Friday, May 27, 2011
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Ya Know, Just Sayin....
I'm just gonna throw this out there. If anyone needs resources in getting help and don't know where to go, shoot me a message, if I'm not close to your area, I'll research it for you. There is never a perfect time to seek help.
Also, if anyone has any questions or anything they would like me to talk about, cause I'm clearly running out of things here, feel free to get in touch with me!
Hope everyone is finally enjoying the sunshine we are all getting, I definitely am!
xoxo
melissakoruna@gmail.com
Also, if anyone has any questions or anything they would like me to talk about, cause I'm clearly running out of things here, feel free to get in touch with me!
Hope everyone is finally enjoying the sunshine we are all getting, I definitely am!
xoxo
melissakoruna@gmail.com
Skechers Needs to ‘Shape Up’ Says the National Eating Disorders Association
Skechers Needs to ‘Shape Up’ Says the National Eating Disorders Association
We can't stop it, so why not talk about it.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Life as a Bulimic
Words can't begin to describe how much this video touched me... well, effected me. It was as if from my own mind, my own experiences. I suppose all who have an eating disorder are linked in this way. You're not alone.
The Scary Truth
My cousin is fabulous, my rock, and one of my inspirations for becoming a better person. A couple weeks ago she went to a body image conference at U of T that I couldn't attend, and provided me with an abundance of information that was revealing, educational and sickening. The facts below are pretty much verbatim from one package. I know it's long but please read it. If you've doubted the severity of an Eating Disorder, have placed blame on the person who is ill, or are just looking for more information... you must read.
STRANGERS IN A STRANGE LAND
Body image despair and disordered eating are now epidemics
* 42% of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade girls want to lose weight
* 45% of boys and girls in grades 3-6 want to be thinner; 37% have already dieted; 6.9% score in the eating disorder range on a test in children’s eating habits.
* 51% of 9 and 10 year old girls feel better about themselves when they are dieting; 81% of 10 year olds are afraid of being fat; 9% of 9 year olds have vomited to lose weight.
CDC reports epidemic rates of weight loss in high school students. In the previous month, these percentages reported
White Black Hispanic
Exercise: 66.2 72.5 53.4
Dieting: 56 63 40
Fasting: 23 20 15
Diet Pills: 13.5 14 7.5
Purging: 11 8 4
A study of dangerous dieting practices in over 80,000 9th and 12th graders in the US including: fasting or skipping meals, diet pills, vomiting, laxatives, smoking cigarettes, and binge-eating:
* 56% of 9th grade females and 28% of males.
* 57% of 12th grade females and 31% of males.
* Hispanic and Native American students had the highest rates.
* 43 million adult women in the US are dieting to lose weight at any given time; another 26 million are dieting to maintain their weight.
* Body image dissatisfaction in midlife has increased dramatically, more than doubling from 25% in 1972 to 56% in 1997.
* Other studies find comparable levels of dieting and disordered eating across young and elderly age groups.
* When asked what bothered them most about their bodies, a group of women aged 61 to 92 identified weight as their greatest concern.
* A major research project found that more than 20% of the women aged 70 and older were dieting, even though higher weight poses a very low risk for death at that age, and weight loss may actually be harmful.
* 60% of adult women have engaged in pathogenic weight control; 40% are restrained eaters; 40% are overeaters; only 20% are instinctive eaters; 50% say their eating is devoid of pleasure and causes them to feel guilty; 90% worry about their weight.
The Body Myth = a simple answer to complex dilemmas, by asserting that our self worth (and our worth to others) is based on how we look, what we weigh, and what we eat.
* The body is the answer to all angst
* Dieting is the quick fix
* Body hatred is a female rite of passage
* If we eat less and take up less space, we will be more
“The state of a woman’s health is indeed completely tied up with the culture in which she lives and her position within it”
-Christine Northrup, M.D.
SOMETHING'S HAPPENING HERE
Dramatic increase of eating disorders across race, ethnicity, class, age
Now a global concern- in more than 40 countries
Single-best predictor of risk for developing an eating disorder = Being born female
* More common than any other serious debilitating illnesses
* Current estimates are that 10 million people in the US suffer from eating disorders, while Alzheimer's afflicts 4.5 million and Schizophrenia, 2.2 million.
* Federal funding for research provides approximately $28 million for eating disorders, $70 million for Alzheimer’s and over $350 million for Schizophrenia.
* The same number of people are suffering from ED as from HIV infection in the US
* Now the third most common chronic illness in adolescent girls next to asthma and diabetes
Eating disorders are multi-determined “biopsychosocial” disorders
Nature and Nurture
* Lifetime risk- 6% for those with first-degree relative who has suffered and only 1% for those without
* Consensus: genetics may impose indirect effects creating vulnerability
* DNA codes for risk, not disease
* The power of a shared heritable environment: intergenerational attitudes toward, weight, food, body image
Risk Factors Include:
* Family history of depression, anxiety or addiction
* Temperament
* Personality traits (perfectionism, people pleasing, sensitive)
* Cognitive style (obsessional, dichotomous thinking)
* Poor body image
* Family issues
* Developmental stressors or transitions (loss/trauma)
* Unreasonable cultural standards regarding weight/appearance/beauty
STILL, WHY WOMEN? WHY NOW?
“Culture is written on the body...encoded on it. Fat, thin, sculpted, adorned, starved, stuffed, the female body is a kind of text which, properly deconstructed, may tell us a lot about how women are seen in the culture and what they grapple with.”
-Caroline Knapp
THE GLOBAL BODY IMAGE
* First runway models all weighed 155 pounds or more
* The first Miss America in 1922, weighed 140 pounds at 5’7”
* Half-century later, beauty 50 pounds leaner, Twiggy at 91 pounds at 5’6”
* Today, average American women are 5’4” and 140 pounds
* The average fashion model is 5’11” and 117 pounds, or 75% of normal
* Icons continue to shrink and to sculpt their bodies artificially
* Number one wish of girls aged 11-17 is to lose weight
* Plastic surgery for teens increased by nearly 50% in 2 years in the late 1990’s and continues to increase each year
* One poll says 25% of teen-aged girls in the US already considered CPS
“The state of a woman’s health is indeed completely tied up with the culture in which she lives and her position within it”
-Christine Northrup, M.D.
SOMETHING'S HAPPENING HERE
A $60 billion diet industry in the US
Special risk for teenagers
* Dieting actually leads to bingeing
* During adolescence, the body is growing, bones are becoming dense, organs are maturing. Dieting can interfere with these essential processes
* Chronic or restrictive dieting actually slows down metabolism so it is easier to gain weight
* The more severely girls/young women diet, the more likely that they drink frequently and heavily and use pot or other drugs.
Conflicting messages to contemporary women:
Diet Industry Feminism
*Slim down *Assert yourself
*Take up less room *Throw your weight around
*Shrink *Expand your influence
*Control your appetite *Trust and satisfy your appetite(s)
*Be careful *Be bold
*Lose *Gain
Culture’s Clear Contributions
Within three years after western television was introduced to Fiji, women, previously comfortable with their bodies and eating, developed serious problems
* 74% felt “too fat”
* 69% dieted to lose weight
* 11% used self-induced vomiting
* 29% were at risk for clinical eating disorders
* The more a girl is exposed to the media, the more likely she is to diet and be dissatisfied with her body, her appearance and herself.
* Girls who compare themselves to media images of beauty are the most likely to develop eating disorders
* Adolescent girls who attempt suicide often report that weight and body image contributed significantly to their despair
* A systematic review of magazine articles - an inordinate emphasis on women’s bodies as compared to men’s
* Girls are constantly portrayed in silly positions, sometimes off-balance, often passively observing others, while the boys are active, powerful and in control
* Women more sexualized and objectified in magazine ads now than they were a decade ago
* Female body exposure increased, with almost 53% of black women and 62% of white woman scantily clad while only 25% of men were treated this way
* More than 17% of ads show woman in lower status positions, such as on their knees or the floor. Black women are particularly posed in sexualized, predatory poses, often wearing animal prints.
* Female undergrads report more stress, depression, guilt, shame, insecurity and body dissatisfaction after exposure to ultra-thin models
* 70% of college women report feeling worse about themselves after reading
* Men also see women as less attractive after exposure to magazines
MOTHER NATURE; FALLING DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE
* Before puberty a girls body has about 12% body fat
* The average girl gains 10 inches of height and between 40 - 50 pounds
* Most double their weight by the time they finish puberty
* During puberty, fat cells multiply to about 17% body fat - sufficient for ovulation and menstruation
* Mature adult woman’s body will have about 22% body fat - enough energy for an ovulating female to survive famine for nine months
* Women gain fat first in the breasts, buttocks, hips and thighs to protect our fertility, reproductive, and feeding organs
* Hard wired to respond to starvation- only 10% of women die in famines while 50% of men do
* Transition through menopause, average gain 8-12 pounds, metabolism slows 15-20%
* Hormonal shifts generate increased fat cells which produce estrogen to maintain bone density, decrease the risk for osteoporosis, and help to manage symptoms of menopause
* Moderate weight gain at midlife associated with longer life expectance for women
Weight gain is a normal and healthy developmental process
* Boys are to gain between 50 - 60 pounds and 10 - 12 inches of height
* With less appearance-related pressure, not as traumatic
The Bogus BMI- Developed as a population statistic. It has no individual meaning, is scientifically nonsensical and physiologically wrong.
* It makes no allowance for the relative proportions of bone, muscle and fat in the body, suggesting sharp distinction between underweight, ideal, overweight and obese
* Since bone is denser than muscle and twice as dense as fat, a person with strong bones, good muscle tone and low fat may have a high BMI. Thus, athletes and fit, health-conscious folks may be classified as overweight or even obese
It has important and damaging implications for individuals:
* Impact on self image seeing self as fat or deviant
* Some insurance companies charge higher premiums for people with a high BMI. Among such people are all those fit individuals with good bone and muscle and little fat, who will live long, healthy lives during which they will have to pay those greater premiums
The cost of continued reliance on the BMI:
* Doctors simplify their advice and do not use more scientifically sound methods that are available to measure obesity levels or to advise patients about healthy living
* It may impede our progress in addressing the relationship between weight and health
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute changed the BMI at which we are deemed overweight from 26 to 25, but these guidelines for “normal weight” (18.5 - 24.9) contradict other government studies.
BMI does not include an analysis and understanding of race or ethnicity:
* A BMI of 25 (.1 above the “normal” range) is associated with the lowest death rate for white men and women
* A BMI of 27 (2.1 beyond the “norm”) is associated with the lowest death rate for African -American men and women
* Native-Americans with a BMI between 35 and 40 (more than 10 points above “normal”) do not have an increased risk of death despite being above the set standard
* A BMI of less than 20 is associated with a higher mortality rate, although the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute standards say that a BMI as low as 18.5 is normal
A focus on weight often has a boomerang effect:
* When body weight is emphasized as a criteria for determining success (such as wrestling, gymnastics, or ballet), those sports have a high prevalence of eating disordered behaviours and performance is adversely impacted
* Individuals told to lose weight often use dangerous weight loss strategies such as the abuse of diet pills and diuretics, and use of thyroid hormones, intestinal bypass, vomiting, fasting and very low calorie diets.
The risk of dieting:
* Often associated with weight gain and not with weight loss, due to the incidence of binge-eating
* Adolescent girls who diet are at 324% greater risk for obesity than those who do not diet
* No scientifically proven effective weight loss strategy
* Most do not maintain long perm permanent weight loss
* Those who are not successful internalize this as a personal failure
Project EAT, a population-based study of nearly 5,000 teens
* Over 1/2 of teen girls and 1/3 of boys use unhealthy weight control behaviours (fasting, vomiting, laxatives, skipping meals, or smoking)
* Higher weight and overweight teens engage in both binge-eating and unhealthy weight control more often than normal weight teens
* 20% of overweight girls and 6% of overweight boys engage in using laxatives, vomiting, diuretics and diet pills
Weightism: The Politically Correct Form of Prejudice:
* Fat people are stereotyped, judged as moral lacking, or are considered otherwise inferior
* Exposure to weight related comments or teasing increases the risk to develop an eating disorder
Weight-Related Comment and Teasing:
* Studies have found that overweight and obese school-aged children are more likely to be the victims and perpetrators of bullying behaviours than their normal-weight peers.
* The degree to which a child is teased is positively related to weight concerns, loneliness, lower confidence in physical appearance, and higher preference for isolating activities which is associated with decreased levels of physical activity
* Exposure to weight-related comments or teasing increases the risk of developing an eating disorder
How To Proceed?
* Redefine prevention and intervention goals and rethink health promotion strategies
* Shift from a weight-centered approach to a health-centered approach
* Weight-centered approaches toward health are a result of a thinness bias, where all that is thin is considered good and all that is fat is considered bad
Why is this shift important?
* When weight is the focus, intentional weight loss (dieting) is often seen as the solution
* 95-98% of dieting results in weight gain
* Project EAT: When parents recognized children as overweight, parental encouragement to diet predicted poor adolescent weight outcomes 5 years later
Project EAT Recommendations for Prevention of Obesity and Eating Disorders:
* Discourage unhealthy dieting; support eating and physical activities that can be maintained over time
* Promote positive body image
* Encourage more frequent and more enjoyable family meals
* Encourage families to focus less on weight and do more to encourage healthy eating and exercise
* Assume that overweight youth have experiences prejudice and pain (teasing/being excluded) due to weight. Discuss this with them and their families
“Anger in the Service of Love = Activism and Advocacy”
“If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem”
-Eldridge Cleaver
“You must be the change you wish to see in the world”
-Gandhi
“Be bold, be bolder, be your boldest possible to fight back against culture that fosters eating disorders”
“One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice”
-The Journey - Mary Oliver
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has”
-Margaret Mead.
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