Dr Hector PereraƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  London

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ A few weeks ago I got an email from someone called Chamari with a heading,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ Ration bookƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ or ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Haal PothaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ I knew there was a book called by that name but didnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t understand who introduced, when and why.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ This was first introduced by British government because of the disappearance of necessities from the shops in England, then they introduced a system of rationing of food and clothing. First it was introduced in October 1939 then it became a familiar to every citizen during the war. It was a system to make sure that each person gets a specified amount of basic food.

Now itƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s shocking to understand that a ration book with coupons were issued to families and awarded a weekly limit. It has mentioned, even The Royal families were affected. The Ration Book became the key to survival for nearly every household in Britain. Every member of the public was issued with a ration book. Rations were subjected to strict price controls and even having the money didnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t mean you could get what you wanted. As a result, a black market flourished to meet the public demand.

After war was declared in September 1939, the British government had to cut down on the amount of food it brought in from abroad as German submarines started attacking British supply ships.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The ration books which contained coupons that the shopkeepers cut out or signed when people bought food and other items. (People still paid for the goods with money.) I think in Ceylon [old name], certain rations such as rice, milk, flour were given free of charge. These ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Ration BooksƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ had to be taken to shops called cooperative stores [also called samadan kadae] in the village then only they get their weekly rations.

Shopping extravaganza.

Now these restrictions are long gone, the present generations are absolutely lucky, no rationing of food by the state or the government. Now, it is you need to control what you buy and eat for many reasons. Even if you had money, you couldnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t buy any amount of food or clothing, but now, sky is the limit. If you donƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t want to visit your supermarket, you just order on line, paid by debit or credit card. ItƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s delivered to your doorstop or even they stock up your fridge.

That time beef, pork, chicken or even banana were rationed, only a matter of few grams or ounces [actually that time ounces] were allowed per person, only 2 ounces of beef per person. Now you buy any amount of any kind of meat, vegetables and potatoes at a time. If you are too busy or in a hurry to eat, there are cooked, baked, grilled and other ways of prepared food. What about bread, it was a rationed commodity but today you just cannot choose what kind of bread as there are over 50 or even 100 different kinds to choose. Those days, one needs to queue outside the shops as one or two shop assistants are only allowed behind the counter, it took good long standing time in queues, in rain, cold, snow or sunshine. Now just not bread, far too many varieties of cakes, rolls, pastries to choose. When you bulk, even get discounts.

Supermarkets are new to Sri Lanka but not quite new. Earlier they were limited to big cities, Colombo and Kandy but now they are in every nook and corner. I must say they are no better than in England or may be better in some respect such as service.

How they displayed

The way they displayed the goods make you buy more that means make you spend more, may be necessary or even unnecessary things. The choice is yours than the supermarkets, no cash, no problem, pay by debit or credit card. Sometimes it says, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-You pick, we deliver home at no extra cost.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  What about alcohol, any kind, local or imported, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Just asks for itƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚.

Bing eating

Unlike in Second World War time, now there is plenty of food, take away or ready to eat food. People eat too much, may be too much of ready to eat food, now there is something new called, Bing eating.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Binge eatingƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ is a pattern ofƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ disordered eatingƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ which consists of episodes of uncontrollable eating. It is sometimes as a symptom ofƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ binge eating disorder. During such binges, a person rapidly consumes an excessive amount of food. Most people who have eating binges try to hide this behaviour from others, and often feel ashamed about being overweight or depressed about their overeating. I am sure there were nothing like that binge eating problems during the Second World War because everything was rationed. Now the food is available in plenty, no restrictions to buy so they got to a habit of over eating.

Although people who do not have anyƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ eating disorderƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ may occasionally experience episodes of overeating, frequent binge eating is often a symptom of anƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ eating disorder. Binge eating is a central feature ofƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ bulimia nervosaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ andƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ binge eating disorder. It is also practiced by some people with anƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ eating disorder not otherwise specifiedƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ orƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ anorexia nervosa. These terms were invented or discovered much later by the doctors, psychiatrics, dieticians by observing the patterns of eating habits of the people.

Binge eating disorderƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ (BED) is the most common eating disorder in the United States affecting a small percentage of people. BED usually leads to obesity although it can occur in normal weight individuals. There may be a genetic inheritance factor involved in BED independent of other obesity risks and there is also a higher incidence of psychiatric comorbidity, eating disordersƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ refer to a group of conditions defined by abnormalƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ eatingƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ habits that may involve either insufficient or excessiveƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ foodƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ intake to the detriment of an individual’sƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ physical andƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ mentalƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ health.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Bulimia nervosa,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ anorexia nervosa, andƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ binge eating disorderƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ are the most common specific forms in the United States.

Bulimia nervosaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ is anƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ eating disorderƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ characterized by binge eating, or consuming a large amount of food in a short amount of time, followed by an attempt to rid oneself of the calories consumed, usually by purging (vomiting) and/or byƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ laxative, diuretics or excessive exercise. I am sure; I heard this condition, there were a certain kinds of people in India as mentioned in Buddhism. They ate as much as they can then vomit then eat again. Unfortunately even now there are a few people in Sri Lanka who over eat. Is this because there is plenty of food available without, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-RationsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚?

Anorexia nervosa, also known as simplyƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Anorexia, is an eating disorder characterized by refusal to maintain a healthy body weight and an obsessive fear of gaining weight. It is often coupled with a distortedƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ self imageƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ which may be maintained by variousƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ cognitive biases that alter how the affected individual evaluates and thinks about her or his body, food and eating. They always try to maintain that so called, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-film star, sexy, celebrity style figureƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚, needs to fit into her favourite dress size, 14 not 32 or 38. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Persons with anorexia nervosa continue to feel hunger, but deny themselves all but very small quantities of food. There is a phobia for food, think the food makes them fat, ugly and unattractive so they suffer mentally. The term anorexia nervosa was established in 1873 byƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Sir William Gull, one ofƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Queen VictoriaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s personal physicians. This condition is mainly affected to young girls than boys because they are too conscious about the beautiful body, need to keep young look all the time.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The average caloric intake of a person with anorexia nervosa is 600ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…”800 calories per day, but there are extreme cases of complete self-starvation.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It is a serious mental illness with a high incidence ofƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ comorbidityƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ and the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder.

Emotional eating or binge eating or overeating occurs when we eat to deal with emotions such as loneliness, stress and depression and this is a cause of weight gain. The best thing to do is to identify your own emotional eating pattern and try to be reasonable and think of a healthier life. Only you can decide that question. No one else can decide it for you, as mentioned in Buddhism, right thinking is very important, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Samma sathiƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚. We believe that compulsive overeating is a progressive illness, like alcoholism, like any other illnesses it can be arrested, stopped. Remember, there is no shame in admitting you have a problem, the most important thing is to do something about it, thereƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s plenty of professional help and advice. You decide what is right for you, come out of your wrong thinking, no need to enforce things on you. This would prevent you from obesity and other diseases come along with obesity. Please donƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t sing, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Baby come back, ration book come backƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ perera6@hotmail.co.uk