March is National Nutrition Month! National Nutrition Month (NNM) is a campaign that invites everyone to develop healthy eating habits. But, what does “healthy” mean? This word can be a trigger to some who struggle with an eating disorder. It can also mean so many different things to different people. In the eating disorder recovery community, “healthy” means “balanced”.
March is National Nutrition Month, so I thought I would take this opportunity to share our nutrition philosophy here at Focus Integrative Centers. I can sum it up in 3 words. ALL. FOODS. FIT. Yes, you heard that right! Isn’t that such good news?! We strongly believe that all types of food can fit into a balanced diet.
As the new year approaches, it’s always easy to get sucked-in to the newest fad diet claims. The diet industry ramps up this time of year knowing many people gained some weight over the holidays and will be setting new year’s resolutions to lose it. It’s not surprising that weight loss becomes a focus, as our society is very focused on body image and the numbers on a scale.
March was a very special opportunity to celebrate the women and men in the field of social work as it is National Social Work Month. There are an estimated 642,000 social workers in the United States, and the field spans a wide range of social responsibilities, from clinical diagnosis and treatment to case management, community advocacy, school resourcing, and more.
This week is nationally recognized as eating disorder awareness week (February 25th– March 3rd, 2019). Eating disorders are biologically based mental illnesses that affect an estimated 30 million Americans of all ages, genders, socio-economic status, and ethnicities. Eating disorders are serious and life-threatening, and of all mental health illnesses, eating disorders have the highest mortality rate.
Types of eating disorders include clinical diagnosis: binge eating disorder, bulimia, anorexia, avoidant restrictive food intake disorder, as well as sub-clinical diagnosis: diabulimia, orthorexia, body dysmorphia, exercise addiction, and/or other related issues that impact normative food intake, exercise habits, and regulated body image.
Show of hands: How many of us created resolutions to start off 2019 on the “right foot”? Most of us, right?
Now for those of us who raised our hands (myself included): how many of those resolutions have been abandoned already?
Statistics suggest that 80% of New Year’s Resolutions fail by February. Isn’t that wild? Turns out, it’s not just normal - it’s completely understandable.
