Eating Disorders: When Dieting Controls You

Published on: April 7, 2002

by Amy Chen

Most Americans believe that physical appearance is important. The media exploits this belief by encouraging people to base self-worth on body weight and shape. Women and men are endlessly bombarded with clear images of what makes an attractive person. Arbitrarily, the current trend dictates that an attractive woman is clinically underweight, but with a physiologically unrealistic ample bustline. Recall documentaries depicting people living in famine. The hollow cheeks, the gaunt appearance, the protruding collar bones, the frail, stick-like arms and legs of the famine-stricken women are images reminiscent of many of today's popular fashion models minus the trendy make-up and designer garb. (Yet also note the discrepancy: the absence of corpulent breasts on those starving women too weak to feed their babies.) It is not too extreme to compare women living in starvation to the popular media-peddled standard of femininity that is an emaciated, atrophic, fragile woman. In the country of plenty, it remains an irony that women should voluntarily starve themselves in order to comply with the fickle media-driven standard of physical attractiveness.

Given the media's "thin-ideal" influence on society, it is no surprise that disordered eating thrives among women and even men. Research on body image has shown that exposure to the media-portrayed thin-ideal to girls and women of different ages results in feelings of depression, stress, guilt, shame, insecurity, and body dissatisfaction.

Before it was thought that eating disorders only affected white, high school aged girls from affluent families. Now disordered eating is reported among all races in America, from all socioeconomic backgrounds, in girls as young as 6 years old to women of all stages of life, and boys and men. Disordered eating can be used as a coping mechanism to rechannel, avoid, or forget emotions that feel too threatening. Interestingly, food can be a person's misused source of comfort as well as the enemy. People suffering from eating disorders often report low self-esteem, feelings of helplessness, and a fear of becoming fat. They generally feel inadequate, ashamed, and guilty that they don't measure up to their rigid standards.

There is a long list of diagnostic criteria for eating disorders, and there are several forms and categories of disordered eating. Just two of the most prevalent forms of eating disorders include anorexia nervosa (self-starvation) and bulimia nervosa (binging and purging), and some people suffer from a combination of anorexic and bulimic symptoms. Anorexics refuse to maintain a minimally healthy weight and are afraid to gain weight, even when they are dangerously emaciated. Like alcoholics, eating disorder sufferers are in denial about the seriousness of their low weight status. Some symptoms of anorexia are the same as in starvation and severe weight loss. Anorexics may have dry skin, dry hair, hair loss and easily chipped fingernails, growth of body hair (lanugo), a severe drop in metabolic rate, disturbances in the heart's rhythm and rate, dangerously low blood pressure and body temperature, cold hands and feet, constipation and digestive problems, infertility, stunted growth in the young, and amenorrhea in women. Amenorrhea is defined as the absence of the menstrual period for three consecutive cycles. The danger of amenorrhea is the high increase in risk for thin, brittle bones (osteoporosis) and infertility. In severe anorexia, severe chemical imbalances result, and the progressive weakness of the heart muscle can lead to death.

Bulimics are usually of average or slightly above average body weight. Within a certain period of time, they eat a larger amount of food than most people would eat under similar circumstances. Bulimics feel like they're out of control, and can't stop or control how much is eaten once they start. Once they've finished binging, they try to compensate for overeating. The Purging type bulimics make themselves vomit (purge), abuse laxatives, diuretics, enemas or other medications. The Non-purging type bulimics stop eating for long periods and/or exercise excessively. Bulimics will engage in the binge eating and inappropriate compensatory behavior cycle on average at least twice a week for three months. Some symptoms of bulimia include electrolyte abnormalities that can lead to heart rhythm disturbances, dehydration, dangerously low blood pressure, menstrual cycle abnormalities, enlarged parotid glands, destruction of dental enamel and cavities, bad breath, bowel abnormalities, and sometimes ulcers and heart irregularities that can lead to death.

Other signs that a person may be suffering from an eating disorder are a pattern of preoccupation with eating, food, weight, and body image. The person may put himself or herself on severely restricted diets, count and recount calories in their meals, weight themselves many times a day, feel "fat" when their weight is normal or underweight, or feel uncomfortable after eating a normal or small meal. These people may also feel anxious about eating around other people because they perceive others are judging them based on their control with food.

People who suffer from eating disorders rarely get better on their own. Eating disorders, like most addictions, are emotionally based. There are a number of different approaches to treating people with eating disorders, and successful treatment may take at least two years to a lifetime. In some cases, treatment with antidepressant medication can help, but it is rarely the only treatment necessary. If you or someone you know may be suffering from an eating disorder, seek local resources and professionals specializing in this complex disorder to learn as much as you can about eating disorders and how to effectively approach the problem. Talking with a person suffering from an eating disorder is tricky because the sufferers are usually in denial that there is a problem. Be patient, confidential, and try to keep the conversation informal focusing on the person's health and how it affects your relationship. Try not to focus on their appearance. If they are willing to acknowledge the problem, suggest helpful resources and offer to go with them. Commonly, people with eating disorders resent those that try to help them because they feel like their coping mechanism is threatened. If you are unsuccessful in communicating your concerns with them, don't push the subject. Instead, seek professional guidance.

Disordered eating is a serious and life-threatening topic everyone should be aware of, especially in America. The key to treating this disorder is understanding its roots and responding appropriately. It is impossible to shut out negative messages, but any effort to keep its influence to a minimum can help, especially among the impressionable. Provide positive role models instead of letting the media provide them for you, and emphasize health, not weight and body shape.

Learn more about eating disorders from these and additional resources:

National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders
www.anad.org/
ANAD, PO Box 7 Highland Park, IL 60035
847-831-3438

Anorexia Nervosa and Related Eating Disorders, Inc.
www.anred.com/
PO Box 5102 Eugene, OR 97405
503-344-1144

National Eating Disorders Association
www.nationaleatingdisorders.org
6655 South Yale Avenue Tulsa, Oklahoma
(918) 481-4044

Overeaters Anonymous
Local Chapter . . . . . . . . . . 995-7635
PO Box 44020 . . . . . . (505) 936-4000
Rio Rancho, NM 87174-4020

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