There is a common misconception that eating disorders are a lifestyle choice. Eating disorders are actually serious and often fatal illnesses. With the world celebrating Eating Disorders Awareness Week from February 24 to March 1, here are some things to consider
#TGLife
In her documentary “Miss Americana,” music icon Taylor Swift disclosed her history of eating disorders underlining the fact that these disorders do not discriminate.
So what is an eating disorder?
Despite their prevalence, myths about eating disorders abound. Such as that they are a choice. They are not. Or they’re not a big deal. They are. Or that a person with an eating disorder is always severely underweight. Not always.
Eating disorders fall into three basic categories: disorders of restriction, or anorexia; bingeing, known medically as binge eating disorder; and bingeing followed by compensation – such as self-induced vomiting – which is called bulimia.
Restriction means limiting calories so much that weight loss is more than expected for a given height and weight. This does not necessarily mean the person will appear emaciated. Someone who was at the 90th percentile for weight, for example, could still be considered anorexic if they reduced their weight to the 70th percentile.
Bingeing is more than simply overeating. It’s out-of-control eating, leading to extreme feelings of fullness and guilt, typically within a couple of hours after a meal. By bingeing, a person can check out of life circumstances to focus only on food.
With bulimia, a binge is followed by an action to compensate for the calories consumed. Purging is one of them, but there are others, including exercise, particularly when it’s taken to an extreme. Although exercise is often overlooked as a form of compensation, a person addicted to it has more than three-and-a-half times the likelihood to be diagnosed with an eating disorder than a person a without one.
It should be emphasized that not all of these disorders always result in weight loss. Those with binge eating disorder and bulimia may be at or above expected weight.
It’s about emotional pain
Simply changing eating patterns won’t work. Instead, sufferers must first identify the feelings they’re experiencing.
Then comes a search for better strategies to deal with those feelings. In the interim, nothing feels as good as the eating disorder. But slowly, as healthy behaviors take over, they become more reinforcing than the disorder.
With February 24 marking the beginning of National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, there’s one thing you need to remember if you know someone with an eating disorder. They are experiencing significant emotional pain; the eating disorder is an attempt to communicate that pain.
If food or exercise appears to be running the life of a family member, friend or colleague, you can help by focusing on them and their lived experience – and not exclusively on the food.
Is modern technology exacerbating the issue?
n Many articles point to a western social construct of “thin is beautiful’. Modern technologies such as social media are only adding to these pressures. With many young girls swayed by Instagram fitness models and the constant pressure to share images of themselves on social media, self-esteem issues are becoming ever more common.
n Ideas such as “thin is beautiful” and “thigh gaps are sexy” have taken over popular culture and especially social media to the extent that men and women barely eat and they exercise much more than they should. Searches for #thinspiration or #bonespiration on Instagram throw up disturbing visuals of women who celebrate having nearly 0% body fat.
n With these self-esteem issues, dysfunctional attitudes often develop regarding food in an attempt to remain as thin as possible. The opposite is also the case, with some turning to binge eating as a means of comfort.
