Having a bad diet may have different reasons than you think...

When we think of reasons why people fail to maintain a healthy diet, many possible reasons come into our minds ...lack of motivation (or bluntly laziness), greed, sabotaging partners/friends, "it was just there", etc. .. Hello COM-B Model?!

I am going to present you with something you probably have never heard of. I have sometimes read about it and when I think about making an unhealthy vs healthy choice I do have to admit it does play a role to some extent sometimes. And it is on a much deeper level than we see it. What we often don't realise is that our choice of food is related to how we feel about ourselves - our self-worth.

You may now object: "Why on earth should what I have on my plate be influenced by how good or bad I feel about myself? I just cook what is healthy or what I feel like having, and that's it."

Well, unfortunately it is a little more complex than that and often we are influenced by many different thought processes where we take different aspects into account. Of course our hunger and appetite is a major driving force here since it ensures that we keep eating according to our body's needs.

But do you always really eat 100% in agreement with what your body REALLY craves? And how do you know?

To make this a little more clear, let's take a look at one example:

Imagine you are coming home after a long stressful day at work and you don't really want to spend a long time on planning and preparing your dinner (quite a common scenario, if you ask me).

Unfortuantely (or fortunately) due to our evolutionary remainders when deprived of engery, our bodies naturally tend to peeper highly calorific and sugary food for maximum and quick calorie replention, although you know at the same time that all you really want is a balanced, wholesome meal with lots of nutrients and vitamins (typically unprocessed ingredients such as vegetables , grains and proteins). You also probably know you will feel much better afterwards than after eating 1 bar of chocolate.
Then you actually picture yourself preparing the healthy meal, which includes knowing the appropriate recipe , buying the required ingredients at the supermarket, cutting and preparing the food, waiting and then washing up lots of dishes.

At the same time, you imagine how you would simply stop at the takeaway on your way home picking up the appetisingly looking pizza overflowing with melted cheese, that you can eat right now and don't have to worry about whipping anything up and cleaning the mess after.

You weigh the pros and cons, most likely subconsciously. Even if you have good intentions and a general motivation to eat healthy, this can be tricky. Thoughts occur such as "It's just going to be me, so what's the occasion for a "special" meal?, "I'd better use the wasted time to study/ do household chores", "I still have this half loaf of toast I have to finish, or it goes out of date." or "The carton with leftover pizza from sunday will do as well".


In my experience the easiest way out for it is PREPARATION, PREPARATION, PREPARATION!
If you already have a foolproof plan, which means you know what recipes you are going to cook throughout the week with the purchased required ingredients, you will be less likely to fall for temptation because you simply don't leave your dinner for chance. And why would you do this with something so substantial as what you put into your body? It deserves to be spoiled with fresh, delicious and nutritious food - believe me if you do some research you will come across many indulgent tasting meals that are actually healthy- such as in Eat. Nourish. Glow or Delisciously Ella.

It may just be your lack of self-worth that's holding you back and tells you that nourishing your body and mind is not worth the effort and extra time.
I can tell you, how you feel after eating three slices of purchased cream pie compared to a carefully prepared wholesome comfort dish is miles apart in terms of how good I feel about myself. It's all like a vicious spiral that will intensify over time. Don't bring yourself down by treating your body like a rubbish bin!

SIMPLE WAYS TO DETOXIFY YOUR DIET

Like I mentioned in my anti-diet post a few weeks ago, I don't believe in any fad diets or detox methods that leave us starving and nutrient deprived.

However, sometimes it can happen that we lose our usual healthy routine for some time and feel we need to take some extra effort to bring our body back to our usual level.

For me, this happened last weekend. It was Valentine's Day on Saturday and of course you are out to do something special and don't really tend to watch everything you eat. Although I always take a box with precut vegetables with me if I go on a day trip, I did indulge definitely more than I should have.
Even during the week that led up to it, I had eaten some sweets daily, so that was probably also an extra reason. 
But the real damage started when I made Meringues on Friday and before, I wasn't really aware of how much sugar it includes but I was really shocked! I expected them to be very light (After all it is basically just sugar and egg white) but I seriously got a sugar shock and couldn't even finish a whole portion. Later that day on Saturday, I had a salmon crepe which was also not so ideal, and Sunday night I went out and had a huge Margharita pizza, plus a chocolate muffin for dessert.

The next day I went for a run and went back to eating really healthily, but around lunch time, I started feeling kind of sluggish and slightly nauseous, so that's when I realised I had to take more measures to get my body back to feeling healthy and energized.

I started including certain foods (some of them I have already daily anyways) into my diet consciously and I already feel a lot better.
In addition to that, I am keeping my caffeine intake low (not more than one coffee a day, but if you don't have to, try avoiding it for a few days altogether), and completely cut out refined sugar and flour for the whole week.

Here are the foods that I focus on in my meals to detoxify my body. They are very easy to add to porridge, cereal, stirfrys and other cooked meals.

I am going to go into each of them and briefly explain why they are detoxifying.

1. Cayenne Pepper

It increases metabolism, delivers nutrients more efficiently into cells, and reduces blood pressure as well as cleaning your arteries. It can be easily added to any cooked meals or even sprinkled onto avocados or salads.

2. Cinnamon

Cinamon has a boosting effect on the immune system and reduces cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood (harmful chemicals that are a consequence of eating sugar and white starches), so basically it lowers the risks, especially for the heart, after eating foods high in sugar and hydrogenated fats.
I sprinkle it every day onto my porridge.


3. Cacao Powder

Not be be mistaken with the conventional sugar loaded version you get in convenience stores and coffee shops, the raw, original version of cacao has amazing health benefits and is often referred to as the "The Health Miracle" or a "Superfood".  It protects against infections and cardiovascular disease, it releases serotonin in the brain which acts as a mood booster, and it has extraordinarily high levels of antioxidants that kill harmful free radicals. I love mixing it into desserts. If you don't like the extremely bitter taste, try mixing it with honey.

4. Blueberries

Blueberries are also filled with antioxidants and tons of vitamin C that, again, helps to protect  and get rid of harmful toxins.

5. Garlic

Garlic is an often overlooked herb that can be easily added to pasta dishes, risottos or vegetable stir fries. It is extremely good in terms of protecting the heart, it boosts immune function so it protects agains cold and infections, and it reduces blood sugar as well. Additionally, it protects against cancer and Alzheimer's disease and overall extends your lifespan.

6. Oranges

Due to high levels in Vitamin C and antioxidants, oranges can help brightening your skin and protecting it against external negative influences such as UV rays and toxins. Of course, the main benefit of high Vitamin C doses is the positive effect on the immune system.

7. Olive Oil

High fat foods are often demonised and avoided, especially when you aim to rid you body of toxins and the effects of fast food high in hydrogenated fat, but you should definitely not skimp with this amazing type of oil.
It is very high in antioxidants, has antiflammatory properties (protecting against various diseases), by for example lowering LDL cholesterol (the "bad" type), however it is important to make sure you buy the high quality version , Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

8. Chilli

Some of the benefits include protecting against stroke, it boosts circulation and it thins blood, as well as ridding your body of toxins due to an increase in metabolic rate.

9. Green Tea

I have a cup every single morning, because it is such an easy way to boost your health right at the start of the day.
Not only is green tea incredibly high in antioxidants, it also provides you with energy which you are definitely looking for when you feels sluggish and have eaten too much sugar or other junk. If you want to intensify these amazing effects, reach for matcha powder, which I sometimes take for an extra boost. It is basically like green tea, just about 100 times more concentrated.

10. Walnuts

Another high fat food on my list which should definitely be included! These small power seeds not only fight against cancer and protect your heart, they also contain a unique type of very powerful antioxidants, and it helps stabilising blood sugar, which is effective to keep you from reaching for more sugary snacks due to imbalances and spikes.


I have also been eating other foods on top, which are difficult to photograph, such as legumes (spinach and swiss chard), sweet potatoes and cucumber. 
Other foods to achieve similar results are beetroot or asparagus.

There are tons of other foods that are beneficial if you are looking to rid your body of harmful effects of your diet, but these are just the ones I have been adding lately!

THRIVE THURSDAY: HOW TO MOVE ON AFTER LOSING MOTIVATION

In my previous Thrive Thursday posts I talked a lot about the importance of motivation in order to implement behavioural change, which is crucial to make healthy decisions and stay on track, not only when it comes to eating healthy, but also regarding being in the right place to be overall more productive and a better version of yourself, which stands in correlation to making better decisions for your health and acting upon them.

I don't know about you, but sometimes I fall into this frame of mind where I just cannot be 'bothered' about anything. It develops into an apathy towards your health goals and you lack overall motivation. The worst part is that you simply do not care if you are eating healthy or exercise, and even following a productive and focused lifestyle illustrates a burden that you simply feel you can't achieve at this moment.

These phases are normal for everyone, and it also effects people who are normally very discipled and passionate about living healthily. 
I wanted to address this issue in today's post because once you get into that state of mind, it may seem impossible to change pack and it is a huge trigger for feeling bad about yourself and thus relapsing into old unhealthy patterns altogether.

First of all, the most important thing that help me is simply forgiving myself for being unproductive and not pursuing the healthy lifestyle I actually do want for myself. You have to tell yourself that it is okay to take a little break once in a while, and it can even help you to get back into your full flow of feeling and staying even more motivated in the future.

You have to forgive yourself and move on. There is no use in dwelling on past mistakes because it keeps you from putting this energy in better behaviour in the present. It may also be helpful to put things into perspective by telling yourself that being unhealthy and unproductive for three days out of thirty is not much at all.
However, you must also ask yourself if this was maybe a subconscious mechanism to punish yourself, because after reflecting about this unhealthy relapse, you probably find yourself thinking that you didn't enjoy it and maybe it was simply a way of escaping or running away from a problem.

To summarise it, I give you some thought patterns that help to get out of this unhealthy state of mind and learn for the future:

- " I cannot change my past behaviour, so I accept it, I forgive myself and move on."
-  "Being unhealthy or unproductive for 10% of the time is not that bad really and doesn't make me a lazy person."
- "I will not punish myself like this in the future and I will work on finding healthier and better ways to release negative energy and bad thoughts'"

Additionally, it is important to build up a repertoire of coping mechanisms, so that you will refrain from getting into this unhealthy state of mind in the future. I will focus on the main points that I think are most effective from preventing

1. ORGANIZATION

There is a saying that goes "fail to prepare and prepare to fail" and that applies to all aspects of life- be it a healthy diet plan or a daily agenda of things to do.
I find that if I plan in advance, I am so much more likely to stick with a plan. So to do lists and shopping lists should become your best friends. It is key here to do these ideally a day in advance, especially if you have many things to do the next day that require a lot of coordination. If you have everything planned out, you are more determined to fulfil your goals. It makes a big difference to actually write it down, believe me! So just don't resort to planning it out in your head.
There is also nothing like the satisfying feeling of crossing off points from lists, because it gives you a feeling of accomplishment

2. THE RIGHT FRAME OF MIND

The best laid plans and intention can be thrown overboard by really small things that don't go according to your idea, and quickly you find yourself in a very bad place that leaves you incapable to get anything done and all your great resolutions are thrown out of the window.
To prevent this, it is important to create a certain fail-proof routine that conveys you familiarity and security, so you are less likely to even think about doing anything different from what you planned out. 
For example, small things like starting my day with 30 minutes of exercise like running or yoga or going for a coffee at 10 am every morning are these important things for me. Believe it or not, if I don't include these little, seemingly petty things into my day, I am much more likely to get out of control or carried away.
So what I basically mean are certain habits or rituals that are performed in a certain sequence at certain times. The more you practice this routine, the more it becomes automatic and internalized. This means it gets easier and easier over time.

3. BALANCE

Breaking out of your healthy lifestyle completely might also be a warning sign or a subconscious rebellion showing that you take things too strictly or you are being too extreme and idealistic about it. You have to accept, first of all, that nobody is perfect. A lot of people tend to fall into black and white thinking, so that once they are in their "healthy frame of mind" , they block out and reject everything that they believe is "bad" for them, and they become obsessed. 
Try to incooperate "unhealthy things" into your everyday life in moderation so that you don't feel that you have to restrict anything.
Accept that it is completely fine and even to some extent healthy to not have a perfectly healthy diet or 100% productive day. 


Do you feel that this applies to you? Do you feel these factors contribute to leading a healthy and productive life? If not, what are your tips to maintain this?

FOOD DIARY 3

Another week, another food diary! I can't believe how fast time is going, it literally only feels like one or 2 days since I posted my last one. However, there was still PLENTY of food, so it must be a while ago, eh?

Enjoy reading through my seven featured meals. This is of course, as always, just a selection of what I ate.

If you read my last blog post, this meal might look familiar to you already. It is the Indian curry with homemade paneer, which I attempted to make last week. Check out my last blog post if you would like to know how to make it from scratch. You won't believe how easy it is!

I had this delicious and simple kale salad after an exhausting gym session the other night. I just tossed some kale, avocado and walnuts with balsamico dressing, and it was ready to go. It tasted just as nice as it looked!

This was breakfast from the other day, nothing to special but I really love this combination. I used Coconut yogurt by Coyo from Wholefoods, mixed fruit and sugar free Granola by Dorset. I am currently increasing the fat content (one of the reasons is an amazing book I will review in a future post soon) of my diet a little bit, so the yogurt was very rich and indulgent with 20%.

This delicious salmon fillet was my dinner from Thursday night. I got it from a magazine as part of a "Beauty Foods" series, so all ingredients of the featured recipes are basically very nutritious and good for you, in terms of having amazing benefits for hair, skin, weight etc. The side consisted of sautéed turnip cabbage and leek, plus a cheeky dash of cream with some lemon. I will definitely cook this meal again, it was absolutely divine!

This quick lunch during the week included a chicken tikka sandwich as a base (store bought), but I pimped it up with healthy toppings: avocado, broccoli and a raw carrot.

This was actually last night's dinner. I wanted to create something from leftovers, since we had quite a few vegetables still hanging around the fridge. I decided to make chips from half a butternut squash. I cooked them in the oven for about 30 minutes and sprinkled olive oil and sea salt over the whole tray. Since I don't like traditional dips such as mayonnaise and ketchup, I just added some salted butter. I highly recommend this combination, it's heavenly! I always make my own chips from either sweet potatoes or something like this. I think the last time I bought conventional chips in a restaurant must have been around 6 years ago!

This dinner was made from a recipe I got from Lauren Conrad's website (You should check it out, all meals are very healthy and still indulgent). I used kale pesto from last week's shrimp risotto and baked chicken with mozzarella in the oven. On the side I added some fresh cherry tomatoes. The perfect low-carb dinner where you will not feel you have to compromise.

Have a great week ahead filled with lots of yummy food! As always, I hope I could give you some useful ideas to try.

HOW TO MAKE PANEER

Instead of my Thrive Thursday Series, I decided to come up with another food-related post this week. This time it is a recipe where I tried something new that I had never made before!

So, I stumbled onto an Indian curry recipe last week that required a cheese called paneer. I have eaten meals at Indian restaurants many times, so I knew it was a type of very firm and rich cottage cheese that is often added to stews and curry dishes, and since I have always loved it, I decided to give it a go. The fact that it isn't sold in regular supermarket around UK gave me extra motivation, to be perfectly honest.

To make paneer for ca. two people you need the following:

- 1 L milk
- 3-4 tbsp of lemon juice

That's it! It's more about the technique than any complicated ingredients.


Firstly, pour the milk into a saucepan and heat it on the stove until it is about to simmer.

In the meanwhile, squeeze one lemon. When the milk is just before its boiling point, turn off the gas, remove the milk from the stove and add the lemon juice gradually (on tablespoon each time) to let the acid react with the milk to separate the fat from the rest.

In the end, it should look something like this:

Let the mixture cool down for about 30 minutes, then take a fine dish cloth and use it to collect the firm white bits. Pour the whole content through it and wring it to make sure all the liquid is removed.

Press the white mass onto a small plate and make it into small blocks. It should now look something like this:

As you can see the consistency is quite firm, almost like feta cheese. To make sure it will hold its form later while cooking, let it sit in the fridge for a few hours.

Now the fun part comes: The cooking! I decided to make a vegetable curry.
It is very important to fry the blocks of paneer just before the actual meal preparation to prevent it from falling apart after being added to the curry sauce! You can use sunflower or olive oil.

I prepared the curry then using creme fraiche and vegetable broth as the base and sautéed peppers, mange tout and aubergines on top of that. 
I added the fried paneer towards the end, and it blended perfectly into the meal and didn't fall apart. 

It tasted very good and I was surprised that you can just make it at home without a lot of knowledge or practise.
Definitely give it a go if you have some extra time on your hands.

It is a great option to add instead of meat, if you are vegetarian or you just want to change it up.

I think it is very important to keep experimenting with food and trying out new things from foreign cuisines to keep your meals innovative and interesting. It is a great experience and a good accomplishment to share with your family and friends.

I can guarantee you that everybody will be impressed and you can claim the meal 100% homemade by YOU, which is definitely a bonus.

Let me know if you have tried it out and how you liked it!

WEEKLY FOOD DIARY 2

Welcome to my second weekly food diary. I am glad that some of you seemed to like my first one from the previous week!

This week was a lot of healthy homecooked food, but there is a cheeky treat amongst it as well ;) . This shows I really don't eat "clean" all the time and love to have my occasional splurges.

That being said, let's get into it.

This was a vegan jerk stew I made last night for the first time. I got the recipe from an old Waitrose magazine and since I have never eaten much or cooked Carribean food, I was intrigued to try this. And I wasn't disappointed, it tasted amazing. I used butternut squash, kidney beans, pineapple and tomato and the sauce was made from coconut milk and jerk paste. I served everything with brown rice.

This was my breakfast from Saturday. I fancied something a little more special from my usual banana porridge so I had Dorset honey granola with raspberries and bananas and topped it with whipped cream, peanut butter and some walnuts. A heavenly combination!

This was a rather spontaneous quick lunch I made on a whim because I couldn't be bothered to cook. I simply took half an egg sandwich, leftover salad and topped it with spinach, mozzarella and kale pesto. Sometimes the simplest things are the best :)

This was a heart pancake my boyfriend made for me on the weekend. I wanted to make pancakes and prepared the dough, then realised it would take me ages to get ready, so he took over the cooking. So sweet of him , so I thought I would include it!

So this is the naughty treat I mentioned earlier, haha! To be honest, I never really crave pizza (I have a sweet tooth), but my boyfriend loves it, and it was a lazy Sunday so hey, why not! But it was me who chose the topping (Margarita, my favourite)! Oh, the brand is Doctor Oetker, by the way, it is the best frozen one out there in my opinion. 

We actually ended up sharing the pizza and I made a huge plate of raw carrots, turnip cabbage, green peppers and tomatoes, as you can see. I just like to get my veggies in! (and after all, it is all about balance)

Having been on an exhausting workout that day, I was still not completely full after the pizza and veg, and I craved a healthy dessert. I looked at what was in our pantry, and spontaneously whipped up this amazing dessert, which I will definitely make more in the future! It tasted so delicious. I simply cooked some millets for 30 minutes, let them cool for 5 to 10 minutes, and mixed them with 2 heaped tablespoons of raw cocoa, 2 tablespoons of honey, a bit creme fraiche and coconut milk. In the end I added some (unpictured) sliced banana and chopped walnuts. I highly recommend this dessert. It doesn't only taste great, but especially millet and raw cocoa are amazing superfoods for hair, nails and muscle repair.

This raw and super healthy low carb Pad Thai inspired salad is by the lovely Rose from The Londoner. I found it on her blog last week, so just google it and look at the recipes on the website to find the ingredient list. It is 100% raw and vegan and I made it for lunch one day. Unfortunately, it requires a vegetable spiralizer to achieve this 'zoodle effect', so I just just the vegetables into thin stripes which was fine, but now I really want a machine like this!

Last but not least, I decided to show you my typical everyday breakfast I have during the week. I cook porridge with oats, full fat milk and chopped banana (usually half). After simmering this mixture for about 10 minutes I serve it with peanut butter (100% without palm oil or sugar), walnuts and dried fruit (in this case apricots). This is my all-time favourite go to breakfast and it keeps me full until lunch time!

I hope you are having a great food week, and that I could inspire you with one or another meal idea!

Let me know what you had or what the food highlight was for you this week.

BRAIN OVER BINGE ?

Today I decided to review a book that I discovered a while ago, called "Brain Over Binge (Why I Was Bulimic, Why Conventional Therapy Didn't Work, And How I Recovered"). 

It is written by Kathryn Hansen, a recovered bulimic who developed her own approach to succumb binge eating after conventional therapy concepts (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Psychodynamic Therapy and Addiction Therapy) didn't work for her.

Basically, she sees the root of binge eating in an initial decision to diet, an not in traumatising experience and psychological issues, as traditionally seen in the majority of theories.
Therefore, binge eating illustrates a symptom of a survival instinct as a reaction to calorie restriction, and the more you engage in it, the more it starts to become a habit due to neural connections that are strengthened over time ("brain wiring").

She doesn't discount conventional treatment methods, claiming they are ineffective and useless, but she addresses the problem that while they helped her to stop irrational beliefs, thoughts and harmful behaviours of dieting, it didn't reduce her binges. Fruthermore, she emphasises that just because these concepts didn't work for her, and she believes they can definitely help other people. Her objective is mainly to help people who have made similar experiences like her and have given up hope in recovery.

I will briefly explain how the three conventional concepts aim to change the harmful eating behaviour, and why Hansen didn't find them effective for her:

1. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy:

The goal is to substitute the harmful behaviour (bingeing) with healthier alternatives or distractions in order to overcome the urge. For Hansen, this approach is only an indirect solution. While it helped her regarding confronting and reflecting on her binge urges, it didn't take away the desire to eat . If anything, it only fuelled this instinct, since it put even more focus and attention to it.
On top of that, CBT stays dependent on monitoring behaviours that recognise triggers on the long term, so in certain ways, you will always be something like a 'tamed pet' that isn't fully recovered.

2. Psychodynamic Therapy:

This form of therapy assumes that underlying psychological issues and past experiences (especially in childhood) are the root of problematic behaviours/thoughts/feelings. However, for Hansen realising that certain behaviours or statements her parents made in the past probably had an influence with the accumulating factors which eventually resulted in her decision to diet, but this insight didn't reduce her binge eating.

3. Addiction Therapy:

Proponents of this therapy believe that a complete recovery from excessive consumption of stimulating substances (including drugs, alcohol, cigarettes and food) is only possible by complete abstinence from the substance, which is obviously not possible for eating disorders, because food keeps us alive and we cannot avoid it altogether. This is why it is suggested to stay away from triggering foods that provoke a binge due to the hormonal and neurotransmitter responses, which are primarily refined sugar and white flour.
This means, you will always have to restrict yourself and will always have a problem with eating. And if you then do eat these foods (accidentally or lack of choice), this means you are relapsing, which may result in unnecessary negative thoughts that in turn could actually provoke a full on binge.

Hansen suggests an alternative approach that she has derived from the so called "Rational Recovery".
This approach has mainly been applied for OCD patients, who have similar thought and behaviour patterns like eating disordered people (intrusive thoughts, compulsiveness and black and white thinking).

It is assumed that our brain consists of two parts, the lower brain (or "animal brain") and the higher brain (prefrontal cortex).
The lower brain is responsible for all binge urges. It is primitive and includes our survival instincts, in this case the binge eating is a response to restrictive dieting. 
The highest human brain, which is seen strictly separated from the lower brain, separates the "I "from binge urges by inhibiting them.
This can be achieched by the following steps:

1. view urges to binges as neurological junk from lower brain
2. separate highest human brain from urges (or as ego-dystonic)
3. stop reacting to my urges
4. stop acting on my urges
5. get excited (by realising that this works which will enforce future resistance to binge)

Taking this into consideration, developing binge eating as well as reducing it, is a form of conditioning and extinction.

The points are elaborated more precisely in the book. If you would like me to summarise them in a future Thrive Thursday post, just leave me a comment , and I am happy to do so.

My personal opinion on this book is overall positive.
I find this woman's story very inspiring, especially considering that she suffered from binge eating for her whole young adult life and had already given up hope until she stumbled onto this originally developed for OCD technique and applied it to a problem herself many people suffer from, which is very innovative.
While she cannot prove that this theory works by scientific evidence, I see parallels to a cognitive technique that I read about a few months ago, where binge urges or simply urges to eat unhealthy foods, are seen as intrusive passengers on a bus, that you are blocking out, which is equivalent to a ego-dystonic technique (other passengers are not part of you).

I definitely don't think that it can replace conventional therapy, because it is important to address underlying issues and irrational beliefs or harmful thoughts, however it is worth considering implementing it in cognitive techniques as a method to help reducing binge eating urges that will in turn make it easier to develop better alternative behaviours.

The only negative point I would like to mention is that Hansen sees certain disease criteria, e.g. "compensatory behaviours such as the use of laxative and overexercising" as "no sign of disease" which I disagree about, because from personal observation a person without an eating disorder would keep eating normally after overeating.

Find out more about the book here. I definitely recommend it to people who have a long history of binge eating or other eating disorders. I also think that it is very important to read for people who are thinking out going on a strict diet, or are already on it. The sooner you prevent potential harmful consequences, the better; especially considering that Hansen sees her initial root for problematic eating (first anorexia, then bulimia) in her decision to diet.