinner. You’re also allowed two snacks from the list below and you should aim to drink at least eight glasses of water.

like diabetes, heart disease, or cancer. It also reduces your odds of being able to walk up a flight of stairs or get through your day without crying. Obese women have it toughest, finds a new study published today in the British Medical Journal. They’re nearly 80 percent less likely to experience “healthy survival” when they reach age 70, compared with women who gained fewer than 9 pounds since age 18.

Are the researchers showing that thin women who maintain their weight over the years actually live longer? Well, no, but they do indicate that these women live better, not just avoiding chronic diseases but also sidestepping mental and physical health problems that prevent women from enjoying the leisure time of their senior years—say, Mediterranean cruises or romps in the park with the grandkids.What’s more, the study showed that it’s truly tough to be a “healthy survivor,” free of any sort of chronic physical or emotional pain or health condition at age 70.

Only 10 percent of the 17,000 nurses in the study were, and this group included those who didn’t gain any weight as well as those who gained quite a bit.

(Those who lost weight were excluded from the study because it might indicate disease.) But weight mattered; about 16 percent of the women whose weight didn’t deviate by more than 9 pounds when they reached middle-age could call themselves healthy survivors, compared with 11 percent of those who gained between 9 and 22 pounds by midlife. The percentages dropped further with more weight gain; just 3 percent of healthy survivors were obese in middle age.

Certainly, body weight plays a role in long-term health, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. The study also found, for example, that it makes a difference where a woman carries her fat—whether it’s mostly on her hips and thighs or around her belly.

Those with a waist circumference of more than 28 inches had a lower likelihood of being a healthy survivor regardless of whether they were overweight. “We’re really moving away from the idea of whole body fat and focusing on where fat is located in the body,” says Carol Shively, a fat researcher at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. A large waist often indicates an excess of fat around the body’s organs—called visceral fat—which can lead to dangerous inflammation, a process thought to be involved in heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and even depression. The kind of body fat that tends to accumulate around the hips and thighs, she says, may not be damaging to our health. Obese individuals, though, usually have plenty of both kinds.

I think the take-home message here is that you don’t need to panic if you’ve gained a few dress sizes over the years, but you should do everything you can now to keep your weight stable or even lose some weight if your body mass index is well above the healthy range. (Here’s how to assess your BMI.) Studies suggest that physical activity can play a big role in helping you maintain your weight over time. Every time I cut back on my workouts, the number on scale starts to creep up. And I don’t think I’ve found that magic formula, having put on about 15 pounds since high school.

I asked my colleague Katherine Hobson, the On Fitness blogger, to tell me how she managed not to gain an ounce since her teens, and she tells me that she was actually 10 pounds heavier at 18. “That was my all-time high,” she says. “I started running after college and now do that about three to four times a week for 30 minutes at a time, plus 40-minute swim sessions two to three times a week, and two to three strength training sessions.”

And if you think you can’t fit daily activity into your life, here’s her take on the 10 excuses for not exercising and why they won’t fly. Also, follow these 7 tips to shed pounds if you’re at an unhealthy weight or are trying to trim some inches from your waist.

“People are often running from their emotions,” says the author, psychologist Susan Albers. “If we knew that we could cope with our feelings, we’d be less likely to turn to food.” The trick is to consciously substitute something “healthy and calorie free” for sweets when you feel the urge to soothe your nerves.

Albers divides techniques that emotional eaters can use to avoid seeking comfort in food into five skill areas: mindfulness techniques, strategies to calm and relax your body, strategies to change your thoughts, finding distractions, and gaining support.

Taking a mindful approach involves paying close attention to your eating patterns and circumstances that make you most vulnerable to emotional eating. And relaxation strategies can ease the discomfort and anxiety that may lead to emotional eating in the first place, Albers says. She shared 10 examples of good ways to avoid emotional eating:

Try blogging or signing up for Facebook or MySpace. Blogging is a modern form of journaling, long recognized as a constructive outlet for emotions in turmoil, says Albers. Also, since blogging and social networking sites are, by their nature, interactive, “you really have to think about how your readers are going to respond to what you’re writing,” she says. “It makes you feel like you’re not alone.”

Squeeze bubble wrap. Sometimes, a mindless repetitive action really is what your nerves need. This is one that Albers calls one of the “simple pleasures of life.” It’s guilt free, cathartic, and “it’s kind of fun.”

Volunteer. Working on projects for the good of other people “helps you to get out of your own mind and experience” and can put your own troubles into perspective. “When you’re focusing on someone else’s experiences, it distracts from what you’re feeling,” Albers says. And it often provides a natural high.

Be a realist instead of a perfectionist. “When we set unrealistic expectations, we feel unhappy,” Albers says. Instead, set realistic expectations and enjoy a sense of accomplishment as those goals are achieved.

Build up a regular sweat. “Exercise is a wonderful way to calm and soothe our bodies,” Albers says.

Be your own masseuse. Try using a tennis ball to soothe the bottom of your foot while you’re sitting at your desk, for instance, or rub your temples and scalp.

Head for the mall. The act of going shopping is distracting, and getting an errand accomplished or buying a little something can provide gratification that might otherwise come from emotional eating. (A cautionary note: Some people may be at risk of developing a shopping addiction.)

Make a “bucket list.“ The idea of making a list of things to do before you die was popularized by the 2007 movie starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. Doing this “takes your focus away from food and makes you think about what is it that really is going to make you happy,” Albers says.

Explore cyberspace. It’s easy to lose lots of time while searching online. In this case, that’s beneficial, Albers says. “People talk about how they’re Googling something and then all of the sudden an hour has gone by,” she says. Luckily, “it’s hard to type and eat at the same time.”

Let your furry friend give you unconditional love. When the humans in your life are stressing you out, get away from the fridge and accept some attention from your pet.

No matter how you lost weight, whether it was through a diet and exercise plan, weight reduction pills or had surgery, in order to maintain the weight loss, you still have to follow a healthy diet as well as exercise on a regular basis. The following are helpful ways to adjust your thinking.

1. Instead of thinking food will comfort you, do something else that makes you feel better. When you are feeling down or bored, watch a positive movie, read a funny book, call a friend, go to sleep or do anything else that makes you feel better. If you think food provides comfort, think about how uncomfortable it is when you cannot cross your legs, or run up the steps without getting out of breath.
2. Step 2

   Instead of thinking of food as a reward, think of another way to reward yourself. You can buy yourself something nice or take a day off.

3. Step 3

   Instead of thinking of junk foods as tasting good, think of fruits and vegetables as tasting good. After awhile healthy food will actually start tasting better than foods that are not good for you. Before you think about how good fried salty foods are, stop and think about how they may cause your blood pressure to go up or cause your arteries to clog.

4. Step 4

   Instead of mindless eating based on taste alone, stop and think of the nutritional value of the food you are having. Read the nutrition labels. Think about the glow that you will have from eating well. Think about the illnesses that you will not get and the medications you will not have to take because you are eating healthy.

5. Step 5

   Think small portions. More is not better. Even large quantities of something that would normally be good for you is not good if you eat too much of it.

6. Step 6

   Instead of thinking of exercise as a chore, find an activity that you love to do. Think of being active as fun and necessary for your health, wellbeing and longevity. If you engage in regular exercise and love what you are doing, it will become a habit and you will start to look forward to it.

7. Step 7

   On holidays and vacations, think of fun places to go and active things to do and think less of eating as the main activity.