Eating Disorders

Dying to Be Thin

Eating disorders are not fads.  They are not a simple phase that a teen will, eventually, grow out of.  Reasoning with the person, discussing and teaching them about nutrition and health, has no lasting effect on their disorder.  Severe eating disorders are mental disorders.  More often than not, they lead to serious emotionally and physically damaging consequences.

“About 3% of U.S. adolescents are affected by an eating disorder” . . . according to a 2011 National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)-funded study.  This statistic was found on the St. Luke’s Hospital website, along with a wealth of other information on eating disorders that I will – likely – be utilizing throughout this article.*  The St. Luke’s Hospital site goes on to ask, “The scary part? ” and answers its own question by saying, further, “Eating disorders have reached epidemic levels in the U.S. and abroad.  What’s scarier is, it affects our children:  research shows that 42% of first- to third-grade girls wish they were thinner, and 81% of 10-year-olds have a fear of being fat.  In fact, eating disorders in children typically begin between ages 11 and 13.”

*The St. Luke’s hospital site includes suggestions in the use of alternative remedies such as supplements, herbs, acupuncture, and massage.  The site even mentions homeopathy.

Types of Eating Disorders

There are many types of eating disorders as well as additional information that I felt really needed to be covered.  This made this article very long.  I considered breaking it into several blogs, however many of the solutions are the same so in the interest of time I have kept them together.   Below is a linked index of what this very long blog will cover.

Anorexia Nervosa
Bulimia Nervosa
Binge Eating Disorder
Pica
Orthorexia
Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID)
Compulsive Exercise

Solutions
Behavioral Modifications
Alternative Remedies
Essential Oils
Herbal Remedies
Homeopathics
. . Anorexia
. . Bulimia
. . Pica
. . Orthorexia and ARFID
Flower Essences
. . Anorexia
. . Bulimia
. . Orthorexia
. . ARFID
. . Binge Eating
. . Compulsive Eating

Below are two eating disorders that will not be covered in further detail that you should be aware of.

• Purging disorder.  People with this disorder use purging behaviors and techniques, usually to control their weight or body shape.  These techniques include such things as vomiting, the use of laxatives and diuretics, and, sometimes, excessive exercising.  They do not, usually, binge eat as bulimics do.
• Night Eating Syndrome.  Individuals suffering from this disorder eat excessively but it is, usually, only after awakening from sleep.

Possible Causative Factors

Both men and women experience eating disorders.  However, women are more likely to develop a serious eating disorder than are men.

Eating disorders, of whatever variety, are serious mental and medical conditions.  These issues may develop during childhood.  However, they come on more commonly during adolescence or during the teenage years.

Eating disorders have no single identified cause.  Nonetheless, there are several things that may be factors in the development of an eating disorder.

• Poor self-image.  Sometimes, feelings of guilt and self-loathing.
• Feelings of helplessness.
• Depression.
• Anxiety.
• Any of a variety of mental health issues.
• Stressful events, particularly life-changing ones.
• Biological factors.  Serotonin and dopamine may play a role.
• Possibly genetic or, at least, “runs in the family.”  About one-fifth of people with an eating disorder have a relative who also suffers from an eating disorder.  In addition, studies of twins who were separated at birth indicate that if one twin develops an eating disorder there is a more than 50% likelihood that the other twin will develop an eating disorder also.
• My own speculation – based on what I have seen a couple of times – is that there were digestive or nutritional deficiencies previous to the eating disorder.  These deficiencies seem to be, at least partially, responsible for the emotional states that triggered the eating disorder in the beginning.

Anorexia Nervosa

Those who suffer from anorexia are extremely fearful of gaining weight or being fat.  Their body image, how they see themselves, is extremely distorted.  They see themselves as fat, even if they are extremely thin.  An anorexic will do just about anything in their quest to avoid putting on weight.  They will, quite literally, starve themselves to death.

For some, it is as though there is more than one eating disorder involved.  Sometimes, though weak and shaky from lack of food, they drive themselves to extreme exercise routines.  They engage in binging and purging behaviors.  Others force themselves to vomit after eating.  Sometimes laxatives and/or diuretics are used to keep or get the weight off.  These are characteristics of other eating disorders.  However, they sometimes appear in tandem with Anorexia.

Anorexia is a life-threatening condition.  It can, if intervention is not sought or is not successful, result in death.  Starvation eventually leads to such things as heart failure, and severe electrolyte imbalances.  As lack of nutrients becomes severe, depression and suicide are, as a result, experienced.  For some people, the fight against anorexia lasts for a lifetime.  But, recovery is possible.  I have seen it happen!

Causative Factors Specific to Anorexia

• Issues with self-image or body weight or size.
• A need to control one’s environment.  Perhaps, the control of what they eat is the only control that they feel they have over their own lives.
• Family pressures to be perfect or, at least, to maintain a certain image.
• Feelings of guilt and self-loathing.
• A belief that one must be perfect to be loved.  Therefore, feeling that anything less than perfect is absolutely unacceptable!
• Fear of being ridiculed or humiliated contributes to anorexic tendencies.
• Cultural norms, as defined by peer pressure or the media, that place too high a value on being thin.  In cultures where the Western ideals of thinness do not exist, anorexia and certain other eating disorders are practically non-existent.
• Difficulty handling stress.  For example, pessimism, tendency to fret and worry constantly, refusal to confront or move through difficult or stressful issues and situations.
• Statistically, a history of sexual abuse often drives anorexia.
• As with most eating disorders, big or upsetting life changes.  For example, a breakup in the family unit, moving or attending a new school, or a new job.

Health Risks Associated with Anorexia

Physical Signs
The signs and symptoms highlighted and italicized below, nearly always, indicate a need for serious consideration of hospitalization!

• Severe and excessive weight loss!
• Body Mass Index (BMI) 30% below normal.  The normal range of a BMI is 19 to 24.
• Abnormal heart rhythms.
• Severe depression.
• Suicidal thoughts, words, or tendencies.
• Abnormally low blood pressure.
• Low potassium levels.
• Other abnormal laboratory findings such as anemia, low thyroid, low white and red blood cell counts, and hormone issues.
• Stomach cramps as well as other gastrointestinal complaints (constipation, reflux, etc).
• Scanty or entirely absent menstrual periods.
• Dizziness, especially on standing.
• Dental problems, such as enamel erosion, cavities, and tooth sensitivity.  Cavities and discoloration of teeth, from vomiting.
• Difficulty sleeping.
• Thinning hair.
• Dry skin.
• Brittle nails.
• Cold hands and feet.
• Swollen hands and feet.
• Muscle weakness.
• Oddly, downy hair covering the body.
• Extreme fatigue.
• Poor wound healing.
• Impaired immune function.
• Osteoporosis.

Psychological and/or Behavioral Symptoms

• A badly distorted sense of self.  Commonly, insisting they are overweight when, in reality, they are extremely thin.
• Guilt and self-loathing.
• Being preoccupied with food.  Specifically, this preoccupation usually involves finding ways to avoid eating any food!
• Refusing to acknowledge the illness.  If they do acknowledge it, refusing to acknowledge the seriousness of their situation.
• Obsessive-compulsive behaviors that are unrelated to food and eating issues.
• Inability to remember things.
• Mood swings.
• Eventually, severe depression.  Perhaps, if the situation goes on long enough, suicidal impulses.  

Signs Family and Friends Should Watch For

• Skipping meals.
• Making excuses not to eat.
• Refusing to eat in public.
• Withdrawing from usual friends and activities.
• Planning and preparing, as a ruse, elaborate meals for others.  Also, they don’t eat anything much of that meal themselves.
• Constantly weighing themselves.
• Ritually cutting food into tiny pieces.
• Dressing in multiple layers to hide weight loss and to stay warm.
• Compulsive and excessive exercising.

Bulimia Nervosa

This eating disorder is much different than anorexia although it does share some symptoms.  Persons with bulimia binge and overeat then purge to avoid weight gain.  Induced vomiting, the extreme and constant use of laxatives and, in some instances, over-exercising.  Like those people suffering from anorexia, bulimic people are usually preoccupied with weight and body image.  Certainly, there are issues with food and/or with impulse control.

It is possible, with bulimia, for a person to stay at a normal weight.  This makes it possible for them to keep their condition secret for years.  Even though the person ingests sufficient calories, the purging prevents them from getting good nutrition.  Because of this, bulimia can cause life-threatening complications.

Causative Factors Specific to Bulimia

• Too much emphasis, by either the person or their family, on achievement.
• Experiencing constant criticism or, interestingly, overly critical of others.
• Low self-esteem.
• An inability to control impulsive behaviors.
• Having trouble expressing anger.
• Sexual abuse.  There appears to be a higher than normal statistical incidence of early sexual abuse among person with bulimia.
• A history of depression, self-mutilation, or substance abuse.
• Additionally, suffering from obsessive-compulsive behaviors.

Health Risks Associated with Bulimia

Physical Signs

• Absent or scanty menstrual cycles.  As a result, experiencing difficulty getting pregnant.
• Dehydration.
• Constipation.
• Hemorrhoids.
• Weak muscles, muscles cramps.
• Blood sugar and pancreas issues.
• Electrolyte imbalances and deficiencies.
• Heart problems as a result of nutritional deficiencies.
• Fatigue.
• Eventually, even seizures.
• Cardiac issues such as tachycardia, arrhythmias, palpitations, hypotension, and syncope (loss of consciousness as the result of low blood pressure).  Dehydration, primarily, causes these heart issues.  Heart issues are the leading cause of death among bulimic patients.  

Symptoms Brought on  by Repeated Induced Vomiting

• Hemorrhage in the eyes, ears, and nose.
• Dental erosion.
• Sore throats caused by regurgitated acidic stomach contents.
• Erosion of the esophagus and vocal cords resulting in hoarseness.
• Stomach dysfunctions.  Unquestionably, repeated vomiting destroys or disturbs the natural balance of microbes in the stomach.
• Gastroesophageal reflux (GERD).
• Swollen salivary glands.
• Self-induced vomiting results in aspiration of the acidic stomach contents.  This, subsequently, leads to pulmonary issues and destruction of the alveoli in the lungs.
• Some research published in Cancer Epidemiology shows a six-fold increase in the likelihood of developing esophageal cancer if you have been hospitalized with an eating disorder like bulimia.

Psychological and/or Behavioral Symptoms

• Pregnancy is emotionally difficult because of the changes in body size and shape.  In addition, the mother’s poor nutrition often affects the baby.
• Confusion.
• Inability to concentrate.

Signs Family and Friends Should Watch For

• Going to the bathroom during meals.
• Spending a long time in the bathroom following a meal.
• The symptoms listed above, especially abnormal erosion of teeth enamel.
• Sores or calluses on the knuckles of hands caused by self-inducing vomiting.

Emotional Commonalities – Anorexia and Bulimia

Both of these eating disorders, anorexia and bulimia, appear to have anger/self-hate issues involved in them. They are sometimes, but certainly not always, tied to abuse. When they are the result of abuse, the feeling seems to be that since it would be wrong to hate the person who abused them (because it is a parent or sibling or they have been taught that hating others is bad), they turn the hatred inward on themselves.  Low self-esteem and dissatisfaction with their physical attributes and appearance, for whatever reason, is a contributing factor.

Binge Eating Disorder

Almost everyone is guilty of over-eating on occasion.  We are not talking, here, about having seconds or even thirds at a holiday meal.  Binge-eating disorder is far more serious.  It is the frequent consumption of very large amounts of food coupled with the inability to stop eating even when you know you will be horribly uncomfortable afterward.

Causative Factors Specific to Binge-Eating Disorder

• Using food to cope with unwanted emotions or unusually high amounts of stress.
• A history of depression.  Nearly half of all people with this disorder have a history of depression.
• Many binge-eaters say that anger, sadness, boredom, anxiety, or other negative emotions trigger their episodes of binge eating.
• Genetically linked abnormal functioning of chemical/hormonal messages to the brain.  Studies looking at this component are in process.
• An unnatural emphasis placed on food.  Possibly a family or cultural heritage at play here.  For example, food is used as a reward or as a way to soothe or comfort.  In other words, food becoming a learned response to stress which, as stress escalates in daily life, becomes binge eating.
• Belonging to a family of over-eaters.

Symptoms

• As stated above, eating unusually large amounts of food in a specific amount of time.  All at once or over a period of an hour or two.
• Eating even when you are not hungry and even when you are already full.
• Binge eaters eat very rapidly, as though the food were about to disappear, during binge episodes.
• Eating until you are miserable and uncomfortably full.
• Frequently eating alone or in secret.
• Frequent bouts of excessive dieting, but usually without any weight loss.
• Feeling that your eating behavior is out of control.
• Feeling depressed, disgusted, ashamed, guilty or upset about your eating.

Health Risks Associated with Binge-Eating Disorder

Weight gain and obesity become an issue for most binge eaters.  The health risks associated with being overweight make up the list of risks here.

Physical Symptoms

• Heart disease.
• Chest pain.
• Dizziness or falling.
• Shortness of breath.
• High blood pressure.
• Type 2 diabetes.
• Blurry vision.
• Arthritis.

Psychological and/or Behavioral Symptoms

• Feeling hopeless or helpless.
• Feeling out of control and feeling guilty about it all of the time.
• Having little interest in activities you once loved.
• Feeling sad and empty.  In other words, depression.
• Tired, emotionally and mentally, with little energy.

Binge-eating disorder is different from bulimia.  The person doesn’t try to compensate or rid himself or herself of the extra calories by vomiting, using laxatives, or exercising excessively.  Attempts to diet or restrict food intake simply leads to more frequent bouts of binge eating.

Signs Family and Friends Should Watch For

• Steals food or hordes and hides food in strange places.
• Creates a lifestyle or eating rituals in order to make time and opportunity for binging sessions.
• Finds ways to avoid eating with family or friends in an attempt to hide the amount of food to be consumed.
• Withdraws from their usual circle of friends and activities.

A person with this disorder often hides, expertly, their obsessive eating behaviors.  Usually, they do not take kindly to questions or offers of help.  Nevertheless, if you observe this behavior in a family member or a friend, it is important that you provide support.  Talk with them, lovingly also.  Encourage them to seek help for this very real disorder.

Balancing Blood Sugar

Proper blood glucose (sugar) levels are important, especially in the regulation of many aspects of cellular functioning.  As we all know, chronically elevated blood sugar leads to a multitude of serious problems.  These include insulin resistance and diabetes with its many complications and problems.

The symptoms of low blood sugar, however, often lead to binge eating as the body attempts to fill its energy requirements.

Multiple organs in the body play a role in the management of blood sugar including the pancreas, liver, and adrenal glands.

Essential Oils for Balancing Blood Sugar

Pancreas:  ^LeEndoRelief, ^LeEnergy,  Cedarwood, Cypress, Dill, Helichrysum, Lemon

Adrenal Glands:  ^LeEndoRelief, ^LeEnergy, ^LeHeartSong, ^LeInsideOut, ^LeLife Force, ^LeLiteN, ^LeTrust, ^LeVitality, Basil, Geranium, Sage, Spruce, Rosemary

Liver:  ^LeAcknowledge, ^LeAngel, ^LeEZ Traveler, ^LeLetting Go, ^LeLivN, ^LeRevitalize, ^LeSafeguard, and ^LeSynopsis.  Single oils of Angelica, Carrot Seed, Celery Seed, Goldenrod, Grapefruit, Helichrysum, Ledum, Lemon, Lime, and Rosemary. Dilute and apply to the area above the liver and along the spine.  Add to Redmond Clay and water and soak the feet.

Herbs for Balancing Blood Sugar

Pancreas:Burdock, Licorice Root, Milk Thistle, Red Clover, Echinacea, Gentian, Goldenseal (limit use of goldenseal to a week or two at a time), Dandelion, Uva Ursi, Mullein, Bilberries, Alfalfa, Juniper Berries, Saw Palmetto, Oregon Grape, Olive Leaf (if there is infection),  PF, Raspberry/Myrrh, Cascara/Juniper, HGL, and LIC.

Adrenal Glands:  Astragalus, Echinacea, Milk Thistle, Kelp, Devil’s Claw, Bilberry, Hawthorn, Safflower, Licorice Root, Ginseng, and Papaya. The Butterfly herbal combination AD is specific for the adrenal glands.  Also, any herbal mineral formula feeds the adrenal glands. Avoid Goldenseal or limit its use to no more than a week or two at a time.

Liver:  Rosemary, Calendula, Dandelion, Yellow Dock, Burdock, raw Beet Root, and blackstrap molasses.  LC is an excellent liver cleanse protocol.  It is important to cleanse the blood (RC) and support the kidneys (KT or KB) and the colon (CD) at the same time. The last 4 herbs mentioned come together in the Reset Kit with instructions on how to do a full body cleanse.  For a more extensive kit look at the Reset Plus Kit.

Pica

Compulsively eating items that have no nutritional value.  These items might be relatively harmless, such as chomping ice – hard mostly on the teeth enamel.  On the other hand, some people crave potentially dangerous items.  These might include flakes of dried paint, chalk, dirt, sand, glue, soap, hair, cigarette ashes, or even pieces of metal.

Children are more likely to develop this disorder than adults, although it sometimes comes on during pregnancy.  I knew a small child, not much more than an infant, who would devour any newsprint left in her reach.  Her mother told me that her digestive system seemed to be dependent on it, either the ink or the roughage of the newsprint.  Was this eating of newspapers an indication of a nutritional deficiency?  I think so.   

Statistically, people with cognitive disorders or psychiatric disorders fall victim to Pica most often.  Obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar tendencies, and schizophrenia appear to be forerunners of Pica eating disorder in some people.  Pica is often more severe and becomes more entrenched in persons with severe developmental difficulties.

Causative Factors Specific to Pica

• Nutritional deficiencies.  Iron, zinc, copper, potassium, or any other vitamin or mineral that is in short supply in the diet may be at the root of the problem.  Unusual cravings often result when the body is trying to replenish low levels of a particular nutrient.  I have often wondered if children eat dirt as a way of filling nutritional holes in their diets.  Unfortunately, eating dirt sometimes exposes the child to parasites.
• A special enjoyment of certain textures.  For example, crunching such things as ice satisfies a need without adding calories or sweets to the daily diet.
• Excessive, compulsive dieting.  The ingestion of non-food substances makes the person feel full without producing weight-gain.
• With children, parental neglect or food deprivation may be factors.  Pica is far more common, statistically, among children living in poverty.

Health Risks Associated with Pica

• Poisoning, such as lead poisoning or poisoning by other heavy metals.  Besides lead, arsenic and mercury are often found in the systems of those suffering from this disorder.
• Parasitic infections from eating dirt or clay where animals are present.
• Intestinal blockages.  The human digestive system cannot break down many of the items that people with Pica consume every day.
• Constipation or diarrhea to perforation of the colon or small intestine.
• Choking.
• Broken teeth and mouth injuries.  Some of the things ingested – and attempted to be chewed – are very damaging to the teeth.

Signs Family and Friends Should Watch For

This list is quite simple and quite short.  Unless the person is an infant, crawling about testing anything in reach by putting that item in its mouth, eating non-food items over a period of time is the definition of Pica.

Pica is described in medical literature as being, too often, “unrecognized” and “under-reported.”  However, it appears that Pica – or at least the consuming of non-food items such as dirt and clay – has been part of world cultures since antiquity.

Orthorexia

Although not officially classified as an eating disorder as yet, orthorexia is increasingly mentioned in the media.  It has also become the subject of many recent scientific studies.  Orthorexia is an obsessive focus on healthy eating to the extent that it becomes seriously disruption to a normal lifestyle.  For instance, the person may eliminate entire food groups, believing them to be unhealthy or contaminated in some way.  Elimination of too many food groups, also often leads to malnutrition, severe weight loss, difficulty eating when not at home, and emotional distress of several varieties.

Orthorexia sometimes begins as a healthy desire to improve one’s diet and lifestyle.  Obsession sets Othorexia apart from healthy living.  While disorders such as Bulimia and Anorexia do not usually respond to education about nutrition, those suffering from Orthorexia often do.  However, if perfectionism, nutritional deficiencies, a mood or mental disorder, or an underlying mental/psychological disorder is present an appropriate alternative remedy may be needed.  Homeopathy has proven especially helpful with mental and emotional states.  Herbal remedies, naturally, fill nutritional gaps especially well.

Causative Factors Specific to Orthorexia

• Obsessive-compulsive disorders of other types.
• A history of obsessive and/or compulsive dieting.
• Anxiety as well as other anxiety-based disorders.
• Low self-esteem.

Individuals with orthorexia rarely focus on losing weight.  Rather, their entire self-worth, identity, and satisfaction with themselves are based on how well they are complying with their self-imposed – and, usually, very strict – dietary regimens.

Health Risks Associated with Orthorexia

Physical Symptoms

• Weight Loss.
• Malnutrition along with specific nutritional deficiencies.
• Severe irritability or even anger issues.
• The worsening of anxiety and any obsessive-compulsive behaviors.

Psychological and/or Behavioral Symptoms

• Guilt or even self-punishment when they have failed to live a “clean” or “healthy” diet as set out by themselves.
• Low self-esteem.
• Negative body image.
• Social isolation or withdrawal.  The food served will not meet their standard and/or they might feel uncomfortable or be ridiculed.
• Depression, high anxiety levels.

Signs Family and Friends Should Watch For

• Fixation on food quality and purity.
• Rigid lists of “healthy” and “unhealthy” foods.
• The development of highly inflexible eating patterns.
• A ridiculously heavy and unbending focus on organic, pure, and/or raw foods.
• Avoidance of entire food groups or families when no negative reaction or allergy to them has ever been experienced.
• Planning, purchasing, and preparing food interferes increasingly with other necessary activities and aspects of their lives.
• Undertaking frequent and/or severe body and liver cleansing programs.
• Beyond normal weight fluctuations.

Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID)

While most often seen in children, this eating disorder has become more common in adults.  It is common enough to be listed, officially, as an eating disorder.  A person suffering from ARFID will consider eating only a very small range of foods – usually, less than 20.  For the most part, they simply refuse to try new foods at all.  Also, ARFID can lead to serious nutritional deficiencies as whole food groups are eliminated from the diet.  However, some ARFID sufferers avoid nutritional deficiencies and weight loss – at least to some extent and for a time – consuming protein drinks or nutritional shakes of one sort or another in an attempt to fill nutrient needs that are being missed.

This deep dislike of so many foods and refusal to try anything new leads to discomfort in social situations.  This discomfort/embarrassment, in turn, leads to avoiding social situations in which food will be playing a part.

Unlike many other eating disorders, ARFID is not about weight loss or body image.  In that way – body image or self-esteem issues not being the drive – ARFID is more closely aligned with Orthorexia.  ARFID, unlike Orthorexia, is not so much about food quality and purity and eating  “clean.”  It is, as stated already, about unpleasant textures and sensations.  It may also be about the fear of the possible consequences – diarrhea, vomiting, etc. – of eating most foods.

Causative Factors Specific to ARFID

ARFID patients, often, are limiting their range of foods consumed because of previous negative experience with a particular type of food.

• A higher than normal sensitivity to certain textures or colors in food.
• Fear of a particular food or type of food making them sick.
• A fear of choking on particular foods.

Just a Picky-Eater?

ARFID is more than just picky eating.  Perhaps, it is only about intensity and degree.  Picky eating does not, usually, create growth issues in children or severe weight loss in adults.  Nor does it interfere with daily life or create a lot of stress in social situations.

Signs to Watch For

• Difficulty, at a very young age, in transitioning from single baby foods to mixed foods with more than one flavor at a time.
• Extreme sensitivity to things described as too “mushy” or too “crunchy.”
• ARFID is distinguished by a refusal to try anything new!  Described by some pediatricians as “food neophobia” in which there is difficulty with novelty.  Disliking new flavors and textures leads, inexorably, to a nutritionally deficient diet and social consequences.

Unlike eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia, ARFID does not usually occur in people who previously enjoyed eating more normally!  Children and even adults, suffering from ARFID have usually had difficulty with new foods and with certain textures in foods throughout their lives.

Compulsive Exercise Disorder

Compulsive exercise appears to be part of some of the eating disorders discussed above.  This is particularly true of those disorders that include weight or body image as causative factors.

Signs of Compulsive Exercise Disorder

• Exercise significantly interfering with important activities or relationships.
• Exercise that occurs at inappropriate times or in inappropriate settings such as during classes or in the hallways when they should be attending to class.
• The person insists on following exercise routines despite injury, illness, extreme fatigue, or medical complications.
• Intense anxiety or depression and distress when unable to follow their insisted upon an exercise routine.

Exercise is Good

I am a fan of exercise!  Exercising if fun!  I love how I feel after I have completed a pretty strenuous routine.  The endorphins that exercise creates in my brain and body feel great.  My whole day goes better!  I love the fact that when I exercise I automatically leave sugary treats alone.  Why?  Because I am not about to waste all that time, sweat equity, and good endorphins by eating a bunch of junk!  Because I love exercising, it is easy for me to see how a person might slip from exercise that is good for their bodies into a compulsive exercise disorder.  Perhaps, I have skirted the edges of this one from time to time in my own life.

Possible Eating Disorder Solutions

To be effective, solution strategies that work best are based on addressing the underlying causes, whatever they may be.  Family history as it pertains to eating disorders, evaluation of health issues including any other self-injurious behaviors, and an assessment of the person’s Body Mass Index (BMI) are vital steps.  An assessment that is similar to the repertorizing done by homeopathic practitioners is a unique and very comprehensive work up.  This assessment would, also include mental, physical, and emotional symptoms.

The modern medical model has helped millions of people recover from eating disorders.  Nevertheless, alternative medicine and holistic approaches provide a completely unique and fresh perspective to these disorders.  They also have an outstanding “track record” of success.  Most importantly, there are no drug side-effects with alternative approaches to the management of these disorders.  It should be remembered and always taken into consideration, however, that these disorders threaten health to varying degrees.  The earlier the treatment, the better the outcome is a simple fact with each of these conditions.

Behavioral Modification Therapies

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Helps the patient identify, interrupt and replace distorted thinking and associated behaviors with healthy and adaptive coping skills.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

Combines CBT techniques with mindful meditation to help you discover new ways to manage and regulate emotions, identify triggers and work toward changing negative and unhelpful behaviors.

Family-Based Treatment (FBT)

Designed for adolescents, family-based treatment includes parents as active and integral parts of the treatment team.  Sometimes – many times – the involvement of family is essential to the development of restoration of appropriate adolescent identity.

Treatments that included reinforcement by family and friends of even small improvement in eating patterns and habits have proven particularly effective.

Nutritional Counseling

While not often effective with eating disorders based on compulsive behaviors or on misperceptions of weight and body shape, nutritional counseling helps in such disorders as Orthorexia.

Energy Work

Any of the Amazing Energy Work Modalities and Techniques available today address both emotional and physical issues.  EFT and other such modalities are taught at Butterfly Expressions, LLC as part of the Chrysalis Course as well as part of other classwork.  Acupressure points, especially when combined with essential oils on those points, has played a big part in every part of my healing and day-to-day healthcare for many years now.  

The point of energy work in this circumstance – as in most others, I might add – is two-fold.  First, to establish or reestablish an accurate view of reality – to see ourselves as we really are!  Second, to really accept the reality that what we are, who we are, what we look like, what we have to offer, who we are becoming is enough.  Certainly, we are enough for today and for tomorrow’s journey.  We are loved!  Certainly, we are loved by Heaven more than we can ever know!

Twelve-step Programs

These programs are similar to AA.  The best of them are Christ-centered.

Twelve-step programs help the person see themselves clearly.  They are helped to see that they need help.  Coming to the point of asking for help from friends, family and from God is a big and very important step.  In addition, these programs give patients the skills and tools they need to avoid relapse and achieve long-term recovery. These follow-up skills and tool include:

• The establishment of a one-on-one relationship with a caring mentor.
• Accountability by working with a mentor, usually someone else who has been there.
• Having a community of empathetic peers to reach out to.
• Providing a solution to avoiding isolation and secrecy.
• Providing a place to share their hopes/fears/secrets/successes.
• Being able to give back by helping others in the program.

Alternative Remedies

Success in working with an eating disorder, obviously, requires a great deal of trust between the therapist (or friend) and the person in recovery.  Enormous sensitivity is required.

First, if possible, include a regimen of vitamin and mineral supplementation, especially of Vitamin B Complex and Zinc.  Initially, very small, but frequent, meals should be made up of fruits and vegetables, with tiny amounts of dried fruits and nuts.  These foods are usually thought of as ‘slimming’ and healthy so may be acceptable even to anorexics and those people suffering from orthorexia.  At the same time, they are full of vital nutrients.  Gradually, a simple whole food diet can be introduced.

Essential Oils

The importance of a person with an eating disorder coming to consider themselves loved by God and family, and being worthy of that love, cannot be over-emphasized.  Essential oils help us find and maintain positive perceptions of ourselves!  Essential oils also help with digestive difficulties, as well.

^LeBenediction

^LeBenediction is the number one blend for susceptibility to the energy of others.  I find, when working with people through foot zoning, energy work, or craniosacral sessions, that if I could just get through the first 20 minutes after a session without binge eating chocolate, I would be fine!  ^LeBenediction, placed on my body or diffused in the room, prevents those cravings set up by energy depletion or over-identification with the person on whom I was working.

^LeBountiful

This blend creates feelings of gratitude and generosity.  These feelings bring the “blessings of Heaven” down on our heads.  This blend also helps us to see the goodness in our surroundings and in the people we are surrounded by.

^LeEZ Traveler

A blend for the digestive system, ^LeEZ Traveler also promotes feelings of calmness, emotional strength, and the ability to cope with the day’s events and responsibilities.

^LeHeartSong

This is a very high frequency spiritual and emotional blend. ^LeHeartSong was created as an anti-depressant blend and is still the #1 blend for use in the treatment of grief and mild depression.  The aroma of ^LeHeartSong somehow reminds us that we are loved and cherished by many people, and certainly by Heaven.

^LeHoliday Spirit

The aroma of ^LeHoliday Spirit reminds us of fond family members and happy family events and family-related emotions.  Life seems less stressful and more enjoyable when this blend is kept diffused in the house at any time of the year.

^LeJulia

^LeJulia calms and soothes the emotions, allowing the “knots” in the stomach to dissolve.  The synergy of the oils in this blend creates an atmosphere where fear, anxiety, and the need to hold on tightly to emotions can be released.

^LeMillenia

There is not enough understanding of anorexia, but it has been shown that something in the way ^LeMillenia realigns body systems changes even thought patterns and aids in overcoming this condition.  Although ^LeMillenia is best known for aligning physical structures, ^Le Millenia also aligns energy.  In addition, this is a blend for finding the courage to move forward, changing situations, habits, and patterns that are not in our best interests.  ^LeMillenia aids us with self-expression, fear of conflict and disagreement, and the ability to make decisions. This blend can foster tenacity and independence of spirit.

^LePurify

Some citrus oils and lavender, all of which are in this essential oil blend, are useful for anorexia and eating disorders because they moderate feelings of insecurity, self-doubt, and self-loathing. For this purpose, diffuse ^LePurify every night and as much as possible during the day. Wear other essential oils, chosen according to the emotional picture of the person, like perfume or cologne every day.

^LeSunburst

^LeSunburst, like ^LePurify, contains many citrus essential oils.  Citrus oils are known to have a particular affinity for the emotional issues connected to eating disorders.  This blend promotes a sense of well-being and contentment with one’s self and one’s circumstances.

^LeTranquility

One of the best-loved of the Butterfly Express, LLC, blends, ^LeTranquility can help us develop inner strength, patience, understanding, and confidence. ^LeTranquility promotes relaxation, relieves anxiety, stress, tension, and depression.

^LeWeightless

This delightful blend is designed to function on both the physical and emotional planes, even more than is usual for essential oils.  Emotionally it lightens the weight of our own negativity which is so often the trigger for “binge” eating or junk food consumption. ^LeWeightless is used in programs for eating disorders such as anorexia.

^LeWeightless relieves stress, but it takes a minute. If you can remember to reach for ^LeWeightless when you are craving that chocolate bar, then exercise a little self-control for a moment or two, you may find that you move on to something else in your life and the chocolate loses its allure!! This blend also has an effect on the mind, helping it to function more clearly and quickly.

^LeWhispering Hope

^LeWhispering Hope should be used to stimulate feelings of hope and a sense of potential and achievement if one has become discouraged. This essential oil blend can help us turn around feelings of hopelessness and helplessness.  The influence of this blend is very subtle. It very literally “whispers” its message of hope.

Single Essential Oils

Angelica

Called the “oil of angels.”  This precious essential oil, either by itself or as part of a blend formula, seems to weaken the power of traumatic memories and events.  Angelica helps one keep their perspective clear and accurate.  Angelica is traditionally used for loss of appetite.  Most eating disorders respond well to its use.

Bergamot

We know that Bergamot is uplifting to the spirits.  It can be a very powerful antidepressant.  According to studies, Bergamot also regulates fluctuations in appetite.  However, the most important aspect of Bergamot for eating disorders is its effect on the liver meridian.  Bergamot encourages the release of anger and pain.

Cinnamon

Cinnamon, emotionally, is about courage.  It fosters the courage to look squarely at ourselves, at reality, and at possible solutions.  Cinnamon also provides the courage to move forward, as well.

Clary Sage

Clary Sage establishes a balance between stimulation and relaxation (yang and yin).  It calms tension, nervousness, and hypersensitivity yet revives and revitalizes us when we are fatigued.

Coriander

Coriander is both a gentle stimulant when energy levels are at a low ebb and a sedative in times of stress.  This essential oil has a marked effect on various aspects of the endocrine system.  One of the most important uses for this oil is in balancing glucose levels and supporting pancreatic function.  Flatulence, nausea, and stomach cramps usually respond to Coriander.  Treatment programs for anorexia often utilize Coriander.

Firs and Balsams

The various varieties of firs and balsams are quite similar to one another in therapeutic properties.  They are particularly useful in addressing generational issues – those patterns and traditions passed down from family member to family member from generation to generation.

Ginger

Loss of appetite and other digestive disorders.  Ginger essential oil increases physical and mental energy and stamina.  The emotional impact of Ginger is absolutely uncompromising. It insists on burning away illusions and misperceptions and replacing them with clarity and vision.  Ginger mixed with Lime is one of my favorite combinations in aromatherapy. I prefer the milder, steam distilled version, for mixing with Lime. I enjoy the combination for the emotional and physical lift it provides.

Caution:  Ginger essential oil is very strong!  It is NOT a good oil for use in the tub.

Grapefruit

Grapefruit lifts the mind and spirit.  Negativity or anxiousness disappear in the presence of this oil.  Grapefruit promotes feelings of joy, confidence, and spontaneity.  Grapefruit addresses the emotional issues of self-worth and discontent with one’s body that are so often a part of anorexia and other eating disorders.

The aroma of grapefruit is particularly suited to people who, when tense or under pressure, eat as a means of relieving stress or finding comfort.  Often, the driving emotion is frustration because their too high expectations have not been met in some way.  If they reacted to their frustration with anger or blame of themselves or others, a layer of guilt is added to the frustration.

Grapefruit is my first “go-t0” oil when working with eating disorders or addictions of any kind.

Lavender

One of the great emotional gifts of Lavender is the feeling of total and unchanging support around and within us.  Lavender reminds us that we are loved.  We know we have support in life’s challenges.  The process of healing looks like something we can do.  Lavender clears excess waste products from the lymphatic system.  This essential oil aids digestion. Lavender prevents and alleviates nausea.

Lemon

Lemon essential oil nourishes the nervous system.  It brings clarity of thought.  Lemon helps us make connections between cause and effect in our actions.  Lemon makes it easier to handle the stresses of life with a sense of humor.  One of my very favorite essential oils.  I love and use it often as the top note in blends that I am creating.

Mandarin

Mandarin calms nervous tension and eases restlessness and feelings of wanting what one does not have.  This oil is an excellent choice for anything related to digestion.

Marjoram

Marjoram quiets excessive worry.  It is particularly useful when negative thoughts circle repetitively in the mind hour after hour.  Particularly useful for persons who create drama and love to be in the center of it.  Although not a common emotional driver of eating disorders, Marjoram fits the needs when it is seen.

Neroli

The aroma of Neroli has powerful effects on our minds and emotions. It is calming, relaxing, uplifting, and encourages confidence.  Neroli is renowned around the world for relieving nervous tension, promoting restful sleep, and elevating the mood.

Orange

Frustration and discouragement block the flow of energy to the liver.  Any such block in energy creates incredible tension.  The tension created by blocked energy in the liver results in moodiness, irritability, nausea, headaches, insomnia, and expecting more of ourselves and others than is reasonable.  Orange Sweet is an excellent oil for all of these conditions and emotions.  My second favorite “go-to” oil for working with eating disorders.  In addition, the aroma of Orange Sweet alleviates nausea and increases appetite – to normal levels, not to binge eating proportions.

Herbal Remedies

With eating disorders, there are always nutritional deficiencies.  Nutritional deficiencies may drive the consuming of indigestibles that is Pica.  Other eating disorders simply create nutritional deficiencies.  Herbal remedies, naturally, fill nutritional gaps and they do it especially well.  They are every one of them, powerhouses of nutrition.  They contain vitamins, the full range of minerals, some proteins and even some essential fats.  Bee Pollen, nature’s amazing whole food, contains nearly all of the nutrients that science has identified – so far – as necessary to the health of the body.  It stands to reason that if Bee Pollen contains all of the “known” nutrients, it quite probably contains a great many of the ones that science has yet to discover.

Brewer’s yeast is an excellent source of B vitamins.  I am grateful that my grandmother used to feed it to me, stirred into milk, nearly every time I came to her house for even a few minutes.

A few years ago I spent quite a bit of time researching what nutrients were contained in which herbs.  I included a chart with some of what I learned about many of the basic vitamins and minerals in the next printing of Butterfly Miracles with Herbal Remedies.  I think you might find it informative.  There is a lot more information easily available about what herbs are used for, health-wise, than about what nutrients they contain.

A Few Examples

Zinc

Studies show that supplementation of zinc brings about rapid improvements of the BMI (Body Mass Index).  The BMI is a very important marker.  Tracking it can be a great motivator, in some cases.  Herbs containing zinc include Alfalfa, Cayenne, Chamomile, Dandelion, Eyebright, Fennel, Ginger, Hops, Kelp/Dulse, Milk Thistle, Mullein, Nettles, Parsley, Oatstraw, Peppermint, Rosehips, Sage, Sarsaparilla, Skullcap, and Wild Yam.  Also, every one of these herbs contains a wide range of other nutrients as well.

Iron

Iron supplementation decreases or even reverses pica in patients whose clinical symptoms and behavior was associated with iron deficiency.  Herbs containing iron include Alfalfa, Cascara Sagrada, Catnip, Cayenne, Chamomile, Dandelion, Dong Quai, Eyebright, Fennel, Horsetail, Kelp/Dulse, Licorice, Milk Thistle, Mullein, Nettles, Oatstraw, Peppermint, Plantain, Raspberry Leaf, Rosehips, Rosemary, Sarsaparilla, and Yarrow.

Potassium

Potassium is definitely linked to deficiencies of other minerals and, therefore, to food cravings.  Herbs containing potassium include Alfalfa, Blue Cohosh, White Birch, Cascara Sagrada, Chamomile, Coltsfoot, Comfrey, Dandelion, Kelp/Dulse, Eyebright, Fennel, Ginger, Mistletoe, Mullein, Nettles, Papaya, Parsley, Peppermint, Plantain, Raspberry, Rosemary, Shepherd’s Purse, White Oak, and Yarrow.

These are only three examples of the many nutrients that herbs provide to the body.  They were listed here because of their known relationship to eating disorders.  Note that the herbs Alfalfa, Kelp/Dulse, and Nettles appear on all three lists.  Actually, these three herbs when combined provide most – if not all – of the nutrients required for good health.  Herbs provide nutrients in a wonderfully absorbable way.  There are only one or two minerals missing in Alfalfa,  Kelp/Dulse or Nettles – one or the other – contain these missing minerals.  Alfalfa also contains some wonderful proteins – a rather rare thing in the herbal world.

Herbal Nervine Formulas

Butterfly, the line I was instrumental in creating, has several of these formulas.  Why several formulas?  Nervine herbs, though not narcotic in any way, are among the strongest herbs available.  They are also slightly more likely to produce a bit of a reaction in some sensitive people.  The different formulas reflect the substitution of various families of herbs for each other thus making a powerful formula available to almost everyone.  Please see my book, Butterfly Miracles with Herbal Remedies, for additional information on the properties of nervine herbs.

NV is, I believe, the strongest and most complete of the Butterfly nervine formulas.  However, NS is my personal favorite.  I think this may be because I love BBL (another nervine formula) so much.  Among the ingredients of NS are 3 of the wonderful ingredients found in BBL.  NT is mild enough to take as a supplement every day.  NVC is a formula made especially for use by children.  The herbs are very mild but also very effective.  It is made in glycerin, thus making it more palatable to children.  This formula is perfectly safe – and perfectly wonderful – even for infants.

Especially Good Herbal Nutrient Formulas

Good nutrition helps a great deal with the physical, mental, and emotional symptoms of eating disorders.  I chose some of my favorite formulas to discuss, very briefly, below.

KNA

The three herbs in the KNA (Kelp/Dulse, Nettles, Alfalfa) formula contain all of the trace minerals that have been identified as vital to good health and healing from illness.  These herbs are particularly high in absorbable calcium, natural iron that does not cause constipation, iodine, vitamin C, and vitamin A. In addition, Alfalfa contains a lot of a very usable form of protein, which is unusual in herbs.  Nutritional deficiencies drive a great many eating disorders.  KNA will help to fill those gaps.

BHM

Nutrition and nutritive herbs are the focus of this formula.  I find it interesting that these same herbs along with some garlic make up the strongest anti-viral – in fact, anti-everything nasty – formula in the Butterfly line, APL.  Obviously, good nutrition plays a very big role in recovering from illness just as it does in preventing illness.

MIN

Dulse, found in this formula, is a seaweed much like kelp.  With its addition, this formula contains all three of the herbs (or similar) found in KNA.  In addition, there are herbs for hormone balance, calming the nerves, strengthening the pancreas, and supporting the kidneys.  MIN is made as a glycerite.  Therefore, even the taste of it is not too bad!

Very Nutrient Herbs

Fenugreek

These nourishing seeds can be useful to encourage weight gain in conditions such as anorexia. Fenugreek is rich in minerals such as Iron, Potassium, Calcium, Selenium, Copper, Zinc, Manganese, and Magnesium.  In the vitamin department, it contains thiamin, folic acid, riboflavin, pyridoxine (vitamin B6), niacin, and vitamins A and C.

Galangal

Galangal is a bitter herb.  It is used to promote digestion.  It stimulates the appetite and the production of digestive fluids.  This makes Galangal useful in the treatment of anorexia, indigestion, colic, and stomach ache.  Galangal is, however, contraindicated for people with ulcers, since Galangal stimulates the secretion of gastric acid.

Homeopathics

Homeopathy has proven especially helpful with mental and emotional states.  It is not that a homeopathic remedy completely removes the emotion.  Homeopathic remedies do, however, remove the stress from the issue.  It also presents to the person’s mind an alternative way to look at the situation as well as an alternative way to react to it.

Lycopodium

Lycopodium is, for sure, a remedy for problems with food and digestion.  It doesn’t really fit any particular eating disorder but the symptoms are horrendous enough to merit mention.

Physical state includes malnutrition, due to the overall weakness of the digestive system.  The person is overly thin, even withered and emaciated.  Lack of vital heat contributes to being intolerant of cold drinks and craving any food or drink that is warm.  They experience a great deal of gas and bloating.  Multiple food allergies make life difficult.  Pronounced aversion to most foods as a result.  Craving for sweets with diabetes or hypoglycemia likely.

Excessive hunger, eating very rapidly with discomfort occurring after eating only a very little bit.  Perhaps, the tendency to eat rapidly explains some of the discomforts.

Poor self-esteem, lack of self-confidence, indecision, a great many fears, create the need to dominate and control other people and their environment.  Panic attacks are common.

Lac caninum

This remedy does not fit ALL of the symptoms of any one of the disorders described in this post.  For that reason, I am placing it here with Lycopodium as a remedy to consider whenever an eating disorder is in play.

The symptom picture of Lac caninum includes a lot of issues with food.  For example, eating too much or, conversely, having no appetite at all.  Aversion to liquids, and to anything sweet, fat, or greasy but with a desire for highly seasoned foods.  The person that this remedy fits craves milk.  They insist on drinking quite a lot of it even though it aggravates their digestive system.

Emotional symptoms include lack of self-confidence, thinks very little of themselves on any level, self-loathing especially of the body, and depression in several forms.  These emotional symptoms bring this remedy forward for anorexia, bulimia, and perhaps some of the other eating disorders, as well.

Could fear of something bad happening, which is a keynote of this remedy, be a fore-runner to Orthorexia, perhaps, if connected to the effects of food on the system?

Remedies Specific to Anorexia

While there are certainly issues about body size, weight, or attractiveness, anorexia is often about control of one’s environment or of oneself. Guilt and self-loathing often also play a part. Actual cases of anorexia nervosa have been successfully treated using the following remedies.

Natrum muriaticum

This is the most often indicated remedy for anorexia.  More than one of the emotional drivers of this disorder are addressed by this remedy.  In addition, the symptom picture of Natrum.

Emotionally, there is a lot of guilt, fear of being rejected, hurt feelings, self-consciousness, perfectionism, as well as the driving fear of being fat.  Hungry but no longer feels any desire for food.  Anemia from malnutrition as well as from emotional distress.  Fluttering of the heart with the heart feeling weak and vulnerable.  High blood pressure.  The coldness of the legs.  Dry chapped skin. Vertigo.

Arsenicum album

Extreme nervousness.  Anxiety about the future.  Fear that the earth has been poisoned and that the food supply is contaminated.  There is anger at themselves and others which alternates with despondency and fear that the world’s, and their own personal problems, have no workable solution.  This symptom is rare but often applies to anorexics.

Physical symptoms include gastroenteritis with violent pains in the abdomen.  The liver and spleen become enlarged and painful.  The chest becomes tight from great anxiety.  Darting pains shoot through the upper third of the lung area with shortness of breath.  The many skin symptoms alternate with the internal symptoms, one appearing while the others dissipate.

Carcinosin

The symptoms of this nosode center around control issues within the family.  Anorexia, while most often about body image issues, is sometimes driven by the need to take control of some aspect of one’s own life.  There is, almost always, an underlying fear of not being good enough.  This fear drives perfectionism and the need to succeed and be more than they think they already are in every aspect of their lives.

Physical symptoms possibly related to anorexia include such things as flatulence and burning pains in the ascending colon.  The person desires only those foods that disagree with them and, then, not wanting even those very often.  Constipation.  Hemorrhoids. Chronic insomnia.  Decayed or hollow teeth with teeth grinding at night.

China officinalis

Aversion to most kinds of food, with occasional cravings for sweets. Anorexia characterized by feeling full all of the time. There is a marked lack of self-confidence with apathy and indifference.  Many of the symptoms result from dehydration as well as lack of sufficient calories in the diet.  Ringing in the ears with a headache as well as sensitivity to noise.  Pain in legs, arms, and joints.  Liver and spleen become swollen and enlarged.  Vertigo from anemia.  

Ignatia amara

Sadness and sighing with an empty feeling in the pit of the stomach that, when food is eaten, becomes great nausea.  Loss of appetite from deep grief.  Oversensitive and nervous.  Worse from consolation.  An interesting aspect of Ignatia is that, to them, all food has a bitter, repulsive taste or no taste at all.  The person feels a very deep aversion to most fruits.

Pulsatilla nigricans

Feelings of worthlessness and loneliness.  Mild but emotional and tearful with changeable moods.  Changeableness in the appetite, as well.  The person really does respond badly to a great many foods.  As a result, the person creates ever-expanding lists of foods that are bad for their health.  There is a great fear of gaining weight.  Pulsatilla personalities, or women who have sunk back into a Pulsatilla profile, actually do gain weight very easily.  There is a constant need to weigh themselves, often many times a day.

Sepia succus

Sepia is a complementary (sometimes called a compatible) remedy to Pulsatilla nigricans. This means, basically, that when most of the symptoms of Pulsatilla have cleared, the remaining symptoms will match the Sepia picture quite closely.  The reverse of this situation with Sepia being followed by Pulsatilla may also occur.

The anorexia of sepia often has a hormonal base. There is usually nausea, with a sensitivity to smells, creating a genuine disgust for foods.  The emotional drivers of anorexia combine with this extreme nausea, out of balance hormones, and disgust at oneself, often create a very deep anorexic pattern, indeed.

Staphysagria

This remedy is the acute of Carcinosin and is often administered intercurrently with it.  When using a nosode remedy such as Carcinosin, an “intercurrent” remedy is almost always called for.  This remedy is known as the “acute” remedy.  It is meant to eradicate immediate symptoms while the nosode, Carcinosin in this case, goes to work on the deeper underlying energetic causes.  For example, Staphysagria alleviates the immediate symptoms of worthlessness and depression created by humiliation or the perception of humiliation (deep enough for suicide to be a concern).  At the same time, Carcinosin begins to unravel the deep-seated abuse, fear, and perfectionist issues.

The symptoms associated with Staphysagria often result from shame, punishment, or suppressed anger.  Interestingly, these mental triggers create a severe sensitivity to the invasion represented by surgery.  Severe pain will follow surgical procedures, especially any that involve the abdominal area.  Teeth become blackened and crumbling.

Sulphur

The keynote of Sulphur is a complete loss of appetite followed by ravenous appetite at other times.  The person expresses the feeling that all foods taste too salty.  Meat brings on an especially deep aversion.  Milk usually seriously disagrees, bringing on very distressing symptoms.  A Sulphur personality is usually willing to drink liquids but eats very little solid food.  Dry, unhealthy hair and skin.  The face appears pale, sickly, and extraordinarily old-looking.

There is a particularly important thing to know and remember about the Sulphur remedy.  When carefully selected remedies fail to act, especially with a difficult or chronic situation, Sulphur often opens the energy system and the physical body.  This creates, almost always, an immediate improved response to the things being taken and done.  Sulphur often acts strongly when used at the beginning of a treatment protocol and then in the finishing stages when reaction to treatment has been deficient and less than expected.

Phosphoricum acidum

Grief is the keynote of this remedy.  Grief with loss of appetite keynote Phosphoricum acidum.  The debility of the acids is manifest here as great emaciation. They are, literally, pining and wasting away from grief or lost love.  The passage of time, instead of bringing healing, brings instead indifference to all emotions and food.  In fact, apathy and total indifference to everything is a major part of this symptom picture.  Want nothing and cares for nothing.  The feeling is of total deadness inside.  However, while not wanting anything to eat, there is a craving for carbonated drinks.

Physical symptoms include falling out of the hair, probably due to malnutrition.  There is great weariness and sleepiness during the day, especially after eating anything at all.

Veratrum album

Veratrum album profoundly affects the mind, nerves, abdominal area, heart, blood, blood vessels, respiration, and digestive systems.  In other words, it is truly a holistic sort of remedy.

The mental/emotional symptoms of Veratrum album include melancholy, brooding is silence, despair about their position in society, and despair about ever attaining salvation.  In fact, a keynote of Veratrum album is guilt.  Eating disorders of this remedy often include fasting, more and more frequently, to appease God and expiate guilt for imagined sins.  While certainly a remedy for eating disorders, Veratrum album may not be a perfect symptom match for anorexia.  Confusing.  There is guilt which, in a way, could be considered a form of dislike of self that drives so many cases of anorexia.  There is certainly limiting caloric intake, even to the point of starvation.

The picture of this remedy also includes a voracious appetite – when not fasting as penance.  The hunger is there in spite of nausea and vomiting.  Whether or not Veratrum is a remedy for Anorexia, it certainly is a remedy that should be considered for any eating disorder that includes dislike of one’s self and not eating enough to sustain health!  The vomiting after eating too much makes Veratrum album a candidate for both bulimia and binge-eating disorders.

Viola odorata

Inclined to weep without knowing why.  Childish behavior, being too stubborn to eat just because an issue has been made of it.  This type of anorexia is usually not serious and is gotten through quite easily.  However, this remedy, by removing or mitigating stubbornness about eating, plays a distinct part in healing from anorexia for some people.

Remedies Specific to Bulimia

With bulimia, the list of remedies that have been used successfully narrows dramatically, although there are many other remedies that may fit certain people and certain scenarios.

Hyoscyamus niger

This remedy usually indicates a more serious behavioral disorder as well as an eating disorder.  There is a very real fear of being poisoned by the food available to them.  Suspicion and jealousy are keynotes.  The bulimic tendencies come with violent thirst.  However, there is an inability – usually driven by emotions – to swallow.  How frustrating that combination of symptoms must be.  Toothaches and grinding of teeth that may indicate nutritional deficiencies.

Carcinosin

Carcinosin was discussed, above, with Anorexia.  One of the keynotes of this remedy is the need to do everything to absolute perfection.  Obsessive-compulsive tendencies underscore many of the symptoms of this remedy.  A fierce need to be the perfect size and weight and to look just right is an integral part of both Anorexia and Bulimia.  Consequently, there is insecurity and fear of rejection also.

People who would benefit from Carcinosin crave chocolate, coffee, sweets, sugar, fat, eggs, butter, cheese, cream, milk, ham, bacon, raw and cooked potatoes, onions, garlic, vinegar, fruit, soup, salt and pepper, spicy foods and all foods that make him feel worse.  At other times, there is a deep aversion to these foods.  Most of the foods craved and hated that are listed above also aggravate the person, even when consumed in more normal quantities.

Phosphorus

Complete loss of appetite alternating with binge eating.  A characteristic weak, empty, all gone sensation felt in the entire abdominal area contributes to the binging sprees.  The person then induces a purge by forcing themselves to vomit or by the use of laxatives.  Vomiting is violent and by huge mouthfuls.

Irritable and spacey when misses a meal.  This perfectly describes the mental state of the hypoglycemia applicable to the Phosphorus remedy.  Diabetes and pancreatic disorders, as well as hypoglycemia, are part of the physical symptoms of Phosphorus too often.

There is a great deal of fear running all through the mental and emotional symptoms of phosphorus. These are very sensitive people in every way.  They feel the pain of those around them in their own bodies and minds.  Easily hurt emotionally.  Taking offense at trifles.

Once again, as with Carcinosin, there is a particular desire for chocolate, ice cream, candy, and spicy foods.

Cina maritima

Characteristic wanting everything but then dissatisfied with it and/or mad at themselves for eating it.  A keynote of Cina is habitual chewing on the hair, fingernails, lips, or some other part of the body.  Children display extreme naughtiness, including kicking and biting.  Teens and women become indifferent to touch and caresses. This is a remedy for parasites and the possibility of parasites as a cause of the bulimia should be considered carefully.

The medicas, under the heading of Food, list voracious hunger after eating.  The literature also points out that the person does not seem to gain weight even though they eat such a lot.  I found this interesting as a great many bulimics manage to hide the vomiting that is keeping them from putting on the weight one would expect from the calories being consumed.

Veratrum album

This remedy is discussed in more depth above, under the remedies for anorexia.  I place it here for consideration for bulimia because of the hunger and hunger with nausea and vomiting that is part of Veratrum album’s symptom picture.  Veratrum, as pointed out above, is a remedy about remorse and guilt.  The over-eating and then feeling seriously sorry one did that and trying to fix it by purging the food eaten from the body is very symptomatic of certain types of bulimia.

Remedies Specific to Pica

Please remember that Pica is an eating disorder characterized by an almost uncontrollable craving for substances that are largely non-nutritive.

Aluminum oxydata

Averse to potatoes, usually because they cause digestive issues.  The person craves as well fruits and vegetables.  They also crave such things as chalk, charcoal, cloves, coffee or tea grounds, raw rice or pasta, and acidic foods.  The constant “munching” on such things driven, to some extent, by hypoglycemic tendencies.  Going too long without starches causes trembling and general weakness.

This remedy is a polycrest antidote for lead poisoning, which is frequently a complication of pica.

Emotionally, the symptom picture of Aluminum oxydata is alternating moods with depression and low spirits winning most of the time.  Everything that happens is viewed in a sad and negative state, usually.  Tends to weep easily and involuntarily.

Calcarea carbonica

The Calcarea carbonica personality worries about all of their responsibilities and duties.  Overwork and exhaustion – or at least their perception of it – saps their energy and robs them of sleep until they become forgetful.  Children are self-willed and stubborn.  Like the adults of this picture, they suffer from poor sleep and nightmares.

The cravings that indicate Pica are for chalk, charcoal, coal, and pencils (also crave eggs, which is good, and ice creams and sweets, which is not so good).  Children are prone to eat dirt.  The person is usually pale, weak, tires easily, fearful, shy, and is very susceptible to cold.  There is also a marked restlessness and a need to wander about.  In adults, there is loss of appetite when overworked or stressed.

Calcarea phosphorica

Desires lime, slate, pencils, earth, chalk, clay, and other things.  Also craves bacon, ham, salted and smoked meats.  Often, issues here begin in childhood.  Calcium and phosphorus deficiencies contribute to slowness in learning to walk and problems with bones and teeth.  Digestive problems also show themselves early in life.  These include, in infants, painful colic and a distended abdomen.  Symptoms aggravated by damp, cold weather.  The picture also includes restlessness.

Mental/emotional symptoms include dissatisfaction, constantly moving from place to place.  At least, they want to.  Inclined to find fault and be irritable.  Sensitive and easily offended.  Children are obstinate and hard to please.  Inclined to temper tantrums.

Cicuta virosa

Abnormal appetite for chalk, charcoal, coal, and—interestingly—cabbage, which is really enjoyed. Unusual keynotes include grinding of the teeth and a tendency toward convulsions in which the body bends backward.

This remedy shows symptoms of other physical and/or eating disorders.  The person feels great satisfaction while eating and just after a meal.  However, there is great hunger very shortly thereafter.

Ignatia amara

Characterized by having not yet moved through the effects of great grief and/or emotional shock. Deep sadness with continual sighing are keynotes of Ignatia.  Like many people (and the remedies that match) consolation only makes things worse.

Food cravings include acidic fruits, sour things, raw or indigestible things, cheese, bread, sweets, and chocolate.  In fact, intense cravings for a variety of indigestible things exist.  Eating food cold because warm food causes indigestion.  Once again, some of the symptoms of this remedy place it as a candidate for use with other eating disorders.  Such symptoms include loss of appetite with refusal to eat, hunger and nausea at the same time, cravings for bread, sweets, and chocolate, and diarrhea from fruit.

Nitricum acidum

There are a great many food cravings and an equal number of foods which are seriously disliked.  Among the cravings are indigestible things such as lime, slate, pencils, papers, and charcoal.  Also craves fats and salt.  There will be cracks at the corners of the mouth and fissures at the anus with strong smelling urine and frequent diarrhea.

Emotionally head-strong, irritable, vindictive, and fearful with a great sensitivity to noise and light.  Constantly anxious about health and discontented with everything, including themselves.  Prone to be irritable and given to fits of anger – as most malnourished people are.

Nux vomica

The Nux vomica personality, when out of balance, can be very angry and impatient.  They are ambitious and competitive.  The person needing this remedy is characteristically quick, active.  Often are workaholics and driven by anxiety about business affairs.  Craves charcoal, chalk, fats, spicy foods, and pepper. Usually, the person is thin and chilly with a nervous disposition that includes great sensitivity to noise, odors, lights, and music.

Cravings are not so much for indigestible things as for stimulants such as coffee and caffeinated beverages, even alcohol, tobacco, and drugs.  The stomach region is very sensitive to pressure of any kind, even loose fitting clothing.

Remedies Specific to Orthorexia and Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID)

As has been pointed out, both of these disorders are about aversion and avoidance of foods that most people consider OK and even enjoy eating.  I found no current homeopathic Repertories (that I could afford to check out, at least) that listed either of these disorders.  So, I did the only thing I could think to do and repertorized the symptoms myself looking for possibilities. (For those of you new to homeopathy, repertorizing means looking at all the symptoms and then working your way through possible remedies looking for any having symptoms that match on a sufficient number of levels).

I found several remedies with “aversion to food” or “aversion to this or that food.”  Most of the remedies, also had symptoms consistent with various degrees of malnutrition.  A few remedies listed an unhealthy focus on being “poisoned” or on fearing that available food was unhealthy.  These remedies would, also be possibilities for Orthorexia.

The small number of remedies that focused on food “purity” reminded me that this is a focus that did not exist in the past.  In past years most foods a family consumed came directly from the ground to the table or, occasionally by way of a local market.  The fields and the crops growing there did not receive routine spraying with chemicals.  Contaminants being added during processing was also not a concern.  We live in a very different world than that today, as you know.  Apparently, the homeopathic Repertory books and lists have not caught up with the times.

Arsenicum album (Seems to me to be a better fit for Orthorexia than for ARFID)

The Arsenicum album picture includes very long lists of foods for which the person feels a deep aversion.  Among these are sweets, butter, fats, meats, beans, and peas.  In addition, such foods as vinegar, ice cream, and even some vegetables and fruits cause discomfort.  Interestingly, the literature also indicates that, sometimes, these same foods are craved in spite of the fact that they don’t agree with the person’s digestive system.

Two of the keynotes of Arsenicum album are anxiety about health and anxiety about trifles.  Could either of these symptoms, in today’s vernacular and applied to food, indicate the extreme focus on food purity that is seen in Orthorexia? It seemed to me that they could.  For that reason, I choose to focus on this remedy as my first choice.  Also, Arsenicum is a polychrest remedy – much used because it fits the profile of so many different health issues.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder, fastidiousness, upset about germs and contaminants, and fear of diseases are among the mental symptoms of Arsenicum album.

Physical symptoms include anemia and gradual weight loss.  Fruits aggravating the person’s system is also part of this remedies symptom picture.  There is a whole list of symptoms related to the digestive tract.  Perhaps, food sensitivities are a fore-runner to an obsessive focus on only eating only a few foods that they consider “safe”, “healthy”, and “pure.”

Ipecacuanh (Close, in many ways, to the ARFID picture)

Great disgust and loathing for almost any sort of food – and for many other things – may perhaps, make this remedy useful for ARFID as well.  The mental picture of Ipecacuanh includes disdain, difficult to please, and holds everything in contempt.

Physical symptoms include a lot of nausea and vomiting.  Interestingly, with this remedy vomiting does not relieve stomach discomfort.  In fact, vomiting is followed by a strong urge to vomit even more and even more violently.  This continual vomiting might indicate Binge-Purge Disorder except that the Ipec personality abhors all food so binging is not likely to occur.

Carbo Veg  (More likely to be Orthorexia than ARFID)

About the only symptom of Carbo veg that applies is the aversion felt to so many different types of food.  My Medica says, “aversion to the most digestible and the best kinds of food.” This is an almost perfect description of the attitude of those deep into Orthorexia.  Please remember that Orthorexia is not a desire for a healthy lifestyle – except when that desire is being carried to extremes that are risking nutrition and health.

Foods that cause digestive difficulties for people needing this remedy include milk, meat, and fatty things.  Orthorexia, at some level, is the assumption that foods that aggravate you are not good for anybody.

Remedies Specific to Binge-Eating Disorder

Antimonium crudum

Like a great many if not all homeopathic remedies, opposing symptoms are seen.  Antimonium crudum proves useful for a strangely varied list of symptoms where food is related.  For some persons, loss of appetite with intense disgust for food occurs.  For others, there is a great desire to eat but gets no strength or nourishment from what is consumed.  Worse, the food leaves a bitter aftertaste or causes burning in the stomach and an embarrassing amount of belching.  Sometimes, matching binge eating symptoms, the person often eats beyond the capacity of his digestion, with little regard for the discomfort this will cause.

The person becomes peevish, irritable, and cannot bear to be touched or even looked at.

Argentum nitricum

The symptom picture of this remedy has a lot of fear, phobias, and anxieties in it.  Binge eating centers around chocolate, salty foods, ice cream, and every other kind of treat.  The person will eat and eat chocolate long after they know they are getting sick from it.  The person simply craves sweets of all kinds although they make them quite sick and uncomfortable.  The purge is not so much a deliberate thing at the end of the binge as it is just the natural result of such an overwhelming binge eating session.  The abdomen often experiences extreme discomfort.  Flatulence with gas and distention.  Hypoglycemia is a particular keynote.  Can neither miss meals nor eat sugar without serious consequences and ill effects.

Veratrum album  

Veratrum album profoundly affects the mind, nerves, abdominal area, heart, blood, blood vessels, respiration, and digestive systems.  In other words, it is truly a holistic sort of remedy.

The mental/emotional symptoms of Veratrum album include melancholy, brooding is silence, despair about their position in society, and despair about ever attaining salvation.  In fact, a keynote of Veratrum album is guilt.   eating disorders of this remedy often include fasting, more and more frequently, to appease God and expiate guilt for imagined sins.  As stated in Anorexia, this is certainly a remedy for eating disorders.  There is guilt which, in a way, could be considered a form of dislike of self that drives so many cases of anorexia as well as overeating.  There is certainly limiting caloric intake, even to the point of starvation.

The picture of this remedy also includes a voracious appetite – when not fasting as penance.  The hunger is there in spite of nausea and vomiting.  Whether or not Veratrum is a remedy for Anorexia, it certainly is a remedy that should be considered for any eating disorder that includes dislike of one’s self and not eating enough to sustain health!  The vomiting after eating too much makes Veratrum album a candidate for both bulimia and binge-eating disorders.  

Cina maritima

Cina maritima is, quite probably, the number one remedy for parasites, especially in children.  Homeopathic medicas describe the irritability, naughtiness – including biting and screaming, and hitting other children – quite thoroughly.  Other symptoms also fit a parasite problem.  These include grinding teeth during sleep, nocturnal bedwetting,  itching around the anus, and stools that reflect various types of parasite infestations.

This remedy certainly has some strange symptoms related to food and eating.  For example, voracious hunger soon after eating a large meal.  Craving for bread, pastries, and sweets.  Eats a lot, eats nearly all the time and yet doesn’t gain weight.  Obviously, the person for whom this remedy is a good match has a malabsorption problem.  Craves food because they are malnourished from an inability to absorb nutrients or from parasites.  Eating, however, because they are not absorbing or the parasites are getting all the nutrition, does little to nourish them.  Add a parasite cleanse and serious energy work to the taking of this remedy.  Essential oils and herbal remedies are also essential here.

Iodum purum

Mental/emotional symptoms include feeling intolerably cross and restless.  Anxiety grows even greater when forced to sit quietly.  Impulsive behaviors keynote this remedy with binge-eating as a result.  Binging results, sometimes, as a way of coping with more sinister impulses and desires.  Ravenous hunger and intense thirst, constantly, keynote this remedy.  The person gets anxious or worried if he does not eat or if it looks as though there is not more than enough displayed to eat.

Flower Essence Remedies

Mild homeopathic remedies, flower essences work predominantly on the emotional patterns of underlying health issues.  These remedies are some of the most amazing healers that I know of.  If you don’t currently make use of them, you are missing a tremendous modality!

Walnut

Periods of transition and change in our lives often call for Walnut Flower Essence.  Walnut strengthens our resolve and removes doubts.  This remedy is especially helpful to those influenced too strongly by family ties, community traditions, and expectations, social conventions, the strong personalities of others, or their own past mistakes and bad habits.  Walnut essence helps one muster the strength to stand for one’s own convictions and need to walk one’s own path.  Consider this remedy for any of the eating disorders.

Agrimony

The Agrimony personality portrays happiness and enthusiasm.  However, deeply troubled feelings lie beneath the positive attitude.  They hide their suffering, from themselves and from the world.  Social conventions and repression of one’s self received heavy emphasis, perhaps too heavy, during childhood.  Agrimony can help a person find their own path, rather than look for validation from others.  How does this relate to eating disorders?  Sometimes, Agrimony personalities use food as an escape and social settings where food is key as a way to interact and hide from their own needs and feelings.

California Wild Rose

This is a remedy for apathy and indifference.  Lack of interest in food as well as in just about everything else keynotes this remedy.  Poor appetite and the resulting improper nutrition lead to low vitality and further disinterest in life.

Chamomile

Chamomile as an herb relaxes the nerves and nervous stomachs.  The Chamomile flower essence works in much the same way in relieving tension-created digestive disturbances.  Digestive difficulties and other stress-related issues tend to worsen in the evenings and during the night.

Goldenrod

Goldenrod includes a deep need for attention from others.  As an eating and food issue, this manifests as obnoxious or even repulsive eating habits to get attention from others.  Think teenage boys, although they certainly do not have a corner on this behavior.  If you have been a teenage girl waitressing, you likely have seen this type of behavior first-hand.

Iris

Hypoglycemia.  Iris people use food to make themselves feel better or to compensate for not getting tasks done to their own satisfaction.  A craving for sweets.

Pretty Face

Seeing oneself as ugly or not good enough.  Perceiving oneself as either too fat or too thin.  These feelings are, also driven by the basic emotional drivers of anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorders.

Flower Remedies Specific to Anorexia

Fairy Lantern

Patterns of immaturity, helplessness, neediness, and inability to accept responsibility exist in this personality.  Dislike of their bodies and the need to starve themselves results from wanting to continue to look childlike and to, therefore, avoid growing into adult responsibilities.

Manzanita

For those who feel a great aversion or disgust at their own bodies.  Both the starvation of anorexia and the binge-purge abuse of bulimia result from this mental and emotional state.  The balanced state of this remedy includes a view of the body as a sacred and amazing temple for the Spirit.

Flower Remedies Specific to Bulimia

Cherry Plum

Fear of loss of control, particularly feeling out of control about eating habits, keynotes Cherry Plum as a remedy.  Destructive impulses, acted upon in the past, created this fear.  Cherry Plum fits both bulimic patterns and binge eating disorders.

Manzanita and Pretty Face

These two remedies are discussed above under Remedies Specific to Anorexia.

Flower Remedies Specific to Pica

Snapdragon

The “stuffing” of one’s feeling, denial of one’s own needs, and the repression of anger leading to frustration being relieved by constant biting, crunching, and chewing.  Interesting, how often humans, when in one of these states – or others I failed to think of – resort to chomping on food as a way of coping.

Flower Remedies Specific to Orthorexia

Cerato

The emotional patterns of Cerato concern the ability – or inability – to trust one’s own judgment, intuition, and inspiration.  The balanced Cerato personality is able to decide, wisely, what their own nutritional needs are.  They do not become overly reliant on fad diets or the latest nutritional information being promoted by social or news media.

Crab Apple

An exaggerated fear of possible impurities in food.  In addition, there is a great fear of toxins and impurities in the body.  This fear brings on too frequent regimens of cleansing diets and the use of purgative methods.  Some reference materials describe this remedy as having strong ties with the Garden Of Eden in that there is difficulty accepting the imperfections of mortal life.  Emotions include disgust for one’s physical body and fear and dislike of anything to do with this earth.  There is a pronounced lack of gratitude for all that God and this beautiful earth provide for us every day.

Fawn Lily

The person who would benefit from Fawn Lily Essence is, usually very spiritual.  This sounds very good, in theory.  However, this spirituality is accompanied by a lack of interest in food and in material things in general.  This lack of interest sometimes translates into not taking the time or making the effort to eat well enough for good health.  This picture includes a pronounced inability to cope with the stresses and strains of everyday life.

Rock Water

This remedy, unlike the other Flower Essences, is not made from a plant.  Rather, a pure spring provides the energy for this particular remedy.  Considered by many to be sacred.  As a result, the emotional picture of this remedy is more mineral-like than plant-like.  For further information on this aspect of homeopathic remedies, please see my book, Butterfly Miracles with Homeopathic Remedies I.  Mineral remedies – and Rock Water is a mineral remedy – express extremely rigid attitudes toward life.  Excessively restrictive diets, harsh physical exercise regimens, and rigid scheduling of both work and play are keynotes.

Flower Remedies Specific to Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID)

Rosemary

Digestive difficulties and discomforts leading to the avoidance of foods that have created distress in the past.  Interestingly, as the physical body struggles with digestive difficulties such as hypoglycemia, absent-mindedness, forgetfulness, and an inability to concentrate develop.  A marked lack of physical body warmth occurs.  This manifests as cold hands, feet, and even a nose that gets very cold at times.  Energetically, a lack of connection between the physical body and the spirit presents as the root cause of many of the symptoms seen with this remedy.

Self-Heal

Self-heal is a very appropriate name for this remedy.  The positive qualities of this remedy include the desire and the ability to assume responsibility for one’s own healing.  The well-balanced Self-Heal person makes choices that lead to wellness as well as emotional and spiritual wholeness.  Patterns of imbalance, therefore, include 1) a complete lack of motivation for health and healing, 2) the flip-side of overly rigid standards pertaining to anything health-related, including diet, and 3) trying to live as many of the conflicting dietary and healthy regimens being promoted by others.

Flower Remedies Specific to Binge-eating and being Over-Weight

Black-Eyed Susan

The person who would benefit from Black-Eyed Susan flower essence displays such eating behaviors as regular binge eating and eating forbidden foods or foods belonging and/or being saved for others or for an upcoming event or special occasion.  They might sneak or steal food, only to hide it away against a time when they worry that there may not be any.  Patterns of denial, including lying to themselves and others about their eating misdeeds occur.

Evening Primrose

A basic remedy for overeating due to emotional drives such as those common to eating disorders.  Physically, having a distended stomach causing a person to look pregnant when they are not.  Fails to feel satisfied even when large amounts of food have just been consumed.  Sometimes – not always – linked to early childhood trauma and/or feeling neglected or unloved as a child.

Goldenrod

Using weight to hide or avoid being noticed in ways that frighten them, usually because of past negative experiences.  Being overweight provides the illusion of barriers between themselves and others in social situations.  The balanced picture of this remedy includes a strong sense of self and positive self-esteem.  An imbalance here creates a personality that is too dependent on the opinions of others.

Hound’s Tongue

Overweight created by a selfish desire for more and more of the “good” things of life.  Weighed down or dulled by material possessions or an overly materialistic and analytical view of the world around them.

Impatiens

I would tell you that Impatiens is a remedy that I dearly love but that would be to tell you more about myself that I am usually comfortable with revealing – haha.  Just as the name implies, this remedy is for impatient people who try to rush ahead, doing more and more until burnout occurs.  In eating disorders, Impatiens personalities display a tendency to eat too fast, not chewing sufficiently.  As a result, they often eat more than they really need.  Additionally, they rarely take the time to savor or enjoy meals and mealtime.

Mariposa Lily

The ability of a person to show love and compassion to others is, too often, dependent on having received such nurturing themselves when young.  The eating disorders related to Mariposa Lily result from lack of feeling nurtured as a child.  These emotions result in either overeating or denying oneself the comfort of food.  Sometimes, using food as an emotional crutch or as a “mother” substitute.

Milkweed

Eating to the point of stupefaction.  Often this negative eating pattern occurs when a person is feeling particularly vulnerable and unsure of themselves.  Perhaps, an accident or a trauma which left the person, for a time, overly dependent on family or medical care set this pattern in motion.  This type of overeating also occurs, sometimes, with drug addiction, especially narcotics such as sedatives, opiates, tranquilizers, and depression medications.

Morning glory

I know that God is good.  Therefore, I have always felt that there must be a use for that too prevalent in our area weed, morning glory.  Finding Morning Glory as a flower essence remedy was, naturally, very exciting to me!

This remedy is for persons whose internal clock has become dysfunctional or erratic.  They crave the night-time and find mornings especially difficult.  They suffer from addictions to junk food, late-night binge eating, and cravings for stimulants such as caffeine.

Pink Monkeyflower

Most of us have a “public face” that is different, to one degree or another, from our “private face.”  The fear of having others see who we really are or being witness to our deepest pain and fear is a very deep fear, indeed, for many of us.  Pink Monkeyflower is a remedy for those who experience deep feelings of shame for whatever reason, real or only perceived.  Obesity becomes a way of hiding and protecting this inner self.

Pink Yarrow

Pink Yarrow is a key remedy for those who are oversensitive to energy.  It is also a wonderful remedy for those who are prone to confuse compassion with an unhealthy identification with the situations and sorrows of others.  Food becomes a buffer against this painful sensitivity.  This remedy is for those who “stuff” themselves in order to block or numb such feelings.

Yarrow

Yarrow, while a separate remedy from Pink Yarrow , displays many of the same emotional characteristics as described above.  The Yarrow personality is also overly sensitive to their environments.  Multiple allergies occur, usually.  There is a tendency to overeat those foods that do not create problems because they feel deprived and short-changed in life due to their allergies.

Flower Remedies Specific to Compulsive Exercise Disorders

Rock Water

This remedy is described above under remedies specific to Orthorexia.  However, it fits the patterns of this disorder so well that I am repeating the information here, as well.

This remedy, unlike the other Flower Essences, is not made from a plant.  Rather, a pure spring provides the energy for this particular remedy. This particular spring is considered by many to be sacred.  As a result, the emotional picture of this remedy is more mineral-like than plant-like. For further information on this aspect of homeopathic remedies, please see my book, Butterfly Miracles with Homeopathic Remedies I.  Mineral remedies – and Rock Water is a mineral remedy – express extremely rigid attitudes toward life.  Excessively restrictive diets, harsh physical exercise regimens, and rigid scheduling of both work and play are keynotes.

Conclusion

I am so grateful for the blessings that essential oils, blessed waters, and alternative methods have brought to me and my family.  This is such a hard thing to suffer from and is also very difficult to watch loved ones struggle with.  Make sure you use oils to help those on the sidelines of these terrible disorders as well.