News broke on Tuesday that the heroic Ranger's outfielder, Josh Hamilton, had a relapse in his long battle with alcoholism. Many Rangers fans are wondering why Josh can't kick the habit and what this means for his future.

So, why can’t people just quit the addictive behavior?

All addictions are unintentional and they begin with the decision to use. No one starts drinking with the idea that they will ever become addicted. But addiction sneaks up on you and before you know it, you can be drawn into a world of confusion and torment. Voluntary users become compulsive users and then you bottom out as a true addict when drugs or alcohols define your life.

The real issue is that addiction is not a moral failing or a lapse in will. At the end of the day, addiction is a brain disease. New research shows that there are literal brain changes in the structure and function of key brain processes that are fundamental in handling emotions, exercising self-control, and reading situations correctly. Addicts are stripped of their accuracy in understanding the world.

How do addictions get started and become worse over time?

Internal Shift: The person begins to turn toward behavior that is relieving his stress. Getting high is fun and it changes his mood for the better in the beginning. He denies how dangerous his usage is as he begins to betray others and himself with repeated use.

Lifestyle Change: A behavioral dependency on the alcohol or drug now emerges. Life is now altered to accommodate the addiction even if he becomes reckless and self-destructive. He moves deeper into the self-sabotaging behavior as he builds his life around getting high.

His Life Destructs: The addiction has now taken over. The individual relies on getting high and ignores or rationalizes the destructive aspects of his behavior. At this point, nothing matters to the addict but the acquisition of the substance. The obsession with the addiction causes a trance state. People don’t matter, commitments don’t count, and honesty isn’t even a part of the conversation.

Unstoppable: People become convinced that they cannot stop the drinking. Since there are significant changes in brain structure that are critical to judgment, decision making, learning, memory, and behavioral control, the slide into addiction is accelerated.

How do you know that someone is at rock bottom?

A chronically addicted person tends to psychologically regress suddenly and severely, with no warning. They go down like a stone. Once the addiction switch is flipped, it is incredibly difficult to reverse the emotions and behavior. Insight is gone, judgment is gone, and perspective is shot. If the addictive substance—whatever it is—is strong enough, all bets are off. He begins to destroy every area of his life—his job, his relationships and even his health. Addiction hijacks the mind and better judgment.

What do we tell our children about people like Josh Hamilton who struggle with addiction?

This is a prime opportunity to teach kids about addiction and the inevitable struggles of recovery. Remember these points:

Teachable Moment: Make stories about addiction struggles a part of the conversation. You want your child to be armed with knowledge of addiction so he is never start the cycle. Remember that the child who stays away from drugs, tobacco, and abusing alcohol until age 21 is virtually certain to steer clear of these substances forever. Teens who learn about the risks of drugs or alcohol from their parents are much less likely to try them.

Still A Good Person: Most kids already know what addiction is, since Americans consume two thirds of the worlds’ illegal drugs. Celebrities who have struggled with addictions are always in the news so a lot of kids understand that you can be a talented, good person and still have an addiction.

Constant Battle: Break the addictive behavior down into understandable language. Explain that alcoholism is a disease and that it is a lifelong struggle to overcome it. Tell them that relapse is a part of recovery and that all that matters is how the alcoholic handles their next choice.

There’s Always Hope: Teach them to believe in recovery, believe in the person’s ability to fight against this illness, and to celebrate the gains that people show as they power on to a better tomorrow.

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Watch Dr Sylvia on YouTube explain how to stay on course with your diet - click here.

Worried about wreaking your diet? Here are a few tips to help you stay on course:

Smaller Plate, Smaller Portion: When fixing your plate, try using a smaller sized plate. Researchers find that Americans compulsively clean their plates, so a smaller plate means there’s less to eat!

One Too Many: I recommend to my patients that they only make themselves one plate of food at every meal. Go ahead and make the most of it, but with repeated trips to the buffet or the kitchen, you are more likely to overeat.

Cut Out The Snacking!: We usually aren’t counting as we eat our third, fourth, or fifth cookie, but we just keep snacking away! Try to keep the snacks as far away as you can! As the saying goes – “out of sight, out of mind.”

Know Your Enemy: Try to eat foods that are not only better for you, but will also fill you up faster. Turkey or chicken are always the best choices for a high protein, low calorie solution. A good rule of thumb is that the simpler a dish is to make, there are usually less calories in it.

SOURCE:

MensHealth.com

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Dr Sylvia Gearing on CBS 11 describing why fad dieting may actually make American children GAIN weight - click here.

Why do our adolescent girls struggle so much with their weight?

Images of Perfection: Previous generations of girls have always struggled with body image but these issues are at an all time high. Our girls are inundated by images everywhere of physical perfection especially with our celebrity culture. The demands for excellence on girls have gotten worse over the past two decades leading to weight concerns in girls as young as six years old. But channeling energy into appearance and away from normal developmental tasks can disrupt, if not sabotage a young girl’s self esteem and ability to tolerate stress.

Helicopter Parents: The current generation of parents is full of parents who are well meaning but who are micro- managing their children's emotions and lives. Being "ordinary" or just “okay” has lost its allure for too many of today's parents who insist on their child not experiencing the ordinary problems of living. Frustration, rejection and even failure seem to be harder on the parents sometimes than it is on the kids. They project their own anxiety onto kids who just need to figure it out sometimes on their own. Over focusing by the parent makes the girl more anxious and the weight is one more report card she has to face.

Mothers with Eating Issues: Many mothers have struggled for years with their own weight so those issues are easily taught and inherited.

Epidemic Rates of Anxiety and Depression: Girls get depressed at twice the rates of boys when they enter puberty so eating problems flourish when mood disorders hit. Depression hits a full decade sooner than it did a generation ago and it re-occurs 50% of the time.

Why would girls get into this kind of fad dieting so early in life?

Trying To Compete with Other Girls: Many girls are influenced not only by the images in the movies and on TV of women, but also their peers. Many parents are paying for plastic surgery and liposuction for their children these days, and many young women can’t keep up. They instead turn to fad or extreme diets to drop the weight.

Get Slim Quick! Many young women find fad and extreme diets alluring. They just have to suffer for a short amount of time to be beautiful – they can tough it out for that kind of reward. But many girls don’t realize what kind of serious physical effects these diets can have on them and how on-again-off-again dieting is actually very unhealthy.

Why don’t fad diets work well?

Short Term Weight Loss: Many fad diets may actually work, but what girls fail to realize is that once they are off the diet – they will usually gain back the weight with a vengeance.

Lifestyle Change: Without a change of lifestyle and most importantly, without a fundamental change in attitude, any diet that works will only work while you are on it. The only way to truly lose weight and never find it again is to adopt a completely different, healthy lifestyle that combines food, rest, and exercise.

What can parents do to help their children?

Positive Example: Model what you want them to see and be. Mothers especially are incredibly influential for their daughters so be careful what behaviors you are modeling. What you say and how you handle yourself emotionally and with food will set the gold standard for your daughter.

Educate Your Daughters: Most kids don’t truly understand nutrition and positive eating habits. Make sure that they have all the information and understand how what they eat truly affects their bodies and their lives. Introduce healthy foods that are lower in calories but filling, and encourage him to drink a ton of water! Teach your children what is good to eat and how to stay away from foods that will pack on the weight.

Positive Eating Messages: Encourage positive attitudes toward your child's new self-image. Do not shame or embarrass him, but focus on the new body you can build together.

New Self-Soothing Techniques: For many kids, food is an escape from anxiety and stress. Emotionally coach your child to deal with his negative emotions by talking them out. Remind him that setbacks are temporary and that he can cope with whatever he is facing. Overeating no longer has to be a coping mechanism when you are more emotionally resilient.

Distract From Hunger: Begin to spend time with your child to develop new coping skills that will distract him from his hunger. For example, before dinner, go out for a brisk 20- to 30-minute walk. It is a great appetite suppressant and will increase his endorphins.

Source:

The work of Dr Martin Seligman

"Generation Me" by Jean Twenge

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Watch Dr Sylvia Gearing on YouTube explain why you should never eat alone - click here.

Loneliness is rampant in today’s society, and it has been found to increase rates of depression, anxiety, and even rates of suicide. However, there may be another reason to seek the company of others.

I recommend to my clients that they try to never eat alone. Not only will they benefit from having some good conversation, but this simple technique has also been found to help with weight loss. When we eat with another person, we are more accountable for our food choices. In addition, we tend to have a conversation that can create breaks in between bites and slows the pace of eating. When we eat slower, we feel full faster and we end up eating less food! And since you are trying to carry on a conversation, you’ll also drink more water, which helps with hydration and also fills up your stomach!

Source:

MensHealth.com

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Watch Dr Sylvia Gearing on YouTube describe three psychological and physical weight loss tips - click here.

Here are three quick tips to help turbo-charge your weight loss:

1.) Smaller Portions, Smaller Bites

Weight loss experts universally recommend that you use smaller plates and utensils when preparing, serving, and eating meals. Americans tend to eat everything on their plates and they usually feel full afterwards, no matter how much food they actually ate! So, if you have a smaller plate – you can trick your stomach into eating less. In addition, smaller utensils will make you take smaller bites, which can make you feel full faster.

2.) Keep Your Dishes Off The Table

It happens all the time at family dinners, mom puts the serving dishes on the table for easy access and second helpings. However, studies have found that keeping serving dishes in one room and eating in another helped with weight loss. Keeping extra food on the table increased portion sizes, lead to snacking, and could cause you to eat another helping of casserole, even if you already feel full.

3.) Spice Things Up

Recent research has found that making your food spicy, whether with hot sauce or peppers, sends neurological signals to your brain that make you feel full. It will also make you drink more water which will help you stay hydrated and fill up quicker.

Check back tomorrow to find out a great trick to eat less at every meal!

Source:

MensHealth.com

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Watch Dr. Sylvia Gearing on YouTube explain why your stomach wants you to relax before you eat - click here.

In our daily hustle, most of us grab meals on the go – usually from fast food restaurants or from the freezer aisle at the supermarket. However, eating when you’re in a hurry can cause you to overeat and accidentally choose higher calorie foods instead of making healthy choices.

Before you leave your house or office to go catch a meal, take five minutes and relax. Try relaxation techniques like remembering a wonderful vacation, watching a few minutes of television, or even some deep breathing exercises. Taking a few moments to calm down can restore your self-control and hopefully, you’ll eat slower and you’ll make better decisions when ordering!

Make sure to check back tomorrow for three of my best weight loss tips!

Source:

MensHealth.com

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Watch Dr Sylvia on YouTube describe why your TV is making you gain weight - click here.

If you’re trying to lose some weight, here’s a quick trick to help.

A recent study found that millions of Americans consistently overeat because of one thing you have in your home – your TV. Those who watch TV while eating meals ate, on average, an extra 300 calories compared to those who ate without watching the tube. So if you’re watching what you eat… don’t watch TV!

Make sure to check back tomorrow and I’ll tell you a quick way to protect yourself from high calorie foods!

Source:

MensHealth.com

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Watch Dr. Sylvia Gearing teach you how to set effective weight loss goals on YouTube - click here.

Did you know that on average, Americans gain around 5 to 10 pounds around the holidays?

With stats like that, weight loss is regularly the number one resolution on New Year’s Eve, but most people don’t follow through. In fact, a condition called “Helplessness” can make them feel like there is no hope for change, so they never even try. But here’s a quick tip to help you stay on track with your weight loss goals and avoid feeling hopeless along the way.

Instead of setting a goal to lose a large amount of weight, make smaller goals that can easily be accomplished in small amounts of time. For instance, I recommend to my clients that they set a goal of losing one pound every week or every other week. It’s a small and easily attainable goal that can be accomplished with just a few small changes in their lifestyle. All you would need to do is skip dessert or make a couple trips to the gym. Instead of constantly worrying about the larger goal or feeling like they will never get there, they can focus on making a small change - right here, right now.

Check back tomorrow to find out which piece of electronics is causing you to overeat!

Source:

WeightWatchers.com

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Having trouble staying focused when you need to finish something at work? There are hundreds of products and strategies that claim to help, but you don’t need to spend money to perk yourself up. Here are a few quick tricks to help your regain focus at work:

Whistle While You Work – Classical music was found to help keep the mind focused and clear if it was played at low levels. The repetition and structure of the music helps keep your mind from wandering, which helps you maintain your focus. Imagine a car that is driving on the highway instead of free wheeling out in the woods.

Peppermint Patties – Peppermint, whether tasted or smelled, was found to increase alertness and memory in office workers. It acts as a stimulant for your nervous system without any of the negative side affects. So if you feel yourself starting to slip, pop a peppermint and keep on chugging.

Coffee Up – Coffee is a classic pick-me-up, but recently it has gotten a bad reputation. However, there may be many other benefits besides the hour-long boost to cognition, problem solving, and concentration. Coffee has more antioxidants than any fruit or vegetable, has been shown to prevent diabetes, certain types of cancer, and may even reduce your risk of developing Alzheimer’s! So pour another cup without feeling so guilty.

Source:

Various articles at MensHealth.com

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If you’re looking for help to stay on track with healthy foods this holiday season, here is one quick tip that should help:

Researchers found that filling the fridge with healthy foods kept people eating at home and sticking to their diets.

Apparently, whenever there was an opportunity to go out and eat at a restaurant, dieters would remember all that food at home and feel guilty about not sticking to their weight loss goals. It’s one more subtle barrier to help keep you on track.

Source:

MensHealth.com

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