theagingofanorexia

Anorexia - a Problem on Campus

Colleges face an ever growing problem when it comes to dealing with young women and the transition from home to school. Anxiety and stress frequently impacts the student's eating habits and an eating disorder is easily developed.

Some report that eating disorders at colleges are at epidemic levels. Apparently, women who leave home for college are three times more likely to develop an eating disorder than those who stay with their parents. Young women tend to develop eating disorders to deal with their stress.

The research indicates that eating disorders typically begin sometime in adolescence during puberty but it can affect women across their life time. The most common characteristic of an eating disorder is dieting. In fact, the research shows that 35 percent of normal dieters progress to pathological dieting over time and about 20 percent of those develop full blown eating disorders.

What makes matters worse is that yoyo dieting plays havoc on the heart, weakening it. It also impacts a person's metabolism sometimes making it ineffective.

Approaching someone you know who has an eating disorder can be difficult. It's a very sensitive subject to bring up. I have 2 pieces of advice; Approach the subject gently but do not waiver from you recognizing the disease. Express concern but remain non-judgmental and encourage your young friend to get help.

You may also want to observe the eating habits of the young lady right now, several months before she's off to college to assess her

Movie of Fat and Thin Reviewed

A colleague of mine saw the movie Disfigured which is about the relationship between a woman struggling with anorexia, Darcy (Staci Lawrence) and a fat woman, Lydia (Deidra Edwards). Darcy tries to attend a fat acceptance meeting because she sees herself as being too fat and wants to accept it. She is kicked out of the meeting. Lydia speaks up for her, although she doesn't know Darcy, but is voted down.

As they become friends Lydia asks Darcy to teach her how to be anorexic. Darcy gives in and starts to teach but it doesn't work because Lydia can only not eat for a short while. In the meanwhile, Darcy becomes more entrenched in controlled not eating.

The movie conclusion shows both women growing from the relationship. Darcy starts up again with her former psychotherapist and Lydia starts a Size Acceptance Group rather than a Fat Acceptance Group. The lesson the women were trying to learn is to find something you like about yourself and accept yourself for who you are.

The one area that I found unacceptable was Lydia asking to be taught to be an anorexic. Anorexia, an eating disorder, is not something you can learn. It is a mental illness.

If you have seen the movie, it is offered by Netflix, we're very interested in your review comments.

To your successful lifestyle.

Ruthan Brodsky

Ultra Thin Promote Pro-ana Websites

Pro-ana refers to the idea of promoting anorexia nervosa, the eating disorder characterized by extreme low body weight and body image distortion. The sites have photos and videos of very thin women and girls plus tips for crash dieting, fasting and forced vomiting. Most visitors to the sites are women but men visit them also. Most are young, 20 something and younger, but there are many who visit who are in their 40s and 50s.

According to Dr. Roberta Peebles of Stanford University, people suffering from eating disorders go to these sites for emotional support because they tend to feel depressed and isolated.

One teen age girl explains how she heard of these sites while watching Oprah. She was 17 at the time, 5 foot 7 inches and weighed about 80 pounds. Then she had a heart attack.

As part of her heeling process she created a web site called Ana Death to help other anorexic sufferers recover. This website mimics the style of the thin inspiration sites where people post tips on crash dieting and controlled eating. Check it out here and let me know what you think.

Celebrating your efforts for a healthy life style.

Ruthan Brodsky

Media Factors in Anorexia

According to Health magazine (2002) 32 percent of female TV network characters are underweight while only 5 percent of females in any TV audience are underweight. In contrast, men are portrayed by actors who are older, very unglamorous, even unkempt and often fat. Again according to Health magazine only 3 percent of female TV network characters are obese while over 25 percent of the American TV audience are obese.

And just in case you didn't get the message, the TV ads tell us that if we want to be attractive and successful we need to be thin with 6-pack abs. The message – you are not very good the way you are. To be acceptable buy our product so you can look like our model who is 6 feet tall and wears zero size jeans.

The differences between the media's concept of successful and happy men and women are interesting. The women are young and thin – no gray hair. The men are young or older, but strong and powerful in business and in the bedroom. Men are not seen as thin. Skinny men are perceived as weak and sick.

Think about it. When a man wants to improve how he looks he starts lifting weights and exercising. When a woman wants to improve how she looks she starts dieting which leaves her weak and thin. Yet women have the same needs for power and control as do males.

Maybe this explains why ninety percent of people with anorexic eating disorders are women and only 10 percent are men.

I welcome your opinion. Do you think the media plays an important role in our perceptions of what looks good and what does not. Share your thinking and type them in the blank window under comments.

Regards,

Ruthan Brodsky

Family Factors in Anorexia

There is more to anorexia than inherited genetics, personality and lack of coping skills. The additional element is that these important factors interact in complex ways with family and environmental issues that also play an important role in creating and maintaining eating disorders such as anorexia.

Researchers have found that in some cases, families are over-involved and enmeshed with the person that is anorexic. Some people with eating disorders say they feel smothered in overprotective families. "Enmeshed" is a psychological term describing an overly-intimate relationship in which the emotional and psychological boundaries between two people become obscure that it becomes difficult for them to act separately. Wives in an enmeshed relationship may feel powerless to develop a separate identity from their husband. For instance, she may not be able to go shopping with the girls without her husband wanting to take her shopping. As a result, the woman tries to exert control by the only means she knows how, by controlling her food intake.

On the other hand other women with eating disorders feel abandoned, misunderstood and alone. Their husbands and friends may overvalue physical appearance and unwittingly contribute to an eating disorder. The same holds true in families who make critical comments, even in jest, about their children's bodies.

According to the studies, families that include an anorexic person tend to be overprotective, rigid and ineffective at resolving conflict. If it's a teen, sometimes mothers are emotionally cool and fathers may be physically or emotionally absent. At the same time there are high expectations of achievement and success.

Adults and children learn not to disclose doubts, fears, anxieties and imperfections. Instead they try to solve their problems by manipulating weight and food, trying to achieve the appearance of success even if they do not feel successful.

Your comments and stories are always welcomed. Scroll down to comments and share your stories with us.

Ruthan Brodsky

Disordered Eating and Anorexia

There was an interesting article a couple of days ago in The Harvard Crimson. It was a column written by Rebecca Cooper who wrote about disordered eating as a more serious and common problem than the complete package of an eating disorder.

She wrote about a person's unhealthy relationship with food which included exercising incessantly, constantly adding calories, switching to a vegan diet, and always scooping out bagels. The author points to a study by Self Magazine in partnership with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill estimating that one in 10 women between the ages of 24-45 suffer from anorexia or bulimia while three out of four suffer from disordered eating. Other studies suggest that this figure is higher for college age students.

Cooper isn't as concerned that habits from disordered eating may eventually result in eating disorders. Rather, she is more concerned about the waste of time and energy it takes to be so focused on food.

I don't disagree completely but I suspect that some of those behaviors could also become habitual and lead to anorexia. People who develop eating disorders typically live in a state of perpetual emotional turmoil. They want to be in control but feel they are not and mix their anxieties and feelings of failure with the way they look. They become preoccupied, obsessed with food and weight.

People with eating disorders are often angry, legitimately, just like Sydne in her story, but because they seek approval and fear criticism, they don't express their anger – at least directly. They don't know how to express it in healthy ways. They turn it against themselves by starving or stuffing.

It seems to me that if I think like Cooper most of my colleagues and friends have disordered eating issues because they do worry about calories. Does that mean everyone on the Ornish Diet has disordered eating? I always thought these folks were trying to lose weight for better health because they were over weight. Of course the nature of these symptoms varies from person to person. Even so disordered eating just doesn't add up for me. It's a meaningless label that makes good press.

Interested in your tinking about disordered eating. Just thinking about it could mean that everyone on Weight Watchers also has a problem. How do you draw the line?

Men Have Eating Disorders Too

It hasn't been that long that the possibility that men could have an eating disorder was accepted. Although people with eating disorders tend not to admit they have a problem, men are even less likely than women to admit to having a problem because they associate eating disorders as being a woman's disease.

Men are better at giving excuses for obsessive exercising or by saying something like 'I'm getting in shape" when a person comments about his eating habits.

Regardless of gender, anorexia is a dangerous disease. Young men with eating disorders are often high achievers just as young women. And just as young women, these men have a low self image. In contrast to women, young men who want to lose weight also want to build muscles for the perfect body and become increasingly motivated to word out.

A 2007 study by Harvard University found that male eating disorders are more prevalent than previously thought. Actors Dennis Quaid and Billy Bob Thornton both admitted to having anorexia and singer Elton John admitted to having bulimia. Quaid had to lose weight to play a character in a movie and went from 180 to 138 pounds. He became obsessed with counting calories and exercising. The fact that men in prominent positions are now openly admitting to having an eating problem is a step in the right direction because other men or families may recognize that they have a similar problem.

The Harvard study found that nearly 40 percent of binge eaters are men and that of the 11 million Americans suffering from anorexia and bulimia, 25 percent of them are men. Some believe that figure for men is actually higher again because men are less likely to ask for treatment. There's a certain stigma to a guy saying he has an eating disorder which is more often thought of as a girl's disease.

Recognizing the symptoms of eating problems is critical because long term symptoms of excessive weight loss can lead to life-threatening situations. Excessive exercising, taking laxatives or diuretics, preoccupation with counting calories are all signs for early intervention. The key is to get help for yourself or someone you care about who may be suffering from an eating disorder.

I welcome your comments and am open to starting a dialogue.It's so easy for men to hide their bodies in a suit. I'm going to view thin men differently.

To your good health,

Ruthan Brodsky

EAting Disorders and the Psychological Facators of Anorexia

The brain research tells us that eating disorders don't just play havoc with the developing brains of teen agers, they explain that even when a person is well past her twenties, starvation, chronic dieting and binge eating and purging can damage brain wiring and upset the chemical processes that take place in the brain. Eating disorders can impair the very thinking part of the brain that is needed to make healthy choices.

One of the psychological factors usually attributed to people with eating disorders is that they are usually perfectionists. They have unrealistic expectations not only of themselves but of others. In spite of all their achievements they feel inadequate and see themselves as very mediocre or as a failure.

Causes of Anorexia

I'm convinced there are multiple causes of anorexia – psychological, biological, even environmental causes. I know my sister exhibited every one they ever wrote about!

Here are some of the biological causes that research claims may cause eating disorders.

One study (Archives of General Psychiatry 2006; 63:305-312) claims that genetic factors account for more than half the risk of developing anorexia nervosa. We assume that, at least in part, we owe our personality and temperament to our genes. It also appears that some personality types, such as obsessive compulsive, are more vulnerable to eating disorders than others. Research also points out that genetic factors predispose some people to anxiety and perfectionism. These people also have more than there share of eating disorders.

In fact, people with a mother or sister who has anorexia nervosa are 12 times more likely than others with no family history of that disorder, to develop it.

Another piece of research (Journal of Biological Psychiatry; July 2005.) suggests that women who develop anorexia nervosa have excess activity in the brain's dopamine receptors which regulate pleasure. This explains why many feel driven to lose weight but don't feel good about it.

The fact that I think is particularly critical is that once a person starts to starve herself, that behavior in itself alters her brain chemistry and prolongs the disorder. Not eating enough can activate brain chemicals that produce feelings of euphoria negating any anxiety and depression. One theory is that people with eating disorders are using food to self-medicate painful feelings.

I have never thought about that possibility. Any comments?

To your best health.

Ruthan Brodsky

P.S. I am starting to host teleseminars and radio programs on staying healthy as you age. Let me know if you're interested and I'll forward the information about the calls back to you.

Understanding Themselves Chapter 21

What I've learned in my research about eating disorders is that a major part of the treatment is helping patients to better understand themselves and their lives and the struggles that have shaped them into who they are today. It is important not only discovering what were the life events that shaped the patient's eating disorder but also for recognizing and appreciating their future personal growth.

The process is important because it allows the patient to gain the pride and sense of acceptance that comes from understanding that they have lived a worth while life. When a patient finds meaning in her personal history it usually provides a direction for understanding the illness and ways to accept the changes that take place as she ages.

This is the last entrée I have for Sydne's journal. It is very positive but it was written months ago.

"May compassion for yourself always be the guiding force as you continue on your path of health, happiness, and fulfillment. You so deserve it."

You know, she is right! I do deserve it and so do so many others out there. I took some time one day and asked a woman I saw daily on the same street corner begging for money if she as hungry and she was, so I took her across the street to a Subway and got her something to eat and drink.

As we were sitting there I asked her if she would tell me how she had gotten to the point she is at today. She had looked at me as if I were asking a child what they wanted from a toy store.

She told me no one has ever asked her that before. People just assumed she was a drunk or druggy when, in fact, she never drank or did drugs in her life. I had only spent 30-45 minutes with her that day, but to her that was winning the lottery in so many ways. Someone care about her that day, someone asked about her and didn't show judgment or criticize her for the decisions she made. During my recovery I was given that and I want to continue to show that towards those who so deserve it.

Sydne is having her ups and downs this year and hanging in, working to keep her life together. Her life is much like ours… it is a struggle.

To your good health.

Ruthan Brodsky