Recognizing Anorexia Nervosa

I read an article today that made me incredibly sad. It was about a six-year-old little girl named Sophie, who developed anorexia in kindergarten. Kindergarten. She started restricting her portions of food more and more, exercised compulsively on the monkey bars, and even began throwing away her lunch and snacks at school.

And because the beginning stages of anorexia nervosa are not immediately physically apparent, no one knew. “She was slim, but not skeletal,” recalls her mother.

Be kind to your body. You'll only have one.

One night, Sophie told her mother about her problem, telling her, “Mommy, I have a problem… I am hungry all the time and I can’t eat. A voice in my head is telling me not to eat.” She was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa in the first grade, after not gaining weight for ten months straight and dropping from the 60^th percentile to the 19^th percentile for her weight.

Sophie is eight now, and is doing well. Her parents got her treatment from a specialty center and continually monitor her eating at home and school. Sophie was also diagnosed with mild obsessive-compulsive disorder and anxiety.

I’ve always thought of anorexia as a mostly society driven problem; I knew that there was a psychological component to eating disorders, but I never realized that sometimes they can manifest without the individual even really understanding what’s going on. Sophie, at six, didn’t know why she felt she couldn’t eat.

Many people believe that eating disorders are a choice for individuals… but the truth is, I think it’s less of a choice than we realize. Anorexics can realize what’s going on, can fear for their life, can see that what they’re doing to themselves is wrong—but they can’t always stop doing it. And as a society, I think we could be a lot better at understanding that and being more supportive to those who suffer from eating disorders.

The girl with the eating disorder is often the last to know she is ill.
Becoming the new feminine ideal requires just the right combination of insecurity, exercise and anorexia.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, over 10 million Americans suffer from eating disorders, which have the highest mortality rate of any other psychiatric illness. But despite this, the thinspiration movement continues to grow online, promoting eating disorders as a way of life.

Anorexia isn’t always immediately visible to us, especially at the beginning. Many individuals who suffer from anorexia may never look like that skeletal image we hold in our minds, but that doesn’t mean it’s not there. Here are some of the behavioral signs and symptoms of anorexia:

• Obsession with food, weight, calories, dieting, or exercise
• Constant anxiety of gaining weight or being fat even when healthy or losing weight
• Refusal to eat with or around others
• Extremely self critical, anxious, depressed, or irritable. Is a perfectionist
• Self worth is determined by appearance and weight, loss of desire to engage in social relationships or activities

"You are imperfect, permanently and inevitably flawed.
And you are beautiful."
Image from Tumblr.com

I am certainly someone that values eating healthy, exercising, and generally being aware of overall health—but I hope that I’ve never given the impression that thinner is better, no matter the cost. Because it isn’t. We were all made differently, and more important than being “thin” or “skinny” is being healthy and happy.

Love yourself. Love your body—and be nice to it. You only get one.

Do Late Lunches Mean Less Weight Loss?

Does your lunch time affect weight loss?
Image: Shutterstock

A new study from the International Journal of Obesity hassuggested that those who eat lunch earlier in the day may have better successwith weight loss than those who eat later. The study surveyed a total of 420 people in a weight loss program and found that those who regularly ate lunch before 3 p.m. lost about 25% more weight than those who ate later.

As someone who snacks about every three hours, with slightly larger snacks around breakfast and lunch, missing meals isn’t something I often do. My body is used to having small, constant amounts of food coming in to refuel it—so a late lunch is pretty miserable for me. But others don’t have the same routine as I do—my boss regularly waits until after three to eat and even then it’s just a bowl of ramen noodles (sodium and carbs). For those or you who find yourselves relating to her, I wanted to discuss the implications of eating late.

3 p.m. lunch may bee too long of a wait.
Image: Shutterstock

Numerous studies have been done over the years on the effect of meal times and sizes. Some suggest that the biggest meal should be breakfast, and meals should gradually decline in size, making dinner the smallest. Other studies say that eating every three hours is best for our bodies, as it keeps meals small and generally lighter than a heaping platter. But none of these studies have definitively nailed down the single best pattern. And that includes this one.

When reading into studies, make sure to keep in mind all the variable factors. One such factor to consider is how much time the participants were going between meals. This study doesn’t chart that, but it’s an important consideration to make. One thing we do know about meal times is that when we go too long in between meals, it can affect the metabolism, slowing it and hindering weight loss.

A cute lunch box is essential in life!

Participants also likely had other different behaviors, including the comparison between calories consumed and burned. Not getting enough sleep has also been linked to higher rates of obesity and lower success in weight loss. The researchers themselves have recognized that these findings are preliminary and require further research to determine how much meal-timing influences weight loss.

Certainly, it’s not a bad idea to space your meals out equally and keep your body from going into “starvation” mode. But how much of an impact it actually has remains to be seen. Eating right and exercising regularly are still kings of the weight-loss world. 

Anne Hathaway & Other Celebrities’ Movie Diets

Anne Hathaway lost 25 lbs. for Les Miserables
Image: Vogue

 Before you watch the next movie with a stick-thin actress, consider the following: actresses often go on extreme, unhealthy, diets to prep for roles. Do you remember people complaining that Jennifer Lawrence was “not hungry enough” for her role in The Hunger Games? Or how about Kate Winslet, who was often criticized for being “too fat” for Hollywood? Personally, I’m ecstatic when I see a star that actually looks the size of a normal person. Because, let’s face it—the alternative is much scarier. Let’s look back at some already thin actresses who’ve lost major pounds to better fit into their roles:

1. Anne Hathaway—The actress went on a deprivation diet for her latest role as Fantine in Les Misérables, losing 25 pounds and eating only oatmeal paste. She’s previously also lost weight for roles in The Devil Wears Prada and The Dark Knight Rises.

Natalie Portman got so thin for Black Swan that
her director worried about her eating habits.
Image: Black Swan

2. Rooney Mara—The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo actress looked just as pale and anorexic as the character in the book was described. That’s because she ate little and worked out constantly before and during filming.

3. Natalie Portman—She’s about as tiny as they come already, but somehow managed to lose another 20 pounds for her role in Black Swan. She worked out between five and eight hours a day and became so thin that her director made sure her trailer was constantly stocked with food so she would eat.

4. Beyonce—For her role in Dreamgirls, the singer had to drop about 20 pounds. She lost the weight in only two weeks by doing a Master Cleanse—which means living off of hot water, lemon juice, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper for 10 days.

5. Mila Kunis—As Natalie’s co-star in Black Swan, Kunis said she constantly felt hungry during filming. She also lost 20 pounds and participated in the same workouts as Natalie—5-6 hours per day, six days a week.

Emily Blunt was encouraged to lose weight
to look nearly anorexic.
Featureflash / Shutterstock.com 

6. Emily Blunt—In The Devil Wears Prada, her character was nearly anorexic and hardly ate. She was encouraged to lose weight for the role so she would look as stick thin as her character. In The Adjustment Bureau, Emily also had to lose weight, working out for four hours every day leading up to filming.

7. Renée Zellweger—After packing on 30 pounds for her role in Bridget Jones’s Diary, the actress subsequently had to lose it all and more to play her part in Chicago. This back and forth weight loss and gain had critics and specialists seriously concerned.

When I look at regimens like these, it puts things into perspective. It’s easy to watch a movie or an actress and think “I wish I were skinnier,” but the truth is that just because celebrities are subjecting themselves to these intense regimens, it doesn’t mean it’s healthy or good. They look rail-thin because they are rail-thin. There are healthier ways to lose weight, and limits to what we should expect from our bodies.