We read a lot about eating disorders in the news and in the glossies. But what’s often striking are the kinds of disorders that are highlighted. Anorexia. To a lesser extent, bulimia. And er – that’s it. But they don’t stop there – far from it. As well as those who have some symptoms of these disorders but not enough to qualify for an official diagnosis, there are many new kinds emerging: night-eating for example, an ongoing and persistent pattern …Read More
Are diets really a modern phenomenon? Or just an age-old expression of our need to worship -whether at the supermarket or the mirror? In her book, ‘Calories and Corsets’ Louise Foxcroft argues that ‘contemporary’ diets such as Atkins, are nothing of the kind. She gives the example of the Hay diet, which was popular at the start of the early 20thc. Given a few tweaks, this became the Beverly Hills diet of the 1980s. Similarly, Atkins has been given a …Read More
Christmas is a hard time for those with eating disorders. To be honest, I think it’s a hard time for most – even those who absolutely love it. It’s a bit like being strapped in to a fairground ride. You’re looking forward to it, but as you gain speed, you start feeling a bit sick too. You’re so focused on breathing you can miss the actual event. Then off you step, dizzy and disorientated, thinking ‘ hmmm. that went quick’. …Read More
Reading an interview with comedienne Victoria Wood, I was struck again by the similarities between binge-eating and anorexia. Speaking in The Telegraph of her struggles with binge-eating, Wood comments: I was never hungry. You’re not if you eat all the time. You never get that scary feeling of hunger. You want your mind to be distracted. You want to put a wall between you and real life. It’s like the drink or the fags or the drugs. It’s all the …Read More
A salutory reminder from yesterday’s Mail on the danger of treating just the physical aspects of an eating disorder. Four years ago, Malissa Jones 21, used to weigh 34 stone. After a gastric bypass operation, she has lost 26 stone and is now battling with anorexia. Doctors have warned her than unless she increases her food intake, she could die within six months. Where Malissa used to gorge on sweets and chocolate, now she says that she would ‘rather die …Read More
The biggest reason for giving up on an eating disorder is because you’re loved, accepted and bought by the Lord of the universe. Whatever those voices tell you, the truth is this: it’s not too late you’re not too sick other people (and God Himself) care it’s worth it you’re not a burden or a waste of space and there ain’t no part of your past that God can’t use. There’s nothing more important – or more hopeful. Check out …Read More
‘Drunkorexia.’ It’s a silly term that was originally coined to describe the behaviour of skinny celebrities who appear to survive on nothing but booze. However, such behaviour is not contained within Holywood. The word is now used to describe someone using the same methods as anorexia or bulimia – restricting food intake to reserve calories for alcohol and binge drinking. Unsurprisingly, this is most common at college – but though the behaviour may start here, it doesn’t necessarily end with …Read More
In recent posts we’ve been thinking a little about the confusion of appetite (for physical food), with hunger (for emotional wants or needs). So, let’s say I’ve had a really rotten day. I’m in a foul mood. Glen or a friend tries to engage me in conversation, to find out what’s wrong. But I don’t want to talk. I’m emotionally constipated – there’s a whole barrage of competing feelings coursing through my veins, but they’re in a big, amorphous and …Read More
So… we’ve been thinking a bit about binge eating. You might not term it an eating disorder as such, much less admit it to others – but there’s a problem. There’s something in there – in you – that won’t be silenced. And you don’t have a name for it. But it’s big and dark and most of all, it’s Hungry. Starving. No amount of cookie dough will satisfy it completely. But it quietens the growls, at least for a …Read More
Continuing on from yesterday’s post .. What is it that makes us binge-eat? It’s a practice we rarely discuss and yet it affects one in fifty of us. I wonder if, as a culture, we embody a kind of eating disorder – an ambivalence towards consumption which drives us to new levels of excess, followed by restraint. But why? To begin with, let’s look at some of the traditional ‘risk factors’ for binge-eating. These are similar for those with any eating …Read More
