Mental Care Facts & Health Tips

You may be unhappy with your weight and sulk over how fat you are becoming each day. You don’t gorge on junk food, are able to take adequate rest and pretty much everything in your life seems to be in perfect order. Why the weight-gain problems then? Oh, wait a minute, you are a housewife! There is after all a cardinal rule that most housewives will grow fat sooner or later. Most people believe that and so may you. But, if you are blaming your obesity or excess weight on the fact that you are a housewife, you may be making a mistake.

It is easy to say that your fate is sealed as a housewife, because weight gain is unavoidable. You may be sad and desperate, but the fact is that you can easily help yourself. Being a housewife does not mean that you do less work than anyone. Most certainly, you have to do more work than people having desk jobs and so you are not fat because you are inactive.

In fact being a housewife allows you to be more active throughout the day than a lot of women who have jobs. Unless you have an army of maids or lots of helping hands around you, you may be running laps throughout the day! The kitchen, the laundry room, the children in the garden, the doorbell, the telephone etc., all require your attention.

If you could measure how much distance you cover all over your house every day, while doing your chores, you may be really surprised. In fact as a housewife, activity is the key to staying fit. So, if you want to get more active, ditch the maid service and get to work yourself. There’s so much to be done and so many calories to be burnt!

As a housewife, do you get too much time to rest? In fact this may be a reason behind your overweight. So, ask yourself whether you are sleeping more than you need to. Stop taking the afternoon nap and you will stop gaining fat in your body. Don’t sleep just because you have nothing to do, its criminal!

If your excess spare time is boring you to death, and all you can think of is sleep, why not start a part time job, to keep yourself occupied once all the chores have been completed? You can make some money and beat boredom at the same time.

You should also dedicate spare time for exercise, if your chores are not tiring you out already! Reserve late-afternoons for a trip to the gym or some basic exercises such as jumping jacks, squats and spot jogging right at home. You can also hire a personal trainer, if your budget permits. But joining a gym will also help you interact with other housewives who are exercising to stay fit.  This is particularly helpful in boosting your morale and making you understand that you are not the only housewife who has weight issues.

Hopefully, you are not feeling that desperate right now! Just be calm and help yourself get back in shape!

Divorce rates are on the rise these days. There are many reasons why couples decide to part ways. Incompatibility, cheating spouses, financial differences, and infertility are some of those reasons why husband and wife part ways. But many couples nowadays cite seemingly ridiculous grounds for a divorce. One such reason (which we will discuss at length here) is the problem of having an overweight spouse!

This may seem absurd to those who are into a blissful marriage. But the fact is that an increasing number of people today have moved away from their spouses because their spouses are grossly out of shape. But then, is it morally justifiable?

It may not be morally justifiable, but a marriage is not just a blend of hearts and minds. Physical beauty of their partner is a really important consideration for most people, even though they might not admit it. Human inclination towards physical beauty is the basis of most sexual relationships.

For a marriage to click, it is important that the husband and wife have a happy sexual life. A satisfying physical relationship can bring a couple really close for life. But because physical fitness is of utmost importance for sexual performance, being overweight can be a great problem. If your spouse is going out of shape, you may feel that this is definitely not the person you married!

It is not hatred. It is definitely not loathing. But you cannot prevent yourself from feeling repulsed at the sight of your obese spouse. Repulsion inspires detachment, detachment causes differences and differences drive the final nail in the coffin of your marriage – divorce!

It is natural if you do not crave for physical proximity with your spouse when the mere sight of your spouse reminds you of King Kong! It is also natural for you to feel guilty about your own repulsions. But what is important is how you save your marriage. You cannot behave as an escapist in the first place. If you love your better half, this is the time to express it. Make your spouse feel loved, wanted and important, instead of filing for a divorce.

But at the same time, don’t let your feeling pile up inside you. Express your feelings without hurting your spouse by choosing your words and actions carefully. You can talk about the various health hazards associated with obesity and urge your partner to lose weight. Talking about how obesity is coming in the way of romance, may be counterproductive.

Evince urgency in your quest to convince your spouse. Once your spouse has acknowledged the desperate need to shed weight, have them join the gym, maintain a low-calorie diet, do fitness yoga etc. Visit the gym with your spouse whenever possible. Buy workout DVDs and magazines for your spouse. If your partner has sacrificed gorging on certain foods, you should also give such foods a miss, as a show of support.

Do all that you can, to display your interest and care. There should be a sense of involvement on either side since marriage is a symbiotic relationship. Be patient, loving and inspiring. This will surely get your spouse back to normal shape, and you back to your spouse. And remember, divorce should not even cross your mind once!

Eating disorders affect thousands of people each year. The majority of sufferers are young females, though men, boys, and older women also suffer from eating disorders. Any unhealthy eating pattern that one permanently participates in could be considered an eating disorder. Many people have an eating disorder for quite a while before they realize it. Here are some common eating disorders explained.

Anorexia Nervosa

Anorexia Nervosa is probably the most widely discussed eating disorder. It is the eating disorder that results in the most obvious physical changes for the sufferer. Though sufferers of bulimia may maintain a normal body weight, anorexics are unable to maintain a normal body weight because of their refusal to eat.

Anorexia Nervosa is characterized as a complete refusal to keep body weight above 85% of what is considered normal. Anorexia Nervosa typically involves extreme calorie restriction in one’s daily diet. Many sufferers of this illness go through phases of bulimia.

Anorexics typically have extremely low self esteem. This disease is common in those who are considered “perfectionists” by outsiders. Though many anorexics have an intense fear of gaining weight, a lack of control over life seems to be the determining factor in what creates an anorexic. Anorexia often occurs in the lives of young adults who are struggling with stress and anxiety. They feel that they have no control over their lives and are spinning out of control. Living on an extremely low calorie diet and maintaining an abnormally thin figure becomes a way of controlling their environment.

Bulimia Nervosa

Bulimia is characterized as the binging and purging of food. Many anorexics also go through phases of bulimia. Bulimics may purge through vomiting or overuse of laxatives.

It is important to note that simply purging food would be more a characteristic of anorexia, where the sufferer will sometimes make themselves vomit or overuse laxatives to completely empty the system after a day of barely eating. Bulimics purge after an episode of intense binge eating and this is a very important characteristic of their disorder.

Recent research indicates that there is likely a genetic factor involved in bulimia though it is likely triggered by an environmental catalyst. Bulimics are often people who are overwhelmed by the emotions of everyday life. They have an incredibly difficult time dealing with intense emotions and seek out a means of punishment for what they feel they have failed at. Bulimics may be suffering because of how they feel toward themselves or how they feel toward an event that has occurred.

Compulsive Overeaters

Though anorexia and bulimia are the two eating disorders that seem to get the most attention, eating disorders are not simply related to weight loss. Eating an abnormal amount of food on a regular basis is also considered an eating disorder.

People who use food as a means of hiding their emotions or seem to have a food addiction are considered compulsive overeaters. Compulsive overeaters are sometimes called emotional eaters.  Though many people eat when they are feeling down, compulsive overeaters take it to the extreme. The underlying cause of compulsive overeating, like all eating disorders, is a lack of self esteem. Compulsive overeating is very common in sufferers of sexual abuse.

Reference Something-Fishy

The fear of getting fat may not just be a result of low self esteem or eating disorders.  Researchers at Brigham Young University have discovered that the fear of getting fat is pretty inherent in the female gender, regardless of personal appearance.

Healthy Women have Poor Reaction to Images

Normally healthy women were recently subjected to a series of images at BYU to see how they reacted to the images.  The images were of other women, some large and some small.  While the women gazed at the images their brain was scanned by MRI. When the women were subjected to images of other women who were overweight the parts of their brain that controlled unhappiness and even self-disgust showed activity.

The reaction was the same even for healthy, average weight women who seemed to have no problems maintaining their physical appearance.  Scientists were aware of the fact that anorexics had these issues but now that even healthy women have underlying anxiety about gaining weight that they are not even aware of.  This new research shows the depth of social conditioning that American society has on women in regard to the perfect female image.

How Men Reacted

Not surprisingly men had no reaction to overweight images.  Apparently the social stigma that leads to this anxiety relates only or primarily to women.  Though it is hard to say how the female brain would have reacted to these images a hundred years ago, we can assume it was very different.  American society has put such an emphasis on an abnormally thin and hard to obtain female bodies that even otherwise healthy women are suffering from deeply held anxieties about weight gain.

Where the Problem Begins

The social conditioning that leads to this anxiety starts very young in our culture.  Take a gander at the bathing suits that are being marketed to five and six year old girls if you don’t think so.  The truth is that we should all strive to be healthy and maintain a good weight but not at the cost of our mental stability.

Young children even babies are often discussed in terms of their weight.  By the time children enter Kindergarten there is a distinct difference in the way overweight boys are treated as compared to overweight girls.  Girls are often looked down upon for being heavy or the subject is avoided.  Boys on the other hand are praised for their heftiness.  They are called “stocky” and random women at the grocery store muse at how overweight boys will one day grow up to be football players.

What We Can Do About it

It is important to instill in children of all genders an importance in maintaining physical health.  This should begin early in childhood and be maintained throughout adolescence.  We can do this as women by being a good role model for our children. Eating healthy foods, exercising, and drinking plenty of water will set a good example.

We also need to teach our children to love themselves as they are.  Do not hark on a girl’s weight or praise a boy’s weight but do appreciate the child for their brain and healthy behaviors.  Instill in all children, through example and education, a sense of self worth.