If youre sleeping then youre not eating.

Thats the idea behind a worrying new trend where anorexics abuse sedatives in the hope of losing more weight.

Dubbed the Sleeping Beauty Diet, it has caused concern among experts.

Instead of eating food, women are knocking themselves out with the help of sleeping pills, snoozing through meal times.

Those following the dangerous trend severely restrict their calorie intake,sleeping for up to 20 hours a day, in extreme cases.

Perhaps even more worrying, the trend, also dubbed narcorexia, is proving popular on pro-anorexiawebsites.

One user wrote: This diet is perfect for the end of the school semester, or just for people who have a lot of extra time on their hands.

'PRETTY LITTLE LIARS' STAR TROIAN BELLISARIO DETAILS ANOREXIA STRUGGLE IN NEW MOVIE

Less extreme advice advocates a better nights sleep each night and a healthy eating and exercise plan.

The Sleep Doctors Diet Plan by Dr Michael Breus suggests people exercise no less than four hours before bed and get at least seven hours of shut eye per night.

But it has been taken to the extreme as people seek ways to skip meals.

The Suns nutritionist Amanda Ursell said the new trend was shocking and is not to be dismissed lightly.

Most of us need three meals a day just to sustain us from an energy point of view. If you skip breakfast your ability to concentrate and focus in the morning and your mood are going to be not as good as if you did have breakfast. And if you skip lunch the same thing will happen in the afternoon," she said.

Eating disordersare really big issues and they profoundly affect your physical health and your mental well-being. This is not to be dismissed lightly, this trend towards sleeping diets, because they are deeply, deeply worrying, she added.

More than 725,000 men and women in the UK are affected by eating disorders, according to the UKs eating disorder charity Beat.

Ursell added that recent data from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey suggests that many women already struggle topack enough nutrients into their dietsand as a result often suffer deficiencies in iron, calcium and other nutrients.

If you are cutting out food, you are going to be malnourished. If you are then starving yourself through sleeping, youre just going to exacerbate it, so you will feel shocking when you do wake up. Sleep itself wont sustain you. It is almost inconceivable that someone has put this out there, she said.

Eating a healthy, balanced diet is important for maintaining good health.

The NHS recommends eating at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, basing meals on starchy foods like rice or pasta, eating lean proteins like fish and legumes and drinking plenty of water.

Eating disorders are serious mental illnesses with complex causes. The messages and methods of losing weight promoted by the diet industry are unlikely to be the sole and direct cause of an eating disorder, but they may exacerbate the problem or be a contributing factor for someone who is vulnerable to developing one or is already ill, a spokesperson for Beat said.

If someone has become obsessive about what theyre eating or appears to be going to extremes in order to lose weight, it could be a sign that they are developing or have developed an eating disorder. The important thing is not to delay, as the sooner someone is treated, the better their chance of full recovery, she added.

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If you or a loved one are struggling with an eating disorder and are in need of support, please call the National Eating Disorders Association Helpline at 1-800-931-2237.

This article originally appeared on The Sun.

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Dangerous fad diet encourages sleeping instead of eating - Fox News

How drastically have new advances in science changed what we know about nutrition? This week, just a little. Were looking at three studies on potatoes, coconut oil, and vegetarian diets.

The headline: Coconut Oil Is as Bad for You as Beef Fat and Butter

The story: Coconut oil is high in saturated fat, just like lard and butter, but it has a better reputation. It just seems healthier, you know? It makes your baked goods fluffy and your hair shiny. It may even have a small fat-burning effect (maybe, I repeat, maybe), but its also a big pile of calories just like any other fat or oil. So if you were thinking of it as a totally free, wholesome health food, you were already a little too optimistic.

Todays news is an advisory from the American Heart Association that says we should quit eating so much saturated fat. That includes coconut oil. But their studies dont specifically link coconut oil with heart disease, except to say that coconut oil raises LDL (bad) cholesterol as much as butter.

Cholesterol levels arent the same as disease risk, and we cant ignore previous studies that say saturated fat may not be so bad for you. Dietary fat is actually a really tricky subject, and we still dont have clear answers on whether butter or coconut oil is harmful. Its fine if you want to back away from the coconut oil. But we dont have the evidence to say if that will make a real difference to your health.

Who doesnt love logging on to the good old net on a Friday morning to the headline Coconut oil

The take-away: Coconut oil is full of calories and saturated fat, so please dont think its totally cool to eat in large quantities. If you use a lot of it in your diet (or butter or lard, for that matter), you might want to err on the side of caution and replace some of that with olive oil.

The headline: Eating French Fries Twice a Week Could Lead to Early Death, Study Says

The story: This actually comes from a study of people at risk of getting arthritis in their knees. To be included, they had to be overweight or have another reason to be especially likely to develop arthritis. When they signed up for the study, they answered a questionnaire about how often they ate different food groups in the past year.

The researchers dont say in their study whether they started off looking for data on the risks of potatoes, or whether they ran the analysis for every food in this study (and maybe other studies too?) and decided to report the one thing that turned up positive. If thats the case, the results become a lot less valid: if you look long enough, youll almost always find something that seems significant. Either way, this study cant say whether eating fries is bad for you; it just says that people who ate a lot of fries had a higher mortality rate than people who didnt. This PopSci article explains the problems in a bit more detail.

There are two really important caveats here. The researchers didnt control for two very important factors: whether people who ate fries happened to have a less healthy diet or lifestyle in total; and whether people who ate fries were lower income, which is definitely associated with worse health. And those are two big, big things to miss.

The take-away: This study does not support the idea that fries are deadly. But if you eat healthy, you probably wont have a ton of fries in your diet anyway.

The headline: Science Finds a Vegetarian Diet Is Twice as Effective in Reducing Body Weight

The story: A vegetarian diet outperformed an omnivorous diet in one recent weight loss study...sort of.

The study involved 74 people who were all overweight and had type 2 diabetes. Half of them ate a diet that was vegan except for a serving of yogurt. The other half got a pretty standard diabetes management diet. The people on the near-vegan diet lost more weight, and were more likely to stick to the diet.

Theres already reason to be skeptical: the study is small, and it was specific enough that if youre not diabetic, or if your idea of a vegetarian diet involves eggs and cheese, these results probably dont apply to you. Heres a more in-depth explanation of the studys limitations.

Another big caveat: the people on the vegetarian diet were also more likely to lose muscle, even though they were exercising.

The take-away: A very specific vegetarian diet worked well for some people, but the study is too small and limited to be generalized to all vegetarian diets for all human beings. There are a lot of different diets that work, but to find the right one for you, youll just have to try and see.

See the article here:
What to Worry About This Week: Coconut Oil, Fries, and Everything Else You're Eating - Lifehacker

Men's Health

3 Supplements That Actually Workand 3 That Are Just Wasting Your Money Men's Health In some cases, supplements can fill in the nutritional gaps that can crop up even in a healthy diet, says Brianna Elliott, R.D., a coach at nutrition counseling service EvolutionEat. But there are some nutrients that you likely to get enough of in your ...

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3 Supplements That Actually Workand 3 That Are Just Wasting Your Money - Men's Health

The aspects some eagerly anticipate with the arrival of the summer seasonwarm weather, beach trips, swimming pools, and barbecuesare the same reasons why others dread it.

As the weather warms, we shed layers of clothing; we traipse off to swimming pools and beaches in bathing suits; we hold backyard barbecues centered around food bringing us together.

We spoke with Robyn Cruze, Eating Recovery Centers National Recovery Advocate via email about what summer is like for someone who is struggling withor recovering froman eating disorder, how it affects their body image, and what you can do if you're struggling or know someone who is. Cruze herself struggled with an eating disorder for over a decade.

It seems like there has been a pushback against the notion of having a "beach body." One popular meme is a variation of the phrase "How to have a beach body. Step 1. Have a body. Step 2. Go to the beach."

"I love this message," Cruze says, but, "Sadly, I think even though this message is an uplifting and empowering sentiment, it doesnt ring true for many. Because, lets face it, whether you have an eating disorder or not, wearing a swimsuit in front of others can be pretty intimidating. Trying on swimsuits in a changing room is daunting too!"

"Totally," Cruze says, explaining, "Those with an eating disorder become hyper aware and critical of their body and tend to believe everyone else is judging them on the way they look."

Which brings Cruze to another point: "It is also a time where everyone is socializing more and food is a way that we celebrate and bond. For people with an eating disorder, these can trigger a sense of not being in control, and perpetuate eating disorder behavior to try not to feel so overwhelmed."

(As Cruze explains, to be "triggered" means "that overwhelming emotions rise when faced with situations or discussion usually around eating disorder behaviors, e.g., food and body.")

"[It's] not so much about the behavior but the mindset," Cruze explains. "We need to remember that eating disorders are mental illnesses. They stem from the brain. For someone one with an eating disorder, the change of diet and exercise has so much more attached to it than their body."

"It is about having control, medicating and numbing difficult emotions with behaviors," she continues. "Its about trying to make everything feel perfect so that they can feel better, and in turn attempt to relieve or manage an emotional burden."

"If you are working towards your recovery journey, go easy on yourself," Cruze says. "If you dont feel comfortable in a swimsuit, dont wear one. Know your triggers and challenge them safely with the guidance of your treatment team."

A tip for getting you through the summer: Dont try to do it all on your own.

"The best way to lessen emotional triggers is to share them with a close friend," Cruze suggests. "If you are a loved one of someone who is struggling with an eating disorder, be sure to ask your loved one how you can best support them through the summertime triggers. Lend them your listening ear, and although it can be hard, try to refrain from giving advice, its the best support you can give someone you love who is struggling with an eating disorder."

For additional information about Eating Recovery Center, call 877-789-5758, email info@eatingrecoverycenter.com, or visiteatingrecoverycenter.com to speak with a Masters-level clinician.

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How Summer Can Be Dangerous for Women with Eating Disorders - ATTN:

Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (press release)

Guarding the Nest Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (press release) In preparation for this moment keepers had removed Blanche's favorite food from her diet for a few weeks. She was still getting fed, but ... As Blanch feasted, we safely entered the enclosure and measured the nest before we excavated it. It had 35 eggs ...

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Guarding the Nest - Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (press release)

A judge in Belgium has convicted the parents of a seven-month-old boy who died of malnutrition after he was fed a vegan diet.

The boys parents were sentenced to a suspended six-month prison sentence Wednesday for "unintentionally" causing the child's death.

The boy, identified in court documents as Lucas, weighed just nine pounds at the time of his death in 2014. Reports indicate the boys organs had shrunk to half their normal size, and had no fat surrounding them.

The Lucas parents run a health food store in the town of Beveren, and fed him a diet of milk made from made from oats, buckwheat, rice and quinoa.

The attorney representing Lucas parents argued in court that his mother was unable to breastfeed, and that Lucas would not drink traditional formula. At that point, the parents assumed that Lucas had either a lactose or gluten allergy.

Lucas father said in court that he never took the boy to the doctor because he never noticed anything unusual," but prosecutors claimed that the parents drove the boy to a homeopathic when they noticed that he was sick.

The parents can still appeal the sentence.

Lucas parents arent the only ones to face legal trouble after putting their infant children on a vegan diet. According to Broadly, an Italian father took his childs mother to court after she forced her children to eat vegan in May 2015, and two other parents lost custody of their child in 2014 after forcing the child to eat vegan.

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Vegan diet leads to infant's death, parents convicted - WKBW-TV