Eating Disorders: The Numbers

i don't feel influenced by the skinny models as much. It's more like the articles that tell you there is never an occasion to let go of your strict eating and calorie counting - which is apparently necessary now that there is an obesity epidemic. Or the ones that tell you to measure your stomach to make sure you're not going to get diabetes. All the fitness magazines I read that suggest I weigh myself every day for motivation.
Our country's become obsessed with it. Meanwhile none of it seems to help. We are clearly doing something wrong.

I agree with Claire. I am trying to recover from an eating disorder and some of the things that I read in fitness magazines really disturb me. I had to stop reading them for a while because they were making me so upset. Now I read them for workout tips and recipes, but I still get sucked in to the weight loss articles. I know I don't need to lose weight, in fact I should gain, but inside I still want to be thinner.

It also bothers me that whenever someone starts talking about eating disorders, other people chime in with statistics about obesity, as if the fact that some people are fat makes eating disorders not really a big problem.
To me, that just screams "Hey, you might be sick and starving yourself, but at least you're not FAT!"
Models don't really affect me. I might see them and say "Hey, I want to be that thin" but most of what affects me is internal. The magazines bother me more though.

We are an addictive species. We are addicted to a food oriented lazy lifestyle. Because of our evolution, we are very efficient with nutrition. Because, it takes commitment to be fit, most people are not. They are fat. Some people, in their desperation, turn to eating disorders, unhealthy behaviors, drugs, etc to obtain 'thinness'.It is a type of insanity, created from another insanity. The obvious answer is to change our lifestyle paradigm and create a fitness and health oriented world. We keep looking for easier answers. We will not find them. Things will continue to get worse. When our medical systems begin to break down people will not like it. Personally, I think it's too late. But then I am a scientist and as with global warming, people would rather pretend it isn't happening.

Nic said:
Now I read them for workout tips and recipes, but I still get sucked in to the weight loss articles. I know I don't need to lose weight, in fact I should gain, but inside I still want to be thinner.[...]

Nic, I tend to think the same way as you. I don't really have an ED, but I did have some issues with overexercising and my weight did get very low. It's difficult to read articles in just about every magazine telling you that you need to lose weight (and yes, there are people out there that do) even when you don't. I think that is a big part of it. And when you throw in the skinny models out there and the skinny actresses, you begin to look at those articles and think "Wow, I really probably should lose weight" even when you're normal. It doesn't necessarily lead to an ED, but it can make you strive to be SO thin.

I don't feel pressure from health scare statistics, and I didn't even when I was obese. I also don't feel pressure from skinny celebrities, I think I just shrug off their bodies the same way I shrug off their $5,000 shoes, as something that is in their reality, not in mine. I have to admit I feel pressure when I buy a magazine or see a tv show featuring an "everyday woman" just like me who got into amazing (Photoshopped) shape by doing some very strict diet with 4 hours of exercise a day or something. It does make me think "If only I needed less sleep" for a second before reminding myself I should not compare.

i cant stress enough how prevalent i believe ednos actually is and how much of a range of eating disordered behavior it actually covers. most people who have it probably dont know what it is and that they have it. and those people who know that they have it dont look like they have any eating disorder because the effect of ednos on a person's physical appearance tend not to be of any specific type. not to mention that there are other types of eating disorders that people tend not to consider as being eating disorders such as orthorexia (obsession with eating only healthy food all the time), sleep-eating, etc.

Anorexia is so much more glamorous than binge-eating disorder. It seems that kinny people are to be pitied -- overweight people are to be disapproved of.

I guess I have orthorexia - partly due to health/weight concerns and partly because after a eating a healthy diet for so long, "normal" food doesn't appeal. Greasy or fatty food makes me want to throw up, sugary food gives me a nasty "sugar buzz", and processed carbohydrates make me feel bloated.

It shows how distorted our relationship with food has become when the desire to eat a healthy diet has become pathologised into a so-called "disorder".

Why do we obsess over the skin and bones models? Because they are unhealthy role models. We allow our daughters inparticular to get sucked into unhealthy lifestles- and those who do not become anorexic or become bulemic and become underweight or maintain normal weight still get suckered into eating disorders that have triggers. Except these are binge eating disorders that kill a metabolism, and create an EDNOS that last a lifetime- and this causes the individual to be overweight. Anorexic models are eating triggers for overweight people just as they are anorexia triggers for anorexics. The disease is just in reverse.

Red Panda, I think what separates an orthorexic from a healthy eater is what you'd do when faced with only unhealthy food. If you had to be somewhere for 8 hours, and all the food available was unhealthy, and you hadn't packed any food, what would you do? The healthy eater would pick the "lesser evil", like whatever was not fried and eat that so as not to starve. The orthorexic would just have water because there is no way they'd eat something they didn't know exactly how many calories and ingredients were in it/is not organic/is not whole grain/contains a gram of sugar or whatever the rules he/she has are.

It's not only their distorted relationship with food but also their mass hysteria that allows them to think it's OK and normal.

I personally would rather be a little underweight then over weight but, that's just me.

ANOREXIA IS NOT ABOUT BODY WEIGHT!!! it is about control when you feel like you don't have any, it is about feeling something else, besides thoughts that you don't want to think, it is not about weight, in all cases, sure anorexics have a fear of being fat, and don't want to gain, but it is NOT ABOUT WEIGHT it is about whats on the inside and no one else can see, so we try to control it.

snoop - i completely agree with you!!!! soo many of my high school friends including myself engaged in eating disordered behavior (and, as far as i know, continue to). not everyone falls into the realms of anorexia/bulimia. lots of girls had problems with binge eating and then starving or running it off - not the same as bulimia but a disorder nonetheless and it does NOT receive enough attention given its overwhelming prevalence (at least in my experience)!!

ya know there is something called eating disorder not other wise specified, so i bet that is what all ya are.

Kendra - i would love to be underweight, and defintely not over. Right now i have a bmi of 20. so i am almost under. But am not trying to be.

im not influences by the models or thin actress we are all exposed to daily, i am more affected by my home life, by my mother "discreetly" finding ways of telling me i'm "fat" by suggesting i buy those low calorie meals for example. also my little brother telling me im fat when we fight can affect you too.
i am in no way over-weight. i acknowlege that. my bmi is probably 22-23 but im on the chubby side.
i think outside "influences" are not as important as the influences from the people that are close to you.

hey i just need some advice please :) alot of people have told me i should be a model and i am very interested myself. i just need to know how many calories most models have a day and what kinds of food they eat like how much and how often. im 55 kilo's now and im 5'6. im not one of those girls who are naturally skinny but i dont mind eating less. and is walking enough for exercise? if so how long should i walk for? i also do pilates. well ive just started anywayz. any helpful advice would be much appreciated. my email is nessie-87@hotmail.com thank u very much :)

Nessie, most models don't eat regularly, and they smoke, drink, and do drugs. They are not role models.

At 5'6" and 55 kilos you are not fat. Walking is good exercise, Pilates is good exercise. Try to walk for 40m at a time, 5-6x a week. I strongly recommend you try weight training or another form of resistance exercise, it will make you look fitter and trimmer than ever, and you may even weigh more than you weigh right now, but you'll lose centimeters/inches off your body.

For food, try to avoid processed food and eat as much as you want of natural foods like vegetables, fruit, meat, dairy, fish, chicken, grains, seeds, nuts. That is it, simple enough. Not Lean Cuisine frozen diet meal, but piece of chicken with real vegetables and a real potato. It is cheap, your health will be great, and if you have any weight to lose, you'll lose it too.

Jan said:
I don't feel pressure from health scare statistics, and I didn't even when I was obese. I also don't feel pressure from skinny celebrities, I think I just shrug off their bodies the same way I shrug off their $5,000 shoes, as something that is in their reality, not in mine. I have to admit I feel pressure when I buy a magazine or see a tv show feat[...]

That would be amazing by women's standards, most men still pine for curvy girls.

It feels like everywhere you look the world is telling you you're too fat. i go to school and the number of gym classes per day is increased, to keep us active, the teachers tell us we should be excersisng during the commercials of tv, since we must spend all our time watching tv. Athletes come to the school and tell us that we need to excersise for at least an hour per day.
How can we do all this excersise, I tried it, I excersised all day, I hardly had time to sleep, I stopped eating and I lost weigt, and I was happy, but then I couldn't lose more weight and I still looked fat, and in health they always say be happy with who you are, but how is anyone supposed to be happy with who they are, if the same people are telling them they're not good enough. I excersise for an hour or soo everyday, i hardly ever eat junk food, but it isn't good enough.

i have an eating disorder myself; and with what someone said about anorexia and it not being about not wanting to gain weight, TOTALLY wrong . with me i used to be really overweight, and it was about being too fat that caused me to develope anorexia. sure, im not proud of it , but its better than being fat i think . i dont kno , thats just me . im 5"8 89 lbs and i see nothing wrong with it .

I believe that everyone should be happy with who they are. Being over weight is not healthy and being underweight is not healthy. I know that for some people you cant help but be oveerweight because that is how you body type is. I use to be underweight. But you shouldnt try and get under weight. If you are happy with who you are then you do you. Dont change to try and please someone else. Because if they are not happy with you as you are they will never be happy with you any different. especially if they see you are willing to change how you are to please you. So as a word of advise to everyone out there, dont worry be happy. Ignore those who try to discourage you or put you down in any way, shape, or form!

Oh, and bye the way I'm 15, 5'5 and weigh 110 pounds. my younger sister is as tall as me and weighs the same amount. but do we trip over it? no! we are happy with who we are. my other younger sister weighs more then me. and she's happy with who she is. so dont trip or fuss over your weight. as long as u feel healthy and are happy with who you are then do ya thing!!!

In the original post, it discusses how strict definitions of eating disorders don't address the grey areas when determining whether or not someone is suffering from an eating disorder. If you think you or someone you know might be suffering from an eating disorder, take this quiz developed by the Center for Eating Disorders at Sheppard Pratt(www.eatingdisorder.org/about_eating_disorders/resources/quiz.php) to help identify if you or someone you know may need help dealing with an eating disorder. It's a good way to determine what behaviors could mean an individual is predisposed to developing an eating disorder.

Thansk good