Eating Disorder Talk

I was a fat kid. Until I learned all there was to know about anorexia, that is. And to be honest, about 80% of my initial motivation to become anorexic was to not be the chubby kid. No longer picked on in school so that I spent lunch hours reading alone in the classroom. No longer spoken about at the doctor’s office in hushed tones while I stood outside and overheard the word ‘clinically obese.’ I didn’t want to have any more reason to be labelled, I suppose, and being fat, it was the one I could control most.

Sure, later anorexia became much more than being thin or liked. But that’s not what this series is about.

This theory I have is that the media does have quite an affect on eating disorder increases. Not strictly in the usual sense, that surrounding us with images of thin, successful people is plaguing our minds and diets; that there is so much literature out there, documenting increasing in obesity in parallel with increases in other health problems.

Obesity can in part be blamed for a whole host of problems:

• Heart disease;
• Diabetes, type two;
• Some cancers;
• Sleep problems;
• Skeletal alignment issues;
• Distortion of cancer test results;
• Sadness;
• Increased sick days, morbidity and the associated costs;
• Potentially lowering dopamine absorption or manufacturing;
• Fertility issues.

And on and on. It seems that obesity can and is being blamed for every physical and emotional health issue at large. So, that being displayed, wouldn’t you be more likely to skip a few meals, avoid fatty foods, become obsessive about maintaining an appropriate body mass index if you are continually being bombarded with news about being fat equalling being unhealthy and, well, dead?

Obesity, Childhood obesity, Cancer, Heart Disease, Diabetes, Sleep, Sadness, Depression, Teasing, Bullying, Sickness, Morbidity, Dopamine, Fertility, Media and obesity, Media and fear

I’ve made it fairly clear, I think media has a lot to do with females’ body-image issues, but I don’t think the media is to blame for eating disorders. I actually think that eating disorders are a secondary reaction to the saturation of media in first-world countries, a quantifiable mental illness and that few will ever develop one without a predisposition for it. I don’t think you go on a diet to look like Cameron Dias and then, bam, you’ve got an eating disorder. And, I don’t even think that all girls who might look like me and act like me have them.

There is a sub-class of eating disorder sufferers calling themselves ‘pro-ana’. And within this sub-class there is a sub-sub-class, if you will, who many of us lippy ones call ‘wannarexics.’ These are the ones that give media full responsibility because they read magazines and perezhilton and thought, hey, I wanna be this famous and worshipped and being thin, that’s obviously the way. These are the people that truly sick ones sneer towards. In part, because they’re making a mockery of all of our work, but also because, well it’s just so amazingly trashy.

So I thought, you guys get to hear my opinions so often, why not have a celebrity from the most newly-popular media medium, the blogosphere, give her comments, too? This woman has been interviewed here before, she’s been blogging for eight years, she’s ranked barely over 25,000 on technorati (ED Talk is ranked at 65,568) and 400,000 on Alexa (ED Talk: 8,190,059), has won numerous awards for blogging and is a published book writer.

All accomplished by her 24^th year.

As a little girl, did you ever dream of modeling - being in the spotlight, photographed, oohed and awed over and having other people wish they could be your friend? A lot of girls do, or alternatively, a lot wish for something similar via pageants, acting and/or singing careers. I’ve written about what a random magazine will put in it, drawing a correlation between content and advertising, and women’s self-image issues, but imagine the pressure you’d feel when very much in the public eye, say, on a reality-based show wherein the winner is awarded a modelling contract?

America’s Next Top Model blew up overnight it seemed. Tyra’s bigger-than-life personality, the semi-mockery of mostly teenage girls, the flagrant alternation between maternal guiding and hissy fits.  It had something for everyone and the word fierce became an all-too-well-used one. Then was spawned Canada’s Next Top Model in May of 2006. Andrea Muizelaar was the premiere season’s winner, to the chagrin of many viewers.

Recently, Andrea was interviewed by a writer for Wikinews, which has initially hyped that CNTM is to blame, in part at least, for her eating disorder and her subsequent retirement from modeling.

In fact, she explains her background, intimating that somewhere around 14 is when she became anorexic - she had decided that she wanted to model after outgrowing her geeky, awkward stage, and lost 20 pounds in preparation. After winning the show, she says that she was ashamed of her appearance - that she couldn’t face the children she used to babysit. She also gives quite an embittered opinion of Tyra Bank’s decision to select plus-sized models, though none of them have ever won the show or come close to doing so.

I suggest checking it out. It confirmed my suspicions of the show(s), but also, well, it made me a little sad that she was putting so much apparent blame on the show. I mean, you entered a modeling contest, what did you think it would be like?

A website previously unknown to me is about to become a part of my daily life. I am in the process of joining the Checkup Today network, a community based on the topics of various health issues, news and stories.

As far as I’m aware, I will be contributing in part to the Weight Loss & Nutrition category, but there are many other great areas of interest as well. Check out the site and see where it takes you!

Another link I’d like you to check out is the National Eating Disorder Association’s 3rd Annual Every Body is Beautiful Online Auction. The auction ends on December 2nd and includes all kinds of amazing stuff like tickets to live talk show tapings, vacations, celebrity memorabilia, books (like this one, that I’ve previously written about) and concert tickets. I’m panning on bidding on this shirt, so come check out what you can do to help, too. So far they’ve raised over $9,000 to go towards treatment referral, support and education.

Since the blogging boom has erased the dotcom fall-out with so many professional bloggers and telecommuters, new forms of journalism and education being are being embraced and self-publishing via eBooks is going through the roof. What does that mean? Anyone can write a how-to, market it within their niche and sell it for a minimal cost to themselves and their customer. People are snapping these things up! Downloading them up, more like.

So, a question for you, fine reader. If you had the opportunity to download, virtually anonymously, an eBook that taught you how to have an eating disorder, would you? I know some of you, who don’t comment, but still do read, are pro-ana or pro-mia - why hasn’t anyone told me if such a thing exists, where to get it, or why there isn’t a demand for it? Are you all too busy doing crunches and running miles? Email me if you’ve got something to say on the matter, it will not be discussed further on ED Talk outside of any comments you feel like leaving.

And enjoy your weekends, okay?

Today I’d like to talk about something that a lot of women take issue with – perceptions of self image in relation to sexual attractiveness. There’s this whole spectrum of women, especially younger and younger girls, who seem to believe that self worth is largely or even solely based on how men (and/or women, in the case of lesbian and bisexual women) view their sexual attractiveness.

I’m guilty of this as well. Though guilt is not exactly the right word.

News hit the internet last month when Kate Moss was repeatedly heard using the self-invented word, ‘rexy’ to describe herself and friends – a combination of anorexic and sexy. Moss had apparently dropped some weight since her last breakup with Pete Doherty and went on a ‘detox’ of hot water and green tea. This is just another example of the media and it’s main characters’ endeavours to shake up the non-A-lister’s psyche.

A study was undergone at North Dakota State University in 2003. This study examined the perceptions of weight and it’s relative effect on self worth, as integrated with sexual attractiveness to the desired sex. More specifically, it looked at how women assumed men would want them to look to be considered sexually attractive and vice versa. The findings: men were fairly realistic about their expectations of women’s sexual ideals; women assumed men idealized a thinner sexual partner than men actually wanted. What’s more concerting is the correlation between disordered eating and women who assumed than their self worth was based upon their (inaccurate) sexual attractiveness to men.

So, in this North American society where sex sells, surrounds and starves, maybe we should consider a more normalized approach. Instead of banning models from catwalks so as to lower the risk of marketed anorexia, why don’t the men we want to attract stand up and tell us exactly how disinteresting 00 is?

Not that we women should care, right?

So, if you’re not aware, there’s a very popular website called Post Secret. It’s one of the most successful blogs out there, without paid advertising apparently, and it’s premise is that people send in post cards in with an image and a secret – get it? Post Secret. Later, the blog’s author puts the best secrets into a book – which people buy and he goes on tours to promote. Anyways.

here’s the usual cheating and fantasizing and stealing – the seven deadly sins, basically. There’s secrets of retaliation and guilt and forgiveness. Most of the time it’s a pretty interesting anthropological study. A couple of weeks ago, the image at the left was one of the featured secrets.

Now, I’ve written in the past of my concern over my eating disorder, whether teetering in recovery or not, having such an affect on my daughter as to sway her towards the abyss. I mean, when you see someone 24 hours a day who is obviously plagued, it could consequently equal her thinking it’s normal or even acceptable. This is the last thing I want, obviously.

But my problem with this postcard is that it was sent into a secret website, meaning that the author of the postcard either doesn’t want people to know about her eating disorder (in which case, how likely it is that it will be passed onto her daughter) or she’s consumed with shame that she doesn’t want her daughter to develop an eating disorder.

Which do you think it is and how would this hit you?

Oliviero Toscani is a fashion photographer known for controversial ads for United Colours of Benetton, including the ad above. The photo, taken by Therese Frare, depicts the final moments of an AIDS-activist’s life. Toscani’s other work has prodded into more taboo areas such as racism, homosexuality, corporal punishment, war and religion.

Recently, he’s gone on to produce another ad-set that is finding mixed reviews amongst the public, and even some anti-eating disorder congregants. The ad adjacent and it’s counterpart, the back-side view of the model, are being displayed around metropolitan areas of Italy in an attempt to cause distaste towards the pro-anorexia movement and increases in eating disorders.

How does this ad affect those with eating disorders and even more specifically, those with anorexia? Personally, though I understand what the intention was, I find it to be a slap in the face. More so because of the almost coy look on the model’s face. This is supposed to disgust and draw me away from anorexia’s arms? I think all it does is laugh at the faces of those affected by the condition.

Something could be said for targeting the ‘wannarexics’ in the world, I suppose, but stereotypically those seeking pro-ana behaviour end up deep in ana’s clutches before they’ve realized it’s more than a diet. The ads, I think, are better suited for the parents and families of those starting to fall into the disorder. Because really, if you were fantasizing about being so small you disappeared, would this picture make you sick?

What do you think of the message it’s trying to portray?

Like so many other women, I have a copy of this month’s Glamour Magazine. It wasn’t by choice, for me, since Jane magazine is no longer being published and that’s what my subscription was for, but I digress.

I’m going to point out what the 341 pages of the monthly periodical has this month:

• an obviously photo-shopped cover-photo of Ugly Betty’s America Ferrera, with a headline of, “Surprise! She’s a bombshell (and you can be one too)”
• a cover-headline of, “1st Annual Figure-Flattery Issue!”
• another headline, “101 ways to dress your body better”
• another weight loss article
• three recipes.

Advertisements:

• At least 131 advertisments, not including the classifieds section;
• 1 for Dove Soap;
• 1 for Cigarettes
• 3 for birth control;
• 1 for conception aides;
• 8 of food items;
• 8 for diet aide, breast enhancement or other figure “perfecting” product.

Images:

• 18 women who were of average or over-average size, including three of the same woman during pregnancy;
• 63 women who were very thin or had bodies typically-unattainable for most women;
• 23 scantily-clad, naked or lingerie-clothed women.

What did this tell me? Sex with skinny chicks sells and I need to buy low-calorie foods while wearing diamond-encrusted platinum.

What does your magazine rack tell you?

It’s been quite a while since I’ve:

cleaned out my bookmarked articles and sites and did a speed-link for you.

So, since the weekend looms, I’ve tons of work to be done, and my daughter is actually napping without being pushed in a stroller as a prerequisite (and I’d like to max out productivity, while I’ve the time!), I give you the following sites to check out:

• CBC News published an article on a judge’s recent ruling of New York City fast food restaurants that do not have to show calorie contents on their menus. To be honest, I’d not even been aware of this rule in NY or any of the other three cities and 14 states that have made moves to bring such legislation into play. It’s a good thought, since research has shown that when made aware of the content of their fast foods, diners will choose the calorie-laden fare about a third of the time.
• PsychPort reported that according to the results of a Norwegian study, pregnancy can open up possible binge eating behaviours.
• For the most part, unrelated to eating disorders, the Government of England will be providing mothers-to-be with a benefit to allow for healthy eating during pregnancy. This £200 one-time payment at 29-weeks gestation may allow low-income mothers to eat better - but what’s to help that during the early gestational months?
• During Mew York’s Fashion week, the girls at Jezebel handed out some rather appropriate and scandalous goody bags.
• Results of the first-ever Latino-focused eating disorder study were published recently, showing binge eating to be of high concern.
• Diet Blog dismisses the new diet book, 21 Pounds in 21 Days: The Martha’s Vineyard Diet Detox by Roni Deluz.

crash diets, detox diets, toxins, latino eating disorders, binge eating disorder, binge eating, jezebel.com, New York Fashion Week, bulimia goody bags, pregnancy diet income supplement, pregnancy and eating disorders, pregnancy and binge eating, fast-food, calorie reporting, calorie menus

So research in the area of obesity has recently turned up some plausible proofs of some wacky theories. There’s the virus that causes fat cells to expand - you get it, and you can blame your weight on being sick. And now, there’s a gene that controls fat formation.

The virus is not yet treatable, nor has a vaccine been introduced. But it would give obese and overweight people a sense of justice - knowing that they’re afflicted with a sickness out of their control. The gene, in fruit flies at least, appears manipulable. Meaning they could, in theory, turn up fat formation so that people who have trouble gaining and keeping weight are successful. Alternately, they could turn down the formation, allowing overweight and obese members of society a genetic diet.

And this is what all of my recent media raving has come to: The media is so inspired and littered with celebrity weight ideals, eating disorder rumours and “scientific gains” to combat the obesity epidemic. It’s enough to make you never want to eat, again. Or never stop, depending on your habit du jour.

Why do we want to take control away from people when most who have issues with disordered eating - whether not enough, too much or digesting it, fully and naturally - when control is what most disordered eating revolves around? Bulimics purge as a means to cleanse of the lack of control they felt while binging (or eating in general, sometimes). Anorexics sometimes only have “control” over what they put into their bodies and how they choose to use it (such as in the case of over-exercising). Overeaters and Binge Eaters, well, eating can be seen as a coping mechanism to situations and feelings over which they have no control.

I see treating, medically, a weight problem (outside of extreme risks to health, of course) akin to sedating the opiate addict - yes, they come out clean on the other side, but without the pain and coping of withdrawal and therapy, what did they learn and what will stop them from returning?

I’m not condemning overweight people as bad. But the fact, until recently, existed that being overweight is about simple intake and output. Sure some bodies don’t function as effectively as others and the hard-fast rule of losing 3,500 calories means a loss of one pound is few and far between, in reality. But that doesn’t mean fixing it with a vaccine or medication, does it?

We need, as a world, community, species to come to terms with the fact that we are ultimately responsible for everything that we’ve experienced. We choose to lose weight, to starve, to binge, to sit without moving for a day, to drive to the corner store, etc.

Isn’t that a good way to take control?

obesity, fat gene, fat virus, control, diet, binge, eating disorder, anorexia, bulimia, overeaters, locus of control

I know I’ve been writing a lot about media-influences on eating disorders. I am not blaming the media per se - I really believe there is a valid genetic predisposition for disordered eating - there will be a point to all of this media-attacking, soon.

Some recent reading has brought to mind this paradox that exists: encouraging healthy eating, educating the public about obesity risks, being open and removing taboo from eating disorder stories…all of these actions don’t seem to be doing a damn thing.

A recent study reported in the Journal of Consumer Research showed that participants who visited healthy food arenas will actually consume more calories, more fats and think they’re fairing better than someone who has traveled to McDonald’s for a BigMac. Read about the study, here.

Part of this is lack of education, which is understandable. It’s time consuming staying on top of what is healthy, what’s too much, what may kill you, what could prevent cancer, etc. You need a degree in nutrition and you need to devote some of your life to staying on top of the constant changes “they” put out.

Part of this is one-track ignorance. What I mean is to say that healthy living has been marketed so far past the point of most people caring - it goes in one ear, out the other. Sometimes, a few snippets of information are reserved for future reference and that’s where the danger seems to lie. Let’s use the aforementioned study as an example:

Participants were given the ability to go to McDonald’s for a BigMac or a 12″ Italian Sandwich from Subway. Subway visitors were also given the chance to supplement their sandwich with a cookie and fountain drink. We all know how unhealthy McDonald’s is, right? It’s greasy, it’s mass-produced, it may leave you wanting for quality and as a general rule, your burger will never resemble the advertisement. Subway, well, it’s obviously healthy - Jared Fogle lost weight via eating their subs and the company itself is owned by Doctor’s Associated Inc. So, should be easy-peasey - the people who went to Subway were obviously eating a healthier meal and probably took in less calories, fat and food than those visiting the arches.

Nope. Subway visitors usually got regular soda and a cookie, in addition to a 12″ sub - they averaged 56% more calories than Ronald’s visitors. Yet they estimated a lower intake. Look up what your favourite sub weighs in at, I dare you.

Part of this is also just plain arrogance, I think. People are too important, too starved for time, and too concerned with consuming and expending to actually just pay attention to needs. No one needs a 12″ sub, with three types of meat, cheese, condiments and potentially a cup of vegetables on it. With a cookie (or three - there’s a deal if you buy in bulk) and a 20oz. soda.

For an example, I used the USDA’s myPyramid application. After I plugged in my age, gender, height, daily activity level and intention of moving towards a healthier weight progressively, the resulted recommended serving requirements was overtaken by the experiment’s Subway meal:

• 70% of my daily grain needs;
• 33% of vegetable needs;
• 0% of my fruit needs;
• about 10% of my dairy needs; and
• my entire day’s meat requirements.

Yet we will all judge the person who holds weight or gains weight or even loses weight, because, well, obviously they don’t have healthy eating habits.

Obesity in North America, particularly in the States, is still rising. But even my country isn’t innocent, with Statistics Canada reporting that many age groups’ rates have doubled since prior to the 80s.

The CDC reported similar results - a jump from 15.0% in their survey which ended in 1980, to 32.9% in 2004. The site then quotes a goal of reducing the adult obesity rate to below 15% - and argues that rates are worsening.

This is reaching epic proportions at a time when disordered eating is also rising to epidemic-like levels. What’s the correlation?

I think it’s fear. The media, the governments, the neighbours who’s dog you watch pee on your lawn - everyone is a (often unconscious) fear-promoter. We are all afraid of not measuring up, being fat, dying young, dying broke, having the best toys, being the most loved, being successful, making people proud of us, being winners and most importantly, doing the right thing (the right thing can mean a million different things, it depends on whoever we think is going to judge us).

So, we eat twice the calories that we need at Subway? Jared says we’ll lose weight doing it.

Subway, consumers, McDonald’s, diet, healthy eating, obesity, food pyramid, Jared Fogle

Go figure, it’s a lot easier to track down negative self-image songs than dredge up positive ones. And without any (ahem) suggestions, this is my meager list of songs I’d iPod for my recovery. As suggested previously, check out this site for the lyrics.

• Stronger - Christina Aguilera
• Thank U - Alanis Morisette
• More to Life - Stacey Orrico
• Supermodel - India Arie
• Extraordinary Machine - Fiona Apple
• The Good Life - Weezer
• Beautiful - Christina Aguilera
• Damn Girl - Justin Timberlake
• Backstreet’s Back - The Backstreet Boys (just for fun.)

Any other suggestions, guys?

I also came upon this site. Any one have comments? Seems a little…unmarketable to me.

It’s really amazing how many songs there are out there to inspire people towards eating disorders. Conversely, a lot of positive inspiration is out there, too. Here’s the top songs I found about eating disorders, or which are known to be used as thinspiration. Tomorrow, I’ll cover some of the recovery or anti-ED songs out there - one’s used to affect positivity of self image.

1. Ana’s Song - Silverchair
2. Paper Bag - Fiona Apple
3. Lucy at the Gym - Jill Sobule
4. Big Isn’t Beautiful - King Andora
5. She’s Falling Apart - Lisa Loeb
6. Anorexic Beauty - Pulp
7. Hurt - Nine Inch Nails (hell, most of the whole damn Further Down the Spiral Album)
8. That I Would be Good - Alanis Morisette
9. Skinny - Filter
10. 4st, 7lb - Manic Street Preachers
11. Me and Mia - Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
12. Cars and Calories - Saves the Day
13. Mary Jane - Alanis Morisette

If you’d like to check out the lyrics to any of the above songs, I suggest using a developed database, such as this one. Is there any songs that you’re familiar with? If you’d like to suggest a pro-recovery song for mention tomorrow, please email me or leave a comment.

Media-wise, so much focus is given to Social Anorexia, even when talking about bulimia. Social Anorexia, for those who aren’t aware, can loosely be defined as an eating disorder, Anorexia, that was brought on by a media-instilled quest for thinness. People go on extreme diets and use bulimic tactics to lower and maintain their weights to conform to some magazine/Hollywood-idealized form.

So when I came across this post on Dumb Little Man, I couldn’t help but point you in the direction. And show you my favourites:

• drink water.
• have sex daily.
• skip seconds and eat slower.
• use nonfat milk in your latte.
• skip the muffin.

I couldn’t have said those better myself. My top three add-ons?

1. Use spices such as cayenne, basil and garlic instead of excess salt.
   Just one tablespoon of salt is nearly 300% of the recommended daily amount for a lot of people. Let’s not even talk water retention.
2. Replace soda with 100% fruit or vegetable juice.
   Eight ounces of V8 juice contains only 50 calories, yet is high in fibre and vitamins A and C (as well as sugar and salt); soda’s same serving size has nearly double the calories, no vitamins or minerals (but under 10% of the sodium of V8).
3. Watch portion sizes.
   Literally learn the recommended portion amounts for your age, sex and lifestyle and then use the size recommendations. Did you know hat a serving of meat is roughly the same size as a deck of cards? A serving of pasta or rice is equal to a light bulb. Check out the link above for more comparisons.