It's Time to Talk About It!

National Eating Disorders Awareness Week (NEDAw) is in full swing. In my last post, I shared about the mission and goals of NEDAw, so if you missed it, take a look! This year's theme is "It's Time to Talk About It" and the hope is for everyone to do just one thing! If we all do one thing, no matter how small, think about the attention we can bring to highlight a major psychiatric illness in our society that is often very misunderstood! One suggestion for doing one thing (compliments of NEDA- National Eating Disorders Association) is to use your social networking sites (think facebook, twitter, etc...) to post some kind of link or information about eating disorders that may serve to initiate conversations or educate people about eating disorders. Margarita Tartakovsky wrote a blog post on some myths and facts about eating disorders that might be of interest (you might learn something yourself too- this is a great list)! Below is the list that she made with the help of some eating disorder professionals (access it in full here). I would encourage you to read it, but also to pass them on to someone this week in order to raise awareness about the facts behind eating disorders!

Eating Disorder Myths

In honor of NEDA’s theme, let’s talk about eating disorder myths and facts. There are many misconceptions surrounding eating disorders. I’ve asked several clinicians to share a few myths and facts.

Myth: Media is the primary cause for the development of most eating disorders. (Julie Holland, MHS, CEDS, Eating Recovery Center)

Fact: Although recent surveys have confirmed that adolescent girls get much of their health information from the media, media messages themselves are not a primary cause of eating disorders. Messages that promote an unrealistic thin ideal can set unrealistic standards regarding body size and shape. The fact is, media messages have the ability to positively or negatively affect one’s body image and/or self-image based on the message and how it is presented. It is important that we teach individuals critical thinking when looking at media images.

Myth: Eating disorders are triggered by a desire to be thin.(Emmett R. Bishop, Jr., MD, CEDS, Eating Recovery Center)

Fact: Eating disorder behaviors do not develop merely because an individual has a longing to be thin. For instance, an individual who does not know that he or she has wheat or lactose intolerance may develop a fear of food due to the discomfort or pain it causes. Someone in chemotherapy or with a gastrointestinal disorder may stop eating to avoid nausea.

Myth: Eating disorders are a choice. (Julie Holland)

Fact: Although individuals may choose to start a diet or engage in certain behaviors, eating disorders themselves are not a choice. People do not choose to have anorexia or bulimia. These disorders develop over a period of time and require various levels of treatment to address complex symptoms including medical, psychiatric and other underlying issues.

Myth: You can tell if someone has an eating disorder just by looking at them. (Marla Scanzello, MS, RD, Eating Recovery Center)

Fact: Many people with eating disorders are of normal weight, or even overweight. Weight is not a tell-all sign of an eating disorder. Furthermore, eating disorder patients can become quite skilled at hiding their disordered eating behaviors.

Myth: People with eating disorders will eat normally / recover when they choose to do so. (Dr. Ravin)

Fact: This myth implies that EDs are willful behavior and that a patient can simply make a choice to recover. Thus, it blames people with EDs for having an illness that is not their fault. Most people with EDs are not able to eat normally on their own; they require significant outside support (nutritionist, parental support in refeeding, residential tx, etc.) in order to normalize their eating habits.

Myth: Developing a positive body image is not that important in the overall recovery from an eating disorder and should be worked on towards the end of the recovery process. (Carolyn Jones)

Fact: A continued negative body image is one of the main contributing factors to a relapse in the eating recovery process. Improving a person’s body image is one of the hardest and most time-consuming things to change in the healing process and should be undertaken early during treatment.

Myth: Eating disorders are not deadly. (Kenneth L. Weiner, MD, CEDS, Eating Recovery Center)

Fact: In all actuality, it is quite the opposite. Eating disorders are the deadliest mental illness. A woman with anorexia nervosa is 5.6 times more likely to die than another woman of her same age. The most frequent causes of death from eating disorders are suicide (32 percent), complications associated with anorexia (19 percent), and cancer (11 percent). The average age of death for an individual with anorexia is only 34 years.

Myth: You can never fully recover from an eating disorder. (Julie Holland & Sarah Ravin)

Fact: According to Holland, “Recovery takes commitment, dedication, hard work and time. However, full recovery is absolutely possible through finding the appropriate treatment professionals and program.”

According to Dr. Ravin, “The people who believe this are probably those who did not receive treatment, received inadequate or low-quality treatment, lacked the necessary social support, or were never pushed to reach and maintain an ideal body weight and stay there long enough for brain healing to occur.The underlying biological predisposition will always be there, but people can and do recover fully from EDs. I’ve seen it happen many times.”

Of course you are not limited to posting this information on your social networking sites! There is a lot of great information on NEDA's website (follow this link to access their information/resources page) as well as on many other sites. Maybe you can re-post a blog, an article, or the name of a book that you have read and enjoyed about body image, eating disorders, etc... Anything that you can do to help raise awareness is meaningful. We often hear so much in the news about schizophrenia and Alzheimer's (which are both worthy of our attention), but would you be surprised to learn that eating disorders impact five times as many people as schizophrenia? And eating disorders affect double the number of people with Alzheimer's? (These statistics were taken from John Grohol, PsyD, of PsychCentral). This information does not serve to take anything away from either of these illnesses, but rather the purpose is to illustrate the prevalence of eating disorders as psychiatric illness. If you have learned anything new from this blog post (or even if you haven't!), I would encourage you in honor of this week to share something new with your families, friends and loved ones because it's time to talk about it.

Tanith Belbin: A Story of Hope

I recently wrote about eating disorders in the world of figure skating. (You can read that post by clicking here.) For those of you who did not see that post and don't feel like backtracking and reading it, I will give you the super quick summary. Jenny Kirk, a former competitive figure skater, did a two part interview with the Huffington Post that brought attention to the pervasive problem of eating disorders in figure skating. Kirk battled an eating disorder and is now in recovery, attending college and raising awareness about eating disorders. You can read more about her story by following the link above.

In her interview, Kirk said that based on her experience in the competitive, world class world of figure skating, nearly 85% of competitive figure skaters have eating disorders. That number is excruciatingly high. In spite of such discouraging statistics, the New York Times just wrote an article on ice dancer Tanith Belbin, an Olympic silver medalist (2006) who is currently competing in the Winter Olympics. Her story is a positive one that elicits hope and the possibility of change, and you don't always hear the uplifting side of some of these stories. For this reason, I want as many people to know about it as possible!

Belbin's story is one of disordered eating that put her at risk for losing her competitive edge on the ice due to her exceedingly thin stature. She was advised by her coach, Natalia Linichuk, to add some muscles and curves so that she would skate better. While the process was not always comfortable for her, Belbin learned to fuel her body and its needs in order to perform optimally at such an elite level. She is now at a healthier weight, and not only does she feel better physically, but her skating has benefitted immensely. Her ice dancing partner has even noticed that she is able to hold herself up better and has more strength. What I really love is that she states that she has become more adventurous and open to trying new things off the ice, like climbing. Belbin and her partner skate on Friday in the 2010 Olympics. To read more about her story, follow this link to read the NY Times article that was written on her this week.

Just as a quick aside, at the end of the article, Belbin says that the moral of the story is not that skaters need to necessarily seek out the professional help of nutritionists in order to eat right; she says instead that they should become educated about what is healthy and pursue this knowledge on their own. I think that for some, this can be effective; but for the majority, having a nutritionist is essential in becoming educated about portion sizes and what is appropriate and healthy. It is common for those with eating disorders to misjudge what they actually need, and not everyone can achieve health without additional support. If you know someone who needs support, don't be afraid to offer your help in finding what she/he needs!

The Taco Bell Diet and Facebook

Maybe I am the only one who is a little skeptical about this (I doubt it), but ... is theTaco Bell Drive Thru Diet for real? I was eavesdropping in public the other day (haha) and I heard someone talking about it. I remembered seeing a few commercials advertising it back in January, but I tried to forget about it because it was so laughable to me. I did just google it though to make sure I wasn't making this up (and I'm not!). But it is very reminiscent of the whole Subway diet craze that was big awhile back when Jared, the Subway guy, lost a bunch of weight after eating all of his meals at Subway. It's always so interesting to see what the latest fad diet is because there is always a new one, and it always promises drastic results, and fast! It seems like we should all know by now that typically anything that requires little effort and big change equals major scam. These fad diets are silly. Why?? Because diets don't work!! Do you think it's a coincidence that there is an asterisk at the bottom of Taco Bell's website that says 'results not typical' ?? I hope you all aren't getting tired of reading about the myths of dieting, but I like to re-post on dieting about once a month, because I feel that strongly about this subject. And I think that the diet mentality is so pervasive in our culture that it is good to be reminded about the false promises that diets offer. Anyways, all that to say, diets do NOT work! Follow this link to read more on why they don't and how the diet mentality can keep us from moving forward.

On a completely unrelated note, I wanted to propose a challenge to any of you reading this who are currently active on facebook or other social networking sites. One thing I have been noticing, especially since the beginning of the New Year, is that there have been a lot of statuses/updates involving fat talk, calorie counts, reports on workouts and how many calories you burned yesterday or want to burn tomorrow, dieting reports, what you shouldn't have eaten or what you wish you could eat, etc. Please know that I am not judging and my heart about this is not one of judgment. Really! But I started thinking that maybe by decreasing some of this, we can help ourselves and each other focus on things that are more productive and that deserve our time and attention more than these things do. It is good to be healthy!!, but our health is more of a personal thing that does not necessarily need to be shared with all of our facebook friends. And some of our thoughts about food, exercise, etc, may not be healthy; our choices about food and exercise are personal ones, and by sharing calories, diet reports, etc, you may be triggering other people to think unhealthily about themselves.

One of my all time favorite quotes is something that Cynthia Bulik said in reference to the time we give to thinking about food, weight, dieting, calories, etc. She said, "Imagine what women could accomplish if they spent that time and energy on things other than body issues." When put like that, it is so encouraging to think about all of the things that we can do instead and the difference that we can make not just in our own lives but in the lives of others!! So if there is one thing you can do today, just think twice before you post a status on facebook or before you tweet about your bad body image, or how tight your jeans are, or how many calories you burned at the gym, or how you ate too much tonight, etc. I would imagine that if we all try this, we might be surprised at the positive effect it could have on how we feel about ourselves and others!

Did You Know???

I thought it might be fun/informative to share some random body image facts, and I came across a site that listed a bunch. I am pulling all of these from Northwestern Health Sciences University's website under a section called U Healthy, so I can't take credit for putting this list together- but it is worth repeating, as these facts demonstrate the role that size, weight, and body image have upon individuals in our society.

Did You Know...

• There are 3 billion women who don’t look like super-models and only 18 who do.
• Marilyn Monroe wore a size 14.
• 7% of 12th grade males have used steroids in order to become more muscular.
• If Barbie was a real woman, she’d have to walk on all fours due to her proportions.
• Male action figures (GI Joe, etc.) have greatly increased in muscular size since 1973; If GI Joe were human, he would have larger biceps than any bodybuilder in history.
• One out of 4 college aged women has an eating disorder.
• In one U.S. National survey, women feared being fat more than dying.
• A survey of formally overweight people revealed they would rather be blind or lose a limb than be overweight again.
• Americans spend more than 40 billion dollars a year on dieting and diet-related products. That’s roughly equivalent to the amount the U.S. Federal Government spends on education each year.
• 46% of 9-11 year olds are sometimes or very often on diets.
• 50% of 10th grade and 12th grade boys want a more muscular upper body.
• Underweight males have body images just as negative as overweight women’s body images.
• 42% of 1st-3rd graders want to be thinner.
• Most fashion models are thinner than 98% of women.
• 25% of American men and 45% of American women are on a diet on any given day.

These statistics are a bit overwhelming! Today I was having a conversation with some women that attend a class that I teach and we were discussing the impact that we can have on others simply based on the ways that we view and accept ourselves. One of the women mentioned that she observed a 3 year old complaining about her stomach being fat after witnessing her mother talking negatively about her own stomach. If we are able to accept ourselves and model this to those around us, we can have such a positive impact on others! In going with this theme, I saw a video on You Tube that I thought I'd share. It was produced by NEDA (National Eating Disorder Association) and may inspire you to help others, especially young girls that you know, to see their unique beauty and to embrace beauty in all sizes, shapes and forms. Enjoy!

Michelle Obama's Campaign to Fight Childhood Obesity

I have seen a lot in the news this past week about Michelle Obama's campaign to fight childhood obesity. And I have really been wanting to write something about this because I have had some thoughts that I want to share-- but I think I have been slow to do so because I never want my blog to sound like a diatribe against society or pop culture or the media or different individuals or (fill-in-the-blank). Yes, I like to think critically; and yes, there are things from time to time that need to be called out. But the purpose of my blog is not to point these things out that I observe or read from day to day for the sake of being critical. I am MUCH more interested in raising peoples awareness and encouraging others to think about the ways that we view ourselves, our bodies, beauty and eating disorders- and that is why I blog! When I read statistics about women, young girls and even men- really everyone!- I am always surprised to find out just how far people will go to lose weight or to look 'good'. While I get that we all want to look and feel good, it just seems so unreal and sad that things have been taken to such extremes. The fact that more than 2/3 of women ages 18-25 would rather be labeled mean or stupid instead of fat, and over 50% would rather be hit by a truck than be labeled fat is pretty outrageous (Martin, 2007). I also want to be clear (again) about the fact that when it comes to eating disorders, they are a serious mental illness- not simply a lifestyle choice, like many people believe.

So, with that being said, I am going to go back to the First Lady's new pet project- childhood obesity. I think it is wonderful that she is targeting children's health, but when I read on CNN.com that President Obama was calling his daughter Sasha "chubby" and that Michelle had mentioned things were "off balance" with her daughters weight wise, it made me cringe on the inside. While I loudly applaud her efforts to approach this issue nationally (because it is an issue), using her daughters as an example draws unnecessary attention to their weight at an age when they are vulnerable and sensitive to developing body image issues, not to mention eating disorders. While she has been significantly criticized in the wake of her comments, I think the focus, rather than chastising her for making the comments, should be on approaching this issue from a supportive and healthy standpoint for the sake of the children involved. Dr. Albers who has written books about mindful eating, wrote a great article for the Huffington Post that you may want to check out. Her point is that weight is not always the best indicator of health, and that we need to focus on the big picture rather than on dieting (which we know does not work!). Follow this link to read her article. And follow this link to read another great article called Dads, Daughters and Diets: Obama's Mistake.

In light of this recent controversy, CNN.com has listed some helpful suggestions for parents about talking to their children/teens about being healthy. Some of the suggestions that they encourage parents to consider include focusing on health and not pounds (or a number on the scale), being open to discuss any issues related to health or otherwise with their children, ending fat talk, and avoiding diet mentalities with 'good' foods and 'bad' foods. For more, follow this link. Whether you are a child or not, these tips are helpful for people of all ages to help maintain a healthy approach and attitude towards health, food and our bodies.