Welcome to The Eating Disorder Institute

Anyone who is fighting their eating disorder can fall into a slump.

Negative emotions, feelings and subconscious voices to binge, purge or starve yourself can become so strong
that the person can succumb to them again and again.
It often seems like there is nowhere to turn for help; but there is and that is where the use of motivational triggers come in handy.

Motivational triggers inspire mentally and spiritually. They also push away the past and help you focus on the present.

There are many motivational triggers that can be used every day.

You may already use your own personal motivational triggers but here is a list of the most common ones that work on most of us.

1. Listening to particular songs or music.
This is a really strong trigger to lift up your spirit and keep your desire to stop your bulimia or binge eating alive.
Although you have to be careful in choosing the right songs though, because some songs may bring on feelings that make
you perform your eating disorder behaviour.

Some song can be associated with something negative in your life or just switch on negative senses.
But with the variety of music that is around I am sure you will find music that motivates you to act your best.

Please refrain from music that has negative language, or bad language, or that is demeaning to others, this kind of music will
only make you worse.

2. Looking at art (pictures, sculptures etc.) that inspires you t is a great motivational trigger for art lovers.
When you look at art and get inspirational feelings from it you actually divert your attention away from food,
weight and body image worries towards the divine.

It can be very powerful for many people and can even make them create a piece of art. When you free your attention and focus from the eating disorder influence you will start to create things easier and faster.

3. Going to a special room (or place) in your house to think, meditate or connect with inner self.
Connection with your internal self is a powerful tool to motivate yourself to becoming free from your eating disorder.
Knowing your internal self can be difficult for eating disorder sufferers because their internal self is affected by the eating disorder.

The ability to separate yourself from your eating disorder and the ability to separate thoughts (those that come from you and those which come from your eating disorder) is important for your full recovery. Until sufferers learn to do this properly they can’t recover because the subconscious eating disorder voices will always overpower your logical reasoning.

Specialised eating disorder meditation can be an incredible tool to help you to control the voices and overpower them.

4. Going to a scenic area in your city or town to get away from the eating disorder distractions. This trigger can also be related to meditation and relaxation but using nature to help. A connection to nature can be one of the ways of connecting to the divine.
 Meditating on your health and freedom from your disorder can be helpful while out in a natural setting.

5. Going for a walk/ jog outside. This can be just a quick fixer when you need urgently to change your mental state and stop
those overwhelming subconscious voices that tell you to binge. Don’t keep yourself hungry though because hunger will definitely make you binge sooner or later. Eat often (6-7 times a day) but small amounts. This way of eating stimulates your metabolism and stops the feelings of hunger.

But do not use exercise as a way to feed your obsession, do not use it as a substitute for controlling your weight or body image problem.
Going for a walk or jog is only to break the moment and stop the feelings that make you binge.

6. Do any other activity that helps you clear your mind from negativity and to remain motivated.
Doing an activity which is pleasurable is important for breaking bulimia/binge eating cycle. Finding this kind of activity can be difficult for people with eating disorders because their negative food thoughts over-ride all the positivity in them.

To stop it you need to clear your mind first with meditation. Than in a meditative state ask your inner self what you really love to do.
The answer will follow if your mind is clear from eating disorder thoughts.

7. Write a diary. Writing a diary helps thousands of people to feel better. Initially you should just record your thoughts; any thoughts that come into your mind. Then when you get a hang of it, try to direct your thoughts in the direction you need.

That means diverting your attention away from food and weight, towards other activities which are positive and constructive.
Who knows – some people have become writers that way. Just keep trying!

If you use these triggers to stay motivated there is no way that you can continue with the bad behaviours that you want to eliminate from your life. If you learn to change focus you will be definitely on the way to a full recovery.

Dr Irina Webster MD is an expert in eating disorders, author and public speaker.

To read more about specialized meditation for eating disorders go to http://www.meditation-sensation.com

Motivation is important for overcoming any eating disorder.

People with bulimia/binge eating often lack of motivation because of the nature of their illness.
They often feel that the only things they like to do are related to food. But this in most cases is an illusion.

Many bulimics feel good when they cook or prepare food but this often leads them to binge the food.
This problem can be overcome if sufferers learn to motivate themselves using other motivational methods which are not related to food.

Motivational triggers for bulimics/binge eaters are similar to what normal people use to motivate themselves.
The only thing to remember is to keep your motivational triggers away from the thoughts of food, especially in the beginning.

There are many things that can be your motivational triggers. The best motivational triggers are the ones which affect your
emotions the most. Some people know the specific things that motivate them.
If you haven’t found any yet things that specifically motivate you try the ones which are considered to be the most common
motivational triggers.

They are:

- Motivational/inspirational music and songs
- Going to a nice peaceful environment where you can connect with nature.
- Looking at the art (paintings, sculptures, ikebana etc.)
- Doing sport like activities outside (walking, jogging etc)
- Going into a meditative state and feeling your own vibrations.
- Doing positive affirmation when in a meditative state.
- Writing a diary.
- Any other activities that you LOVE to do.

The list can go on and on and it can be different for everyone.

The main thing is to find an activity (other than food) which you LOVE to do.

Discovering your LOVE, following your heart and knowing your inner self is the best way to stop your eating disorder.
When you learn to drive your attention away from the food, weight and body image issues to something positive and constructive is
when recovery starts to happen.

To discover your LOVE and things that motivate you, you should clear your mind first. The mind of people with eating disorders is filled with negative conditioning.
This conditioning stops them from seeing what they really are as people and what they LOVE to do.

The best way to clear the negative conditioning is to meditate.
A meditational state is when your mind becomes clear and you feel a connection to your inner self.
This has to be your true inner self not the one you may think you have at the moment.

A Bulimics inner self is often mixed with their bulimia and they often identify bulimia as being a part of them or a part of their inner self.

This is completely false, bulimic thoughts have no place in your true self. You can find and change the bulimic thoughts by doing regular meditation.

To really know your inner self you need to have a clear mind, one without the bulimia thoughts and then ask yourself “Who you are and what you want?”
The true answer will follow if your mind is clear, but if your mind tells you it is food and binging then this is false and just the old bulimic thought pattern.

So you have to keep trying to get a clear picture.

Specialised meditation can be the first most important thing you can do towards your recovery.

Specialized meditation will also keep you motivated because it can clear your mind from the negative bulimic thoughts and help you to find
your true self (not the mixed up bulimia/binge eating self). So, meditate regularly and love it, this is the best advice you can give to someone
with eating disorder. A clear mind with a clear set of goals and focus is a healthy mind. A mixed up food orientated mind is a unhealthy one.

Dr Irina Webster MD is a recognised authority on the subject of women health with a special interest in eating disorders.
She is the author of many books and a public speaker.

To read more about mindfulness training for eating disorders go to http://www.meditation-sensation.com

Binge eating / overeating is mainly an emotional problem. The good news is that you will be able to stop binge eating if you start to feel more confident, more powerful, more energised and more loved and loving. I guarantee that if you start feeling more positive about yourself it will be easier for you to stop this addiction.

To make things easier and more practical here are 7 Important Steps to kick binge eating out of your head.

Step 1. Make your S.M.A.R.T. goals: that is Specific, Meaningful, Attainable, Realistic and Timed.  For example, goals like “lose weight”, “eat healthy”, or ‘have less stress’ are far too vague and unspecific to help to create a positive change.  On the other hand, goals like ”eat only 5 small meals a day and only water in between” , “ exercise 30 minutes a day every day”  or “meditate 15 min a day every day” sounds much more specific, meaningful and realistic.  

Step 2. Decide your final moment of success.

How would you know when you finally achieved your goal? For this reason you should create a picture in your head of the “ideal you”. For instance, you may see a picture of yourself as a slim, happy and radiant lady who eats 5 small meals a day, exercises 30 min a day and mediate at least 15 minutes a day.  She does it all with ease and enthusiasm.

Keeping this picture in your head will always remain you of who you are going to be. When you achieve what you imagined – that will be your final moment of success.

Step 3.  Identify your friends and enemies. Take a piece of paper and draw a vertical line on the middle of page from the top to the bottom of the page. On the very top of the page on the left half write FRIENDS and ENEMIES on the other half. Then think creatively what are they. For example, your friends could be exercise, meditation, eating fruits and vegetables, drinking water, feelings of excitement etc. Your enemies could be deep fried food, rich cakes, loneliness, boredom, sitting on the sofa, laying in bed too long, watching TV too much, negative attitude and stress.

Constantly remain yourself of who they are (friends and enemies) and decide who you are going to be with: with your friends or with your enemies.

Step 4.  Chew your food longer and start the meal with a mouthful of protein. When you start every meal with a mouthful of protein this reduces the cravings. This also reduces the amount of insulin released by your pancreas.

Make affirmation for yourself like: “The more I chew my food the healthier I become”. Repeat it as often as possible.

Step 5. Drink more water while you eat. Before you start eating – have a glass of water. Water fills the stomach and can reduce the cravings.

Step 6. Meditate every day to get in tune with your body. Binge eating means that you are not in tune with your body and eat emotionally instead of eating when you are hungry. Binge eating means you use food as a tranquiliser and pain reliever.
 
 To stop doing that you must know when your body is hungry and when you just have cravings and urges.  Meditation is the best tool to focus your attention on your body’s vibrations and be able to identify your body’s needs.

Step 7. Exercise at least  30 minutes a day. Regular exercises will speed up  your metabolism and correct the damage binge eating may have done to your body. Regular exercises will also make your body to produce special chemicals – endorphins which make you happier, beautiful, radiant and confident.  When you become happy, beautiful, confident and healthy – the binge eating will stop. Guarantee!!!

Can you put yourself in this picture?

Now, to make things even easier you can re-program your subconscious mind with specially design for binge eating meditation. Specially designed meditation will put you in tune with your body much faster and with less effort. Meditation is  a great tool to change your mind for the better.

To read more about mindfulness training for eating disorders go to http://www.meditation-sensation.com

If you want to turn your binge eating habit into a healthy eating habit, first of all you must BELIEVE that you can do it.  This is the first and most important step on the road to recovery from binge eating.

Put it this way: if you believe you can eat healthy without overeating – that means you will be able to eat healthy sooner or later. If you don’t believe it – you will not be able to eat healthy and it does not matter what kind of therapy you undergo, unless you start believing.

“But how can I believe in my ability to eat healthy if I always get overwhelmed with these unbearable urges to binge?” – you may ask.

Yes, urges to binge are strong but nevertheless it is possible to overcome them. Many people did and you can too.

You see, urges are just thoughts and feelings you get before starting to binge. Fortunately, these binging thoughts normally get weaker  if you do some changes in your daily routine.  

Here are the important points:

1. Start imagining yourself  slim (or have a slim picture of yourself  in your mind)
2. Draw a schematic picture of yourself on a piece of paper where you are slim and happy.
3. Set 30 min a day to sit quietly, close your eyes and visualise a slim, healthy you. Attach happy feelings to this picture of yourself.
4. If you have a special time when you binge (for instance, some people binge eat after work, or after school) – meditate  after work, school or any time close to your binge eating time.
5. Never eat alone. Get a friend or relative to share dinner with you.
6. When you eat look at yourself from a distance – that mean observe yourself from the 3rd person perspective.  Mentally comment what’s happening while you  eat,  for example “ She is now eating her Caesar salad delicately and calmly because she is a lady. She is chewing slowly because she is enjoying the taste of it. She is talking to her friend about what happened during the day.” 
7. Learn to observe your own behaviour and make regular mental comments of your own behaviour during the day. From the time you wake up – do mental commenting on your behaviour as if you observe yourself from a distance.
8. Don’t keep too much food you can binge on in the fridge. Put more fruits and vegetables in the fridge just in case you get hungry.
9. Regular exercise changes the feelings from negative to more positive because of endorphins release. So, start regular physical activity – this will reduce your urges to binge (gradually).
10. Always remain yourself that you don’t need so much food to keep you healthy. Only moderation in food consumption will make you happy and healthy.

Now, I’ve saved the best for last.

 If it looks to you like too much to do , than – wouldn’t it be easier for you if all the information could be installed into your subconscious mind by someone else – just by listening a hypnotic voice and putting you in a meditational state?  You can do that by using special Mindfulness Training for binge eating / overeating. It is easy and very effective
To read more about mindfulness training for eating disorders go to http://www.meditation-sensation.com

Meditation (or mindfulness training) is proven to be very helpful for eating disorder sufferers. If practiced regularly, meditation can balance abnormal mental states of patients. It can also bring them peace and stability.

The brains of eating disorder sufferers are overloaded with abnormal thoughts and feelings to the point that they sometimes have to give up on their studies, jobs and relationships; because they simply feel that they can’t cope with anything anymore.

Meditation (or mindfulness training) is not a magic cure for all the problems that an ED patient has, but it can help enormously to improve their mental, physical and spiritual state of mind. Hence clearing up some of their muddled thinking and straightening out some of their obsessive tendencies.                          

First, let’s define what is meditation? Meditation (or mindfulness training) is consciously focusing your attention for a period of time on something positive. It is a process where a person is guiding her/his focus in a specific way: directing it to promote health, personal development and spiritual growth. Mindfulness training can be use to drive a person’s thoughts away from food, weight issues, personal problems and bad emotions.

An eating disorder at its roots is a disorder of attention or a too regimented thinking process. All the problems sufferers have started with abnormal attention; or their attention always focused on the wrong things. To cure an eating disorder people need to be able to re-train their whole attention focusing system. That means to learn how to focus on constrictive positive things, and stop focusing on the things that give abnormal feelings like food, weight, body image etc. Meditation is an indispensable tool for doing this.

Will this be an easy process: absolutely not.

The results of meditation will depend on the chosen technique and the intention a person brings to her/his practice, meaning are they really serious about getting rid of their ED?

If you are a sufferer, you may say I really want to stop, but in reality deep inside you are not willing to do the hard yards, so you will remain the same regardless of what you do.

So: are you ready, really ready? Or are you just playing lip service to your ED?

This can be a confusing time for many sufferers. Do I want to get better or not? You have to choose no one can do it for you. But how can you find out?

The answer lies in getting in touch with the real you, not the ED you, but the person who lives inside, the healthy person you can become again: meditation will help you find that person.

In general, when eating disorder sufferers meditate they can expect to experience:

-          A reduction in stress, muscular tension and bring about a state of general relaxation.

-          Decreased or even the eliminate the urge to binge or purge

-          A better tolerance towards food in the case of the anorexic or bulimic

-          Feel happier, more peaceful and more compassionate towards others

-          Improved confidence

-          Calm, clear and a more focused mind

-          Identifying their life purpose and gain a sense of spiritual connection with that purpose.

Another major skill a person can learn during mindfulness training (meditation) is the ability to make clearer choices. That means the ability to do constructive things while their eating disorder tells them to do non- constructive things, like binging, purging, starving, over-exercising, takings diuretics or laxatives. Initially it may be hard to do but the more a person meditates the easier it becomes, because their mind will gradually start to lose the old conditionings it had.

Every person who learns how to meditate becomes a unique individual. This is because these people are able to work and understand their previous conditioning and change it through an awareness of their problem. This will make them a stronger person and set them free.

There is an old saying in Buddhism that all changes start from being dissatisfied or even from suffering. It is not the matter of where the source of your eating disorder stems from or the reason why: but the best reason to start meditating is your eating disorder.

Using special mindfulness training (meditation) developed for eating disorders can easily change your perspective fast. You even don’t need a special trainer and you don’t need to go anywhere, just sit at home and follow the instructions and you will see an amazing difference.

To read more about mindfulness training for eating disorders go to http://www.meditation-sensation.com

Intuitive eating is a nutrition philosophy which teaches people to become more attune to the body’s natural hunger and fullness signals in order to attain a healthy weight and to become a generally healthier person. It is a process that is intended to create a healthy relationship with food, mind, and body. Intuitive eating can also be called wise eating, conscious eating, non-diet approach and normal eating.

People with bulimia and binge eating lose the ability to recognize the body’s natural signals of hunger and fullness so their eating becomes erratic. The feelings of hunger disappear during the day so they don’t eat but when they decide to binge the feelings return but only in reaction to the binge. When they go on a binge they can’t stop until they are so full they feel be sick, this is because they have no sensations of fullness. It becomes none or all for them there is no in between.   

To restore feelings hunger and fullness you can start eating with awareness. Eating with awareness means when you eat, you should only eat, this means focusing on the food and nothing else, making sure there are no other distractions.

Here are six useful tips to start eating with awareness:

1.     Sit down at the table when you eat. Sitting down will help you focus and allow you to relax more, when you sit down try and find a quiet place where you will not be disturbed.

2.     Avoid distractions while you are eating. By distraction I mean TV, reading books, doing work, looking at the computer screen while you eat. You should focus on your body’s signals and sensations while you eat. Focus on chewing the food, the taste of the food , the swallowing process etc.
 

3.     Always use a plate and cutlery. By using a plate and cutlery you are making an official statement “I am having food now”, instead of just shaveling some snacks into your mouth from the cupboard. Using a fork and knife makes the process more cultural and makes you eat bit by bit without shaveling the food in.

4.      Using a plate also helps:
- to make yourself aware that you are about to eat
- to make eating formal

- to make it easier for you to see where and what you are eating.

5.     Mid-meal check in. This means that half-way through the meal you should pause and became aware of what you are doing. Ask yourself questions:
-  How does the food taste, does it still taste as good as it did at the beginning?
- Are you still hungry, half full or completely full? What are the body’s signals sayings?
- Put your right hand on the middle of your stomach and ask:” Is my stomach filling up?”

6.     Make every meal special. Lighting candles and putting on some soothing background music will help you to feel more relax and intuitive. It’s amazing how delicious the meal can taste when you take the time to indulge your senses.

7.     Meditate before and after a meal. It does not take long – it can be 5-6 minutes before the meal and 5-6 minutes after the meal, this can make all the difference to stopping the binge. Focus not just on stopping the binge but creating a nice special atmosphere where you feel good and your senses are satisfied. 

To conclude, becoming more intuitive to your body’s signals and sensations of hunger and fullness can help you to stop binging on food and make your eating more enjoyable. Intuitive eating could be one of the ways to foster a recovery from an eating disorder.

Dr Irina Webster.

About eating disorders books go to http://www.eating-disorders-books.com

People with bulimia and binge eating disorders eat fast, especially when they binge.  Fast eating makes you consume much more calories in a fraction of time. An experiment was done on normal-weight College aged women: they were asked to consume a large bowl of pasta quickly and on another occasion to eat very slowly. The result of the experiment is as follows:

-       Eating quickly – consumed 646 calories in 9 minutes.

-       Eating slowly – consumed 579 calories in 29 minutes.

-       Eating quickly was less satisfying than eating slowly because after eating quickly people felt hungry again in an hour or two, while slow eating brought a much longer satisfaction period and feelings of fullness.

-       People also reported that they enjoyed their pasta much more when they ate slowly.

Recommendation from this study is too learn how to eat slowly. Eating slowly for people with bulimia and binge eating disorder could be difficult at first but everything can be improved with training. Here are 5 basic tips on how to start eating slowly and prevent you from binging your food.

1.     Use “the fork down” method. After every bite put your fork down. The longer you hold your fork in your hands, the more you are tempted to keep shovelling it in. Keep it down while you are chewing also, and then pick it up again for the next bite.

2. Chew your food longer. Chew thoroughly and pay attention to texture, taste and substance. The longer and more thoroughly you chew your food the more you feel full and become more satisfied. 

 4.  After chewing and swallowing each bite stop and make conversation. Talking through a meal, but not while chewing, can make you halt and slow down your eating habits. Sharing a meal with another person and talking will also make you more of a sociable person. Being more social will also help to fight your eating disorder. Withdrawal from others is one of the signs of an eating disorder so the habit of sharing a meal with other people will counteract the withdrawal effects.

5.     Meditate before you eat. When you are in a calm mood you have fewer chances of slipping into binge mode. A relaxed state of mind makes you aware of what you are doing during the meal and you will be able to control your behavior easier. Normally it takes up to 5-6 minutes of meditation before meal time to put you in a relaxed mindful state.

 Practically, it is nearly impossible to get rid of bulimia or binge eating if you are not willing to develop new eating habits. Healthy eating habits will eventually replace the old unhealthy ones if you persist with them. 

Normally it takes 3-5 weeks to develop a new habit. If you commit to eat slowly for 3-5 weeks, at the end of this period you should notice a difference. You should also feel that not succumbing to binging becomes easier for you to do and to eventually become the norm.

Measuring your result is essential and if you have even a small improvement, then that is great and you only need to continue.  By slowing down your eating and enjoying the process of eating itself, you actually start to restore your feelings of being hungry and knowing when you are full.  Most bulimics and binge eaters have lost their feelings of hunger and fullness or have a very abnormal sense of these, so they can’t really tell when they are full or satisfied when they eat: so can’t stop eating.

By restoring the feelings of hunger and fullness, people with bulimia and binge eating disorders are able to relate to food in much healthier and more normal way.

Dr Irina Webster

To conclude, eating slowly helps to prevent you binging your food. Eating slowly is a habit which you need to develop first and install it in your mind as your normal habit. Initially it may take a lot of will power to develop good eating habits and also a determination to get better. The more you try to follow these 5 steps and repeat them over and over again the easier it will become.

 To read about bulimia cure go to http://www.bulimia-cure.com

Eating disorders are result of “plastic paradox” – when neuroplasticity goes off track.

Neuroplasticity has the power to produce a more flexible and productive behaviour and even completely change your life from bad to phenomenal success. But neuroplasticity is not only a good news story.  Sometimes it can produce more rigid and inflexible behaviours.

This phenomenon Dr Norman Doidge calls “the plastic paradox”.  In his book “The Brain That Changes itself” he said: “Ironically, some of our most stubborn habits and disorders are products of our plasticity. Once a particular plastic change occurs in the brain and becomes well established, it can prevent other changes from occurring. It is by understanding both the positive and negative effects of plasticity that we can truly understand the extent of human possibilities.”

Let’s go back in time to when your eating disorder first got started. For instance, your trigger, lets say in the beginning of your ED you were being bulled at school for being slightly overweight or maybe your sport coach told you to lose weight in order to be fit for competition. You were very emotional about these episodes. You were thinking about it all day and night trying to find a solution to lose weight faster. As a result of your emotional thoughts you changed your behaviour. You cut down on the amount of food you ate, overexercised etc. You continued this routine for some time.

And what happen then? – As a consequence of your new behaviour you changed your brain, you developed new neuronal pathways which were then responsible for not-eating, purging, overexercising and taking laxatives.

When neuronal pathways are developing, they get activated even without your conscious awareness that it is happening. This is why the anorexic or bulimic person continue to starve, binge-purge, overexercise, take laxatives even though they know they should stop doing it.

There is saying: “Our life today is truly the product of our thoughts from yesterday”.  And eating disorders prove this saying to be extremely true .  This is because in the past you had a lot of thoughts about dissatisfaction with your weight – today you have an eating disorder.

But the good news is that an eating disorder is not a death or a life sentence. You can stop one by changing the structure of your brain and developing new neuronal pathways which will override the old ones.  And neuroplasticity will help you to do this.

Here is a visual example of how neuroplasticity works in the brain.

Basic neuroplastic change (restructure of the brain) occurs approximately in 3 weeks after starting a new regime.  Of course, stubborn habits and bad disorders will take longer than 3 weeks to change, especially if they are long standing ones. Also there are structural brain changes that can occur faster than 3 weeks. Usually these kinds of changes are influenced by extremely strong emotions like fear, anger,
or bereavement and can also occur by involve emotional trauma or a nervous breakdown. 

For example, look at the picture on the right. This is the kind of brain structure you may have now if you are a sufferer.  Let’s assume that these connections of brain cells is responsible for your binging –purging or starving yourself episodes. You see how the endings of the neurons are connected to each other.

Then after three weeks of trying to stop the binging-purging episodes using other behaviours (like listening to a nice music at the time of binging urges, watching a movie instead of binging, joining a fun club or group, painting or playing piano , doing a course and learning something , etc.) , you see the area in the brain which was responsible for binging-purging behaviour becomes more saturated with brain cell connections. It is because your brain has formed other neuronal connections on the top of the old ones.  Now, if you continue to perform these new constructive behaviours, the neuronal connections responsible for this behaviour will grow more and more eventually replacing the old negative behaviour pathways.

But if you choose to perform your bad behaviours instead (binging-purging or continue to starve) – the old negative pathways take over and the new positive pathways will fade away.

So if your are serious and really want to beat your ED then it is not impossible, we have developed a book at the Institute that will help you return to health.

3)  What are Neurotransmitters and How do they Influence the development of Eating Disorders?

Neurotransmitters are chemicals which facilitate the transmission of signal from one neuron to another. Neurotransmitters are released in synapses (or where the ending of one neuron connects to the endings of another neuron).

There are different types of neurotransmitters. Here we will look at the most important ones.

Acetylcholine:  Acetylcholine is a chemical which are involved in memory, learning and attention. When you learn something and pay attention to it – you stimulate the production of acetylcholine.

To maintain this chemical at a certain level you must keep your brain busy with attention requiring work. Study, read books, create something, solve puzzles, get a job where you can use your brain. Just do something that can stimulate the production of acetylcholine in the brain.

Eating disorder sufferers have often a very low acetylcholine level especially when they give up their studies, job and other productive activities for the sake of their eating disorder. They normally explain this quitting as the inability to concentrate, being too weak and etc.

This all happens because the level of acetylcholine in their brain is low. But they can improve it by exercising their own will, going back to study  and beginning to  learn again and paying attention to something more useful and constructive than their eating disorder.

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter which produces a sense of well-being calm and satisfaction. Many scientists blame the lack of this chemical for eating disorder problems. Serotonin has a broad function in the brain. It regulates and moderates anger, aggression, body temperature, mood, sleep, human sexuality, appetite, and metabolism, as well as stimulating vomiting.

It is still not clear what exactly happens with serotonin in the brain of eating disorder sufferers, as it is difficult to measure. But we know there are many genetic variations in the serotonin receptors and the serotonin transporters in the brain.
It is most likely that a serotonin abnormality in the brain affects each person differently. Serotonin levels can be increased naturally by taking tryptophan rich foods found in meats and proteins.

Dopamine: Dopamine is a chemical associated with pleasurable activity. It is released when people do naturally rewarding activities like having sex or enjoying food. Some drugs such as nicotine, cocaine and amphetamines can influence the level of dopamine in the brain.

Dopamine is actually the culprit in many addictions such as drugs, food, and sex addictions. Dopamine also has other functions in the brain, including important roles in behaviour and cognition, motor activity, motivation and reward, inhibition of prolactin production which is involved in lactation, sleep, mood, attention, and learning.

Recent research has suggested that dopamine is also released in reward-anticipation activities and when people are motivated to do something. If you have ever wondered why you feel great after doing aerobics or playing sport, this is the brain producing dopamine. Just thinking about doing something pleasurable can produce a chemical ‘reward’ of dopamine being released in your brain.

Enjoyable learning and focusing on something you really like doing will stimulate dopamine production in your brain.
The release of dopamine triggers the desire to eat certain foods. The dopamine does not increase the pleasure of actually eating food but is released when the person sees, smells, thinks or dreams about food. Tasting enjoyable food also provokes the release of dopamine.

Dopamine plays an important role in bulimia and binge eating because these people often dream and think about food. And it is why when a bulimic or binge eater sees food she/he goes on a binge losing all sense of control.

Glutamate –it is believed that glutamate (or glutamic acid) is involved in cognitive functions like learning and memory. Many foods contain glutamate, including cheese, soy sauce, fish, eggs, poultry etc.

GABA is a neurotransmitter which is responsible for muscle tones. GABA regulates the growth embryonic and neural stem cells. Abnormal levels of GABA have been found in people with mood disorders.

Substance P is an important chemical which involves pain perception. It also participates in regulation of mood disorders, anxiety, stress, reinforcement, neurogenesis, nausea and vomiting. The vomiting centre in the brain contains high concentrations of Substance P. Activation of Substance P stimulates vomiting. People who use vomiting as a way of purging have abnormalities in the levels of Substance P.

Conclusion:  Neurotransmitters play an important role in the biochemistry of eating disorders. But… The level of most of these neurotransmitters can be moderated by performing or not-performing certain actions and behaviours. Replacing one behaviour with another can change the level of neurotransmitters in the brain.

Wilful action can produce extraordinary changes in the level of these chemicals.  For instance, if you wilfully stop your binging or purging episodes for at least 2-3 weeks and replace this behaviour with more productive ones, the level of neurotransmitters in your brain will change significantly and can become completely normal again. This works on the use it or lose it principle.

Always remember: your behaviour will change your biology. If you behave better – your biology improves, if you behave worse – your biology becomes worse.