faulker053

I was talking to a guy from San Francisco this week, and the subject turned to earthquakes. This long-time SF resident and survivor of the big quake of 1989 offered some very practical advice for me to share with my son, a San Francisco newbie, fortunately naïve about the seriousness of going through an earthquake. His focus was not on what to do during the crisis—although that advice is critical as well—but rather what to do before hand. How to be prepared for this challenging situation, because being prepared, as he put it, is the surest way to increase survival. Imagine that while sitting and discussing such matters my mind moved to you, my dear readers. No, there’s no need to worry about earthquakes for most of you. Rather, the subject of preparedness as a means to ensure survival and minimize damage struck me as most fitting—whether you struggle with an eating disorder or living free of diet rules. Have a plan , he said. In San Francisco that might mean knowing which are the secu...

Today's breakfast-crepes with sauteed fruit, melted chocolate drizzle and vanilla yogurt. When I was little, I mean, when I was young, (I was never particularly little compared to my peers), I recall a recurrent argument with my mother. “ She can have it/eat it/do it—so why can’t I ?”, I’d beg to know, to which she’d respond something like “If she jumps off the Empire State building does that make it okay for you too?” (Yes, I’m from NY and that was the tallest building back then.) Her point, of course, was that what’s good for one isn’t necessarily good for another. And if you’re going to compare, be careful. Which gets me to you and your need to compare yourself to others; and more specifically, to compare your eating and your weight.   So what do you think—helpful to compare or harmful? Is it okay sometimes, or must you be consistent and never compare? Does it matter if you’re under eating, or if you’re overweight or is it simply dangerous? Does it really matter what I eat (or ...

I'd much rather be hiking ... It's hard enough starting at a new gym. Generally, I dislike going to gyms, preferring instead to enjoy a long bike ride, a hike or a cross-country ski or snow shoe when weather permits. But living in New England, there are times, like now, when conditions are simply not favorable for either of those activities. So off to the gym I went, attending my first spin class of the season, at a new gym with a new instructor. And I could barely get through it. No, I am not that out of spin shape—although those cycling muscles certainly needed a workout. Rather, I was feeling my blood pressure rise as I sat through the marketing pitch and endless misinformation by this supposed promoter of health—the spin instructor. I'm still headachy from it, so in truth, I am blogging to air my annoyance and frustration. You know me be now—I am not shy to share my opinions, particularly those I feel strongly about. But this was a challenging setting. Jane, I...

What bothered Stacey most was the binging. Sure, the restrictive eating made her feel lightheaded and made it difficult to function. And yes, she was tired—but that was to be expected—it was what she was used to. The preoccupation with her weight, her eating, her food rules—that was all she knew. But then the binges soon followed, along with the need to purge and as this increased in frequency, she began to panic. Which brought her to seek my help. We began with a behavior chain—a mapping of the sequence of events that Stacey experiences, the link between her thoughts, feelings and actions, which keep her stuck in her disorder. It shows how one link in the chain leads to the next, then the next, to keep the cycle going. They have no idea how she's suffering. Her pattern began, like it does for many of you, with deprivation —or simply not eating enough. She often fools herself into thinking that she is having enough—eating regularly, yet consuming insubstantial amounts or very...

Tell me this isn't great? Let me preface this post by saying that I’m no exercise fanatic. I like to work out—it makes me feel good—but if I don’t get the chance to, I’m not bent out of shape.   I’ve never been much of an athlete. No need for tears, but in elementary school I recall being one of the last ones chosen for teams. I’m over it now, though, really. It was not until my diagnosis of MS, Multiple Sclerosis that I began to regularly bike ride although I’d done my share of hiking. This past weekend marks my 10-year anniversary riding this 2-day fundraising ride, a total of 156 miles from Boston, Massachusetts to the tip of Cape Cod—Provincetown. During the ride thoughts of blogging never entered my mind. But afterwards, I was struck by several observations that I just had to share. Intuitive eating? Not quite As you’re well aware, I’m a big advocate of intuitive eating. But the truth is, intuitive doesn’t always work . Case in point: I’d ridden 15 miles to the first rest stop...