Eating Disorders Blog

According to a March 29 article by Kathy Chu of USA Today, Asian women are coming under intense pressure to remain thin, which has led to an increasing prevalence of extreme dieting in many Asian nations:

In most developed parts of the world, women feel pressure to be thin. But such pressure is especially intense in Asia  in places like Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo  where scores of skinny women seem always to be looking for ways to get even skinnier.

Experts say dieting in Asia tends to be more extreme than in the West because of cultural perceptions of beauty.

"The magic number is to be below 100 pounds, no matter your height or your weight," says Philippa Yu, a clinical psychologist at the Hong Kong Eating Disorders Association.

In Asia, women want to stay skinny without exercising because muscles aren't considered a feminine feature, says Sing Lee, director of the Hong Kong Eating Disorders Center at Chinese University.

Extreme diets and other types of rapid or drastic weight loss measures are far from healthy behaviors, and have been associated with a wide range of physical and emotional problems.

Labels: extreme diets, pressures, body image

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In a Feb. 26 Huffington Post article (part of a post-New Year's Day series on food and health), Concordia College religion professor Michele Lelwica notes that fighting back against cultural pressures to be thin isn't as easy as simply eating more:

To challenge our culture's obsession with thinness is not to endorse a lifestyle that promotes obesity. Rather, my suggestion is simply that, in the long run, cultivating a nonviolent relationship with your body is actually a more viable road to overall health (physical, mental, spiritual) than torturing yourself with restrictive diets and weight-loss fantasies.

In fact, a crucial aspect of pursuing this kinder, more peaceful approach to your body is eating foods that genuinely nourish your body and spirit.

This means that instead of deciding what to eat based primarily on caloric, fat, or carbohydrate content, you try to eat foods that maximize your physical health. It also means eating them in a way that is attuned to how much your body really needs and that enhances your sense of gratitude and pleasure.

Labels: pressures, health, obesity

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According to a blog entry by Dr. Joseph DeSoto, appearing on the website of the Martinsburg Journal (Martinsburg, West Virginia), anorexia is largely caused by a society which has learned to judge people solely based on appearance, and a society in which thinness is equated with success. According to Dr. DeSoto, "The identification of thinness with success regardless of achievement or merit has led to the development of a culturally based mental illness called anorexia nervosa."

Dr. DeSoto argues that because genetic factors play a small role in the risk for development of anorexia nervosa (he says 2 percent to 6 percent), the disease is almost entirely environmental. Dr. DeSoto believes that "Dysfunctional family relationships, perfectionist or overprotective mothers, withdrawn and passive fathers and overvaluing of mass media are some of the environmental risk factors for the development of anorexia nervosa."
(Source: www.journal-news.net)

Labels: pressures, body-image, society

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Joan Jacobs Brumberg, the author of a book called The Body Project is launching a play by the same name at Ithaca, New York's Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts. Ms. Brumberg hopes that her play will create dialogue about troubled eating behaviors among American women. The title of the book and play reflect the idea that American women are taught to be fundamentally dissatisfied with their natural physical appearance, and so almost every woman is constantly in the throes of some kind of project to change her body. The play was developed during intensive workshops with women of all ages.

During background research for the book and play, Ms. Brumberg discovered an interesting aspect of how the American female's social role has evolved during the last century. She examined the personal diaries of adolescent girls from the early 1900s until the present. She noted a significant transition from women being valued for their good works (then) to women being valued for their good looks (now). Brumberg commented:

"I think almost all of us women have some kind of bad body fever; some kind of angst about some part of our bodies that's less than perfect. ... Not everybody has eating disorders, but in a way we all have body projects. Every woman has to come to grips with what is a responsible and intelligent way of dealing with these pressures." (Source: www.theithacajournal.com)

Labels: pressures, influences, society

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As students around the country begin preparing for college, an eating disorder expert is trying to set their minds at ease. Many incoming college students worry about the “Freshman 15” – the 15 pounds of extra weight that students supposedly gain during their freshman year.

But [Cynthia] Bulk said recent research suggests that the average student gains only five pounds in the first year of college. And a 2008 study published in the journal Health Psychology found that the male students who gain weight generally do so because of an increase in muscle mass.

"You want to go into college as healthy and robust as you possibly can," she said.

Once they get to college, young people are confronted with a new group of peers to whom they can compare themselves. For students who are already concerned about their weight, that can trigger or worsen an eating disorder, Bulik said. [Source: Medical News Today]

Many young girls place a lot of pressure on themselves to lose weight their first year of college, in an attempt to compete with other girls on campus who appear to be skinnier. This comparison, combined with fear over the “Freshman 15,” can trigger eating disorder. Bulk encourages students to keep an eye on each other, and start asking questions if someone is losing a lot of weight or appears to have unhealthy eating or exercise habits.

Labels: pressures, colleges

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