Quick Update

Just a quick update on what's happening with this podcast and what's going on at fitnessdrifter.com

We all start a new diet with good intentions - wanting to make a positive change to our health, wellness and physical fitness. But it is common for dieting to lead down the road towards emotional relationships with food and eating disorders. By some estimates, as few as 5% of people who lose weight by dieting are able to keep it off, and as many as 25% of people who start a diet can end up with an eating disorder. Let's take a look at how that can happen and what we can do instead of dieting. You can find the blog post for this episode here. Resources BEAT NHS NEDA Other Sources Stats on weight regain from a diet Stats on dieting leading to eating disorders

Let's talk about intuitive eating for men. It's one of the best known tools that dietitian use when helping people improve their relationship with food is often an important part of recovering from an eating disorder. But if you look online, a lot of the content around intuitive eating is more geared towards women. Not that there is anything wrong with that - eating disorders tend to affect women much more than men overall. But I wanted to talk a little bit about intuitive eating for men as well and that's what we're up to in this episode. You can find the accompanying blog post here. Other sources Intuitive eating for binge eating disorder Eating more for binge eating disorder 10 principles of intuitive eating

Anorexia Nervosa is possibly the best-known eating disorder and it is the one a lot of people think of when they hear the term "eating disorder". It is almost always seen as affecting women, but anorexia in men does happen too. By some estimates, up to 25% of anorexia cases are in fact men. I couldn't find a lot of reliable stats on that - just some estimates - but anorexia does indeed affect men and I wanted to run through what this eating disorder is, how to recognise signs and symptoms, its health impact, and some treatment options. The corresponding blog post for this episode is here: https://fitnessdrifter.com/anorexia-in-men Sources: NHS anorexia overview - https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/anorexia/overview/  National Centre For Eating Disorders (UK) - https://eating-disorders.org.uk/information/eating-disorders-in-males/ BEAT stats on eating disorders in the UK - https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/media-centre/eating-disorder-statistics/ NEDA article on prominence of anorexia in men - https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/statistics-research-eating-disorders  Anorexia diagnostic criteria used by the American Psychiatric Association - https://www.verywellmind.com/diagnostic-criteria-for-anorexia-nervosa-1138312#citation-9 Sexual abuse and eating disorders in men - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10640266.2012.715512  Resources: NHS NICE Mind Helplines and support: Beat Eating Disorders Eating Disorders Anonymous National Eating Disorders

As summer turns to winter, and the weather turns colder and darker, it is common to end up with bouts of low mood, depression, and feelings of lethargy. It's actually quite common to experience this and in some cases, will come under the term Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). It's something I deal with like clockwork, every September-October and then again in January and I have gotten used to figuring out how to adapt. So I'm coming at you this week with some of my best tips for dealing with seasonal affective disorder. You can find a transcript of this episode here: https://fitnessdrifter.com/tips-for-dealing-with-seasonal-affective-disorder And you can get in touch with me with any questions on Instagram, Twitter, or Tiktok.

  Following on from the last episode is the second part of my breakdown of some of the most common myths in men's fitness - although to be fair a lot of them are common to all fitness. Just search engines and algorithms make it easier to show up when you go super specific. Anyway, we've got another few tasty myths to break down this time - is eating small meals throughout the day better than bigger meals? How good (or bad) is walking actually for your health? And can you be healthy if you don't have abs? All covered in this episode! The transcript and accompanying blog post for this episode can be found here. You can also get in touch: Contact Instagram Twitter Tiktok

Change of pace this week as life has gotten in the way of me doing some deep dives into topics. But this is part 1 of a two-parter talking about common men's fitness myths and the truth behind them. I've got 12 myths for you in this episode including the truth about toning up, why sit-ups won't flatten your stomach, what kind of workouts actually are bad workouts and more. The transcript and accompanying blog post for this episode can be found here. You can also get in touch: Contact Instagram Twitter Tiktok

One of the most overlooked aspects of men's health is the gut.  It plays a huge role not just in digestive health but in every part of both our mental and physical wellbeing. It's where pretty much all of the nutrition our body gets is extracted from the food we eat. So it's pretty darn important. We're going to look at common gut health issues, the impact of gut health on weight, how to improve your gut health, and why it is so important to your all-around health and wellbeing. And a few things you can do to help improve your gut. The full blog post for this episode is available here. The Fitness Drifter Youtube channel is here. Other resources and references used for this episode: Diversity of microorganisms in the intestines - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25211071/  Number of bacterial cells in the body - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4991899/ The gut and the immune system - https://www.science.org.au/curious/people-medicine/gut-bacteria Gut impact on weight - https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-gut-bacteria-help-make-us-fat-and-thin/ Gut biome diversity and weight - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3829625/  Lifestyle and gut health - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25825908/  Alcohol and gut health - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3362077/ Skin and gut health - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4604320/  BMJ article on lactose intolerance and gut health - https://gut.bmj.com/content/71/1/215  Jack Gilbert's interview with Men's Health magazine - https://www.menshealth.com/health/a33797052/gut-health-microbiome-doctor-tips/  Guts UK charity - https://gutscharity.org.uk/advice-and-information/health-and-lifestyle/

We're talking about eating disorders again this week. Bulimia nervosa and a little bit specifically on bulimia in men. We'll cover the history behind this eating disorder, what it is, what impact it has, signs, symptoms, what recovery is like and I also added some guidance on how to help someone else if you think they are dealing with bulimia or any eating disorder for that matter. Other support resources: BEAT (UK)  NEDA (US) Eating Disorder Hope (International) The blog post for this episode is available here. References used in this episode: 1979 original article about bulimia nervosa - https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/psychological-medicine/article/abs/bulimia-nervosa-an-ominous-variant-of-anorexia-nervosa/7B34901CE624D00B13ABBF59D4A78BDD  NHS guide on bulimia - https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/bulimia/overview/  Prevalence of bulimia in women vs men - https://archive.org/details/diagnosticstatis0005unse/page/345 Stats on bulimia and eating disorders in the UK - https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/media-centre/eating-disorder-statistics/ Disordered eating in male athletes in weight-based sports - https://www.waldeneatingdisorders.com/blog/four-things-you-might-not-know-about-men-and-bulimia/  Princess Diana and bulimia - https://www.vogue.com/article/princess-diana-real-life-battle-with-bulimia  Lady Gaga on bulimia - https://pagesix.com/2012/02/09/lady-gaga-reveals-struggle-with-bulimia/ Wikipedia page on celebrities with bulimia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_with_bulimia_nervosa  Study on impact of genetics in eating disorders - https://web.archive.org/web/20160502145058/http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro98/202s98-paper3/Hirst3.html US criteria for bulimia diagnosis - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK519712/table/ch3.t16/ 

Orthorexia Nervosa, or orthorexia for short, is in simple terms an eating disorder where the sufferer becomes obsessed with "pure" or "healthy" foods. And what is deemed pure or healthy will vary from person to person. It's not a commonly recognised eating disorder and a lot of the time we will just tell ourselves we are being healthy and doing ourselves some good. But there is a fine line between healthy eating and looking after yourself, and genuinely disruptive or disordered behaviour. In this episode we'll talk about the basics of this eating disorder, where the term came from, some of the symptoms, how to recognise if you have it, and treatment options. The blog post and transcript of this episode are available here: https://fitnessdrifter.com/orthorexia-in-men-healthy-eating-obsession/  Other references: A republication of Dr Steve Bratman's original article on orthorexia - https://www.beyondveg.com/bratman-s/hfj/hf-junkie-1a.shtml Dr Bratman's updated research and commentary - https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40519-017-0417-6  BEAT's (UK) guidance on orthorexia nervosa - https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/get-information-and-support/about-eating-disorders/types/other-eating-feeding-problems/orthorexia/ Bratman Test for orthorexia - https://www.healthsadvisor.com/en/guest/qs/orthorexie-test-de-bratman/  Studies and stats on the prevalence of orthorexia nervosa - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15330084/  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24852286/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26902744/  https://www.bradley.edu/sites/bodyproject/disorders/orthorexia/ Men's Health article on why guys might be most at risk of developing orthorexia - https://www.menshealth.com/health/a21600497/orthorexia-signs-symptoms/  NEDA (US) guidance on orthorexia - https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/learn/by-eating-disorder/other/orthorexia