PopSugar

Do Tell: What Was Your Mother's Relationship to Food?

TresSugar — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:00:00 -0700

Did you "thin-herit" food issues from your mother?

According to a poll conducted by teen magazine Sugar, girls ages 12 - 18 said that their mother's eating and/or dieting habits and views on food were the biggest influence on their own relationship to food. It was found that if a mom diets, she's twice as likely to have a daughter with an eating disorder.

What was your mother's relationship to food? Do you think it has affected you positively or negatively?

Ralph Lauren Rep Apologizes For Photoshopping Model

TresSugar — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:10:00 -0700

When controversy erupted over an image for Ralph Lauren's Blue Label - model Filippa Hamilton's body appeared to have been digitally retouched, so that she looked bobble-headed and emaciated - I was convinced that the image wasn't the original ad. I was sure that it had been retouched by one of those "thinspirational" proanorexia blogs you hear about which feature models Photoshopped, so that they look like Holocaust victims.

Wow, was I wrong. A spokesperson for Ralph Lauren made this comment about the controversial image:

"For over 42 years, we have built a brand based on quality and integrity. After further investigation, we have learned that we are responsible for the poor imaging and retouching that resulted in a very distorted image of a woman’s body. We have addressed the problem and going forward will take every precaution to ensure that the caliber of our artwork represents our brand appropriately."

Website Boing Boing was first to criticize the image by saying, "Dude, her head's bigger than her pelvis." When Ralph Lauren asked them to take the image down, claiming copyright infringement, they refused, citing fair use laws that that allow for the reproduction of images "for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting."

Maybe this will be a message to the cabal of Photoshoppers gone wild who don't seem to recognize that they're contributing to the unrealistic body images that make normal women feel inadequate. When an uberthin model isn't thin enough for the fashion industry, something is seriously wrong.

The Dark Side of Posting Calorie Counts

FitSugar — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 03:00:05 -0700

Posting calorie counts has been nothing if not controversial. In NYC the restaurants complained, and now on college campuses students are questioning the practice. In attempts to fight the freshman 15, dining halls have begun posting calorie counts, but there have been some negative consequences. Although about a third of all college students fall into the American College Health Association's obese or overweight categories, the calorie counts might be inadvertently provoking eating disorders.

The unstructured collegiate life, along with all-you-can-eat dining halls, can lead to disordered eating, which is broader than just anorexia and bulimia and includes unhealthy dieting practices. Students and nutritional advisers alike believe calorie counts oversimplify the thought process needed to learn balanced nutrition and that there is a better way to educate vulnerable students about weight gain. Some colleges now post nutritional information online, rather than in the cafeteria, and others have created healthy dining halls, free of french fries, fried chicken, and white bread. Hopefully, higher education can incorporate lessons of healthy living into campus life and help students learn the value of healthy eating and an active lifestyle.

How do you feel about posting calorie counts? Do you feel it can inspire a negative relationship with food?

Anorexia and Autism: Is There a Connection?

FitSugar — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 03:00:00 -0700

Both anorexia and Asperger's, a form of autism, remain highly misunderstood. Ongoing research out of the Maudsley Hospital in London points to a surprising relationship between these two conditions. Maudsley researchers believe anorexia is an inheritable trait, rather than a psycho-social problem, and is related to autism. Although the two conditions present differently, both conditions, according to autism expert Simon Baron-Cohen (Sacha's cousin) share a "narrow focus of attention, a resistance to change and excellent attention to detail." Research has also shown that 15 to 20 percent of patients diagnosed with anorexia are also on the autism spectrum.

Does the US Pay More Attention to Obesity or Anorexia?

FitSugar — Tue, 19 May 2009 14:30:00 -0700

We refer to obesity as an epidemic and talk about anorexia as an eating disorder, but both illustrate our extreme relationships with food. Disordered eating is a regular topic in Lifetime movies and TV talk shows, and there are occasionally real-life documentaries of young women battling anorexia. When a fashion model suffers from an eating disorder, we hear about it in the news.

Obesity has been making news headlines for the past decade or so, with a heavy hand coming down on fast-food restaurants. Obese individuals have made their stories public with several reality TV shows, and there's a push for parents to take responsibility for teaching their kids' healthy-eating habits.

In a recent interview, Vogue Editor in Chief Anna Wintour surmised her thoughts on eating issues in the US.

I'd just been on a trip to Minnesota, where I can only kindly describe most of the people I saw as little houses. There's such an epidemic of obesity in the United States, and for some reason, everybody focuses on anorexia.

Ironically, Minnesota is one of the healthiest states in the nation. Do you agree with Anna's comment about everyone focusing on anorexia?

Source

Men Who Struggle With Eating Disorders

TresSugar — Wed, 13 May 2009 06:00:00 -0700

Nineteen-year-old Chris Hardy recently shared his struggles with anorexia with the BBC. Chris said that limiting his food intake gave him a sense of achievement after he experienced upheavals like his parents' divorce, moving homes, and changing schools. Now that Chris has sought help to fight the disorder, he's urging other men to do the same.

While anorexia often has a female face, many men struggle with it, too. Experts say that men with eating disorders, many times male athletes, typically aim for well-defined muscles and chiseled abs.

Dr. Thomas Holbrook, author of Making Weight: Healing Men's Conflicts with Food, Weight and Shape has described his long battle with anorexia. After an injury prevented him from running, he became preoccupied with his weight. He said he spent the next 12 years obsessed, sometimes exercising 20 hours each day while starving himself.

Studies suggest that 25 percent of people suffering from anorexia or bulimia are men, while 40 percent of binge eaters are men, too.

Do you know one of these men?

Source

Book Bag: Wintergirls

TresSugar — Mon, 11 May 2009 14:00:00 -0700

“I bit the days off in rows. . . . Bite. Chew. Swallow."

Laurie Halse Anderson's new novel, Wintergirls, is narrated by 18-year-old Lia, who has had anorexia since the 8th grade.

It begins on the morning that she finds out that her best friend Cassie has died, and follows her through her struggle with anorexia and its paradoxical dictates: sickness is strength, courting death is taking control, and nourishment is weakness. Having lost Cassie, with whom she bonded over anorexia, Lia finds comfort in "pro-ana" anorexia chat rooms. To find out what one reviewer thought of Wintergirls as well as why some experts worry about anorexia narratives, read more.

Described by one reviewer as "a fearless, riveting account of a young woman in the grip of a deadly illness," Wintergirls and other books with eating disorders as their subject nevertheless spark fears among those who work with anorexic patients. Will these narratives help them to explore their disorders in order to get well, or will it serve as a "thinspiration" trigger, stoking their self-destructive desires to waste away?

"There is a dangerous trend to view anorexia as a lifestyle choice rather than a serious mental illness," says Cynthia M. Bulik, director of the eating disorders program at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. "It is true that seeing someone they perceive as thinner, seeing pictures of other thin girls, hearing about someone’s new approach to starvation, can all trigger someone with anorexia or someone who is on the verge. There is an inexplicable competitiveness about the starvation process in this illness."

Have you known anyone with anorexia or have you struggled with it yourself? Do books like Wintergirls help or harm?

Take note! Anonymous comments are open on this post! Just sign out of your TeamSugar account to leave an anonymous comment.

Source

Scarlett Johansson Sets the Weight Loss Record Straight

FitSugar — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 14:30:00 -0700

Not unfamiliar with tabloid news drama, Scarlett Johansson is setting the record straight about her fit physique. She professed not only her distaste for tabloid body gossip but for chin-ups and lunges in the Huffington Post. This actress, who has never been much for dieting or gym time, has been training for her upcoming role in Iron Man 2. She may have to wear a latex cat suit for the film, but she has not binged dieted to lose weight for her costume, and she wants to be clear about this. Scarlett doesn't want to add fuel to the media blitz about body size, which she wholeheartedly feels contribute to eating disorders.

To see what she has to say about her weight, read more.

In response to an article stating she lost over 10 pounds, she writes:

If I were to lose 14 pounds, I'd have to part with both arms. And a foot. I'm frustrated with the irresponsibility of tabloid media who sell the public ideas about what we should look like and how we should get there.

Looking forward to ending her complicated relationships with dumbbells, post filming Scarlett plans to dedicate 30 minutes a day to exercise using moves that require no equipment like squats, planks, and jumping jacks. Seems reasonable enough to me.

To learn more about the eating disorders, body image, and the media, visit the National Eating Disorder Association website.

Source

Speak Up: How Have Eating Disorders Affected You?

FitSugar — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 16:30:00 -0800

National Eating Disorders Awareness Week encourages eating disorder sufferers to get help and educates the public. Some of you are all too aware of them, whether you've personally suffered or watched someone close to you.

Part of raising awareness is speaking out. Whether it's recognizing their effects on the mind, body, and relationships or understanding recovery is possible, opening up about your story could help someone else. How have eating disorders affected you?

Source

Pro-Anorexia Groups Masquerade as Support on Facebook

CitizenSugar — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 13:30:31 -0800

Pro-ana, or pro-anorexia, sites have been infuriating the Internet for years by proclaiming eating disorders are not disorders at all, but lifestyle choices. Just like my entire high school, they eventually made their way to Facebook, but according to Newsweek, the social-networking site du jour isn't having it. Facebook regularly deletes groups, citing promotion of self-harm and harm to others.

How's that working out? Not terribly, if you only measure the surface. None of my "pro-ana" or "ana" searches returned anything fruitful, but these groups are way too savvy to give it away in the title. Most overt pro-ana groups have become private or operate under less obvious names. The better to avoid turning up in search results.

But even while they hide beneath the radar, I didn't have to search hard to find "support" groups with people looking for dieting tips and tricks. "Don't always purge until the morning. And I'm packing the weight back on. Any suggestions?" That kind of support. It's like there are two conversations going on: one genuinely looking to break the eating-disorder cycle and another looking to perpetuate it.

To be fair, the majority are legitimate recovery groups. But unlike the more, um, "inclusive" groups, those focused on getting better openly and adamantly oppose pro-ana talk, clearly telling users to look elsewhere if they've come to post measurements and pictures.

Source