The thin line / LJWorld.com

Archive for Monday, February 27, 2006

Experts worry that focus on obesity could lead to more anorexia, bulimia

February 27, 2006

Lara Izokaitis first got the idea from a television special she watched in her ninth-grade health class: She could purge her food as a way to stay thin.

That way, she could be more like the actresses she saw on TV, look good in her skimpy volleyball uniform and maybe, someday, pursue a modeling career.

The show was meant to warn students of the dangers of eating disorders. But the night Izokaitis saw it, she went home and, for the first time, made herself vomit.

It was the beginning of a more than two-year battle with bulimia.

"I was bombarded with society's standards," says Izokaitis, a Lawrence resident and former Kansas University volleyball player who graduated in 1997. "It was a door that was opened to a very dark place within my soul."

Today is the beginning of National Eating Disorder Awareness Week, and those who study eating disorders say they're as prevalent as ever in Lawrence and across the country.

But as the media and society set their sights on ending the country's obesity epidemic, there's a new fear: Could such a focus on the dangers of being overweight, without offering proper solutions to the problem, lead even more people to anorexia and bulimia?

"There's greater fear about weight gain," says Ed Bloch, an eating disorder treatment specialist who co-directs the Life Enrichment Center, 5200 Bob Billings Parkway. "For me, if I have a cut on my arm, staring at it doesn't make it heal, and picking at it only makes it worse. That's the way we deal with weight issues in this society. We stare and pick at it."

Dual problems

According to the National Eating Disorders Assn., 10 million American women and 1 million American men are battling eating disorders. Those disorders include anorexia, which is self-starvation, and bulimia, which commonly is referred to as the cycle of bingeing and purging.

KRT Illustration

Meanwhile, nearly 35 million women and 27 million men are obese, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Ann Chapman, dietitian at KU's Watkins Health Center, is among those worried that a decrease in obese adults could lead to an increase in those with eating disorders.

She says the basics about proper diet and physical activity must be instilled in children early so they don't resort to extreme methods of losing weight.

"Parents are primary role models," she says. "If the mother is doing a : bizarre diet, it's really difficult to expect the child to avoid unhealthy eating practices."

Schools, Chapman says, also have a key role in the education process.

Society pressures

Bloch, who has worked with patients with eating disorders for 17 years, says he's seeing some disturbing trends.

First, he's encountering more patients who suffer from both bulimia and anorexia, alternating between the two.

And he's seeing more patients at the age extremes - as young as 10 and others who first exhibit the behaviors in their 40s or 50s.

But the most common patients are still girls between the ages of 14 and 28.

"Young girls have a higher level of stressors - they have higher expectations academically and athletically, social pressures, and all of those stressors involve a drive for success," he explains. "They think perfectionistic kinds of thoughts. They might be over-involved, and there's no down time for them. They're driving themselves all the time."

And body image becomes another one of those areas for perfection.

In college, Chapman says, the stresses intensify - or at the very least, change.

"I see a lot of women who develop an eating disorder in high school, but some start in college," she says. "The transition to college is huge in terms of the emotional toll it takes, even if you're excited. Even if it's good stress, it's a stress."

'Careful' discussion

Pam McDermott also is among those concerned about how the war on obesity might lead young people - particularly girls - to the wrong conclusions.

McDermott, wife of John McDermott, pastor at Morning Star Church, 998 N. 1171 Road, is co-organizer with Izokaitis of Straight-Up Beautiful, a conference at the church expected to draw 150 teenage girls April 7-8.

"I think you have to be careful how you frame that when you're talking to 14-year-old girls," McDermott says of obesity discussions. "It can be an all-consuming thing."

The conference focuses on the fact that paper-thin models and actresses seen in magazines, on TV and in movies aren't the only ones who are beautiful. Beauty, McDermott says, comes from within.

Izokaitis, who went on to model in New York for several years, wishes that was a message she had heard when she was in high school. She says eating disorders are just a symptom of deep-rooted psychological issues that come down to a lack of self-worth.

"I know the idea that food can feed the soul," she says. "Really, it's showing the emptiness of the soul."

Discussion

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27 February 2006
at 5:49 a.m.

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gravity (Anonymous) says…

“For me, if I have a cut on my arm, staring at it doesn't make it heal, and picking at it only makes it worse. That's the way we deal with weight issues in this society. We stare and pick at it.”

For some reason, this analogy REALLY bothers me….
27 February 2006
at 11:01 a.m.

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badger (Anonymous) says…

It's not untrue, though. We do deal with weight issues by focusing on the weight issues, and poking until we see or feel some change, never thinking about how to *heal* the weight issues. We don't think about building healthy lifestyles; we obsess over naming, analyzing, and diagnosing everything that's 'wrong' and then pat ourselves on the backs because we 'understand' eating disorders.

What we should be understanding is, “Balanced diet, regular exercise, plenty of sleep, go outside, get social, keep learning.”

If we instilled that in kids instead of 'self-esteem conditioning' classes, we'd have a whole lot fewer issues with weight, body image, heart disease, and obesity.

The article makes a good point that if the parents are on some bizarre diet, the kids won't learn healthy eating. I have a co-worker whose 11-year-old daughter is on the Atkins diet with her mom as a bonding experience. They're 'diet buddies'. The kid was on Weight Watchers at age 9, which is at least better than Atkins because it emphasizes balancing healthy eating with exercise, but the meetings apparently conflicted with 'Mom and Me' spinning classes so they switched to Atkins cause the mom found the book on sale at the Half Price Bookstore.

That kid, by age 18, is going to be throwing up twice a day and starving herself.
27 February 2006
at 12:36 p.m.

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Multidisciplinary (Anonymous) says…

Better that she start monitoring it now. And depending on “How” you do Atkins, it's okay. I'd rather see her working on it now, than wait until she's older and have to deal with skin issues. There's no life after losing it if you don't have the fortune to get the skin cut off.I wonder when they will start documenting/publicizing suicides due to loose skin after weight loss, and the depression it causes.
27 February 2006
at 12:55 p.m.

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avhjmlk (Anonymous) says…

There's nothing about Atkins that's ok. The entire premise of it is to put your body into a dangerous physiological state by eliminating carbs from your diet. The weight loss continues as long as you don't eat carbs, but the second you start eating them again (because your body, like it or not, needs carbs), you balloon back up.

There's also nothing OK about considering a diet to be a mom-daughter bonding experience. At 11, she probably still hasn't fully gone through puberty and is not at a stage in her life where the nutrients needed for proper growth and development (as in, the two things that childhood are meant for, mentally, physically, emotionally, and socially) should be put at risk of disappearing because she and/or her mother has a twisted idea of what bonding is.
27 February 2006
at 1:50 p.m.

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Multidisciplinary (Anonymous) says…

Ever worked with an MD to use Atkins?

I agree, many people aren't wise enough to manage their own checkbooks, much less correct nutrition. Atkins has a lot of read between the lines..or maybe just more intelligence is needed to use it wisely.
27 February 2006
at 1:54 p.m.

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avhjmlk (Anonymous) says…

My husband will be an MD in less than 3 months.

South Beach is much better for you. It never fully deprives you of any particular nutrient group, and focuses on the basics—whole grains, good fruits and veggies, responsible proteins, etc.
27 February 2006
at 2:09 p.m.

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Godot (Anonymous) says…

We should teach our kids to shop only on the perimeter of the grocery stores, where the fresh foods are. Allow them to dive into the center aisles, where the processed foods are, on only rare occasions.

People blame McDonalds, and I agree we need to boycott fast food, but as I see it, Coca Cola came first. That company, and the ones who copied it, need to be run out of business. There is absolutely no reason to ever consume a “soft drink,” yet we offer Cokes and such to our kids as a refreshment in schools. Outrageous.

I noticed this weekend that the Iraqis protesting in the streets this weekend are FAT! Maybe Burger King and Pepsi will turn the tide for us in the war on terror.

27 February 2006
at 2:14 p.m.

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crazyks (Anonymous) says…

“The conference focuses on the fact that paper-thin models and actresses seen in magazines, on TV and in movies aren't the only ones who are beautiful. ”

Maybe this is a big part of the problem. Even at a conference dealing with eating disorders, paper-thin models and actresses are still referred to as “beautiful”.

I don't think they're beautiful at all. I think they look horrible. I saw Joan VanArk on TV once, and thought her shoulder blades were going to puncture something. She looked gross.
27 February 2006
at 2:18 p.m.

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Godot (Anonymous) says…

Regarding the loose skin after weight loss, granted, it is much better to never gain the extra bulk in the first place. However, I've observed the people who lose weight slowly, say 1/2 to 1 pound a week, while doing cardio and weight bearing exercise 5 to 7 times a week, lose the weight without the skin droop. Takes lots of patience and determination to do it that way, though.
27 February 2006
at 2:58 p.m.

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badger (Anonymous) says…

There is, as far as I'm concerned, only one class of dieter for whom Atkins is a positive choice, and that's people using it for diabetes management under the direct care of a doctor. For some people, it's the only way.

However, my office recently did a lunch seminar on healthy eating. The presenter asked how many people had ever tried Atkins. Almost a third put up their hands. That's totally out of control. One guy said he did it because the wife put the whole family on it when she wanted to lose some weight.

MD, I think you misinterpreted, or I didn't make something clear. I have seen a picture of the girl in question. If she wears a size larger than a medium in anything, I'll be surprised. She's not fat; she diets because mom diets. It's a thing she's learning as a lifestyle, unnatural eating habits.

I agree with Godot about perimeter shopping. I tend to be a big fan of the grocery store perimeter. Produce, fish, lean fresh meats (I hit fish before meat so that if I decide I'm getting close to budget I skimp on red meat rather than fish), dairy, bakery. I stop for a few prepared soups and microwave meals to take for work lunches, and that's really it. I buy snacks and cookies as I crave them, instead of keeping them on hand. It takes a lot of the mindless appeal out of candy if you have to put on shoes and brave the grocery store for it.
27 February 2006
at 6:49 p.m.

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Multidisciplinary (Anonymous) says…

Many good things being said here. Perimeter shopping, the best. Yes. Unfortunately the healthy choices can be the most expensive!

South Beach Diet: a friend and I were losing together, he on South Beach and I on protein, I lost 180/1 yr, he was fighting to lose 10. Both did well.

Skin..VERY overweight people..no matter how they loose, and especially if older, the skin is there.

I was talking about soda way back in the 70's as the root of all evil, and addicted to it of course LOL. Sugar and carbs ARE the evil of blood sugar, and then we add in the fat to the mix.

And then the girls and the playboy images, 5'10” 105 lbs. Yeah right. With helium implants!

Great posts everyone!
28 February 2006
at 11:40 a.m.

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badger (Anonymous) says…

Multi -

Sugar and carbs are YOUR evil. They don't happen to be mine. I can eat white bread and jam all day long and not pack on pounds or have blood sugar issues. My 'evil' is fat. I lost huge amounts of weight over the course of a couple of years by cutting out the 'snack fat' in my diet (mostly potato chips and fried foods, but also cutting out fatty meats) and switching the rest of my fat intake to 'healthy' fats like olive oil or fish oils. People have different metabolisms, and different ways of responding to dieting and dietary changes.

'Dieting' is in and of itself unhealthy. One of the things I've learned about dietary changes is to never make any that I'm not willing to make permanent. No crash diets, no fad diets, no elimination diets.

Figure out how many calories your 'daily maintenance' amount is, and how many calories your 'daily intake' amount usually is. If you want to lose weight, then up your exercise or decrease your intake (for most people, a combination of those is best) until your 'net intake' is negative. Then, within your available calories, eat a good combination of fresh fruits and veggies, healthy grains, and lean protein. If you want to lose more than 30 or 40 lbs, you should be working with a doctor or nutritionist to make sure you can sustain the pace you're keeping without hurting yourself. Another option is to eat at the 'maintenance level' for your target weight, 'buying' extra calories with exercise (Weight Watchers does this; the friends I have who've stuck to it have lost and kept off weight).

You lost 180 lbs under a doctor's care. Believe me, that's great and I respect the heck out of it. However, whenever I see someone saying they've lost huge amounts of weight on what amounts to a body crash course, I have to wonder if they're going to keep on the crash course, go back to the habits that put the weight on, or if they've really developed seriously healthy lifestyle habits that will help them not only maintain their weight, but live without food avoidance. Food avoidance, in and of itself, alters your perceptions about food in a way I don't think is healthy.

If I start eliminating entire food classes from my diet, then I find I'm controlled by what I can't have. I can't go to this restaurant because everything they have is high-fat, or I have to tell a hostess I'm on a special diet and can't eat what she's prepared for dinner, or I get a little hungry on a long drive and can't have anything because there's no 'healthy' snacks in gas stations so I get to my destination cranky and ready to eat anything, whether it's on my diet or not.

On the other hand, if I'm looking for balance and moderation, I say that I can go to the high-fat restaurant for lunch today, but for dinner tonight I'll have tofu vegetable stir-fry (which I like, so it's not a 'punishment'), or I can have a candy bar on a long trip - but my afternoon commute doesn't count as a 'long trip.'