Eating Disorder Talk

Last week, I reviewed the top five anorexia sites, as listed by Alexa.

This week, as promised, is my take on the top sites devoted to binge eating disorder (BED).

1. Teen’s Health - Well, the site is targeted towards teens, making it a very easy read. Some of the information is contradictory: people engaged in a binge often eat past feeling full vs. theories about the hypothalamus’ failure to provide a message of fullness. There is some information as to the types of help needed in the case of BED, such as nutritionists to provide a realistic eating plan. The page also has tabs to the right wherein readers can look to other related articles and resources. But overall, this is very introductory - though quite well put together, when considered for teens’ reading.

2. Weight-control Information Network - Provides answers to the questions of risk, prevalence, symptoms, complications, types of therapy relevant to BED. Vague answers about causes and weight loss attempts are also tackled. The bottom of the single page provides a general message titled “you are not alone” and contact information for National Eating Disorder Association and Academy for Eating Disorders. Very safe website: provides medically based facts and doesn’t waste very much time theorizing on anything unproven. One good thing is that there’s a chart which profiles 10 programs in the United States - including the program type, treatment used and age of patients taken. Three additional reading resources are also provided: the oldest was published in 1959; the newest, 2003.

3. athealth.com - My favourite, so far, the main page is a Q and A with the director and a psychologist of the Acoria Eating Disorders Treatment Center in Cincinnati. The interview is very candid, allowing for theorizing and bluntness. This was refreshing, considering how much BED resources are timid and people-pleasing. The sidebar provides newsletters, a lookup for practitioners and treatment centres, self-help and book store sections, a resource centre and featured articles. Very reader-friendly, while being overtly honest. Just my kind of place.

4. a weight out - Since the focus of most of the entire site is overeating, both compulsive and emotional, it’s hard to look at this page as anything directly related to an eating disorder resource. There is a short write about about “when it’s a binge eating disorder” and links on the side bar to symptoms and signs, dieting, child obesity and confessions. Also sidebarred is a link called “Beyond Fen-Phen,” which was the article published in January 1998 by a Cincinnati reporter who had struggled with emotional eating and diet pills. A little old, don’t you think? This site made BED seem as though it was a reason to diet, not a severe eating disorder.

5. Healthy Place - A community devoted to eating disorders. The link above will take you to a transcripted interview between a moderator, audience and author/recovered binge eater, Jane Latimer. I recommend it because it was inspiring and informative. There are, however, very few external links, excepting Latimer’s site and Overeaters Anonymous. All sidebarred items are the usual, but again only internal “Healthy Place” links. I find it semi-disturbing that they’ve cornered the information market, apparently.

Overall, very disappointing but predictable. Overeating and BED have long been stereotyped against. Few people seem to consider binge eating as serious as the other big two disorders. Alarming. Too many people tie it in with being overweight or obese, not as a serious mental condition. Odd, when you consider how many complications and life-long health issues that can be incurred from life with BED.

Is it just another indication of our society’s obsession with thin? To the outside world, anorexia is obviously about being as thin as possible; bulimia is about halting weigh gain due to gorging, via purging in some form. These two are specific methods of getting or staying thin, whereas BED is (again, to the uninvolved eye) about gaining weight from a lack of self-control. Approximately 1 in 142 people suffer from BED, 1 in 1000 from anorexia and 1 in 181 of bulimia (stats according to wrong diagnosis)- yet we are obsessed with the lower “ranking” diseases.

Why do you think that is?

Next week, I’ll review the top five sites related to Bulimia. That should be quite different than this week’s!

BED, overeating, compulsive eating, obesity