Adapted from: Wrestling Through Adversity

Satiety is a perception

The name, “Jack Sprat,” taken from a nursery rhyme was used for people of small stature in the 16^th century. However, my tale has to do with me and the case story of a client in the 21^st century. Recently, I was on a bus tour where we drove around Iceland’s countryside and cities. The members of the group ate together at various times, such as during dinner. On the first evening of the tour when we introduced ourselves to the group, I sat at a round table enjoying my repast with tourmates. During mealtime in the middle of a conversation with a woman of Chinese descent, she looked at me and said: ”I’ve noticed that you eat like a bird.” She said this because the meal was too filling for me, so I left some food on my plate as well as half of my dessert, which I gave to my husband because my healthy habit is to eat lean until full, like Jack, to maintain my desired weight.

The unexpected comment from a stranger, who might have heard the same thing from her mother growing up in China, took me back to when my mom—who had the responsibility every day to feed five children on a budget—would encourage me to stop procrastinating while eating the then cold, hard mashed potatoes on my plate that my older sister whipped up for the family as an assigned chore. With the proviso that I’d  be eligible for dessert, my mother would admonish me, saying: “Christine, scrape your plate clean because there are starving children in China.”

Now perhaps mothers continue to repeat such admonitions to their children so as not to waste God’s good food, except the location may have changed to Africa, Ukraine, or Gaza. In my tourmate’s case, I noticed that, just like Jack Sprat’s wife who could eat no lean, she felt compelled to lick her platter clean. Today, we know that this early acquired eating habit could serve to prevent starvation but could also increase obesity rates, especially amongst children, which is a growing problem in the US, so we must look to the flip side of the coin and eat healthy in moderation.

Looking back, food was love for my family. Although our budget was lean, we had ample, nutritious food. I was healthy but petite, and thus my father jokingly referred to me as “a hank of hair and a bag of bones” because I metabolized food readily by using my high energy to the fullest. In contrast to this, some children’s health is compromised today with the rising rates of disordered eating and eating disorders—maladies of perception in that kids believe they are fat when they are too thin.

Feeding the Child, Starving the Soul

Ironically, in the US, the “Land of Plenty,” we not only have food insecurity, but we have great abundance where farmers are paid not to till their land. Indeed, during the pandemic, some farmers couldn’t give food surpluses away, so they had to destroy them. Yet, US children, teens, and young adults—in fact, 2.6 percent of those ages 11-16; 12.5 percent of those ages 17-19; and 5.9 percent of those ages 20-25—are negatively affected by eating disturbances through starvation, and this trend continues to rise internationally, including in Asian countries.

The silent epidemic

Eating disorders are more common than we think in that 28.8 million people in the US will experience an eating  disorder in their lifetime, with a preponderance of females affected. What is this epidemic of disordered eating that is often confused with eating disorders? What are the differences?

Disordered eating refers to a spectrum of problematic eating behaviors and distorted disorders towards food, weight, shape, and appearance. These eating patterns can vary in severity but do not meet the frequency, duration and/or psychological criteria for a diagnosable disorder, which can put a child or teen at risk for anorexia. Eating disorders are complex mental illnesses that are characterized by persistent disturbances in eating behaviors and impairment in psychological function. Anorexia has the highest case mortality rate of any mental illness. However, both conditions could lead to death as was nearly the situation with Karen, a young girl with disordered eating. Her case story I discuss in detail in Chapter 7 (pp. 200-207) on overcoming fear and thriving as primary prevention with the therapeutic intervention of Hypno-Coaching in my book: Wrestling Through Adversity: Empowering Children, Teens, & Young Adults to Win in Life.

Karen’s story

At the age of nine, Karen faced the biggest challenge of her young life, as she struggled to survive an appendectomy—a surgical procedure to remove an inflamed appendix before it ruptures—and from the sequalae of what occurred postoperatively. Karen’s story began the year prior at age eight while playing soccer. What saved her life was her love of learning, the game of soccer, and her strength to score and win, which she did on that day before collapsing on the field in pain.

Rushed to the ER, Karen had surgery immediately. Although she recovered physically, she did not heal mentally, spiritually, or emotionally. That year, she missed school  and refused to eat or drink adequately, which resulted in cardiac arrythmia and electrolyte imbalance that threatened her life. As a consequence, a nasogastric tube was inserted through which her mother fed her. She was fearful in a continuous state of “fight-or-flight, for she thought it was caused by what she ate.

Healthcare professionals, such as nutritionists, refused to work with her because of fear she would die. Her surgeon ordered an appetite stimulant and washed his hands of her because she should have healed on her own from her surgery. Karen was given the diagnosis of anorexia nervosa, and it was suggested she attend a live-in group program for teens that was many miles from home.

The use of hypno-coaching was ideal for a young girl like Karen because it encouraged the natural tendency to use her imagination and to get in the Zone on her own through self-hypnosis by accessing the subconscious mind. I reassured Karen’s mom  when she called in tears and asked if  hypnotherapy could help her daughter, and I prayed for guidance to save Karen’s life. Her doctor advised against Karen’s attending school or her playing soccer, which was contrary to her goals.

Upon her arrival at my office, Karen stood clinging tightly to her mom. She looked petrified and was very frail and thin to the bone, with sunken eyes. I convinced her to come into my inner office to talk, while leaving the door open on a crack, but she was mute. Karen and her mother wanted the NG tube to be removed but her dad wanted it to remain for fear she would die without it. With a big smile on her face, Karen and I agreed on getting the NG tube out before her class picture was taken, but first she had to increase her intake of food during the summer.

Plans of action set for Karen:

1. I taught Karen Mindful Toughness® skillsets such as self-hypnosis, Breathing Easy, mental rehearsal, mental recall, and positive self-talk. We used feedback loop analysis.
2. Since she was mute, I devised a scenario to communicate with a hand puppet that was composed of a nest and three young birds. It was a form of Parts Therapy, in which I used the concept of the “Second Brain” in her gut to talk to her through the voices of the chirping birds.
3. I set up a pretend Olympiad in her backyard with her siblings where she imagined she was at the Games, playing soccer and on obstacle courses to have fun, and she won gold medals.
4. Since Karen had to increase her intake of liquid food (Ensure), I made a poster to chart her progress with bar graphs that showed how much she increased her intake each day and improved her eating time to attend school. Eating her first peanut butter and jelly sandwich was a huge hit.
5. I taught her the anatomy and physiology of the digestive system and used visuals like Mia Hamm, her favorite soccer player, feeding her children.
6. A hypnotherapeutic tool called “Affect Bridge Technique” was used to rid Karen of trauma by collecting all her hurts into the soccer ball in her imagination and then kicking it into the net to score. I used imagery of the “Pond of Love” and the bluebird of happiness to fill her with self-love.
7. The imagery from the story, Stone Soup, helped her to imagine that we were making recipes in my office in a large soup pot to share with her family, which helped her eat a wide variety of healthy food, first in her imagination and then in actuality.
8. A story I used was the Little Red Bird, in which, by the use of imagery, she, like the bird, broke out of her cage and discovered she could be free from disordered eating and be healthy as a choice.

Free to fly solo

After six months of weekly visits, Karen was gaining weight and was able to navigate going to hockey games with her family and to celebrate holidays, such as Christmas and Thanksgiving. My last session was on Valentine’s Day when I bade her farewell and instructed her parents to see a physician and nutritionist to assist her because she was ready to fly solo. I met up with Karen at our community church at which time she told me that she was eating well, got all “As” on her report card, received a leadership award,  and won a spelling bee that year. She was happy and talkative.

On her 10^th birthday, I sent Karen a card, stating that a little red bird would visit her. That morning her mom saw one tapping on her  bedroom window. I followed up on Karen for nine years, and at 18, I received a letter thanking me for caring and for helping her when no one else would. She recalled the Stone Soup, the 3-bird puppet, and the red bird. Karen spoke about how she planned on majoring in psychology and nutrition in college to help kids win against disordered eating.

I invite you to visit my websites: idealperformance.net and drchristinesilverstein.com, and buy my book,  Wrestling Through Adversity on Amazon. Karen’s story is a segment of a video, “Mind-Body Healing Program (Operation Heal)” on my YouTube channel, The Young Navigator.