In the United States, approximately 10 million females are fighting a life and death battle with eating disorders. Cultural and media influences, such as T.V, magazines and movies, reinforce the belief that women should concern themselves with appearance over ideas or achievements.
While most of our eating disorder clients have a preoccupation with food and weight, the underlying problem is about much more than food. Eating disorders are real, complex, and devastating conditions that can have serious consequences for health, productivity, and relationships.
The most commonly known eating disorders are anorexia nervosa, nulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder. On the rise: exercise bulimia, diabulimia, pregorexia and orthorexia.
Orthorexia is characterized by excessive focus on eating healthy foods. In rare cases, this focus may turn into a fixation so extreme that it can lead to severe malnutrition or even death. The orthorexic may avoid certain foods, such as those containing fats, perservatives and animal products, or other ingredients considered by the orthorexic to be unhealthy. The orthorexic’s intent is to feel pure, healthy, and natural.
Diabulimia refers to an eating disorder in which people with diabetes deliberately give themselves less insulin than they need for the purpose of weight loss. This seems to be prevalent in young teens and women. The severe consequences of possible diabetic coma or death do not deter them from furthering their drive for thinness.
Exercise bulimia is a subset of bulimia in which a person is compelled to exercise in an effort aimed at burning the calories of food enery and fat reserves to an excessive level that negatively affects their health. The damage normally occurs through not giving the body adequate rest for athletic recovery compared to their exercise levels, leading to increasing levels of disrepair. If the person eats a normally healthy and adequate diet but exercises in levels she knows require higher levels of nutrition, this can also be seen as a form of anorexia.
The phenomenon of pregorexia is a term coined by the media. The intense need to remain slim and sculpted during pregnancy is a growing concern among the medical profession.
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Terri L. Mozingo, RD, CDN
D. Milton Stokes, MPH, RD, CDN
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This post is part of the Women's Health Blogfest. Here are links to posts from other Women's Health bloggers.
Update 7/16/09: The links below may not work. In the meantime, view http://nurturingnotes.blogspot.com/2009/07/busy-busy-woman.html to access all the other links.
Angela White at Blisstree’s Breastfeeding 1-2-3 –
Helpful Skills of Breastfeeding CounselorsAngie Tillman, RD, LDN, CDE –
You Are Beautiful TodayAnthony J. Sepe –
Women’s Health and MigrainesAshley Colpaart –
Women’s health through womenCharisse McElwaine –
Spending too much time on the “throne?”Danielle Omar –
Yoga, Mindful Eating and Food ConfidenceDiane Preves M.S.,R.D –
Balance for HealthJoan Sather –
A Woman’s Healthy Choices Affect More Than HerselfLaura Wittke –
Fibro Study Recruits ParticipantsLiz Marr, MS, RD –
Reflecting on Family Food Ways and Women’s WorkMarjorie Geiser, MBA, RD, NSCA-CPT –
Healthy Women, Healthy Business: How Your Health Impacts a Powerful BusinessMarsha Hudnall –
Breakfast Protein Helps Light Eaters Feel FullMichelle Loy, MPH, MS, RD –
A Nutritionista’s Super Foods for Super SkinMonika Woolsey, MS, RD –
To effectively work with PCOS is to understand a woman’s health issues throughout her lifeMotherwear Breastfeeding Blog –
How breastfeeding helps you, tooRebecca Scritchfield, MA, RD, LD –
Four Keys to Wellness, Just for WomenRenata Mangrum, MPH, RD –
The busy busy womanRobin Plotkin, RD, LD –
Feeding the Appetites of the Culinary, Epicurious and Nutrition Worlds-One Bite at a TimeSharon Solomon –
Calories, longevity and do I careWendy Jo Peterson, RD –
Watch Your Garden Grow
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