The Bella Vita "I am a beautiful life", was founded by Dr. Patricia Pitts in 1985. She is a nationally renowned expert in the treatment of anorexia, bulimia, binge-eating and disordered eating. She has addressed a variety of national and international professional conferences in her more than twenty years of treating these disorders.

As a highly recognized expert in her field, Dr. Pitts was chosen as the Weight Control & Eating Disorder Specialist of the Year 1999. She was also listed in the Who's Who National Directory of Executives and Professionals and awarded the Program of the Year by the Adult Psychiatric Program. Her numerous broadcast appearances include Woman to Woman, NBC's Extra, and news programs such as KCAL, CBS and MSNBC, among others.

The Bella Vita provides a supportive, safe environment for males and females, pre-teens through adulthood, experiencing Eating Disorders and related disorders in Los Angeles and Woodland Hills, CA. locations. There are distinct programs for pre-teen/adolescents and adults; levels of care include partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient programs and outpatient services.

The Bella Vita facilities provide effective and affordable treatment guiding the clients to connect to mind, body, and spirit.



SOMETHING NEW: The Bella Vita is pleased to announce that we are contracted with Kaiser Permanente beginning January 1, 2010!

The following insurance companies are contracted with The Bella Vita: Aetna, Anthem Blue Cross of California, Cigna Behavioral Health, Holman Group, Magellan, MHN, PacifiCare Behavioral Health, United Behavioral Health, and Value Option.

Dr. Pitts is the primary doctor answering people's questions about eating disorders on MedHelp. Ask Dr. Pitts your questions about eating disorders

The smartphone applications that help modern-world dwellers find restaurants in Calcutta, calculate the size of a room or even read a bar code may also fuel eating disorders.

In the wrong hands, apps and other instant technology may trigger obsessional behavior by allowing teens and young adults to constantly count calories and monitor their weight and food intake, experts say.

"This has been a concern of ours," said Dr. Harry Brandt, director of the Center for Eating Disorders at Sheppard Pratt in Towson, Md. "So many high school and college students have iPhone or smartphones or BlackBerries and a wave of applications that, to individuals with eating disorders, can be very detrimental. It's a combination of obsessionality and perfectionism."

Also troubling is the possibility that weight loss and calorie-counting apps may push some vulnerable teens and young adults over the edge to anorexia or bulimia.

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Mindfulness, and more specifically mindful eating, isn't a new concept. In fact, it is centuries old and based on the Eastern concept of mindfulness or “pure awareness.” If you are eating mindfully, you are aware and attentive to all dimensions of eating. It includes mindfulness of the mind, body, thoughts and feelings

Mindful eating: is about being conscious of why you are eating. Are you hungry? Are you tired? Are you bored? There is no menu or recipes to follow. It's about learning HOW and WHY you eat, and less about WHAT you eat. When you are so closely in touch with what is going on inside, you know the exact moment you are satisfied rather than stuffed or starving. To understand the why, what, when and how we eat, we have to be compassionate and nonjudgmental. This allows us to take a closer look at our behavior.

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  • 6 oz. frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
  • 6 skinless boneless chicken breasts
  • 1/2 tsp. dried marjoram leaves
  • 1 dash ground nutmeg
  • 1 dash garlic powder
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 3 Granny Smith apples, cored and sliced
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 2 Tbsp. cornstarch

In small bowl, combine thawed orange juice concentrate (do not use regular orange juice!), marjoram, nutmeg, and garlic powder. Place onions in bottom of 3-4 quart slow cooker. Dip each chicken breast into the orange mixture to coat and place in crockpot over onions. Pour any remaining orange juice concentrate mixture over the chicken. Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours until chicken is almost cooked. Add apples and cook one hour longer on low until apples are tender and chicken is thoroughly cooked.

When chicken is done, remove chicken, apples and onions to serving platter. Pour the sauce that remains in the crockpot into a medium saucepan. Mix together water and cornstarch in a small bowl and stir into the juices in saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with wire whisk, until sauce is thick and bubbly. Serve the sauce over the chicken. Makes 6 servings.

      
      
      


      

I recently finished Chris Hedges' new book, Empire of Illusions: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of the Spectacle. It's a trenchant critique of the various ways our society encourages us to escape reality by retreating into the array of fantasies it offers through various forms of popular culture.
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The jury is still out on what led to the tragic death of the 32 year-old actress, Brittany Murphy. It isn't a surprise that the media is already speculating that an eating disorder may be a possible cause of her death. It's been rumored (although not confirmed) that Brittany has struggled with bulimia and drug use possibly to control her weight. One can't help but notice her shrinking frame and frail appearance in recent years. It has been a far cry from her healthier exterior in the movie, "Clueless."

Regardless of the actual cause of her death, it is an opportunity to reemphasize the fact that people do die from eating disorders. In fact, eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness.* Approximately 20% of those suffering from anorexia prematurely die from complications related to their eating disorder such as suicide, kidney failure, cardiac arrest, dehydration and heart problems.

It is often difficult to determine if deaths are caused by eating disorders or not. The physical evidence often points in that direction. However, people often keep eating disorders a secret. They deny that they have an eating disorder and their families are often in denial as well.  Coronors typically do not list an eating disorder as the cause of death. Instead, they list the immediate cause of death such as cardiac arrest.  For this reason, there may be more deaths caused by eating disorders than those documented.

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