Do you often feel lonely despite being surrounded by people all day? No amount of socializing, internet surfing, or social media seems to fill that void. This feeling can leave us questioning our value to others and where in life we belong. Emotional loneliness might be at the core of these feelings. What is Loneliness Loneliness is a feeling that occurs when a person’s network of social relations is deficient in some important way.  When one’s wishes and social expectations with regard to personal relationships are not met by their existing relationships, one tends to feel lonely. It can be…

Although a balanced diet and awareness about the nutritional quality of the food you eat are desirable due to their positive impact on health, obsessive fixation on so-called ‘healthy eating’ may become pathological and have negative effects on well-being. This condition is known as Orthorexia Nervosa or Orthorexia. What is Orthorexia American physician Steve Bartman defined orthorexia in 1997 in Yoga Journal, and subsequently in his book entitled Health Food Junkies. The term orthorexia comes from the Greek words: orthos – ‘normal’, and orexia – ‘appetite’. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual does not formally recognize it. So, if someone with…

To have mutually satisfying relationships, it is important to know the signs of emotional maturity.

To understand the motivations for human behavior, American psychologist Abraham Maslow introduced the concept of a hierarchy of needs in his 1943 paper, titled “A Theory of Human Motivation”. Maslow wanted to understand what kept individuals from reaching their highest potential. He believed that people have an innate desire to be all they can be. To achieve this ultimate goal, however, some more basic needs must be met. This includes the need for food, safety, love, and self-esteem. These earlier needs, when not satisfied, supersede the later needs in the hierarchy. That is, higher needs will not appear until one…

We often come across people who seem too insensitive, emotionally distant, or at times even hurtful. It is common to find successful, well-functioning adults who do not possess emotional maturity. We might feel frustrated and angry with them. In children, growing up with emotionally immature parents can lead to emotional loneliness and affect their future relationships. Dr. Lindsay Gibson, in her book Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents, states that it helps to understand emotional maturity so that we can accept emotionally immature people for their emotional shortcomings and develop more realistic expectations in relationships with them instead of feeling…

The popularity of Intuitive Eating is growing in the media. But, the concept of Intuitive Eating is not new. Dietitians Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch coined the term “intuitive eating” in their 1995 book, Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Anti-Diet Approach. It is a weight-neutral, mind-body health approach based on ten principles that help us cultivate body awareness and heal our relationship with food. It is not a “diet plan”. There is no weight goal for an intuitive eater. There is no pass or fail. The 10 Principles of Intuitive Eating explained below aim to free us from diet culture and…

We all have had our fights with our bodies and with food. And most often we lose. It makes us wonder if there is a way out of this vicious trap of diet culture. Intuitive eating aims to do just that. It is an eating framework based on self-care, which integrates instincts, emotions, and rational thoughts. It has been thoroughly studied by many and proven to be successful. The 10 Principles of Intuitive Eating teach us to meet our body’s physical and psychological needs. In their book Intuitive Eating, 4th Edition: A Revolutionary Anti-Diet Approach, Evelyn Tribole, and Elyse Resch…