Anorexia & Bulimia: The Single Cause Explained

(Clip from episode: K4485) Read and hear more at the Foundation of Human Understanding: This is a follow-up call from Anna, a single mother who has been struggling with Anorexia nervosa. Despite traditional Anorexia treatments and help from professionals, Anna's condition is getting worse. She is not only concerned with the effect her eating disorder is having on her daughter. There is the looming threat that this dangerous behavior could ultimately prove fatal. In this segment we explore how all eating disorders, including anorexia nervosa, share a common root. It’s important to understand the seductive role that food often plays in developing misplaced guilt and anger. Roy Masters explains how simply resolving guilt and anger is often the key to overcoming eating disorders such as Anorexia and Bulimia. Quotes from the book Eat No Evil by Roy Masters: “Wherever pride is involved, food and drink masquerade as our personal saviors, but the tiny part of awareness that manages to survive in the shadow of pride can cause us to feel guilty for eating at all. We see gross manifestations of this in anorexia [anorexia nervosa—‘pathological fear of weight gain’] and bulimia [‘the abnormal and constant craving for food’]…” “Food can corrupt and change us to need food. One of the peculiarities of hate is that it produces in us a wrong kind of need which we see as love—in this case, for food. If you hate it, you’re going to love it; and we allow ourselves to be ruled by that love.” “Anorexia has something to do with the recognition of food as being somehow connected to guilt—growing a guilt. Food first ‘saves’ the ego as a friend in need and then is seen for what it is, a cause of guilt. The faulty logic is, if eating (to reject conscience) equals guilt, then, surely, not eating is the path to redemption.” “Food sets us free from conscience, and keeps us free from conscience, but enslaved to the spirit of food—a state we call love. Food can induce, post hypnotically, an altered state of consciousness that assures you all is well because you feel so good. It is like an evil salvation for the preservation of your ego. Eventually you must realize that conflict, guilt, anxiety, and feelings of aloneness and uncertainty are simply the whimperings of a tormented conscience, and there are only two ways to handle a bad case of conscience, and one way is to face the truth, admit your error and take your licks. It is not always the food, drink, dope, sex, or whatever, that reduces you to a state of utter dependency, but rather, it is the spirit of the lie that lures you into a false sense of self-worth with rebellion objects of consolation. The fix distracts you from your shame, while the sin reinforces the rebel spirit of false hope and pride.” Recommended materials: Food: The Final Frontier Tape Set Food: The Most Dangerous Drug of All CD or Tape Set Download Podcast Here

You can listen to Anorexia & Bulimia: The Single Cause Explained online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Anorexia & Bulimia: The Single Cause Explained is an episode from Advice Line with Roy Masters by Roy Masters.

The episode duration depends on the source podcast feed and may not always be available.

This episode was published on Apr 26, 2007.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from Advice Line with Roy Masters when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.