GET PLUMP BY JUNE 1ST! GAIN A POUND OF FAT EVERY WEEK!

ROUNDER ABS FASTER! BOUNTIFUL IS BEAUTIFUL!

EAT HEALTHIER, GAIN WEIGHT, SAVE $$$$!

SUMMER’S ALMOST HERE, GIVE THE BOYS WHAT THEY WANT: LUSCIOUS THICK LEGS, OPULENT, PENDULOUS BELLIES.

HEFTY IS HOT! HURRY UP AND GAIN WEIGHT NOW!

stuff! Stuff! STuff! STUFF!

LOOK JUST LIKE THE ROBUST MODELS IN THEIR LOOSE FITTING TUNICS!

If we lived in a culture that marketed images of the bountiful rather than the bony, such headlines might exist. Viewed in this context, why should we lose weight based on an incomplete sentence written by a stranger? Unless truly overweight, reducing to support the weight loss industry is like kowtowing to balderdash.

If you are one of the truly overweight, you are not alone. An unhealthy 1/3 of the adult US population, 32 million women and 26 million men reside in an obese or extremely overweight frame. For these unfortunates, former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop urges that “obesity related conditions are the second leading cause of preventable death, putting people at risk for hypertension, diabetes, and cardiac disease.” It would be unfair to address the eating disorders without honoring those who struggle with overweight and overeating.

ANOREXIA, BULIMIA, & FAT: MYTHS, FACTS, and RESOURCES

Media fueled weight obsession does not always lead to Anorexia or Bulimia. But when it does, results can be disastrous. According to ANAD, the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders:

* In the USA, more than eight million people struggle with bulimia, anorexia nervosa, or compulsive overeating.

* Women suffer disproportionately from the eating disorders, comprising 90% of all victims.

* Approximately 6% of these victims die. The Harvard Mental Health Letter cites heart failure and infection as associated causes of morbidity.

* Male eating disorder victims appear with increasing frequency, exhibiting the newly coined “Adonis Complex”.

* Only 10% of eating disorder victims fully recover.

* 86% of eating disorder victims suffer disease onset before age 20.

* Anorexia and bulimia strike children younger than ten years old.

* One recent survey of 5th-8th grade girls determined that 31% were dieting, 9% sometimes fasted, and 5% had deliberately induced vomiting. (HMHL)

* Bulimia is 2-3 times more common than anorexia, affecting nearly 10% of the female population. (HMHL)

MYTH #1: “People will like me better after I lose the extra 20 pounds.”

FACT: Popularity is not affected by weight. Indeed, “British researchers have found that obese girls are just as popular as thinner girls among their peers. (Int J Obesity 22:287, 1998)

NEVERTHELESS: “In a recent Esquire magazine survey, some young women said they would rather be run over by a truck than be fat.” (somethingfishy.com)

MYTH #2: Until the “eating disorder victim” appears cadaverous, there’s no real medical problem.

FACT: An eating disorder victim can be in grave physical danger even while maintaining a normal weight. A plump bulimic can die from a ruptured esophagus, and an early stage anorexic can die from cardiac arrhythmias.

MYTH #3: Anorexia nervosa primarily affects rich white Americans.

FACT: According to ANAD and the Harvard Mental Health Letter, eating disorders do not discriminate. All colors and nationalities suffer equally, be they Iranian, Irish, Puerto Rican, Jamaican, Balkan, Cape Verdean, Nigerian or Italian. Likewise, eating disorder victims hail from all socio-economic strata- poor and rich languishing in concert.

MYTH #4: Women who eat a fatty diet place themselves at higher risk for breast cancer.

FACT: The Journal of the American Medical Association published the results of a 14 year study of 80,000 women concluding that“ there is no evidence that eating a low fat diet will reduce the risk of breast cancer.

MYTH #5: Anorexia nervosa hits adolescent girls hardest.

FACT: It can take years to succumb to the insidious effects of progressive organ damage caused by an eating disorder. Death from anorexia or bulimia is more likely after 30. (ANAD/Harvard Mental Health Letter )

MYTH #6: Eating disorders are a whole separate issue from the substance abuse disorders.

FACT: According to the Eating Disorders Review, one study revealed that amidst a group of cocaine abusers, 49% of women and 13% of men began snorting coke to control their weight. Weight loss compelled the women in this study to cop “an average of 3 other substances for appetite control, excluding alcohol. ( July/August 1998)

MYTH #7: Most Anorexics develop the illness to manipulate and control their parents.

FACT: Actually, children can “inherit” eating disorders from a parent. Dr.Russell of Maudsley Hospital in London discovered that Anorexic mothers deliberately withhold food from their children. Pathological desire for thin children motivates this deprivation. The result: stunted growth, osteoporotic bones and psychological damage. (Eating Disorders Review, July/August 1998)

MYTH #8: The thinner you are the longer you will live.

FACT: Clinicians from The Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research in Dallas cite evidence proving that “men who were thin but unfit had three times the rate of early death as men who were fat but fit.”

The benefits of a healthy, nutritious diet combined with an active lifestyle can not be underestimated. Dieting down to bone-rack stature is neither a healthy nor desirable goal.
Do not confuse an eating disorder with vanity. Wanting to look good is not the same as an illness that self-induces starvation, vomiting, and drug abuse to lose weight. The eating disorders are serious. Untreated, they can be fatal. If you or someone you know suffers from an eating disorder, there is help available:

RESOURCES FOR PEOPLE WITH EATING DISORDERS

ANAD
1-847-831-3438
Box 7, Highland Park, Il. 60035
www.anad.org

“ANAD is the first non-profit educational and self-help organization in America dedicated to alleviating eating disorders. All ANAD services are free of charge, including counseling, information, referrals, self-help groups, education, early detection, and up to date listing of therapists and hospitals treating eating disorders”.

BOOKS

Kano, S. (1989) Making Peace With Food, Freeing Yourself from the Diet/Weight Obsession New York: Harper & Row

Chernin, K. (1981) The Obsession: Reflections on the Tyranny of Slenderness New York: Harper & Row

Hall, Lindsey, Cohn, Leigh (1986) Bulimia: A Guide to Recovery California: Gurze Books

Sandbek, T. (1986) The Deadly Diet: Recovering from Anorexia and Bulimia California: New Harshburger

Schwartz, H. (1986) Never Satisfied - A Cultural History of Diets, Fantasies, & Fat

© 2010 Jessica Faller Berger. All rights reserved. Any use of these files electronically or otherwise is strictly prohibited.