Another Look at Body Image

Friends?

Ryerson university in Toronto conducted a study on the effects of television characters on body image.  Specifically, the study found that watching just a 10-minute clip of Friends (specifically Jennifer Aniston and Courteney) cox caused women to feel bad about their bodies.  The study's author is quoted as saying, "People have the tendency to make rapid comparisons of themselves to images on television programs even when they don't think they are being affected."

Are there any current shows or stars that you think women with body image concerns should avoid?  Have you noticed yourself having negative body thoughts (in e.d. language, being "triggered") by any of these shows or characters?  Is there a pull to watch them despite their emotional impact?

For Those in NYC. . .

Bake-In Rally

Good Vs. Bad

I'm becoming increasing annoyed by descriptions of food as "good" or "bad."  When someone says, "I was good," I often ask what that means, because my definition of good is not necessarily yours.  For some women who struggle with eating disorders, restriction is good.  Not for me. 

Healthy.  Unhealthy.  What do they mean?  As soon as there's a good, there's a bad, and that sets us up for the moralization of food.  While I'm not suggesting everyone eat fried food at every meal, food choices should reflect the variety of our cravings. 

There is no good or bad, just food.  Dichotomizing nutrition can lead to disordered eating.  In fact, one food choice has no value over another.  All foods are equal.  How about that?  Let's end our food discrimination, because as everyone knows, choosing one group over another (with the exception of skinny over fat) is so 20th century. 

Does Every Calorie Count?

Interesting article in The New York Times. . .

Do Something!

Petitions, Conferences, and More!

Check out the National Eating Disorder Information Centre's (Canada) new campaign.  You can sign a petition on their site that directly targets the fashion industry, encouraging repsonsible selection (and retouching) of models in the advertising world. 

Also, as I mentioned earlier, I will be speaking at a conference later this month in NYC dedicated to friends/family members of those struggling with eating disorders.  Please pass on the Journey to Hope conference information to your family and friends--presentations will help them cope with your eating disorder and hopefully improve your relationships in the process.  See here for more information.

If you'd like to get involved with Reaching Out Against Eating  Disorders (one of the organizations responsible for hosting the conference), see their website for how to volunteer.

Begin your revolution now!

Media Inquiry

Like Mother/Like Daughter? Help a reporter with a story on the mother daughter eating/body image connection. . .


A reporter is doing a story for Glamour Magazine on the connection between mothers and daughters when it comes to issues around eating and body image. She is interested in the kind of habits and attitudes that seem to plague many women -bingeing, consta-dieting, emotional eating, obsessive exercising, body-loathing, not strictly clinical eating disorders. If you are in your 20s or 30s, deal with these issues and SO DOES YOUR MOM, she'd love to speak to you. If you'd be willing to talk--on record or off--email Diana Kapp, at dekapp@mac.com.

All About Weight

It seems the most important thing about celebrities these days is their weight.  Kevin Smith was kicked off a Southwest flight for being "too fat."  "You [messed] with the wrong sedentary processed-foods eater!" he tweeted. 

The 5'6", 105-pound American ice dancer Tanith Belbin, who admitted to restricting her intake, was given an ultimatum by her coach to gain 10 pounds.  Still underweight, Belbin reported she's skating more strongly.  You know it's serious when your ice skating coach is forcing you to eat.

Mad Men star Christina Hendricks vented to New York magazine:  "Anytime someone talks about your figure constantly, you get nervous, you get really self-conscious.  I was working my butt off on the show, and then all anyone was talking about was my body."

Jessica Simpson, who, if you remember, soared to fame with her voice, came crashing down with her weight.  In a recent issue of Allure, Simpson referred to America's weight-obsession as "disgusting."

These are just a few examples I've seen in the media in the last few weeks.  Can you remember a time when we haven't had such a focus on everyone's weight?  How do we get back to that place?

Let's Move

What do you all think about Michelle Obama's campaign to reduce the incidence of childhood obesity?  If you're unfamiliar with the campaign, here it is:  http://letsmove.gov/

I support most of her ideas (especially increasing physical activity among kids, making a variety of foods more available to less advanatged populations, etc.), but keep getting stuck on schools' initiative regarding cutting out sweets (e.g., cupcakes on birthdays) and taking variety away from the kids (e.g., in the vending machines), rather than promoting the idea of treats in moderation.  Eliminating certain food groups tends to backfire, resulting in overeating when there finally is access to these foods.  Thoughts?

Zumba!

The last six weeks have been filled with the requisite New Year's diet and fitness interviews, which should taper off soon.  But, before I'm through, I'd like to put in a special plug for Zumba Fitness.

I love Zumba.  Have you tried it?  For the uninformed, it's a Latin-inspired (but internationally flavored) dance party (that, by the way, takes place in a traditional aerobics room), replete with a funky blend of salsa, merengue, a little hip hop here and there, hip gyrations, shoulder shimmies, and, in a class I recently attended, the late 80s' snake (are you old enough to remember that move?) 

So many people are uninspired by the gym these days, stale in their workouts, looking for something new.  Sick of not getting anywhere on the elliptical?  Of running the same course outdoors?  Zumba may be the answer.  I'm a big proponent of finding exercise motivation through activities you like, and if you're into dance/music, Zumba may be for you.

What inspired me particularly to write this post was attending a class at my local gym a couple of weeks ago--a studio that was packed with 60 or so women (and one man--straight men, if you can shake it, this is a great way to meet the ladies!), a much more heterogeneous bunch than the typical group fitness crowd.  In a studio that's usually filled with women who look vaguely alike, this class stood out--there were Latina women, women of color, fat women, skinny women, conforming only in the chorus of their moves and the smiles on their faces.  The class was upbeat/playful/sexy, requiring more concentration on mirroring the instructor than staring in the mirror.  For this, I give Zumba a body-image A+, with a focus more on what your body can do, rather than how it looks.

Check out a class near you!

Melissa Broder--Poems on E.D.'s

Melissa Broder, author of the newly published, When You Say One Thing But Mean Your Mother, sent me a couple of her poems that relate to e.d.'s.  See below for the inspiration for her work.

Core vs. Flex
Madame Famine is hairless apart
from her lanugo, and when she sucks you into
her glory hole, a bald telephone, it’s

wrong. You’re supposed to be the one who’s lived
a thing or two, you’re supposed to be teaching her
to grow. There’s no room to live inside

her little Grey Gardens, so try and
let go. Stop lining up lacy aprons
with training bras and just have a damn happy

accident. You are frightened of going
over. You are not as fragile as you think.
Madame Famine should be left to rot in her

dream car with a frozen Jenny Craig
glazed salmon. Of course, she would rather
ride the bumper cars with your husband.


Prayer of the Teenage Waifs

We want security and we want out!
The groceries have cobwebs. French toast sticks
and sickie chicken sausages turn lettuce
for breakfast. Put dinner in a locket,
then sniff to get to clavicle heaven
where Mommy gets pinched and shock treatments
are ice capades, Sweet’N Low sensations

of Fatherland. Oh Fatherland! She’s been
a bad babysitter. Deliver us
from Burger King with People magazine.
Let the basement be our basement, the bones
and ringtones our only breath in mirrors;
let mammaries unbloom, let fumes be food
and we’ll massacre into cylinders.

Regarding the inspiration, Melissa writes:

In Core vs. Flex, the character of Madame Famine came to me in a dream. To me she’s restrictive eating-personified, though my publisher and editor, who are both male, think she is a well-groomed nether-region. The poem was actually longer in another incarnation, involving Oreos, but that piece didn’t make the cut.

Prayer of the Teenage Waifs arose experimentally. I used one of my favorite writing devices, which is to comprise a list of nouns from the lyrics of a particular rock band and then construct a poem using those nouns. This time it was The Ramones. If you look at their canon, you’ll find the nouns in this poem (from “Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment” to “Hangin' out on 2nd Avenue/Eatin' chicken Vindaloo.”) Also, I was taking a prosody class and asked to write in iambic pentameter, so most of the poem is metered that way.
The title of the book is the punchline to a joke: “What’s a Freudian Slip?” I felt that it captured the tone of the book, which is playful, yet mild to moderately neurotic.

Family Consequnces of Eating Disorders

Here are the results from the first 100 respondents.  Note that numbers may exceed 100%, as it was possible to choose multiple responses. 


1. Gender:

Female: 98.0%

Male: 2.0%


2. I have been diagnosed with, or meet criteria for:

Anorexia Nervosa: 44.6%

Bulimia Nervosa:  35.6%

Binge Eating Disorder:  19.8%

Another Type of Eating Disorder:  32.7%


3. My parent or parents have experienced the following emotions as a result of my eating disorder:

Sadness:  54.5%

Anxiety:  56.4%

Anger:  38.6%

Guilt: 43.6%

Not sure: 19.8%

They didn't/don't know about it:  26.7%


4. My eating disorder has had the effect of:

Negatively impacting my parents' relationship:  17.8%

Positively impacting my parents' relationship:  7.9%

Causing them to separate:  1.0%

Not sure:  35.6%

Hasn't had an effect:  43.6%


5. My e.d. has had the effect of:

Positively impacting my relationship with a partner:  15.8%

Negatively impacting my relationship with a partner:  47.5%

Not sure:  14.9%

Not applicable:  29.7%


6. My e.d. has had the effect of:

Positively impacting my relationship with my child(ren): 1.0%

Negatively impacting my relationship with my child(ren):  6.9%

Not sure: 5.0%

Leading my child(ren) to have an e.d., too. 0.0%

Not applicable:  87.1%



7. For those who have a younger sibling(s) only: After I developed my e.d., my younger sibling:

Developed an e.d., too:  12.9%

Did not develop an e.d:  29.7%

Not sure:  14.9%

It's too early to tell:  6.9%

Not applicable:  35.6%



8. For those who have older siblings only: After I developed my e.d., my older sibling:

Developed an e.d., too. 0.0%

Did not develop an e.d.:  40.6%

Not sure:  20.8%

It's too early to tell:  3.0%

Not applicable: 35.6%



9. As a result of my e.d., family member(s) have:

Sought therapy and found it helpful for them to cope:  10.9%

Sought therapy and found it unhelpful:  5.0%

Have not sought therapy:  67.3%

Not sure:  18.8%


10. As a result of my e.d., family members:

Have sought out other resources (e.g., support groups) and found them helpful:  12.9%

Have sought out other resources and haven't found them helpful:  4.0%

Have not sought out other resources:  64.4%

Not sure:  20.8%
________________________________________
 
Thoughts?

Golden (Rounder?) Globes

Have you all seen this? 

That's Fit weighs in. . . .

Media Query

A producer from 20/20 contacted me about trends in eating disorders--they want to do a story about e.d.'s being "contagious" among friends, relatives.  Did you develop your e.d. after a friend or relative did?  Or, did someone follow you?  Here's the link, if you'd like to share your story on camera (please let them know how you found the link):

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/eating-disorder-thrives-friends/story?id=9553667

I'll have preliminary survey results soon!

Survey More

Don't you just love a short survey?  I've added more questions to flesh out the e.d./family issues survey I plan to present at an NYC conference in March. Please take the survey online (it's really quick) and forward to your contacts, if applicable. The survey link is:  E.D./Family Survey.

To give you a little bit of background, I commonly talk about how family members may (in part) influence the development of an eating disorder. We know that. But, not much research has examined what happens to a family as the result of an eating disorder. When I did a literature review using key words such as "family members" "coping," and "eating disorders" no articles came up! Clearly, more work needs to be done in this arena, but for now, there's my brief survey.  Did I mention how quick it is? Just 10 questions!

Ideally, I'd like over 100 responses to make the data meaningful. I'm going to hold off on posting until I meet that goal, so that this post stays on top. Yes, I do believe I'm holding my blog hostage.

Family Issue Polls

Hi--Happy New Year! Hope you all enjoyed your holidays and are ready to work for me! I'm giving a talk in a couple of months on family issues related to e.d.'s. at a day-long conference in NYC. Two of the questions I want to address are: What are the familial consequences of having an eating disorder? Did your parents argue more, split up? Did they experience their own mental health consequences (e.g., anxiety, depression)? Did they report feelings of guilt, sadness, anger? Did your e.d. in some way help the family? The other question has to do with e.d. comorbidity among siblings--if you had an e.d., did your sibling develop one, too? Did your e.d. follow a sibling struggling with one? Do you feel e.d.'s are "contagious" among siblings?

I've included two new polls on the side bar. Please vote and encourage your friends to, as well. I also would love to hear your comments about these topics and with your permission (of course, with identifying information removed), may share a couple of case studies in my talk. Thanks, in advance, for your help!

Holiday Read

If you have some time off during the holidays, I recommend reading Insatiable: A Young Mother's Struggle with Anorexia, a memoir by first-time author, Erica Rivera. As the subtitle notes, the young Rivera (in her early 20s) traces her eating disorder from dieting to restriction and over-exercise to binge eating, and then to recovery.

Rivera recalls a childhood memory:

I don't just have my mother's face; I have her body, too. We share the same padded hips, the rounded thighs, the kangaroo pouch of a belly. When I see the abrasive way she turns away from herself in the mirror, how can I think of my body as anything but flawed?

It's not long before Rivera develops eating-disordered behavior. After a consultation with a diet doctor ("Being this requires sacrifice"), Rivera takes the diet to an extreme, which morphs into anorexia. Not surprisingly, Rivera suffers the physiological and psychological consequences of countless days of restriction and eventually ends up overeating (developing a persona whom she refers to as "Binge Bitch").

Rivera relies on her family, treatment team, and her writing to guide her to health. One of her journal entries reveals: "In The Writer's Life, author Julia Cameron says going sane looks a lot like going insane." What a perfect description of recovery. . .

Note: I've added Insatiable to the EWHAED book list. While this book may be helpful to many, it may be triggering to some. As always, I recommend you be mindful of this as you read.

Hillstone-Houston's-Hillstone Restaurant

California-based Hillstone Restaurant Group recently demonstrated new and improved loopholes around New York City menu labeling laws. Again, NYC passed legislation in May, 2008, requiring all chain restaurants to post calorie counts on their menus.

Hillstone, which owns the popular chain Houston's, has now changed the name of its two NYC spots from Houston's to Hillstone. Sound confusing? It is.

Apparently, the two Houston's restaurants in NY were charged with noncompliance regarding menu labeling laws and instead of caving and revealing their calorie counts, they simply chose to rename the restaurant, add a menu item here or there, and voila, they've now circumvented the entire problem. That spinach-artichoke dip you know and love? Don't have to know the calories on that one. Pretty sneaky, sis. . .

As I've written before, I'm not in support of posting calorie counts (see previous posts for my reasoning). To me, this switcheroo provides yet another example of why the law won't work.

Guess What?

Can you guess the product/company advertised in the image above? A reader from Miami, Florida snapped the photo (I airbrushed out some hints). I'll post the answer after 20 guesses, or at the end of the week, whichever comes first. The winner(s) will receive from me NEDA's "Thank you for not talking about your diet" bumper sticker. Guess hard!

UPDATE:
Oops--din't realize the file name would appear!

Here's another one:

UPDATE:
Here's the answer:

Eating Disorder/Body Image Myths

Margarita Tartakovsky, over at Psychcentral--Weightless, recently asked me for some eating disorder myths and body image boosters to share with her blog audience. Below are links to the posts where she compiles these myths. Hope they're helpful to you. . . .

Eating Disorder Myths

Body Image Boosters