Please check out this amazing website: OperationBeautiful.com
The editor of the website, Caitlin Boyle, writes that Operation Beautiful‘s mission is to:
post anonymous notes in public places for other women to find. The point is that WE ARE ALL BEAUTIFUL. You are enough… just the way you are!
It’s such a simple idea…and I love it!
Filed under Miscellaneous
In this video from CBSNews.com, Dr. Jon LaPook gives a relatively brief (a bit under seven minutes) description of anorexia. He also discusses what he believes are the best forms of treatment and speculates on what might be some causes:
Click on the picture above to go to the Video.
It’s a very traditional sort of interview, but it does provide some good information. He seemed to avoid discussing specific forms of psychotherapies, referring to ‘intensive treatments’ without going into much more detail. He focused more on re-feeding the body and mind as treatment. In that way, it does not seem as comprehensive as I would have liked it to be, but I was still interested in what he had to say.
Some interesting points that come up in the video:
“The crucial first step in the treatment of anorexia nervosa is doing whatever it takes to get weight back to normal.”
“The brain changes…the brains of people with anorexia nervosa are smaller than normal. They get back to normal when they regain the weight.”
Do you disagree with anything Dr. LaPook was saying?
Here’s the bio for Dr. LaPook that is posted on the CBSNews’s website. And these are his blogs for The Huffington Post.
Filed under Eating Disorders
Vegetarian, vegan, raw food.
There are lots of people who are conscious of how they eat. They want to eat healthy. They want to eat organic food, sustainable food, raw food, food that is packaged in an environmentally friendly way. These are good ideals, and seemingly healthy lifestyle choices…but when does conscious food consumption cross the line? When does it become disordered eating?
There is a name for obsessively correct eating-Orthorexia Nervosa. They term was coined by Dr. Steven Bratman in 1997 in an article he published in Yoga Journal, and the concept has since become more relevant, with the increase in going green, and eating ‘right’.
Bratman goes into detail about his own experience with orthorexia nervosa. A time when he lived on a commune, obsessed with eating only organic food, thinking almost constantly about food. This excerpt from his article shows when he realized he had a problem:
My ability to carry on normal conversations was hindered by intrusive thoughts of food. The need to obtain meals free of meat, fat, and artificial chemicals had put nearly all social forms of eating beyond my reach. I was lonely and obsessed.
Even when I became aware that my scrabbling in the dirt after raw vegetables and wild plants had become an obsession, I found it terribly difficult to free myself. I had been seduced by righteous eating.
The problem of my life’s meaning had been transferred inexorably to food, and I could not reclaim it.
But the line between healthy eating and obsession is hard to draw. In a different article, Orthorexia nervosa: An unhealthy obsession with eating healthy foods, they discussed what that line was:
“‘Especially when there’s a tendency toward the elimination of certain types of food and the conceptualizing of certain foods as being bad’ …It’s a warning flag if a person’s eating patterns begin to interfere with normal life, and he or she starts to forbid more and more types of food from his or her diet”
So basically, the line between eating healthfully, and becoming disordered and obsessive is life interference. When people obsess constantly over what they are eating, and do not eat enough because of that, there is a problem. If someones health begins to suffer because they are trying so hard to eat ‘healthy’ there is a problem.
There is an important distinction between the mindset of someone struggling with an eating disorder such as anorexia, as opposed to someone with orthorexia nervosa. With orthorexia, the person honestly believes that what they are doing is healthy. They belive that they are doing the best possible things for their body, and to convince them that they are being unhealthy, or doing damage to their body is very difficult.
Orthorexia Nervosa is not (yet) recognized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, published by the American Psychiatric Association.
Whether it is technically a disorder or not, if it is negatively and severely effecting peoples health, it is something to be concerned about.
Do you think Orthorexia Nervosa is a disorder?
Filed under Eating Disorders
Check out this clip from the today show:
A girl’s struggle with anorexia
It shows a girl who became anorexic at 10 years old!
Filed under Uncategorized
I was reading through articles on ABCNews.com when I came across an article, A Few Months of Talk Therapy Treats Bulimia.
Really? Is that all it takes? Just a few short months, and all those suffering with bulimia could be cured?
Upon reading further into the article, I found out what was really going on. A multi-study review had shown that “bulimia specific talk therapy, also called cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), compared with no treatment, led to cessation of binge eating in about 37 percent of those treated.”
So this is good, bulimia specific CBT is effective in 37 percent of patients. Not a cure-all by any means, but a positive find.
It turns out that the big finding this article was talking about, is that bulimia specific CBT can be effective in four to five months, as opposed to other psychotherapies which take closer to a year.
The article turned out to be informative, and interesting, but the headline may do more damage than it does good. The headline makes it seem as though this form of therapy will work, on all patients, in just a few months. People may wonder why they aren’t cured yet, or why this did not work for them. And people in their lives may read that, and think that the bulimic person is faking it, because obviously if it were real it would have been cured by CBT.
Perhaps I am putting too much stock into one articles headline. But I do believe that the word choice was terrible.
Other articles which cited the same multi-study review were titled: Talk Therapy Can Significantly Treat Bulimia, and Bulimia and Binge Eating May Respond to Talk Therapy.
These headlines may not be as concise, but they seem more accurate.
Regardless of poor editing, the main point to take from all three articles is this: “Bulimia nervosa is treatable; that some treatment is better than no treatment; [and] that CBT is associated with the best outcome for bulimia nervosa,” said Cynthia Bulik, PH.D., Director of the University of North Carolina Eating Disorders Program.
Bulik was quoted in all three articles that I’ve mentioned.
Bulik also said: “CBT rests on the premise that unhealthy thoughts lie at both the roots of bulimia nervosa and in the maintenance of unhealthy eating behaviors…The goals of CBT are first to have the patient become his or her own detective and – via self-monitoring – start to understand their patterns of binge eating and purging and recognize and anticipate the cues (triggers) for their unhealthy behaviors”
As great as this find is, it is effective for 37 percent of patients…that leaves the other 63 percent. I just think we need better results than that before we can say that “a few months of talk therapy treats bulimia.”
Filed under Uncategorized
The New York Times published a multimedia presentation called Patient Voices: Eating Disorders. In this presentation, eight individuals briefly tell about their personal struggles, and the effects that anorexia and bulimia have had on their lives.
The faces of eating disorders. (Barney Taxel for The New York Times, Darren Hauck/New York Times, Jeremy M. Lange for The New York Times, Ruth Fremson/The New York Times, Stuart Isett for The New York Times, Brendan Smialowski for The New York Times)
The presentation has eight separate clips, each comprised of a two minute audio segment of a person telling their story, as well as four photographs.
One of the most notable aspects of the piece is that it included the stories of two men, as well as the story of one mother’s struggle in seeing and handling her daughter’s anorexia. These stories provided different perspectives from what is typically looked at.
One patient, Gary Grahl, said, “I loved to just count my ribs, my sternum, and for some reason it was a feeling of accomplishment for me and pride. I felt I had this control over my body.” However, he also said that “Eating disorders aren’t about food, and weight, and calories. They’re about identity issues and about fear of feelings, and fear of failure.”
They interviewed a mother daughter pair, Gillian Calig and her mother Lauren Calig. It was interesting to hear both of their perspectives in one place, and I think that it is important to view the effects that eating disorders can have on the family members of eating disorder sufferers. Gillian was diagnosed with anorexia at 13 years old. At 17 now, Gillian feels like things are going the best they have in a long time, but she acknowledges that the disease will always be a part of her life.
Gillian’s mother, Lauren, said “It has been totally devastating. You know, its all-consuming. Even when things are going well, you’re still really concerned…we can feed her, we can make sure she’s healthy. But, the last thing to go is the mindset. This is a mental disorder, and , that we can’t ever forget.”
This multimedia piece gives some insight into the lives of people struggling with eating disorders. And the way that it keeps each persons story completely separate, and yet part of the same package is particularly effective in addressing this issue. By keeping them separate it maintains that each of these stories, each of these struggles is separate. No persons battle with these disorders is exactly the same as someone elses. There are different kinds of disorders and varying symptoms.
It helps people to better understand, or at least to want to understand, these disorders when they can put a face, and a voice to them.
Filed under Uncategorized
Secrecy is part of the nature of eating disorders, and those struggling with a disorder do whatever is in their power to hide the fact that they are struggling. Because of that, it may be difficult to spot if someone you know has a problem.
It is important to remember that anorexia and bulimia, although closely linked, are different diseases and therefore have different signs.
Signs and symptoms of Bulimia:
(signs and symptoms from eatingdisorderclinic.org)
Some behaviors are easier to spot then symptoms. For example, going to the bathroom immediately after consuming large quantities of food, hoarding or hiding food, excessive laxative use, and misuse of both laxatives and diuretics.
Also, some bulimics may engage in compulsive exercising. Compulsive excercise disorder may be the sole means of controlling weight, and its own eating disorder. It is also seen as a sort of accompaniment to both anorexia and bulimia. Compulsive exercising is NOT healthy, it can cause serious and permanent damage, and is a huge warning sign that something is wrong.
Signs and Symptoms of Anorexia:
(Signs and symptoms from Health24.com)
Another sign that someone is struggling with an eating disorder is body checking. If a person is constantly grabbing parts of their own body, for example: pinching their upper arms, putting their hands around their waist, checking the size of their wrists by putting wrapping their fingers around them. There are many different ways a person could be doing body checks.
Body comparisons are another sign. Comparing their own bodies, specifically individual body parts, to celebrities, models, friends, and family.
Another thing to look for is constant fidgeting. Although many people do this who do not have eating disorders, if you already suspect someone may have one this is a sign to be aware of.
Also, sitting and standing in a manner to appear smaller. For example, ‘double-crossing’ their legs.
These signs and symptoms are just a starting point. It is important to be aware of these signs because eating disorders do not just go away, they need treatment. And people suffering with these disorders often do not want treatment, but they need it.
Filed under Eating Disorders
What do you picture when you hear the word anorexic?
Is it a teenaged female? Is she white and upper-middle class?
Anorexia has come to be perceived by many people who do not know enough about the disease as a rich white girl disorder. This myth is hurtful in many ways, and not just because it is prejudiced and offensive.
By viewing anorexia and eating disorders in general as a problem for white female suburbanites, people are belittling those who struggle with these diseases. The myth also prevents many people who do not fit the stereotype of what an anorexic is from getting the help they need.
Eating disorders can affect anyone, regardless of race, gender, sexual identity, or socio-economic status.
A recent study done in Ireland shows that eating disorders among twelve to seventeen year old boys is a prevalent problem. Irish Medical News published an article stating that more than 4,000 Irish boys in that age group could have eating disorders.
Eating disorders also affect all different age groups. A Seattle Times article looking at obesity and anorexia in children stated that the average age of onset for anorexia is between 9 and 12. Those are children, not teenagers.
There has also been a jump in adult onset anorexia and bulimia. This ABC article, published this past March said that doctors are finding that there is a growing number of older women (30’s, 40’s, and 50’s) that are being diagnosed with eating disorders. For some women it may be corresponding with some sort of ‘mid-life crisis’, however most women who are being newly diagnosed have exhibited some symptoms at an earlier time in their lives.
It is the men with anorexia and/or bulimia that are so often ignored, and so often embarrassed to come forward about their struggle with a ‘women’s problem.’ The New York Times published, Thinner: The Male Battle With Anorexia, back in 2000. In this article Dr. Thomas Holbrook, a recovering anorexic, tells a little bit about his struggles with anorexia.
Holbrook was 33 when he first began struggling with the disease. It was triggered when he became injured and could no longer run his “customary 15 miles a day.” As a male, and as a person whose struggles began in adult life, Holbrook definitely defies the myth.
Eating disorders can affect anyone. And it is important to know the signs of an eating disorder in case anyone in your life is struggling with one.
Filed under Eating Disorders
Anti-Thinspiration: A look at eating disorders and treatment 