Food: Friend or Foe
There is a lot of pressure in our culture to be fit and thin. Sometimes this motivates people to live healthier lifestyles, but it can also lead people to engage in dangerous behaviors that can become serious eating disorders.
Anorexia nervosa and bulimia are clinical disorders that affect 1-2% of young women, but disordered eating is more common. Sometimes a person’s attitude toward food,weight and their body leads to rigid exercise and eating habits, jeopardizing their health and happiness. Struggling with either a clinical eating disorder or disordered eating can be painful and frightening.
Warning signs
- An intense preoccupation with weight and body image
- Compulsive or excessive exercising
- Marked increase or decrease in weight unrelated to a medical condition
- Abnormal eating habits such as severe, restrictive dieting, preference for strange foods, withdrawn or ritualized behavior at mealtime, or secretive bingeing
- Self-induced vomiting, periods of fasting or laxative, diet pill or diuretic abuse
- Frequent feelings of isolation, depression or irritability
What to do
- Educate yourself about eating disorders, disordered eating and overexercise
- Learn how to develop and sustain a healthy relationship with food
- Develop a healthy, self accepting relationship to your own body
If you find that you need additional support in making healthier choices, consider making an appointment with your doctor, a CAPS counselor, or the Vaden Nutritionist.
Helping a friend
“The girl down the hall purges after meals, yet no one says anything.”
“My friend obsesses about his weight and exercises all the time. It's scary.”
It is difficult to watch a friend or loved one struggle with these issues. You may want to help, but don’t know how. We can’t force our friends to develop healthier attitudes, but we can offer support. Here are some tips:
- Learn what the danger signs are of an eating disorder at http://www.apahelpcenter.org/articles/article.php?id=9
- People who are struggling with these issues are putting their health in danger, and in extreme cases, their life. It is important to speak about your concerns because you care about them. “Care-front” rather than “confront.”
- A CAPS counselor and "MIRROR," a student group at The Bridge, can help you decide what to say, and how to say it.
- Try to encourage your friend to take a confidential self-assessment at www.stanford.edu/group/nutrition
- Model a healthy relationship to food and your body. Avoid making comments about your body or others'. Question why we put so much value on thinness.