|
||||||||||||||||||
    
|
|
Anorexic behavior, binge eating, obsessive compulsive behaviors, extreme exercising, purging, abusing diet pills and laxatives--it sounds like a summary of the shameful secrets of characters on Gossip Girl or Desperate Housewives, not life as usual for 65 percent of American women. And yet, so it goes: Self magazine (in partnership with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) conducted a national survey on eating behaviors and almost 3 out of 4 respondents reported that they are disordered eaters while about 1 out of ever 10 suffers from a full blown eating disorder. In fact, specifically:
I know that I can think of friends (or myself) who apply to every one
of those bullet points. You know the big scary Obesity Epidemic? Where
are the headlines about the Dieting Epidemic? Because this?
This crap is unhealthy, right there. I hate to shout sexism, but when
Viagra is covered by medical insurance, you'd think something this
pervasive would get a little more attention from society.
From Self's analysis: ...not all disordered eaters are obese or even overweight; 53 percent of dieters in our survey are already at a healthy weight and are putting themselves at risk by attempting to change it. "For many women, dieting is about trying to exert control," Kronberg says. Your job may be stressful and your boyfriend halfway out the door, but you can control what you eat and how often you work out.What's going on? What can be done? Are sites like this one just like trying to fill a black hole with a teaspoon? What is the answer? Where is the hope? The comments weren't good today, so they don't deserve dessert. 4 CommentsLeave a comment |
|
Send your queries to us at
info@elasticwaist.com Check out Elastic Waist on MySpace.com. Follow Weetabix on Twitter |
||||||||||||||
FEED ME
I took the test. Geez. I won't admit the score, but, man.
Five years ago, I spent nearly 6 months attending an intensive outpatient program for anorexia. In some ways I am glad that it got bad enough to get serious treatment rather then live with a sub-clinical ED for who knows how long. Six months of 8 hour days in therapy retraining my brain, debunking all those lies about food and nutrition I thought were true, learning to trust my body and getting to the root of the self esteem issues. Now I know the truth, and even when I wish I could go back, I can't get my mind to believe the lies again. Its a shame you can't qualify for treatment until your weight proves you have an ED. But then again, most people who are functioning Anorexics/ Bulimics, don't want the help and won't agree to it until their health is in danger. Its very sad so many people live with sub-clinical EDs for years, lifetimes, without ever knowing how much better their lives could be if they just got some help.
While I certainly believe that eating disorders are a matter for concern, I am unclear as to how the people behind this quiz determined who had "disordered eating," a term which they don't define and which is not a term used in psychiatric diagnosis. I'm also confused as to how they were able to diagnose "eating disorders" from an online quiz in which, for example, two of the four major diagnostic criteria for anorexia nervosa are not even addressed.
The media...celebrities...models...they all push this thin thin THIN crap.