Eating Disorders Seen Around The Web: August 2, 2011

Profile: Sam Thomas-Men Get Eating Disorders Too
The Mirror

Sam Thomas, founder and project leader at Men Get Eating Disorders Too, entered the TalkTalk Digital Heroes Award in 2010 with the aim of making more people area of the issue of eating disorders amongst men and be a port of call for those affected or worried by it. And like many of the best projects, it was one that was born from personal experience.

Sam got the idea for Men Get Eating Disorders Too from his own experience with bulimia, which he experienced during his time school: “I used to get bullied quite badly, and used to run out of lessons and hide in the boys’ toilets. I’d often binge and purge, but didn’t think too much of it; of course, as a thirteen-year-old you don’t think about eating disorders and you certainly haven’t heard of bulimia.
“When I did start looking for help, I struggled because I was male. Only once I had recovered did I think to myself ‘hang on a minute, if I was a female....
Read Men Get Eating Disorders Too in full


Sexualization of Young Children Linked to Eating Disorder Development
AOL Healthy Living

As early exposure to themes of sex becomes the norm, children of younger ages are expressing discontent with their physical appearance. Results from a recent survey suggest that children rank body image among the highest of their concerns, above both self-confidence and social life. Recent research also suggests that nearly 50 percent of females between ages 11 and 16 would consider cosmetic surgery to improve their appearance.

These findings have striking implications about the factors comprising young children's self-image and esteem. Eating disorders are now presenting in children as young as 6 years old, with dieting becoming more common among those under the age of 10.

Such ardent focus on physical appearance also comes in response to overly-sexualized messages from the media.
Read Sexualization of Young Children Linked To EDs in full


Mental Health: Eating Disorders
BBC News

Every year about 20 people in Britain die from anorexia - the eating disorder which compels them to deprive their bodies of food.

It is thought that about 165,000 Britons have some sort of eating disorder.
Most sufferers are female, although the latest evidence suggests about one in ten is now a male.
One person who developed anorexia at the relatively late age of 27 is Victoria Buchan, who lives near Grampound Road in mid Cornwall.

She admitted for a while she did her best to hide the anorexia from her doctor.
"There was always a response, always something I could hide behind," she said.
"Because of wearing baggy clothes they might not have seen I was losing weight."
Read Mental Health: Eating Disorders in full



Quick Hit: The Fat Femme’s Guide to Lovin’Summer
Happy Bodies

Aimee Fleck, a fantastic student at the Maryland Institute College of Art, made a little zine called The Fat Femme’s Guide to Loving Summer.  Inside there are interviews with some really foxy ladies, instructions on how to make friendship bracelets, a recipe for beignets, new hairstyles to try, a playlist, and lots of suggestions for great summer fashion. It’s all beautifully, colorfully drawn and very well designed, plus sassy and fun.  The zine is also getting plenty of tumblr love, which makes me really happy.
Read The Fat Femme's Guide in full


10 Questions To Ask Yourself About Anger
Hope Forward

By no means am I suggesting that the answers to the following questions are easy, readily available to you, or in any way obvious, though some may be. I think, rather, that they may serve as guide posts toward progress, relief, and insight. While anger is not always the culprit, it does often lurk underneath depression, anxiety, restlessness, discontent, or irritability. While certain angers are clear and apparent, others are more subtle. I think it pays to pay attention to them. Having anger does not mean that you are an angry person, that you have a temper; it just means that you have real feelings, some old, some new, and that tending to them may improve your life in many ways. How we feel anger, what we do with it, is usually based on a mix of genetic, hormonal, biochemical and socialcultural factors. Given that, we can ask ourselves the following questions in our quest to feel better.

1) How was anger expressed or suppressed in my family?

2) What are my earliest memories of feeling angry? With whom? For what? What other feelings do these memories bring up?
Read 10 Questions in full


Genetics Complicate Recovery From Eating Disorders
Psych Central

Sadly, people with eating disorders often face a long-term battle. Those with anorexia nervosa, for instance, are often severely underweight and have a high likelihood of dying from malnutrition.

Now, a new study sheds light on why some people have poor outcomes.

An international team of scientists has identified possible genetic variations that could influence a patient’s recovery from an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia. Researchers believe their findings may augment development of effective interventions for the most treatment-resistant patients with these disorders.
Read Genetics Complicate Recovery in full

News: Eating Disorders Recently In The News

Addictions & Answers: Behind the insidious 'art' of anorexia

NY Daily News

BILL: Now that Christmas is over, the lose-weight ads are all over TV.  My feeling is all diets work if you stick to them. But the flood of January advertising to "sculpt your body back to a thinner you" must sound very seductive to the anorexic-prone.

DR. DAVE: Did you see the news stories about Isabelle Caro, the 28-year-old French model who posed naked for international anorexia awareness two or three years back? She died last November after battling the eating disorder herself for almost 15 years.

BILL: Doc, why is IT so often a female disease?

DR. DAVE: Bill, that's another dangerous myth —that men have some immunity. Jeremy Gillitzer was an A-List male model with a perfectly sculptured body and Hollywood good looks. He recently died of anorexia –frail and emaciated at 38, weighing just 66 pounds.

BILL: Can't these people just look in the mirror and see something is radically wrong?

DR. DAVE: That's like saying to a meth addict, 'Can't you see you're killing yourself, why don't just stop?'

Read Addictions and Answers in full here.

Study Refutes Myth That Eating Disorders Affect Whites Only
Business Week

FRIDAY, Jan. 7 (HealthDay News) -- Among Native Americans, women are more likely than men to develop eating disorders, a new study finds.

The researchers also found similarities between Native American and white women in terms of binge eating, purging and ever having been diagnosed with an eating disorder, according to the report published Jan. 6 in the International Journal of Eating Disorders.

"This commonality between Native American and white women refutes the myth that eating disorders are problems that only affect white girls and women," study leader Ruth Striegel-Moore, a professor at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., said in a news release from the journal's publisher.
 Read Study Refutes in full here.  




Third annual Bristow race in San Dimas brings attention to eating disorders
sgv tribune

SAN DIMAS - Jackie Bristow's legacy is growing fast, and continues Saturday with another race through San Dimas.
Now in its third year, the annual Jackie Bristow Memorial 5K Run/Walk begins at 8:30 a.m. at the San Dimas Civic Center. Organizers raise funds and hope to bring attention to serious eating disorders in honor of the race's eponymous twin sister.
Bristow died Jan. 1, 2008, at age 19, from complications of anorexia and bulimia. Her death devastated her family, especially her twin Wednesday Vail, who shared Bristow's struggles with eating disorders.
Read 3rd Annual Bristow Race in full here. 

Four-year-old children in Ireland treated for anorexia
Irish Central

Children as young as four-years-of-age are being treated for anorexia in Irish eating disorder clinics.

Doctors have warned that the age of children presenting with disorders is getting younger and there is an increasing demand for services.

The founder of the Marino Therapy Centre, Marie Campion said she has seen patients as young as four presenting with cases of eating disorders.
Read 4 year old children in full here.  


Isabelle Caro, model in anti-anorexia campaign, dies 
USA today

PARIS (AP) — Isabelle Caro, a French actress and model whose emaciated image in a shock Italian ad campaign helped rivet global attention on the problem of anorexia in the fashion world and beyond, has died at the age of 28.

Caro had said she began suffering from anorexia when she was 13, and she weighed about 59 pounds (27 kilograms) when the photos that made her famous were taken.

After a 21-year-old Brazilian model died from the eating disorder, Italian photographer Oliviero Toscani produced a 2007 campaign for an Italian fashion house that plastered newspapers and billboards with a naked picture of a spectral Caro looking over her shoulder at the camera, vertebrae and facial bones protruding under the slogan "No Anorexia."

Read Isabelle Caro in full here. 

sources sited and linked above

December 2010: ED News

Link found between shoplifting and eating disorders in women
The Mainichi Daily News 

Women who habitually shoplift are also very often the victims of eating disorders, suggests a survey by Akagi-kohgen Hospital in Shibukawa, Gunma Prefecture.
The institute is a psychiatric hospital that specializes in treating disorders like alcoholism. It found that over 70 percent of female patients it surveyed who were receiving treatment for kleptomania also had eating disorders like bulimia.
"Shoplifting is of course a crime, but in these types of cases, treatment to prevent a recurrence is necessary," says hospital head Michio Takemura.
Takemura and others surveyed 132 male and female patients that had received treatment for kleptomania at the hospital and affiliated clinics in the Tokyo metropolitan area from January 2008 through July 2009. Of the 92 female patients, 68, or 74 percent, also had eating disorders. Of the 40 male patients, 4, or 10 percent, had eating disorders, showing that the correlation was much higher in the female patients.
Read Shoplifting/ED Link in full. 




Why are so many kids being treating for eating disorders?
ABC 15

Did you know that the rate of kids 12 and younger being hospitalized for eating disorders has risen 119% from 1999 to 2006? This is according to a recent study published by Journal of American Pediatrics.

This is such a scary statistic, but why is this becoming an issue for kids so young?
Caroline Miller is someone who has overcome the mental illness of eating disorders.
She wrote an autobiography called “My name is Caroline” in 1988 and at that time was one of the first books to discuss eating disorders and put a face on the disease. Caroline joined us on Smart Family to talk about this battle of eating disorders.
Read So Many Kids in full.



Tis The Season: Surviving The Holidays With An Eating Disorder
Sacramento Press

When we think of the holidays, our thoughts often go to family, friends, gift-giving, shopping and, yes, food.
Celebrating the season while sharing food with loved ones is part of our collective culture and something we look forward to. But for individuals struggling with an eating disorder, this can often be one of the most distressing times of year.
In the United States, an estimated 8 million girls and women and 1 million boys and men struggle with an eating disorder. Although the average age of onset is 14 to 16, there is no age, gender or cultural limit on who struggles or for how long. Women and men in their 30s, 40s and beyond struggle with anorexia, bulimia or binge eating disorder. An estimated 10 percent die.
Read Tis The Season in full.
Check out this and also this for more holiday survival tips. 



'Plus-sized' model Crystal Renn looks decidedly 'model-sized' in Zac Posen's new look book
Los Angeles Times

Crystal Renn, a former traditional-sized model who became the poster girl for plus-sized modeling after gaining weight and writing about her struggle with anorexia, is still ruffling feathers for seemingly dropping the pounds that make her "plus."
Renn, who co-stars in designer Zac Posen's pre-fall 2011 look book, was never plus-sized in the traditional, size-10-to-14 sense (she claims to be a size 8), but looks even tinier in the new photographs -- a fact that hasn't escaped chatty fashion watchers online. 
Read Crystal Renn in full.


Among Jewish women, eating disorders go under-reported
Stigma of mental illness on marriageability is cited
 The Washington Times

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. | Hilary Waller remembers begging her mother to let her fast on Yom Kippur. At 10 years old, she was a bit too young, but embracing the rigid discipline seemed desperately important.

"It felt like I was practicing not eating. It was something that was reassuring and gave me strength and a sense of pride," said Ms. Waller, now a 28-year-old teacher at a religious school in Blue Bell, Pa.

It was the same rush she got years later in college each time she saw the scale tip downward. Ms. Waller, who suffered from anorexia, starved herself until she stopped menstruating, lost some of her hair and was exercising several times a day.

Health experts say eating disorders are a serious, underreported disease among Orthodox Jewish women and to a lesser extent others in the Jewish community, as many families are reluctant to acknowledge the illness at all and often seek help only when a girl is on the verge of hospitalization.
Read EDs go under-ground in full.


I’m not fat, says ballerina faulted for ‘too many sugarplums’
Today MSNBC

A ballerina who overcame anorexia doesn’t need or want an apology from the New York Times critic who made a crack about her weight in a review of “The Nutcracker,” saying the comment hurt initially but is just part of being a professional in a field that demands perfection from those who work in it.
“As a dancer, I do put myself out there to be criticized, and my body is part of my art form,” Jenifer Ringer, 37, told TODAY’s Ann Curry during an interview Monday. “At the same time, I am not overweight."
Read Ballerina in full.



 all sources linked above

EDs Seen Around The Web: November 2010

When Mom Has an Eating Disorder, Everybody Suffers
parentdish.com

It's every mom's nightmare: Finding out your daughter has an eating disorder. Even worse is knowing you're probably to blame.

Teresa Coates, a 40-year-old mom and solo parent of two, was anorexic in high school. She survived on 3 Musketeers bars and not much else. After high school she continued her bizarre eating habits until one day she went into convulsions at work and was rushed to the hospital. The ER doctor told her if she ever wanted to have children, which she did, she would have to start eating.

Teresa's daughter recently turned 13 and she worries about her. A lot. "I worry genetically about my daughter because I come from a family of very heavy women. And that was a concern when she came home from the hospital. I remember being worried about that. It's a hard thing to know you're genetically predisposed to not be thin."

She does feel, however, that her daughter is off to a much better start than she was at her age. "I came from a real working-class family. We didn't eat a lot of fruits and vegetables and the vegetables we ate came from cans. My take on healthy food wasn't really there. I've been cognizant trying to teach both my kids how to tell if food is good for you. They both read labels, a lot. They eat a lot of fruit and vegetables. They're very aware that you need to drink water."

But that doesn't mean it's easy.
Read in full: When Mom Has An ED 


Making Sense of ED Mortality Statistics
ANAD.org 
By Kathy Chen, MA
Chicago Professional School of Psychology

The topic of eating disorders (EDs) and mortality can be particularly sensitive because of the controversial findings in the research and perhaps their implications.  The common belief appears to be that EDs, especially anorexia nervosa (AN), are associated with a low rate of survival.  Many factors influence the results of research regarding EDs and mortality; yet, the more confusing point seems to be the ways in which these results are recorded.  Therefore, reviewing the research and examining the methods that lead to a study’s results could provide mental health professionals as well as friends and families with a more in-depth understanding of the relationship between mortality and EDs.

The first step to understanding the relationship between mortality and EDs is to study the specific parts of information presented in the research.  First, there are multiple definitions used to determine the rate of death in EDs (Neumärker, 2000).  For instance, the term “mortality rate” is different from the term, “standardized mortality ratio.”  The mortality rate is usually expressed as the number of deaths per 100,000 of the population, whereas the standardized mortality ratio (SMR) is the number of observed deaths divided by the number of expected deaths in a specific population.    In addition, when authors write of mortality rate, they usually refer to the crude mortality rate, which includes the number of deaths out of the total number of people studied during a specific amount of time.  Let me give you a simple example.  Let’s imagine we are researchers who have 100 people in our study.  If we check back with these people in 10 years and find that 5 of them have passed away, then the crude mortality rate would be 5 percent.  To calculate the SMR, let’s again think of a simple example.  We are researchers who have 100 people in our study.  This time these 100 people are adolescent females with AN.  We observe that 50 of them have died within a certain amount of time.  However, let’s say that the expected number of deaths for adolescent females without an ED is 10.  Therefore, the SMR in this hypothetical example would be 5.  This result means that the sample of adolescent females with AN has a level of mortality that is 5 times greater than the average adolescent female population without an ED.  Though these terms may seem similar, they can nonetheless impact the ways in which readers interpret these results.  Thus, when one reads research findings, one would likely want to be aware of the different ways that mortality is measured for the purpose of having a more comprehensive understanding of the research findings.
 Read in full: Making Sense of ED Mortality Statistics


Binging to Lose the Bulge: The Dangers of Drunkorexia
richlandchronicle.com

The disorder ‘anorexia' isn't a new one, but the dangerous eating disorder has now found a new partner. Drunkorexia is a new slang term used to describe people who don't eat in order to save the calories for their alcoholic beverages later.
Although it's not an official medical term, drunkorexia is starting to become widely known across college campuses. College students seem to be the main target, and narrowing it down further, female college students.
The restriction of food in order to binge on drinking is the same concept as other deadly eating disorders including bulimia.
During an interview with ABC News, Savannah, a 22-year-old graduate from the University of Texas talked about her experience being a proclaimed ‘drunkorexic'.
"It was just something I always did while in college as a normal part of my diet so that I could stay skinny but still go out and drink," Savannah said. "I do know a lot of people who skip meals to drink, drink heavily and don't gain any weight. Obviously, their success in this way encourages others to try it. I've done [drunkorexia] for years and I'm still healthy. I'm still skinny."
Read in full: The Dangers of Drunkorexia 

University Course to Study Bulimia and Anorexia

  walesonline

by Helen Turner, South Wales Echo 

EATING disorders are to be studied by students and professionals at a new course launched by Cardiff University.
The Collaborative Working in Eating Disorders module, run by the university’s School of Nursing and Midwifery Studies is the first of its kind in Wales and supports the implementation of a recent Assembly Government report.
In Wales, more than 1,000 new cases of eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia are diagnosed each year.
Such disorders can lead to enduring mental health problems often affecting sufferers’ physical, social and psychological wellbeing.
Read in full: University Course to Study


sources linked above

Eating Disorders: Seen Around The Web

Letters To My Body

Synchronized 

Today’s letter is very special to me because it was written by one of my very best Blends (Blog Friends), Jen (“a prior fat girl”). I had the opportunity to meet Jen in May at a blogger’s conference, and we became fast friends. I respect the journey that she has taken on, and she has now lost about 100 pounds through a proper diet and exercise. She chose her health above everything else, even when she was faced last year with the most tragic moment of her life. Her journey has been long, and she still fights battles along with the rest of us. To me, her letter is a great example of how to move forward and forgive yourself after years of abuse...
Read Synchronized in full here.



Laura's Soap Box

Being liked is overrated, too   

 

I hear a lot of complaining about eating disorder clinicians. I do a fair bit of complaining myself. But at least some of the time I remind myself that being disliked for doing your job isn't always a sign of doing it wrong: it is often a sign of good practice.

A doctor I admire wrote something on an ED message board this week: "You do not need to be the patient's friend, or confidant, and you shouldn't be someone she wants to bring home for dinner right now, as anyone that is doing their job with her will be working against the ED behaviors, and that is bound to make her angry"
Read Being liked in full here



The F Word Org

Celebs Come Out Of The ED Closet


In an OK! Magazine article, on September 17th, celebrities admit to their struggles with ED.  While the list leaves few surprises, as most have mentioned their past experiences with eating disorders in other magazines, it was refreshing to see a couple who have continuously denied ED rumors come clean.  One celeb I didn’t know about was Felicity Huffman.  Below are her thoughts about her eating disorder: “I was bulimic and anorexic for a while, just hating my body,” she’s said. “As an actress,...
Read ED Closet in full here. 


Happy Bodies

When I Knew Weight Didn't Matter

Even people who watched me go through it don’t really understand that I used to be anorexic.
Scene: I am a white, upper-middle-class American with a PhD mother and a successful father. Good-girl control freak, stubborn as hell—but I have never been thin.
Oh, I was not a “fat kid”. But puberty did as puberty does. Ample bust and wide hips at 5’3” meant that my doctor, with a conventional—in other words, BMI-based—concept of what a fifteen-year-old girl ought to weigh, gave me a carefully laid out speech about it, because as we all know, Fat Is Dangerous.
My mother, herself a recovered victim of a teenage eating disorder, had raised me with few food judgments, let me eat what and when and how I wanted for the most part. But she couldn’t shield...
Read When I Knew in full here. 

Eating Disorders In The News: August 2010

Judge OKs $55K Anorexia Bullying Settlement in Pa.

PITTSBURGH —  A federal judge on Wednesday approved letting Pittsburgh Public Schools pay $55,000 to settle what's believed to be a first-of-its-kind lawsuit by a woman who claims her daughter was bullied into anorexia - even though the plaintiffs now feel slighted.

The 37-year-old woman identified only as "Mary V." in court documents, and her daughter, now 15, sued last August over harassment by boys during the 2006-07 and 2007-08 school years, when the girl was in sixth and seventh grade.

The girl's mother now pays about $6,000 a year for the girl to attend private school, attorney Edward Olds told U.S. District Judge Donetta Ambrose on Wednesday. That tuition was apparently part of the reason the woman and her daughter were upset that the judge enforced a settlement agreement signed in May after a five-hour mediation session.
Read in full: Anorexia Bullying Settlement


Why Airbrushing of FashionPhotos is so Dangerous

WITH impossibly thin waistlines, they have been airbrushed to perfection.

Photographs of waif-like celebrities and models are impossible to escape as they stare out from magazine covers or TV adverts.

Now two young women from Hampshire battling anorexia and bulimia have spoken out to back a new campaign to make sure altered images are labelled.

Girlguiding UK has called for the coalition Government to force the media to take the measures to protect young women.

It says its research shows half of 16- to 21-year-old girls consider having surgery to change the way they look, with 42 per cent of 11- to 16-year-olds admitting to watching what they eat. 
Read in full: Airbrushing Dangerous


 Gaga's Battles With Bulimia

She’s big news. Named on Time Magazine’s list of most influential people in the world and seller of 5 million albums and over 40 million singles worldwide, Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, better known as Lady Gaga, has made news yet again: by talking about her struggles with bulimia. This month’s Vanity Fair cover story details the exploits of pop diva Gaga, including her eating disorder.

Gaga follows a long list of celebrities who have had eating disorders, including Alanis Morissette, Amy Winehouse, Renee Zellweger, Elton John and Karen Carpenter. Celebrities are under tremendous image pressure -- pressure to be thin and fashionable. Gaga was inspired by glam artists Madonna and David Bowie who meld their music with artistry based on clothing, makeup and hair. Gaga is considered a fashion trailblazer, and receives as much attention for her appearance as she does her often synthesized music.
Read in full: Gaga's Battles Bulmia


The Unattainable Lightness of Being: Eating Disorder Madness

Is someone you know on a diet? Probably. Because just about everyone is on a diet, or at least watching their weight, or their carbs or their intake of fats and sugars. But when does normal moderation become not so normal? Is it when you start to see the outlines of ribs and bones that weren't there before? The situation doesn't have to become that extreme for someone to be suffering from an eating disorder. Over 5 million people in the United States have an eating disorder, and the majority are female. But the number is probably higher since so many cases go unreported.

We know the main names: anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. But what many people may not know is how dangerous, debilitating and potentially fatal eating disorders can be. Patients with anorexia nervosa have a disturbed body image, an intense fear of gaining weight and pursue being thin at all costs. They are unwilling to maintain a healthy weight. Bulimia is characterized by episodes of compulsive eating, then purging through vomiting, excessive use of laxatives or diuretics fasting, and excessive exercise. With anorexia, bulimia or other eating disorders not otherwise specified, sometimes referred to as EDNOS, extremely disturbed eating behavior becomes a viable method of altering a perceived (and usually distorted) negative body image.

The Health Risks of Eating Disorders
While it is true that eating disorders are usually, but not always, curable medical illnesses, their underlying causes are so varied and complex, they can be extremely challenging to treat. They have been found to recur within families, can result from disturbances in the central nervous system and are often associated with temperamental features like perfectionism, low self-esteem or an extreme need for control. Those with eating disorders often display other psychiatric illnesses like clinical depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, substance abuse or anxiety disorder.
Read in full: Eating Disorder Madness


Local Girl Speaks Out About Eating Disorders

COLUMBUS, Ohio --A local girl is speaking out about her six-year battle with an eating disorder and said that as college students head back to campus, now may be the time to have a tough conversation.

Julia Weisenborn is a born runner, born competitor, and surviving an eating disorder.

"It becomes very addicting and a lot of times, it's a control thing," she said.

Weisenborn was a student at Ohio University enjoying time with her friends, medaling at cross country meets and playing a dangerous game with her weight to become more competitive.

"The worst point was just after my 20th birthday. I was performing the best but I was at the lowest body weight I'd ever been…close to 80 pounds and my body just gave out," she said.

Weisenborn said she had simply stopped eating.

"I spent a night in cardiac wing and that's when I realized I needed help," she said.
 Read in full: Local Girl Speaks Out



Mary-Kate Olson: Childhood Acting, Anorexia Not Enough To Regret $100M Net Worth  

Mary-Kate Olson says she's happy and healthy after her battle with anorexia. While she says she's happy in her day job now, she looks back and feels "bittersweet" sorrow for her childhood days.

Working as a child actress as the adored "Michelle" on Full House, Mary-Kate says looking back she felt like a workhorse.

"Little monkey performers," Mary-Kate said of her past in the recent interview as Marie Claire's covergirl. "I look at old photos of me, and I don't feel connected to them at all".
 Read in full: Mary-Kate Olson


What Parents Can Do About Anorexia

Regarding the Aug. 1 article, "Wrenching Question Haunts Family After Death of Athlete, 16, from Complication of Anorexia," on the tragic death of Kingsley's Krista Phelps from anorexia:

I know her parents' sorrow. We lost a daughter who just wanted to shed 50 pounds too quickly - for her 20th high school reunion. Margaret leaned too hard on DIEuretics (aptly named) and appetite suppressants.

In just three months since Christmas when we last saw her, she had almost achieved her goal. It was to be a surprise. She did not tell us, so we could not make her more aware of the dangers of fast dieting using pills.

More books need to be written; more articles need to be read that will help teens return to the saving path of moderation. Too many kids equate moderation with mediocrity.
Read in full: What Parents Can Do

Seen Around The Web: What Other's Are Saying About Eating Disorders

The Voice of an Eating Disorder & 7 Ways to Shut It Up
By Margarita Tartakovsky, MS

One of the toughest parts of recovery for many people is separating themselves from their eating disorder and, more specifically, hearing their own voice, not the mean, manipulative, vicious, callous voice of ED.

Andrea Roe talked about the ED voice in her Q&A last week. Andrea said:

One of the biggest aha moments during my recovery process was really getting and feeling that I was not my eating disorder. For the longest time, it actually felt like I was my eating disorder and my eating disorder was me. It felt like “it” was my identity. I didn’t know who I was without it. I had forgotten.

And whenever I heard the voice in my head telling me I wasn’t good enough, needed to lose weight, etc. … I’d ask myself if that was the “real me” that was talking, or if it was the eating disorder speaking to me. I had to learn to separate these two voices — mine and the eating disorder voice. And when it was the eating disorder talking, I had to learn to fight back, talk back and disobey its commands. I had to learn to take control back over my life — after all, it was MY life, not the eating disorder’s.

Trying to drown out the voice of ED also resonated with several readers.
Read The Voice of an Eating Disorder & 7 Ways to Shut It Up in full here.

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You Are Not Alone

Eating Disorder Awareness Week is coming to a close, and I've been trying to post related things all week (though I guess one could argue my whole blog is related). Today, I'd like to share with you a neat little site that was brought to my attention by a friend.

It's called You Are Not Alone and basically you can sign up to get a free support letter every month to give you encouragement on your path to recovery. It's sort of what I try to do here on my blog much more often than once a month, but this site is cool because it's an actual letter, sent to your email on a monthly basis. Every little bit of support helps, right?

Read You Are Not Alone in full here

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Eating Disorders: Seen Around The Web

Why It’s Time to Change Our Thinking About Weight: A Q&A with Linda Bacon

Margarita Tartakovsky, MS

Fat is vilified in our culture. That, unfortunately, is a fact. We think that weight loss will lead to many a splendid thing, including health and success. We think diet and lots of exercise will help us lose weight and maintain it. We’re always on the lookout for the next secret to weight loss, some pill, supplement, new workout craze, anything that’ll bring us closer to reaching our goal.

But there’s a reality that we rarely hear about that seems overshadowed by shows like The Biggest Loser, which illustrate big losses, and media attention, fear and unhelpful regulations about the obesity epidemic. Schools ban cupcakes while grocery stores reward thinner employees. Our assumption of larger bodies being unhealthy is deeply ingrained.

That’s why I’m so thrilled to present part one of my interview with Linda Bacon, Ph.D, author of Health At Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight, a book that reveals the reality behind weight loss and dieting. Linda is a nutrition professor and researcher in the Biology Department at City College of San Francisco. She’s also part of a movement called Health At Every Size, which emphasizes health, not weight. It doesn’t demonize fat and it doesn’t encourage weight loss. Instead, it encourages honoring and listening to our bodies, moving our bodies and eating in a flexible way.

Below is part one of my eye-opening interview with Linda, where she presents solid research about the many, many weight-loss misconceptions that we accept every day as facts.

1. Q: Can you talk about some of the biggest misconceptions about weight loss and the so-called obesity epidemic?

Read Q &A in full here.

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Toxic Levels Of Self-Hate

Melissa Groman LCSW /Hope Forward

....There are, I think, a thousand possible causes of eating disorders. And there are a thousand cures. There is no one explanation, and no one path to recovery. We can rage at culture, analyze family dynamics, hang our hopes on genetic markers. Each story is uniquely crafted by biology, experience, environment and development. But this much I know to be true, each person that I have ever worked with who has an eating disorder suffers from toxic levels of self hate. Sometimes its obvious, and sometimes its swimming around like a shark just below the surface.

Read in full here.

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Question #16: Forbidden Foods & What It's Really About

Actively Arielle: A Voice With A Commitment

"In these years of anorexia, I've stopped eating a lot of different foods (most of them, except fruits, vegetables, yogurt and meat), and some of the foods I've stopped eating, they have become some kind of 'forbidden': I still can't eat some of them (such as pizza, ice-cream, hamburgers, wrustel, etc...), while I eat hardly some others... So, I wanted to ask you: have you lived something similar? If yes, have you solved the problem, or are there 'forbidden' food to you, right now? Moreover: how did you solve this problem? How can you resist to put out again some foods from your nutrition?" It may surprise you to know that I have no "forbidden" foods. I also have no "safe" foods. I eat everything, and I do mean everything. I'm not even a picky eater. There are a few foods I naturally dislike like creamed corn, french onion soup, and scallops, but I've disliked them since childhood. Other than those and a very few others, I eat anything and everything. When I was dealing with my anorexia...

Read in full here.

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What The Eating Disorder World Wants Mrs. Obama To Know

Laura Collins Lyster-Mensh /The Huffington Post

In the eating disorders world, putting any child on a diet is not only unacceptable but appalling.

In the eating disorders world, a father referring to his child as "chubby" and commenting on her eating habits is not only frowned upon it is reviled.

In the eating disorder world a mother who felt her children were "perfect" should not be corrected by a doctor who points to the children's weight as altering that.

In the eating disorders world it is well-known and embraced that healthy children rapidly gain weight as they approach puberty.

Read in full here.

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Dove and Diversity: Not Just For Women

Sharon Haywood

Ads for cars, beer, and action movies typically dominate the costly airtime during Super Bowl. But during The Big Game of 2006, it wasn’t another Bud Light commercial that captivated viewers. Instead, the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty reached an estimated 90.7 million football fans via a 45-second spot that promoted Dove’s Self-Esteem Fund. Dove's manufacturer, Unilever, created the hard-hitting video, True Colors, enlightening the audience—many of them parents—to the importance of fostering a positive body image in girls. And this year, they will do it again.

On Sunday, February 7^th Super Bowl XLIV airs another spot that celebrates body diversity. This time, men are the focus:

Read Dove and Diversity in full here.

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Body fat- it's not a bad thing

Carrie Arnold/ ED Bites

A new study confirms previous research that a higher percent body fat is associated with better outcomes for anorexia, and that lower body fat percentages are associated with relapse (Bodell and Mayer, 2010). The research isn't exactly groundbreaking, nor is the science--it's a pretty straightforward statistical analysis--but the results bear repeating. For most of my treatment, I've had clinicians low-ball my weight. They'd use some sort of plug-n-chug formula and tell me what I needed to weigh. Only twice was I asked what I weighed before the eating disorder during these "What should healthy Carrie weigh?" conversations. The second time, I lied because that is what people with eating disorders do when they are terrified of gaining weight and want to avoid it at all costs. Nothing egregiously inaccurate, but still.

Read in full here

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The Strength Is In The Foundation

Elisabeth from Letters To My Body.com

February 26th will mark my 4th year in recovery from my eating disorder. Four YEARS! Can you believe it?

In anticipation of this four year mark, I’ve been very thoughtful lately about my past, where I’ve been, how I arrived there, and how I have come to the place where I am now. And where is this ‘place’ that I’m talking about?

The place is happiness.

The place is peace.

It is a place filled with the knowledge that I don’t need to obsess about every morsel that passes my lips, and the confidence to know the difference between hunger and pain (or hurt or boredom or anxiety).

It is also a place where I trust in my own body to tell me what it needs, and have the ability to forgive myself in advance for any over-indulgences that may occur on occasion.

I no longer live in a state of instability and chaos (inevitably dictated by the number on the scale each morning). Oh, what a total relief THAT is!

Above all, I’m coming from a place of love, kindness, and compassion.

This place was not discovered easily. It took a lot of work, self-doubt and determination. In all truth, much of the time, I faked it till I made it. It’s still not easy at times, and I have my own personal struggles just as anyone with past (or present) disordered eating does. However, the bottom line is this…

Read Foundation in full here.

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Trimming The Budget-Not Just For The Arts & Music Anymore

Tracey Mere /The Givens That Are Our Graces

Albany's governor proposed budget eliminates funding for eating disorders in order to keep the focus on obesity and diseases related to obesity.
"In comparison to obesity and diabetes, eating disorders affect relatively few New Yorkers," said Claudia Hutton, spokeswoman for the state Department of Health.
The governor's budget will end the $1.7 million annual subsidies to the state's three eating disorder centers, including $500,000 to Albany Medical Center. The cut would eliminate Albany Med's entire budget and close the eating disorder program.
"It creates a huge void in the services we've been able to develop," said Dr. Sharon Alger-Mayer, medical director of the Northeast Comprehensive Care Center for Eating Disorders at Albany Med.
The program serves about 2,000 people through outpatient services and 50 people who need to be...

Read in full here.
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BEFORE SIZE ZERO: THE WAY WE WERE...

Medusa

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Unattainable Beauty: The Decades Most Egregious Retouching Scandals

Newsweek

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Girls' favorite cartoon characters get make-overs (not good ones)

feministing.com

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Mom Camps Out To Get Spot In Mental Ward For Son

Newsobserver.com

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picture source:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kurtxio/ / CC BY 2.0

Eating Disorders: In The News December 2009

Eating Disorder Organizations Join Forces To Urge Focus On Health And Lifestyle Rather Than Weight

Medical News Today

In an unprecedented show of concern, The Academy for Eating Disorders (AED), Binge Eating Disorder Association (BEDA), Eating Disorder Coalition (EDC), International Association for Eating Disorder Professionals (IADEP), and National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) have joined forces and are urging focus on health and lifestyle rather than weight as a measurement of well-being.

In late November, media stories reported that an American university implemented a new strategy for combating rising weights by requiring students to be weighed during their freshman year. Those with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or over are required either to lose weight or pass an extra course focused on physical fitness. In response to this, and other similar strategies within the global "war against obesity", national and international eating disorder organizations have joined forces to urge school administrators, employers, and health policy makers to focus more on health and lifestyle for all populations rather than on weight alone. Eating disorder groups assert that this well-intended, but under-informed and unproven strategy of focusing on BMI fuels weight-prejudice and neglects groups which may be in equal need of improving their health and lifestyle. There is concern that, in some cases, the programs contribute to negative self-esteem, body dissatisfaction and eating disordered behaviors among young people. Neither the scale nor BMI calculation provide the full picture most relevant to health status, such as lifestyle and activity patterns, and physical and mental health measures. Thus, assuming ill health based on weight alone is not only inappropriate but harmful and discriminatory, and should be discontinued.

"There is concern that we have lost sight of avoiding harm in the process of addressing obesity." AED President Susan Paxton, PhD, FAED states. "Further, we cannot ignore the opportunity to create a healthier environment, where people of all sizes are given the opportunity to lead healthy and productive lives, instead of singling out individual groups for reform based on weight alone".

Read in full here.

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New Eating Disorder Specialist Library Launched To Help Eating Disorder Sufferers, Family, Friends, And Health Providers Find Help

Earth Times

Finding treatment for eating disorders is an overwhelming task for those suffering from eating disorders and the loved ones trying to help them. To solve this problem, Eating Disorder Hope launched the Eating Disorder Specialist Library, to provide a comprehensive resource for exploring and comparing treatment options, providers, treatment approaches and philosophy. All accessible in one library, saving hours of searching the web for options. (PRWEB) November 15, 2009 -- Many eating disorder sufferers and families find that reviewing the online ‘virtual brochures’ offered in the http://www.eatingdisorderhope.com/eating-disorder-specialist-library-index.html greatly simplifies their search and puts them in touch with some of the best treatment centers and providers for their loved one suffering from anorexia, bulimia or binge eating disorder. This new and rapidly expanding eating disorder specialist library is an excellent tool for eating disorder sufferers, families, fri and treatment providers who feel overwhelmed with where to begin in the search for appropriate care for the eating disorder sufferer.

Read in full here.

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New Help For Those Battling Eating Disorders

Fox4kc

KANSAS CITY, MO - It's estimated that five to 10 percent of people in the Kansas City area have an eating disorder. Girls ages eight to 25 are most at risk, but certainly not the only ones affected. But now, there's a new way to get help.

Fourteen-year-old Alexis Gick is one of those seeking a solution.

"All I wanted was just help from this," she said. "I didn't want to be stuck in this."

Gick battles anorexia and bulimia. What little she did eat, she would purge.

"It was out of my control," said Wendy Gick, mother. "I couldn't do anything to help her. I think that was the scariest part."

Wendy turned to a therapist, who referred them to specialists in eating disorders.

"I was very lucky that I had some very good referrals," Wendy said.

But she knows others don't know where to turn.

"They're not even sure what's going on other than maybe their child's a finicky eater or has been losing weight or has been purging and they don't really know what to do with this," said Mary Beth Blackwell with Jewish Family Services. "Sometimes they've never even heard of an eating disorder."

Jewish Family Services is now launching an Eating Disorder Resource Center for the Kansas City area with a phone number people can call with questions about eating disorders.

Read in full here.

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How To Help Your Kids Avoid Eating Disorders

Newsday

Know anyone with food issues? Chances are, you know many - and maybe you're one of them. In today's world of fast and convenient food, many people have disordered eating. The evidence of obesity, anorexia, bulimia, binge eating and a national obsession with dieting is proof we aren't eating healthfully. The problem is that many of the people with unhealthy relationships to food are parents, and that makes them - wittingly or not - role models for their children.

Research shows parents are the biggest influences of their children's behavior, so that means what parents do, not what they say, is often emulated by their fiercely observant offspring. And though most parents hope to raise healthy eaters, many are blind to how their own harmful attitudes and behaviors are affecting their children.

Here are five tips from Edward Abramson, a psychologist who works closely with children and adults with eating issues and author of "Emotional Eating."

1. Avoid diets Parents who want to foster a healthy relationship with food should never put their children on a diet, which usually becomes counterproductive and actually increases the likelihood of future weight gain and subsequent emotional issues. "The focus should always be on improving health and not on weight," Abramson notes. Parents should implement healthier family habits, such as eating reasonable portions and even cooking together.

Read in full here.

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Researchers Find Clues To Why Some Continue To Eat When Full

Medical News Today

The premise that hunger makes food look more appealing is a widely held belief just ask those who cruise grocery store aisles on an empty stomach, only to go home with a full basket and an empty wallet.

Prior research studies have suggested that the so-called hunger hormone ghrelin, which the body produces when it's hungry, might act on the brain to trigger this behavior. New research in mice by UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists suggest that ghrelin might also work in the brain to make some people keep eating "pleasurable" foods when they're already full.

Read in full here.

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Food Apps For Mobile Devices May Fuel Eating Disorders

News Channel 6

The smart phone applications that help find restaurants, identify songs, and even read bar codes, may be fueling eating disorders.

Read in full here.

Eating Disorders: A Look At What Some ED Bloggers Are Talking About

The Paradox Of Choice
ED Bites: Carrie Arnold

On my move, I had lots of time in the car in which to listen to music, think, and try to ignore Aria's backseat yowling. To help pass the time and keep me awake, I downloaded a bunch of TED Talks onto my iPod. They were an eclectic mix, from anthropology to physics, but they kept me awake and alert for many hours.

One that left a lingering impression in my brain was a talk by Barry Schwartz, author of the book "The Paradox of Choice." I've blogged on the book before, but there was a brief phrase in the talk that really caught my attention. Schwartz was talking about buying jeans, and how many years ago there was only one style of jeans, and they fit very badly. More recently, Schwartz went out to buy a new pair of jeans because his old ones had worn out, and he found a mind-boggling array of jeans from which to choose. Ultimately, he did find a pair that fit better than before, but with such variety available, any issues with how his jeans fit was his problem, not the jeans'.

Let me try to explain this better.

Read The Paradox Of Choice in full here.
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A Factor Of Starvation
Are You "Eating With Your Anorexic?": Laura Collins

Years ago I spent time in an airport waiting area with a mom and her young son with autism. The silent young man, she said with both chagrin and bravado, lives on a diet of fresh MacDonald's french fries, milk shakes, and megavitamins. At the time I appreciated both her honesty and her predicament, though I think I probably had some smug disapproval going at the same time. These were his boundaries, and this mom was not catering to whims, she was loving him and taking care of him from where he was. I did not know that some day I would understand this mom's nurturing in a very personal way, and that I would continue to wish that I could go back and really hear her and make sure she felt supported and understood, if only from a stranger.

When you spend time in the ED world you cannot help but notice how often you see certain traits in patients, many former patients, and often in family members. Things like difficulty with 'set shifting,' a blinding focus on detail, and difficulties with correctly interpreting the emotions of others. There is a lot of talk now about a connection between autism and anorexia.

Read A Factor Of Starvation in full here.
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Join The Online Boycott Of Ralph Lauren
The-F-Word: Rachel

Remember the Ralph Lauren shrinky-dink hack job of already underweight supermodel Filippa Hamilton? Followed by them firing the same underweight supermodel for being too fat? Now the producers of America the Beautiful are waging an online boycott of the unrepentant fashion house.

On behalf of all the girls who feel ugly, overweight, and just not-good-enough;

On behalf of the parents who worry, cry, strive to help their daughters, and shell out $20,000 a month and above for eating disorder treatment centers;

On behalf of all the Mothers, Daughters, Sisters, Aunts, women everywhere who have ever been made to feel insecure by the magazines, billboards, ads, and television commercials;

We are calling for the Boycott of Ralph Lauren products.

Read Join The Online Boycott Of Ralph Lauren in full here.

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Dealing With Your Eating Disorder And Parents As An Adult

Actively Arielle: Arielle Becker Bair

This week's video is in two parts, because what I had to say took a bit longer than 10 minutes. :) The topic of the video is: Dealing with your eating disorder & your parents as an ADULT --'cause let's face it, they affect us even when we're grown or we carry issues with us.

Click here for Arielle's Blog and Links to the Videos

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13 Years Old And Anorexic: Kourtney's Story

Medusa

Kourtney's story...

"It all began when I was a mere 13 years old. Almost exactly one year ago. I was running cross country, having fun with friends, and getting into fashion and clothes. Life was great, I was happy and healthy, and everything seemed "perfect."

First, came the OCD. It hit like a brick to the face. I started feeling anxious about running and times. I started calculating times of 3.5 miles in my head, obsessively. All of the sudden, nothing seemed to trigger it.

The OCD caused me to isolate from friends because I was so trapped in my head, all of the time. So habitual, so compulsive. I stopped going shopping with my best friend over the weekend, and all I would do between classes was look at the school record times, calculating how I could obtain them with my current times. All of the isolation led to depression.

Once the depression hit, I stopped eating, but just a little bit.

13 Years Old and Anorexic in full here.

Eating Disorders In The News

Trying To Define Binge Eating Disorder

Los Angeles Times
Binge eating was long seen by psychiatrists as an unusual symptom of major depression or an anxiety disorder. After all, it seemed sometimes to lessen or yield to antidepressants and psychotherapy -- both aimed primarily at treating depression or anxiety.

But as anorexia and bulimia gained public recognition and as eating disorder clinics began to fill in the 1980s, the field began to see a growing group of patients who had clearly dysfunctional eating patterns yet fit the description of neither anorexia nor bulimia.

By 1994, when the American Psychiatric Assn. published the most recent edition of its diagnostic manual, binge eating was put on a watch list of conditions that might in the future be considered distinct. Since then, researchers estimate that roughly half of eating-disorder patients are identified as not fully fitting the diagnostic criteria for anorexia and bulimia. They are consigned to the diagnostic gray area called "eating disorder, not otherwise specified," or EDNOS. A large proportion of people with the diagnosis are believed to be binge eaters who do not then purge.

Read in full: Trying To Define Binge Eating Disorder

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Thinspiration: Do Web Sites Encourage Anorexia?

Fox News
Recently there has been increased concern over hundreds of "pro-eating disorder" Web sites that provide "thinspiration" to legions of young women who want to become stick-thin.

These sites provide an online community to swap tips on how to fast, disguise disordered eating, and generally "encourage" anorexia (though people don't really need to look far for information on dieting tips or how not to eat).

Following public complaints and concerns, many such "pro-ana" sites have been shut down. In 2001, for example, the search engine Yahoo purged over 100 pro-anorexia sites. French officials have recently threatened to criminalize groups they believe encourage eating disorders, arrest their members, and shut down Web sites hosted in France. People posting images of thin women or sharing dieting tips could face up to three years in prison and more than $70,000 in fines.

The concern is surely well-meaning, but is it misplaced?

For as much concern and furor as these "pro-ana" sites have generated, there is very little evidence of harm. As Kenyon College psychology professor Michael Levine told the International Herald Tribune, "You're going to be hard pressed to demonstrate in a very clear way that these sites have a direct negative affect."

Read in full Thinspiration: Do We Sites Encourage Anorexia?

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Get Off The Binge Eating Rollercoaster

The Australian
CAROL was just 15 when she went on her first diet.

It would be the start of a 15-year binge-eating and binge-dieting roller-coaster, one that would leave her suicidal and locked into a vicious cycle of depression, followed by yet more comfort eating and bingeing.

Now in her 40s, Carol has finally won her battle with binge eating disorder thanks to a long journey of self-discovery involving therapy and support groups where others with BED shared their experiences with her.

Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are well-known eating disorders, but there's less awareness of BED. And that's surprising as it's more common than anorexia and bulimia combined.

Read in full Get Off The Binge Eating Rollercoaster

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Holiday Meals Especially Difficult For Binge Eaters

Chicago Sun-Times
Most people feel tempted to overeat during the holidays, when calorie-laden comfort food is in endless supply from Thanksgiving until New Year's.

But the food-focused holiday season holds special dangers for those suffering from binge eating disorder -- a condition in which people eat excessive amounts of food while feeling unable to control their behavior.

Especially on Thanksgiving and Christmas, "you have this license to really go out of control, and it's acceptable behavior," said Christ, a recovering binge eater from the North Side who requested that his full name not be used. "Nobody notices that you're eating 12 pieces of pie, because you're just trying each one there."

The stress of family gatherings also can trigger unhealthy eating.

Read in full Holiday Meals Especially Difficult For Binge Eaters

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British Politician Attacks Kate Moss For Encouraging Anorexia

The Independent

After Moss publicly declared in an interview that "nothing tastes as good as skinny feels," Lembit Opik -- a member of the British Parliament -- has lashed out at the topmodel, telling UK paper The Sun this statement was "everything that is wrong with the fashion world."

(Relaxnews) -After Moss publicly declared in an interview that "nothing tastes as good as skinny feels," Lembit Opik - a member of the British Parliament - has lashed out at the topmodel, telling UK paper The Sun this statement was "everything that is wrong with the fashion world."

The model's quote from a recent interview with Women's Wear Daily had been posted as credo on several pro-anorexia sites, causing concern among help organizations such as Beat.

Read in full British Politician Attacks Kate Moss For Encouraging Anorexia

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The Most Common Eating Disorder You've Ever Heard Of

North by Northwestern

Sara always blots her pizza with a tissue to save calories. Carrie never eats the crust. Margaret professes to love deep dish pizza, but peels off all of the cheese. Mark rarely eats pizza because he doesn’t deserve it unless he runs ten miles first.

Which of these behaviors is normal? Which might be signs of an eating disorder? Sometimes it’s hard to make a distinction.

While perhaps none of these fictional characters would be diagnosed with anorexia, bulimia or a binge eating disorder –- the most commonly referenced eating disorders -– they may each have their own varying levels of undefinable psychological food struggles.

According to the National Eating Disorders Association, signs of an eating disorder include a preoccupation with body image and weight, fluctuation in weight unrelated to a medical condition and secretive or strange behavior during mealtimes.

EDNOS, or Eating Disorders Not Otherwise Specified, is the most common diagnosis for those with eating disorders. A study published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders found that over 77 percent of eating disorders were classified as EDNOS. Yet despite its prevalence, EDNOS is often neglected in the study of eating disorders, with most research focusing on anorexia and bulimia.

Read in full The Most Common Eating Disorder You've Ever Heard Of

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