Abbey Sharp Vs Amberlynn Reid... (Oh No)

all right so today we're going to be talking now this video i want to make very clear this video was posted like an hour before i am sitting here in the stream uh reacting to it or sharing my thoughts so i have not obviously been able to watch the video because it's a pretty long one but this is as you can see by the uh title of the video uh dieticians thoughts on amberlynn reed's diet and mukbangs this might be hard to watch and this is from a known dietitian on youtube abby sharp and i'm sure a lot of you guys know who amber lynn reed is if you don't i'm sure abby will let us know so uh let's see uh let's see how this goes this one's gonna be hard to watch i mean she's probably not wrong hey everyone i'm abby sharp welcome to abby's kitchen in today's highly requested video we will be reviewing amber lynn reed now i've received so many requests from you guys to i do not i i mean i believe everything she's saying right here because y'all the amberlynn reed stands or whatever whatever they're called are they go freaking hard dude like they do not play and so i'm sure she's probably gotten literally thousands of people to ask her to uh to talk about this stuff review amberlynn since i began the series but especially since i did my review on nicocado avocado so similar to nick whose review you can watch right here amberlynn's channel has been the subject of a lot of hate a lot of bullying and a lot of controversy largely to her extreme weight gain and the inconsistent nature of her content and while it has taken me a long time to figure out how to best approach this video i want to say that i think i'm finally ready i think that it's great that she is you know trying to trying to respond in a way that is you know what she thinks is best uh but i can say from my own experience that it seems like however you respond is never going to be enough because if you um if you respond in a way that's kind and you try to understand what's going on you try to share experience and share knowledge with amberlynn people will be like you don't understand what's going on like she's tricking you you should have went harder on her like she's she's just gonna use this as a blah blah blah blah blah right so there's that camp but then if you go extra hard and you're like kind of mean and you are a bully and stuff like that which i definitely don't think is the right way to go about it absolutely i would i have gone the other way right being kind and trying to actually give knowledge and share things but if you are overly mean and rude then obviously people are going to be like you're being overly rude and mean and so this is a polarizing topic and as a youtuber as a content creator if you talk about it there will always be a side of people that wish you talked about it in a different way that's just that's just the facts so today we're gonna be taking a look at the evolution of amberlynn's channel and her corresponding weight gain my thoughts on her problematic mukbang content and some of the reasons why dieting might be failing amberlynn's weight loss goals we will also once again be joined by eating disorder dietitian alessandra magisano to gain a little bit more insight into some of these hot topics i think that's cool but of course before we get started a few quick disclaimers number one the information in this video is for entertainment and educational purposes only so you should always speak to a health care provider about your unique healthcare needs two this video is not intended to diagnose or pathologize amberlynn the intention of this video is to simply discuss the themes on our channel in an educational and compassionate format three don't forget to please be kind in the comments both here and on amberlynn's channel for a trigger warning that some graphics and discussions may be disturbing to some my viewers particularly those who may have battled or are battling disordered eating so i just want to say like i i think trigger warnings are good and i think that they are necessary and i'm glad that they exist but for me i think it's funny and i put them in too but it's funny to me that a video like this we feel like we need to put a trigger warning when it's like you saw the thumbnail in the title so if you're going to be triggered why would you click on it like i just so of course feel free to skip this video if that sounds like it could be you and finally do not forget to subscribe to this channel and ring that little bell so that you never miss out okay so for those of you who are unfamiliar with amberlynn reed she initially the three of you guys she started her youtube channel back in 2013 to document her weight loss journey at the time she was around 368 pounds however since starting her channel she continued to steadily gain up to about 200 pounds and reached her highest weight in january 2020 at 572 pounds now despite trial and i mean i i don't think she's going to show the videos but i've i've talked about amberlynn and like she she really has like if you go back to her like i think she still has it up on her channel if you go back to her first video it's her explaining why she wants to make this channel like it really was at the beginning i'm making this channel because i want to document myself losing weight like that was the reason that she started and like there's video proof of that a variety of different popular weight loss diets during this time viewers have questioned amber's authenticity and commitment to her weight loss journey as she continues to steadily gain weight despite repeated efforts to improve her diet and start fresh tomorrow now now okay i'm not sure if she's going to bring it up but i do think that it's important now i for my own like when i talk about amberlynn read i don't really care about the other controversies that are circling her because when i'm talking about it i'm talking about weight loss i'm talking about like that's what i care about right but there are also other things that have happened in the past many many many controversies that have absolutely nothing to do with um weight or anything like that it's more about being kind of a bad person okay and those are other things that people have made many many videos on i'm not sure if abby is going to go into it but i do know that that is why there is also this other group of people that might not be the biggest fan of her because of the um those different controversies as well i'm not sure if abby's gonna be talking about those because again you know she's taking this from a dietician's approach so i would i would be surprised if she did bring it up but maybe she does now in addition to her weight loss journey amberlynn is also known for her mukbang videos which have really generated a lot of negative feedback critics of amberlynn are quick to point out some of the contradictions of someone in a larger body seeking weight loss who is simultaneously participating in a trend that encourages eating large volumes of food in one sitting so this begs the question are mukbangs okay acceptable and fun to watch when the youtuber is generally thin healthy or fit and are they otherwise disturbing and problematic when the milk bangers nutritional health is already in question dude and oh i'm this is like oh my gosh i'm so glad that she brought this up because this is the question and i don't have the answer okay like but this is the question that fires me up because who knows like it's so frustrating when people are like oh if you're overweight you can't do mukbangs i'm like nah dude that's not how that works like how could you just say like if you're thin you're allowed to do this thing but if you're overweight you're not allowed to do it right like i disagree with that and like people like well uh youtube should demonetize um you know hungry fat chick or amberlynn reed or all these big these bigger people that are doing these mukbangs but i'm like dude i can almost guarantee you that's never gonna happen because youtube if they are going to deem their they would have to say themselves as a company you're not allowed to do mukbangs because you're too overweight and i just don't see that happening i don't see it happening now there's a difference when you are someone like amber lynn who is who has made her whole channel about wanting to lose weight and then you start putting out mukbangs where you are eating thousands and thousands of calories now of course those people that are following you that were excited that are invested in you losing weight they're going to be disappointed in the fact that you are now eating thousands and thousands of calories and and you are monetizing those videos you are making money on those videos and you're basically it feels like and i know because i've had people explain it to me it feels like a slap in the face because you were invested in this person now should you feel like it's a slap in the face i don't know like people get invested in people they watch online it just is a thing right so this is a really really interesting conversation that i think um is still being explored but i am very curious to see what she says we're going to be diving deeper into these questions later on in the video so definitely be sure to stick around for that now with all of that said many of amberlyn's viewers have repeatedly expressed concern about her size and the implications that this may have on her health and well-being now i can understand this concern as we do know that obesity specifically higher amounts of body fat may put one at a greater risk of a number of chronic diseases including cancer unfortunately amberlynn did now this is i think that man i really this might just be me but i i really do feel like abby sharp has like it's been really interesting seeing her uh i don't know metamorphosis or her transformation um from being someone that was it seemed like for a while was very almost pro uh health at every size and all this stuff to where it seems like she is now more in the middle with this stuff which is i i personally feel like is kind of where i am as well where it's like you know do we need to shame people and call them names or anything like that obviously not but the reality of someone being you know as large as amber lynn is or just being really really big like yo those really can lead to some uh negative health health complications right and the fact that she's saying this like this is probably something she wouldn't have said a few months ago and so i think that this is um this is r it's really interesting to to hear this recently share that she was diagnosed with stage one endometrial cancer which is a cancer in the lining of the uterus now i will say that there are a number of risk factors for endometrial cancers including age genetics and uses certain forms of contraceptives but research does suggest that obese and overweight women with higher amounts of body fat are two to four times more likely to develop endometrial cancer and extremely obese women are about seven times more likely one explanation now i want to make it very clear like i think that it's terrible absolutely terrible and very sad that um amberlynn has been diagnosed with cancer like that that really sucks and i truly don't wish that on anybody truly and so like when people like oh it's good that she got like i've seen comments like that like dude screw that that's that's horrible that is horrible to wish cancer on someone because you disagree with them or because you don't like their videos or a myriad of other reasons like it it really is very very sad that she has has been diagnosed with this like i would not wish that on seriously on my worst enemy i i really really wouldn't nation for this is that excess fat tissue produces higher amounts of estrogen which has been associated with not only endometrial cancer but also breast and ovarian cancers another possible explanation is that individuals with higher body fat often have increased blood levels of insulin and insulin-like growth factor 1 which may promote the development of some cancers including endometrial cancer and again all that stuff is really sad but i want to make it clear anybody can get cancer okay so like it can happen to anybody so it's just like for me i'm not like a huge karma guy but i would absolutely never wish on anyone no matter how healthy i think i am dog that thing can get you regardless so i would just steer clear i want to make it very clear that sucks and i don't wish that on anyone and please karma hear me i don't want anyone to have cancer okay i wish it was gone forever and no one ever had to deal with it anymore okay make that clear but of course i am not an oncologist nor am i part of amberlynn's healthcare team so obviously i cannot speak to the root cause of amberlynn's diagnosis but what we can say just by looking at the research is that there may be an association between higher body fat and the development of some cancers now with that said since sharing her diagnosis amberlynn has also had a hysterectomy to surgically remove the uterus so i do want to of course wish her a full and safe recovery and remission from her surgery and condition now moving on to her yeah and i i do want to make it clear like i'm not saying that you know being overweight being obese all those things like of course those increase your risk i'm not i'm not saying that like if you're if you're like obese you won't get cancer you will like they of course they increase your risk just like if you're smoking obviously you're going to have increased risk of lung cancer like yes of of course diet i do want to start by acknowledging that amberlynn has shared that she suffers from binge eating disorder and overeating as usual it is not my place to speculate about whether or not this is true and like i said i'm not here to diagnose or pathologize amber lynn now i know that obviously she has to say that because you know she is a registered dietitian you have to be careful but i would i would say that um through the videos if you've watched any of amberlynn's videos i mean she is pretty open and honest about you know having a binge eating disorder so i i would say that um from what i've seen and i've actually talked to her in private um it definitely checks out at least in in my book but rather the purpose of this video is to review the content on her channel at face value in a compassionate and educational format so as to discuss some recurring themes like dieting and emotional eating with that said i really can't confirm whether or not amberlynn's what in a day videos are an accurate representation of what she actually consumes in a day but we will talk more about binge eating disorder i mean i would i would highly i highly doubt that they are um i highly doubt that like because a lot of times you'll see what her like what she eats what she eats what she eats in a day videos um she ends up they are i don't i don't want to use this word uh they're kind of sugar coated i guess is the best way to put it like they are you know like and the thing is i want to make it clear like this isn't just oh hey abby's here hi abby um this isn't just amberlynn reed y'all this and i'm sure abby can attest to this this is so many youtubers like the um the amount of people that make full day of eating videos and they are not being realistic with what they eat it's a it's an epidemic it's an epidemic so many people do it so that's why when i make my full day of eating videos your boy's eating out of a microwave because i'm trying to be realistic and show you guys what i'm actually eating like this is so many people do this so it's not just emberlin like this is a very normal thing on youtube like seriously and dieting later on for now i do want to take a brief look at what amberlynn's typical day of eating might look like at the time of filming this video which by the way is subject to change by the time that it's live let's start with her breakfast and a quick trigger warning i'm going to be giving some suggestions on how to help optimize satiety for amberlynn's weight loss goals so if this is triggering for you of course feel free to skip the section of this video so for breakfast on day one we've got a smoothie with greek yogurt some frozen berries and some spinach on day two is a bagel with some chicken breast cream cheese and some cheetos and on dates the sandwich meal honestly you guys that's like my lunch like 50 of the time maybe not cheetos like i have i'll show you i'll be right back i these are called hip peas but they're basically cheetos like i eat that all the time so shout out to that meal it's a good one just expose myself i hope you guys appreciate that free it's some pasta with onion tomato corn pesto butter and some sparkling lemonade so amberlynn has previously said that she doesn't usually consume stereotypical breakfast lunch and dinner meals instead she will usually just eat whatever she feels like in the moment great you know i don't necessarily think that meals need to look a certain way based on the time of day that they're consumed same salads for breakfast sometimes hey come at me i don't care so if that's something that works for her and her palate then it works for me with that said i think there is some room for improvement here to really maximize the nutrition of these meals which would help keep amberlynn feeling satisfied longer potentially curb the desire to binge later on in the day and boom all right abby well thanks for hanging out i'm sure everyone was excited to see you i appreciate you for stopping by um i hope everything goes well with the kids the disease fighting antioxidants in her diet for general longevity and health so for example she could swap the bag of cheetos with the smoothie from day one to pair with her bagel breakfast and this would help cut back on some of the added salt and refined carbs while adding in a serving of fruit veggies and extra protein from the greek yogurt she could also choose a nice hearty whole grain bread instead of the bagel if she wants some days which provide a lot more satisfying fiber protein and maybe some healthy fats to really keep her energy levels more steady dog and also like bagels they can be some calorie bombs sometimes like some bagels can be like up there also fyi when i'm choosing a bread i do like to look for the words whole grain as the first ingredient in the list and ideally i'm looking for about three to five grams of fiber and three to six grams of protein per two slices so that might be a good guideline for amberlynn as well now on day three i really like that she's got some veggies added to the pasta but she could definitely shift the proportions maybe by throwing in some zucchini noodles in with the regular pasta or a few extra handfuls of frozen spinach just to up the fiber content and maybe also add in some tofu or edamame as well i like to add when i'm making like if i make pasta this might be weird you guys might think i'm weird but i sometimes i'll just literally throw in like some broccoli and stuff into it because it doesn't um it doesn't like really taste like anything but you're getting in that fiber and you you can add in the volume because for me when it comes to if you're trying to lose weight and you're eating in a certain way adding volume with without adding a lot of calories like that is truly the name of the game like it really really is and so you know take that how you want it especially because a 2015 meta-analysis found that soy intake was associated with 20 lower endometrial cancer risk she could also swap her pasta for like chickpea pasta because it's got about twice the protein and fiber on average as traditional pasta absolutely chickpea pasta 100 shout out to chickpeas but i would say that you know just adding in more protein and fiber to her breakfast meals would definitely help keep them a little bit more balanced and up their staying power to keep her feeling more satisfied until lunch now it's it feels weird like i i it's awesome that abby is doing this but it almost feels like it is a uh exercise in futility you know uh because like i said i can almost guarantee i mean she said it herself like she will make these full day of eating videos but she doesn't actually like that's not actually how she's eating because later in the night she'll have like a huge binge which is normal for a lot of people and then it will um you kind of negate all of the work that you did earlier so this is why like when i when i'm talking to someone that's struggling with binging that's why i always say like maybe look at your diet and try and find ways to maybe add in a little bit more calories because a lot of people the reason they struggle with binging is because it's a um it's like a cycle for a lot of people now obviously i'm not you know a doctor or anything like that but this is just my own experience like i struggled with binging because i was over restricting and then i would binge over restrict binge over restrict like and so it was just a cycle that i was on so once i stopped over restricting um i would that was that really helped me with binging at night because i only ever binged at night but it would help me with binging at night because i was eating a little bit more throughout the day and we know also that a mediterranean-style diet rich in whole grains fruits and veggies is associated with lower risk of endometrial cancer so just something to really keep in mind let's take a look at lunch okay so for lunch day one she's at a restaurant and she has some tilapia with cream sauce broccoli and zucchini looks so good day two is just a luna bar for lunch and day three is a second bowl of that pasta she had on day one now with her lunch on day one which is the fish and veggies from ruby tuesdays which looks delicious um amber lynn also mentions that even though this meal was low calorie it did help her feel full and i'm really not surprised by this because if you guys remember my hunger crushing combo we she's gonna say something about fat let me see if i'm right let's see want to aim for a source of fat protein and fiber with our meals nailed it nailed it so this meal in particular is getting protein from the shrimp and tilapia fat from the cream sauce and fiber from the veggies so super satisfying i'm sure and i also love that this meal is not so like overly restrictive it's not like you know plain broiled fish and and steamed or boiled vegetables we're getting that cream sauce in there to make it a little bit more satisfying dude and that's so true like when i make my um i know i pause this a lot it's just how i am y'all if you're not used to it yet i don't know what to tell you but like when i make my stir-fry at night i i put in a bunch of veggies rice and chicken and if i didn't if i didn't put sauce on that it would be so not good so like i put on the orange sauce from panax recipe like oh that has um that has sugar in it that ha and i'm like i don't care man this helps me eat a ton of fiber a ton of protein and obviously i'm eating a lot of carbs but like it makes this meal taste ten times better so i'd much rather put in that little extra sugar that has in the orange sauce if it makes me eat that every night which it does and so i don't think there's anything wrong with that so that really helps with reducing the idea of kind of mental scarcity as well on day two amber lynn opts for a luna bar and while the luna bar is a great on-the-go snack it's just not likely going to provide enough fuel to get her through to dinner i mean literally these have less than 200 calories the problem is if we let ourselves get too hungry with low calorie meals we're more likely to overeat whatever we can get our hands on really quick yep egg exactly 100 so even if she didn't have time for a formal sit-down meal she could beef this up with like a handful of nuts a hard-boiled egg and a piece of toast or some whole grain crackers hummus and cut up veggies so i totally get the amberlynn may be looking to choose really low calorie meals in an effort to lose weight fast but choosing meals that are just inadequate is a set up for a binge so we still want to think about getting enough calories particularly from those hunger crushing compounds to get us to that next meal this is why um when it's so dangerous to play the game of how little how small of an amount of calories can i eat during the day like that's the game that ends up being played by a lot of people that are trying to lose weight because it is true the less calories you eat the faster you will lose weight okay that's that's how that works but if you continue to eat really low calories eventually for a lot of people they they start to notice that at night i seem to be eating a lot of calories and i can't stop myself and like it's really becoming a problem right and then it can develop like i don't i wouldn't say like at the start it's like a full-blown binge eating thing but like it might be some sort of disordered eating but then slowly over time if you continue to do it you continue to do it you continue to do it it can develop into you know a binge eating disorder like it really really can and so that's why i don't like when people are like i just want to eat as low calorie as possible because it will get you to lose weight quick but eventually you will be struggling you might be struggling with these things that a lot of people are and it's not something that i want people to deal with it freaking sucks and then as for day three amberlynn has the same pasta that she had for breakfast so again we would want to maybe bump up the fiber and ideally get some plant-based protein into this meal to make it more filling and more antioxidant rich and also maybe just add a little bit more variety so we could switch up the veggies or serve it with like a green salad to get our veggie fix now let's talk about dinner okay so for dinner on day one we've got four slices of bread with mayo chicken and bacon on day two that is a savage meal not saying that i want to eat it because i eat something very similar sometimes i get the rotisserie chicken put it on um put it on some bread and stuff but man that's savage hey props to her for showing that because that meal that's not something i would want to show on i would want to show on a full day of eating so shout out to amberlynn for actually showing that it's some macaroni with buffalo chicken sausage and broccoli and on day three it's a bowl of cereal then another bowl of cereal oh dude captain crunch dude yes with the crunch berries real a few spring rolls and then six oreos so again we're seeing a variety of different types of meals that don't necessarily fall into the standard dinner category which is totally okay and as you guys know i am not into food rules even ones that say you can't have cereal for dinner i mean like this video right now if you love breakfast for dinner or like brenner brenner i guess right yes please all right well i guess i have to like it because your boy does that all right here we go yes yes please anyway so on day one we've got those sandwiches with mayo chicken and bacon i like that there's more protein in this meal but we would definitely want to see some veggies or like a simple side salad just like balance things out 100 side salad when you eat when i'm not when i'm not being a piece of garbage and having a bunch of chips on the side of my sandwiches side salad is dope i also think that maybe we could go for either the mayo or bacon since there is already a lot of saturated fat in this meal and that doesn't mean we need to skimp out on flavor or fat or even reduce the calories we could totally swap the mayo for like avocado and the bacon for some flavored tempeh to boost up the plant-based protein this is particularly of interest for amberlynn because research suggests that higher saturated fat intakes are associated with increases in endometrial cancer risk by 60 to 80 percent now i think that this is it's really good that these videos exist like abby is talking about this because i'm gonna be i'm gonna be honest and hopefully it's very clear i am not a dietitian okay so when it comes to things like you know dealing with a cancer and like having a specific diet because you have cancer if you came to me and asked me i'm like i don't freaking i have no idea but the fact that abby is here she is a dietitian she can probably you know probably speak to you know her the amber lynn reed's like actual doctor that deals with cancer i don't know what the name of it is um but then they can work on something that like i would be like i don't know i don't know what you're supposed to have what you're not supposed to have like i could give something that would be completely completely wrong for their uh situation right so that's why i don't like to tell people like what you should eat or what you should do i'm always like yo this is what i do that's all i'm trying to say don't do what i do like or do if you want to but like hey i'm not saying that you have to do this right this is just what works for me is it oncologist okay well there we go i don't know i'm not good with that stuff all right so then on day two we are seeing a little bit more balance you know we've got those carbs from the pasta we've got some protein in the chicken sausage and some veggies in the broccoli though again i would probably shift the proportions just a little bit to see a little bit more green in there and again maybe that chickpea pasta would be another easy swap as for day three obviously you don't need me to tell you that it's not a super nutritious meal with the oreos and the spring rolls and two bowls of cereal for dinner and amberlynn herself actually mentions that this was a bad eating type of day which resulted in a bit of a binge that occurred off camera so saying that we need to boost up the vegetables is kind of a moot point here but we'll be talking a lot more about amberlynn's emotional eating later on in the video so stuff like that like when you end up i mean cereal was a big one for me as well when i would uh when i was like struggling with binge eating it was uh i think i don't know what it was about it but like just the sweetness of it and how easy it was to eat like that would be a big one that i would overeat on at like later at night when i hadn't been eating enough throughout the day um i'm sure there's something there's a much more scientific way to explain it but like that's what my brain wanted for some reason so i it got to a point where i was just like i can't have cereal in the house like i can't have cereal in the house because i'll try and tell myself oh i'll have one bowl and then the whole box is gone and i'm just like frick but again this may come down to a combination of physical restriction and the experience of emotional scarcity but stay tuned because we're going to talk a lot more about that so in terms of my overall thoughts on amberlynn's diet at least based on what we're seeing in these 2020 what in a day videos her portion sizes are not particularly big now i want to make it and she said that and i think that's important she said it right what we see in these videos okay so i'm sure that there are people that are like oh you're being ridiculous of course she's eating too much just look at how big she is right yeah okay fine but again like what she said in the beginning of this video was we're going to look at what i can see in these videos right i'm sure like abby i don't think is a stupid person i'm sure she can put two and two together and be like okay obviously this is not what she's eating every single day like most people can do but again it's like let's look at what these videos are being put out what what uh the uh the audience is being shown as to what she is eating right that's all that she can do in fact at times they might just not be big enough and that can set you up for a binge really quickly that's what i've been saying this whole time and i know people are like that's ridiculous not enough but i'm telling you if you're struggling with binge eating and you're eating 10 000 calories um on a binge at night like yeah of course if you were to eat a little bit more and you didn't have that binge you wouldn't have eaten that 10 000 10 000 calories at night right like that's the that's the name of the game don't get yourself to a point where you are so hungry that you end up doing that binge because that binge will ruin that progress it 100 will but we do have some generally balanced meals to work with there is of course some room to optimize the nutrition in some of amberlynn's meals particularly to ensure that she's satiated and then not setting herself up for a binge with inadequate calories at meal times and also to make sure that she's getting in the antioxidants for cancer prevention so for example adding in extra nutrition from protein and fiber would help to make her meals more satiating keeping her blood sugar levels in check and of course helping to keep her fuller for longer without adding in a ton of calories which may potentially reduce the urge to binge later on in the day also focusing on lots of colorful fruits and vegetables whole grains beans and soy protein may help to reduce her risk of future cancer but again these videos are just one piece of the puzzle and may not be an accurate representation of how amberlynn eats off camera or during an actual binge exactly now one hot topic that i want to get into is mukbangs and i've shared my thoughts on the mukbang trend which you can watch right here but essentially mukbangs on youtube have now evolved from the korean trend of eating a modest amount of food in front of an audience to simulate a social eating experience virtually to now eating a large quantity of food in a short period of time aka the actual clinical definition of a binge whew all right hold on to your butts guys let's see how this goes so obviously to the average viewer amberlynn's regular mukbang activity seems at odds with her weight loss goals and this of course has led to a lot of online bullying vicious diet trolling and accusations that she isn't taking her health or weight loss seriously with that said amberlynn has recently shared that she's actively trying to rebrand her channel without doing mukbangs because even though these videos generate the most views they also generate the most hate and scrutiny i mean that's hard man as a youtuber like this this is just me from one creator to another like if you find a type of video that does really well for your channel it is really hard to let that go and especially like man i've i've thought about this a lot you guys like i've thought about this a lot but like to really put yourself in a position where you are um the types of videos that do the best for you are genuinely hurting you like oh man that's a tough tough situation to be in it really really is sounds a lot like what we heard from nicodo on his channels as well now what i do want to point out however especially in contrast to other infamous milk bangers like nick is that the volume of food in amberlyn's milk bangs pale in comparison to the norm in fact even though we are seeing some traditional mukbang foods like flaming cheetos and various high calorie highly processed fast foods we're also seeing a lot of less typically bingeable and more balanced meals like veggie stir-fry tuna and celery with rice cakes veggie burgers or some meatloafs or with some mac and cheese and these meals are often even accompanied by a side of veggies or sliced fruit but the thing is is that those videos will never do as well as like the fried food like person that's eating this live squid on camera like they they they sadly just will never do as well which let's be real doesn't really satisfy a viewer's desire to live vicariously through a youtuber's epic cheat meal so amberlynn's milk bangs are dare i say healthier than most youtubers all in 10 000 calorie challenges but yet if you compare the comment sections of her mukbangs compared to many others like let's say always hungry amber lynn bears the bread shots fired what of the disgust and hate let's just look at one of the most popular comments on amberlynn's mukbang versus one from lifestyle youtuber always hungry oh dang she came with the receipts and everything uh-oh i told you guys hold on to your butts both of these people post about wanting to get or stay fit but the primary difference is that olivia adams from always hungry is already in a socially desirable body and amber lynn is not so why does someone's body size influence our perception about whether or not milk bangs are acceptable and why is eating any amount of food that is not considered diet food not socially acceptable from somebody in a larger body and i mean this goes into what i was saying at the very beginning of this video like do you really think youtube because a lot of people like we just need to demonetize their channels like do you really think youtube is gonna go and be like okay amberlynn you're not allowed to do these videos so we're gonna de-monetize you but always hungry this you know regular-sized woman like you're allowed to do it because you're not morally obese like the fact of the matter is is like if you eat that way consistently all the time right you will end up becoming overweight and so oh man it's it's there's a lot that that there's a lot that goes into this conversation there really is here's the thing i am by no means condoning mukbang videos of any kind even the more modest versions on amberlynn's channel i honestly think that this is a really problematic youtube trend that perpetuates a lot of disordered eating behaviors but these behaviors are unhealthy regardless of size repeatedly eating large amounts of highly processed foods in one sitting can lead to increased blood pressure and blood sugar water retention shifts in one's gut microflora and dysregulated mood but it's very clear that the negative public perception of anne berlin's content is unique because of her size again so i don't i don't disagree with what abby's saying here but again i think that there is more uh to it than that i do think that there are like some you know genuine like fat haters that are in that community that just are mean because she is overweight i i truly truly believe that okay like trust me but i do think that um i'm not sure if abby didn't know or if she intentionally didn't want to talk about it but there are other things that have happened in the past with amberlynn and there are other things other controversies and there are all of these other things that are going on that lead people to have a negative perception so i don't believe that it's just the fact that she is overweight i think that there is a lot more that goes into it but i also do 100 um recognize that there are definitely people that it's just because she's overweight and if she had all the same controversies and she wasn't they would not care as much i truly believe that and that's nothing new research suggests that society's negative attitudes towards obese people play a significant role in their psychological and their physical health i get that a lot of people think that trolling an obese person about their weight or offering like aggressive dieting advice might motivate these individuals to adopt healthier behaviors but statistically the opposite is true research shows that the experience of weight stigma reduces exercise frequency and increases binge eating unhealthy weight control behaviors and binge eating disorder i mean this is i've said this so many times like trying to like fat shame someone to lose weight there are whenever i talk about this people like well it worked for me it helped me but like the vast majority of people if you make fun of them it does not motivate you to work out it just doesn't especially if you don't like working out if you don't like eating healthy like having someone make fun of you because of that it is not a motivating factor for most people it doesn't work so that's why when i make these videos i don't go go go on here and get all mad and yell at people and call them fat slobs and stuff like that because it's not it doesn't help and if you are going to make videos like this and it's going to be under the guise of i'm trying to help this person but then you are constantly making fun of them like you obviously aren't actually trying to help you aren't like so it's it's just frustrating um when people are making similar videos to me but all they're doing is just trolling and being unbelievably mean and if we go into i'm not sure if abby goes into it but like there there is genuinely a whole subsect of reaction channels that only react to amberlynn okay that's all they do is react to amberlynn videos and then all of them all of them are under the guise of trying to help dog it's such bs and it's such a thin veil it's so easy to see right through it like you are making these videos because they make you money and the more mean you are the more uh nasty you are the more evil you are the more views you will get and the more money you will make like it's you are not trying to help this person it's very very very clear and it's oh man i i hate when people try and say oh i'm just trying to help no you're not dude like just be honest like yo i don't like this person i'll make videos to you know basically bash them every time they upload in fact one study on more than 2 400 overweight and obese women reported that 79 of participants coped with weight stigma by eating more food and 75 percent of participants coped by refusing to change their diet in addition weight stigma can also cause psychological stress which can increase the risk of depression low self-esteem and body dissatisfaction so you can see how this experience may actually perpetuate some of these unhealthy destructive behaviors so our internet trolls the reason for amberlynn's extreme weight gain since she started her journey online well according to the research and simply by looking at the comment section of even just one of her videos i would say that this is a real possibility absolutely i agree 100 this is why i mean dog i'm getting freaking heated this is why i talk about like if you are going to make a channel that is dedicated to you losing weight i'm always like i'm not saying don't do it but really really really think about if that's something you really want to do because you might end up getting some support but it's it's very sad but it's just the fact of the matter that if you end up losing weight and then you start gaining some back people are freaking ruthless dude like they are so mean to people that end up gaining the weight back like it's crazy dude like it really really is and it really does end up pushing people over an edge it makes people not want to lose weight anymore it makes people ashamed of themselves like so if you are going to do i'm always like make sure you really think about it and make sure it's something you really want to do because it really has a there's a lot of bad things about it it's a lot of good things about it but it's not all sunshine and rainbows like there are some bad things about it and considering that amber lynn's weight gain and mukbang behavior has become so ingrained in her online identity she might feel that it's understandably a really difficult pattern to break now while my own personal and professional experiences see mukbangs as often really problematic i'm also totally open to the possibility that they may play a therapeutic role for amber lynn in one of her videos amberlynn mentions that eating in front of the camera just actually increases her awareness around what she's eating and allows her to eat at a more slow pace and more mindful pace compared to how she might eat off camera which is usually in front of the television because of that oh dude yeah when i'm eating by myself i eat so unbelievably fast like it's it's crazy uh also crystal thank you so much for the super chat i appreciate you you're awesome yes she states that she actually often ends up eating less on camera compared to when she's eating when nobody's watching well i think part of that is because uh like a lot of people when you feel like someone's watching you you're like they're probably gonna judge me so i should probably eat a little bit like slower or like eat a little bit less like it makes sense and there's a few reasons why this might be for one it may be that her audience gives her a sense of accountability with her weight loss goals now accountability is an important element in a lot of weight loss programs and also in eating disorder recovery plans in an effort to maintain some structure around food and normal eating behaviors in the context of disordered eating behaviors which is what i would characterize some of the mukbang binging to simulate the feeling of being watched by followers on youtube is kind of similar to what might happen in real eating disorder recovery programs where meals are supervised by a member of your treatment team that's interesting something i definitely didn't think of we also know that most eating disorder behaviors happen in private so it is statistically unlikely that she would invite us the viewer to witness an extreme binging episode now the other pot yeah i mean that makes sense like when you i'm not sure how many of you guys have dealt with like binge eating stuff but like when you deal with that stuff like there's such a intense shame that comes along with it that like the thought of anyone even like finding out that's why when a lot of people binge they hide the rappers they hide the food they they even like some people i know like well they'll eat something and they know that like a family member is looking forward to eating that thing so they'll wake up early in the morning they'll go buy it and they'll replace it because they don't want them to know that they did that right like a shame is a huge part of it or someone finding out so it's it's very unlikely that you would have like a really bad binge while you you are being watched like why someone is watching you eat potential benefit of the mukbang format is that amberlynn herself suggests that eating for the camera encourages her to eat more mindfully and slowly both of which are healthy eating practices so research suggests that eating slowly without distractions allows your body more time to release the tidy hormones in contrast eating well distracted like watching tv or on your phone can lead to faster eating and eating past the point of fullness in fact one study found that tv watching while eating increased food intake back to 71 gee 71 but also abby stop coming after me you can't stop me from watching youtube videos when i eat because i promise you i will not eat anything unless i'm watching something okay unless i'm out to eat with someone but if i'm eating by myself your boy is gonna find something to watch on youtube and i don't care what anyone has to say about it okay you can't stop me research has also shown that mindfulness can be a useful tool to reduce emotional eating and the frequency of binge eating episodes both of which amberlynn claims she struggles with so one study found that obese women doing mindfulness exercises decrease their binge eating episodes from four times a week to one to two times a week that is powerful stuff so i can't say that milk bangs are a hindrance to amberlynn's weight loss efforts and it's very possible that the blatant weight stigma and trolling in the comments sections of these videos play a larger role but is an online troll really the only cause of such a dramatic shift in weight over time so i want to talk about no i would uh i would say probably not some of the other potential contributing factors to amberlynn's public weight gain according to amberlynn she's been classified as overweight for as long as she can remember and was just 11 years old when she first went on a diet so since then she says that weight loss is kind of on her mind 24 7 and she really doesn't know what life is like without worrying about her weight she even has a video where she lists 100 reasons why she wants to lose weight which includes things like reducing her risk of disease as well as engaging dude that's so freaking sad man i don't care what anyone says that's that's so sad being in seemingly normal experiences like dancing traveling and walking on the beach so despite people's skepticism of amber lynn i think it's pretty clear that weight loss is something that she strongly desires and she recognizes that her weight gain does have implications for her quality of life so why is weight loss so hard for amberlynn to achieve well according to the literature it can be really challenging for a lot of people to achieve and maintain weight loss long term dude it's freaking hard dude like she's she's honestly being like pretty pretty chill about it but like losing weight especially you guys like when you are the size that amber amberlyn is um it's hard like that is a really difficult thing and like so it's something that i try to make very clear like if this is something that you struggle with like you're not alone in that like it it's really really hard to lose weight and keep it off like that's why so i get so frustrated when people like just lose weight or just do this it's like dude it is not that simple dude like it's it's hard it really is unbelievably difficult it's unbelievably difficult i believe it's possible obviously my whole freaking channel is based on that but like to just be like oh it's easy just do it whatever it's not that simple man it really isn't even the most liberal research tells us that most people who engage in intentional weight loss behaviors on average lose and maintain no more than six to ten percent of their weight so for somebody who is overweight or obese they will likely remain in these categories after their maximal realistic amount of weight loss is achieved we also know that there's a high rate of weight regained after a period of significant weight loss also known as weight cycling so one study found that individuals typically regain 30 to 35 of their weight a year later and will often regain most of the weight or more within five years now i don't disagree with i mean this is these are studies right i think the the thing that's important is that it's the way people have tried to lose weight for so long now like people try to lose weight doing these fad diets doing really overly restrictive things that aren't sustainable and like i don't think that we have really been able to study people that have learned about nutrition people that have found sustainable ways of eating because we're so focused on okay this person's doing this diet let's study it this person's doing this diet let's study it but instead it's not going to be fun to study someone that is just eating in a healthier way and eating you know a little bit less calories than they were before like because all of these studies are based on these extreme diets most of them not all of them um that's why i think personally that and this is my own opinion i could be completely wrong but that's why i believe that a lot of these studies are skewed because they are talking about people that are trying these really really extreme diets this may be one reason why amberlynn regained the weight that she lost those 89 pounds and continues to gain more this is not to say that it's impossible to sustain long-term weight loss you can find tons of examples of people who do it every day and i do believe absolutely that it can be done shout out shout out to me and all you guys out there however the data tells us that maintaining significant weight loss for over five years is more of an exception rather than the rule with that said obesity is a complex issue and cannot simply be resolved by eating less and exercising more if it were that simple we probably wouldn't be seeing amberlynn going on a diet after a diet to lose weight only to regain it back 100 also putting oneself on really restrictive diets in an effort to lose weight often sets one up for a future binge amen amen and amberlynn herself has confessed that stages of restriction and deprivation often trigger her to binge and overeat this is why the new obesity guidelines suggest that rather than suggesting somebody just eat less to weigh less it's more important to focus more on the root cause of an individual's weight gain and healthy behaviors that they can actually sustain and focus like focus less on just the number but focus more on the habits right if you're focused on the habits especially if you're as big as amber is if you're if you focus on changing those habits i promise you i promise you weight will come off you don't have to focus on eating a luna bar that's 200 calories focus on changing the habits and your weight will change it might not be as fast as you want but those habits are so much more important than the number on the scale like i cannot put it more clearly than that your habits define who you are now one of the many reasons why just eating less doesn't always work is that food is often used as an ineffective coping mechanism to soothe negative emotions so amberlynn's documentation of her emotional eating episodes are often peppered with depressive episodes and follow along the typical cycle of guilt shame regret and fear of losing control and i think that it's good that she does this and she shares this stuff but at the same time like knowing i'm a creator knowing that if she puts you know binge or this thing in the title of the video it will cause her to get more views and so again like this is not something many people have to deal with like she is there's not many people in her situation maybe a few around the world but like that would be so hard you guys like that would be so hard to deal with knowing that you want to lose weight but also knowing for a fact if you put a video up that shows you binging on a lot of food it will get astronomically more views that's tough man that's a tough thing to deal with am i saying it's right no but i'm just saying hey the real the realistic implications of that that's a hard thing to deal with this is why one of the first steps to dealing with emotional eating is to help identify and differentiate physical and emotional hunger while working with your therapy team to really find other effective coping mechanisms to help manage those emotions i talk about this in a lot more detail in my video on emotional eating which you can watch right here however i just want to summarize the differences between emotional hunger and physical hunger physical hunger develops gradually whereas emotional hunger comes on usually pretty suddenly or abruptly often accompanied by some kind of really strong emotion emotional hunger often also can drive you towards one specific food whereas physical hunger often is a little bit more flexible and more open to what's available physical hunger often has a yeah usually if you're physically hungry it's not like for a very specific like it is this one thing that i need to eat it's like you know you're just like i'm hungry what sounds good clear end point so you're usually able to experience the onset of fullness and take it as a cue to stop eating whereas when you're eating out of emotional hunger it's often more difficult to feel satisfied or full and when you don't it often triggers further feelings of guilt and shame now before we dive deeper into these topics with alessandra i want to talk about amberlynn's current weight loss plan since reaching her highest weight of 572 pounds in january so in an effort to continue to lose weight and with the weight loss goal of 400 pounds amber lynn has flirted with weight watchers noom and intuitive eating but outside of diet attempts her focus has been on curbing her binge eating episodes all of which have collectively helped her lose close to 90 pounds now it's important to mention that for amber lynn these episodes are not just benign binges that can you know easily be overcome and forgotten about at the next meal or snack there can actually be a difference between a binge and what amberlynn has been diagnosed with which is binge eating disorder so to dive more into these topics i have once again invited my colleague eating disorder dietitian alessandra magisano to provide her insight and expertise on the subject i'm kind of curious to see what they have to say here thank you again for joining me alessandra oh thank you thank you for having me i'm so happy to be back so what is the difference between a binge and binge eating disorder okay so great question the main difference between the two of them is essentially clinical criteria or diagnostic criteria so a binge eating disorder um is a mental health condition that can be technically diagnosed and it follows very specific quantitative measurements so things like eating a certain amount of food in a specific amount of time um generally larger than someone would eat uh comparably to to to you well i mean it's like binge eating is more than just like overeating you know like oh crap i you know i i went to dinner with my family and i freaking ate like four rolls crap though i didn't want to do that like that's not binge eating right like there's there really is like certain things that go into it i think one of the biggest things is for me at least is like the shame that you deal with like if you just overeat and you're like with a bunch of friends like most likely you're not gonna binge while you're eating out with a bunch of friends and family like that shame isn't the same as like when you're at home alone like i saw someone comment like i used to eat i would hide in my closet and eat right that's a completely different feeling and it also involves some qualitative measurements like feeling guilty feeling uncomfortably full dang man hey i haven't seen this video yet freaking dang bro okay i'm eating when not hungry things like that but it's more quantitative in terms of recurrent episodes of binge eating at least once a week they save in the past three months whereas a binge first of all could be on something other than food and it's more subjective in nature it can be more subjective so someone can eat a cupcake and feel like it's a binge and that is completely valid so that's the main difference between them they're very similar really almost identical the only difference is one kind of is clinical and checks off boxes and the other one can actually be more subjective and takes into consideration more qualitative components amazing good to know and regardless of diagnosis what are some strategies to help kind of curb overeating and those binge cycles the main number one strategy for both is meal regulation so whenever someone is experiencing either overeating cycles or binge eating cycles it is because of some element of chao what we call chaotic eating or eating that either doesn't satisfy enough chaotic eating man i feel attacked right now man if anyone's seen my full day of eating's like bro i don't think i know anyone that has is more chaotic more of a chaotic eater than john oh man i'm getting attacked right now physically or emotionally or mentally so we want to look at it's widely known that binging comes from some element of restriction that's thankfully now pretty well known um but chaotic eating sounds like a death metal man [Laughter] there's this other component of mental restriction that is less often understood and that's what i like to focus on with my clients as well is this idea that your meal regulation is not just about going through the motions of eating enough food quantitatively but it's also about feeling satisfied and feeling like it's it's um enough and that you're fueling yourself so this is kind of a more scholarly way of what i was saying earlier is like make sure you're eating a little bit more right if you're struggling with with binging a lot of it is related like i said to over restriction so if you're over restricting obviously that's a problem so that's why i say like being able to um eat a little bit more throughout the day or you know being a little bit more structured and being like i'm gonna eat this many calories at this time i'm gonna have this meal at this time and like making yourself do that because then at the end of the night you're not starving and you're like i need to eat something and then you're like i'm just gonna have this and then it ends up being like a lot of a lot of things that you probably shouldn't have eaten you know often and one of the biggest struggles that i see in in my clients is they often ask me okay but i'm working on my overeating but i feel like i'm eating more you're telling me too much and yep oh it's it's hard man it's hard when you're uh when you're like because you're so focused on like no i need to eat this many calories like this is what works and then someone's like well obviously you're eating because if you're binging right and you're like i need to eat uh i eat 1200 calories a day like the arbitrary number that i just made up but like i need 1200 calories a day and you're you're forcing yourself to do that but then two days out of the week you're binging on 5 000 to 10 000 calories your weekly calories are going to be higher than if you just let yourself eat 1500 calories a day or even 1600 calories a day and you weren't binging right like that's why it can help you by that's why like one of the when you hear people like maybe you you could eat more and still lose weight like that's a big part of what that means because you are eating more during the week but you're not having those binge episodes which are five to ten thousand calories or whatever arbitrary number you want to use so therefore you are technically eating more most days and you are losing weight like it really can work that's the biggest struggle because ultimately it feels like they're eating more when really we're taking away the binging and we're taking away maybe the grazing man i swear i haven't seen this video yet dang the most important thing is we're taking away the mindless eating that they weren't even aware they were doing so they don't really count that but when i'm like okay for lunch have a sandwich and some veggies and hummus and a piece of fruit they're like that's a lot of food no and that like that's what what you just said there right is so important like when you talk to someone uh that struggles with binge eating i uh most cause like again a big part of it oh man a big part of it is shame and guilt so they're not gonna tell you that they're doing it it's not gonna happen they're not gonna tell you so if you're trying to work with someone and that's why it might actually work for some people when they are actually eating more because they're they are still eating less but they didn't tell you about these binges but you can kind of you know it's like hey you're 400 pounds like and you're definitely not eating 1200 calories a day it's not happening so that's why it's like let's eat a little bit more and so they are now not doing those binges so in turn they are eating more and losing weight right like that's that's how that works that's a lot of food but it does it feels like it is because it's mindful intentional so that's really the main strategy when we want to curb is meal regulation and satisfaction amazing great tips and in your opinion why do a lot of weight loss diets fail individuals who suffer from binge eating disorder well i think weight loss diets i'm going to say they're too restrictive that's my guess fail everybody and and i think in one one way they really are unfair to people who suffer from binge eating disorder and and overeating though is because they're often again there's this stigma of that binge eating and overeating is about eating too much a lot of control and the willpower so weight loss diets offer this wonderful solution to just kind of fixing that but it fails them ultimately because it's not about um it's about deprivation again not just physically but mental deprivation but it pulls on their heart strings of you're not good enough like you're just not doing it right like if the diet didn't work you eat too much that's the problem so it it really it they really is hard on them because they're disadvantaged in terms of the stigma of binge eating and and overeating for example so insightful and is there often a focus on what i don't know i feel like i was like half right i don't know she was using a lot of words like i got a little confused weight loss when treating people with binge eating disorders or is this just like too triggering for the most part definitely too triggering it's a very much um counter-indicated so we would never uh focus on weight loss at all at least at the beginning stages of treatment so just like how we would with someone who was suffering from anorexia or bulimia or any other type of eating disorder we wouldn't weight loss cannot happen in recovery in terms of that can't be the focus of the goal because often remember it's the symptom right like wanting weight loss is a part of the symptom it doesn't mean it can't happen or can't be addressed but it needs to happen within the process in order for it to to work so i slightly disagree and i think it's just the wording but i do think that it is possible i think what she is mainly saying um is that focusing on weight loss while you're struggling with binge eating is probably not the best way to go about it right so again like i was saying earlier focusing on habits and then through those habits you will probably lose weight if you are having better habits that's what it seems like she's saying but but again like she's probably some uh you know a dietician or someone that's you know more health at every size so you can't like you're not allowed to say you can lose weight you know it's kind of like taboo so that's my opinion at least wise it is too triggering and it gets in the way because then it's just about okay but like the progress is about weight loss which negates all the other indicators that we try and focus on when it comes to recovery and how could somebody theoretically with binge eating disorder who is at a higher weight is it possible for them to safely lose weight without feeling restricted and how would that happen it is possible the number one abby's asking some good questions man the way it happens is time um it takes a long time and you have to go through the process so it's uncomfortable but they have to go through the process of understanding where the binge eating came from to begin with um because oftentimes what i find is when you cut when they start the process it's like okay weight loss that's what i i don't up for my body i want to lose weight and i hear them and i validate that but once we go through the actual process of recovery and healing their relationship with food and therefore body their idea of weight loss changes so it's not necessarily that they completely give it up or that we don't touch it again but it we change together the definition of that we might focus on okay well what does weight loss mean for you what does health mean for you is it about a size oftentimes those kinds of things are what they would say at the beginning it's about a gene size or it's about looking a certain way in clothes when you go through the process it the definition changes to something a little bit more holistic and that's how it can safely be done because then their mindset is shifted to something much healthier so this is a good uh this is a good comment and i i'm glad that this was brought up so uh this is from jen she said john i totally see your point uh but uh just to be clear she is talking about an eating disorder weight loss really shouldn't be the initial focus um with any eating disorder even if that happens naturally and i would i would agree with that and i think that's a great point um obviously that's what they're focusing on here i think that just for me my um my mindset is always just you know i'm a person that lost weight i try to help people lose weight and so that's where i'm kind of thinking but i i agree with what you're saying and i think that it's a great great comment so i appreciate you leaving that then then just a body size alone so it's it can be done safely it just has to be done over time and um with the right unpacking along the way and so could somebody with binge eating disorder ever get to the place of being able to eat intuitively absolutely i see it all the time it it's one of the most amazing things that can happen from binging disorder that is like pretty chaotic in eating you can go and eat really really intuitively it just again takes time and trust because ultimately it's a relationship that's that's broken and so rachel said i agree but how long before you discuss weight i think with that i mean it's a good that's a good question and i would say obviously i'm not an eating disorder specialist at all but like i think that that's going to be person by person and um if you really are in treatment for an eating disorder um then that's probably something that you would talk to with your you know the specialist that you're working with not not me and we just have to heal it and once your relationship with your body is healed and you practice that's the other thing i tell my clients you've got to practice it's not perfect you're going to have days where you don't eat intuitively because you know you're busy at work and you know you need to eat and you're maybe not really hungry but you know you have to that's not really intuitive but it kind of is because you know you need it in the bigger scheme of things so these are the ways that we talk about intuitive eating we make it practical i appreciate that they uh they brought this up and like their their make she's like making it clear that hey intuitive eating is not the solution for everyone okay like not everyone can just go from oh i mean like this is this is one of my biggest things with health at every size is they go from um oh this person is eating a ton of food and they're overweight you just need to eat intuitively and everything will figure itself out it's like no that's not how it works like someone has to get the knowledge and gain and understand their body to a point where maybe they can be intuitive i'm not even sure if everyone can be intuitive i think that it's the goal that a lot of people should um you know kind of strive for but it's not realistic to just be like everyone should be intuitive right now go for it it's not that simple it doesn't work that well and absolutely anyone can intuitively and do you see success with implementing like mindfulness strategies for people who have binge eating disorder and like what would be the most effective mindfulness is absolutely absolutely number one very effective um and ultimately it's effective because it forces the client to be aware of the present moment which is usually the opposite of what's happening when they're overeating or they're binge eating even if they're aware some clients will say like i'm pretty aware i'm binge eating even so there's a disconnection with your body so mindfulness kind of brings that all to the surface so it's things like um unpacking you know your triggers environmental triggers um you know figuring out do we have to reposition things in your in your kitchen do we have to reposition where you sit at the table screen time bowls portioning um all those kinds of things help to bring mindfulness to the surface as well as tons of journaling so i know people hate on triggers but like dude that stuff's important and everyone has different ones and so like it really is it really is tough like because there can be like she said a bowl like that really that could be someone's trigger like it's it might sound ridiculous to you but if that's something that you struggle with like that really can be the thing like it's there's there are so many different things that can um trigger someone to do something like this that helps um at the beginning i'll have you know clients write a ton of notes um around their meal times i'm less concerned with their logging of the food and more about the context around it because that's the mindfulness piece and so it's very important and very effective amazing okay and finally what are some strategies to help reduce that emotional eating component that may contribute to binge eating of course in addition to therapy so um so like i mentioned journaling is very very helpful but again it's this idea of just tuning in to your body's cues so i like to use introspective awareness a lot with my clients and asking them you know how do you can you listen to your heartbeat your pulse you know how do you know you have to go to the bathroom your bladder being full do you ever question that like no and i'm like okay well let's get that's where i want you to get with food or you don't question it your body says gives you a message and you just do it so that's what we're working towards and there's little strategies um that i that i i work with clients on to work towards that um things like hunger scales um to figure out where am i in terms of hunger before a meal middle of the meal after a meal i think that's a great way of explaining it right like when you have to go to the bathroom and your bladder's full you're not like hmm should i go to the bathroom or should i wait and pee my pants hmm i don't know right like um i think that like treating it like that if you get to a point and if you feel like you're not there yet that's something that you can work on right and i don't think like everyone that isn't there has some crazy disorder but like there's a lot of people that like for them eating intuitively or making the right it really is tough it's hard just to compare over time um and also things like grounding techniques i find very very effective so similar to the mindfulness stream um i pull from dbt dialectical behavior therapy modalities where they talk about using grounding and using your senses as a means to ground and calm anxiety in dbt they use it for anxiety so sometimes i use it when we have urges for binging so we might kind of together figure out okay well which of yours of the five senses do you identify strongest and if someone says you know what i just touch is really important to me we might think of something that they can use as a touch mechanism to have with them when they are experiencing an urge or when they're coping through something this is some really good information man i'm like i'm learning right now too like fuzzy blankets or um you know like a squishy ball or a fidget spinner or things like that um and any of the senses can have these these very powerful tactile grounding techniques and strategies so we create kind of like a an urge tool kit using using these strategies so that when people go into situations that are very stressful um around food or even when they're at home due to dealing with a meal time you can go towards this to curb the emotion because whenever we got emotion we just gotta ground and get um and get present and so what about those clients who say i know i'm hungry i know i'm full but i'm what do i do about the times where i'm hungry for the wrong foods great question so my answer to that would be let's figure out why you think they're wrong foods right because that goes back to the mental restriction then so even though you might say like okay i'm i i just want i want the bad foods the reason you want them is because you think that they're bad there's a lot of emotional energy that gets charged when we have to think that something is bad so you know i get this question all the time now this is a um this is a really a big topic with a lot of like health at every size and this is why like when people ask me uh oh what's your favorite cheat meal or like what do you what what's your favorite like naughty meal or whatever and i'm just like dude i don't think about like i don't think about it like that like i know i i can eat whatever i want and i will eat whatever i want but for me the reason i choose to eat the foods that i choose to eat is not because i'm trying to be good and i need to avoid the bad foods or anything like that right it's it's because like i know that this is the food that i want to eat that will fuel my body the way that i want it to be fueled like there's so much more to food than if it's good or bad right and i think that this is really important a lot of people miss this like when people like i honestly almost cringe like i'm not going to joke i kind of cringe and be like what's your favorite cheat meal i'm like dude i i'll eat whatever i want bro like i don't think about food as a cheat meal like i just eat right and if i want to have a piece of cake i'll have a piece of cake more often than not i don't want a piece of cake because i don't know i don't like how it makes me feel there's not much nutrition in it it was like you know what i mean like it's more than just that like but there are foods aren't there foods that people just shouldn't eat like how can you be a dietitian and tell me that like there aren't foods right i'm sure you hear it too oh yeah yeah don't eat like i don't know freaking toxic sludge or something that's probably not a good idea aren't there foods that we just shouldn't eat and i say you know like of course there is gentle nutrition of course there's foods you should have more often etc but the energy that you spend trying to villainize those foods takes away from your decision in that moment to make another choice so you don't have to choose that food but i also don't you don't have to hate it let's just neutralize it so if you know when you're hungry know when you're full but you just want the bad foods it's because you're thinking about bad foods it has too much power and potentially you're not getting enough food also during the day right now i think that it's important that this is a good mindset to eventually have but i think in in my opinion this is something that is very hard to actually implement um if you are at the beginning i know that they're talking this is mainly about like eating disorder stuff so of course like i'm gonna relate it more to weight loss like i want people to understand that if you're not there yet like it's okay to not be there yet and i think that's very normal um but i think that that's that's where eventually you should try and get to right and it might seem like it's very far off and trust me it definitely felt very far off for me when i was first losing weight but it is very possible to get to that point it just takes some time and it takes some effort right like if you're craving somewhere usually the first thing we look at with cravings is you're not eating enough um but when you are and there's the physical component satisfied then we look emotional and we say well then you're probably thinking that it's bad and that's why you want it so let's do some exposure therapy right it's kind of the difference between um kind of uh physical restriction and emotional scarcity that that stress same kind of mentality yes yes it's a it's a fine line between a restriction and yeah and that's ultimately what recovery is about is learning what is a boundary and what is a restriction and knowing that one is flexible and one is inflexible and that's the difference love that flexible and inflexible that it's so helpful uh thank you again so much alessandra for providing so much helpful insights and once again everyone i'm gonna be leaving all of our contact information in the description below so that you can reach out if you're looking for some one-on-one support so thank you again my pleasure thank you so much bye bye thank you again to alessandra for providing her helpful insight that was really that was a really good conversation i hope that people stick around and watch that part for sure so once again i'm going to be leaving all of our contact information below if you need to reach out for some one-on-one support okay so again the intention of this review is not to diagnose or pathologize amber lynn but to use her content for educational purposes to provide you with helpful insights and knowledge on emotional eating and the complicated world of obesity weight stigma and binge eating disorder i also want to strongly remind you to please be kind in the comments both here and on amberlynn's channel your words are so powerful so please use them wisely true we ultimately cannot know what somebody is going through off camera so i really do ask you guys to consider if your comments are helpful or supportive or if they contribute to the weight stigma and discrimination that people in larger bodies are so often subjected to and on that note that is all for today's video if you liked it be sure to give it the thumbs up leave me a comment below with who you'd like to see me review next subscribe to the channel and i will see you next time on abby's kitchen wow that was that truly was like a that was a really really really good video and um i'm glad that abby made it and i think that it's um it's a very interesting topic for sure like really really interesting one

Channel: ObesetoBeast

Views: 342,822

Rating: 4.9002233 out of 5

Keywords: john glaude, obesetobeast, abbey sharp, amberlynn reid

Id: gKw71x3baPQ

Length: 82min 20sec (4940 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 03 2020