B-EAT
Last week marked National Eating Disorder Awareness Week and I was glad to see it had been picked up in ‘The Star’ with Sarah Dunn’s article on Sheffield’s Eating Disorder Service.
B-EAT is the national eating disorders charity and it is one of the charities that I support, in addition to Mind, and for which I regularly campaign.
There are a lot of myths surrounding with eating disorders; such as, they only affect ‘vain girls’ who want to become excessively thin or ‘girls going through a tough time’. However, we must remember that eating disorders are like any other ILLNESS and that it isn’t a choice.
There is a whole a spectrum of severity to different eating disorders and it is not disingenuous to suggest that these days, most people in today’s society could be labelled as having some form of eating disorder! Who hasn’t over-stuffed their face on hearing some bad news and wished they hadn’t? Who hasn’t had that extra pint or glass of wine in the evening when they know how bad it is for the waistline and heart? Who hasn’t eaten more chocolate than they should have and then gone on a crash diet to squeeze into that summer swimming costume, bridesmaid dress or even wedding dress?
Personally, I believe that once a habit with your usual food/eating/diet/exercise becomes obsessive and frequently affects and interferes with your everyday life, I think this is when help needs to be sought. It is not purely a weight change but a change of ‘normal’ habits that are not part of a usual routine.
Sadly, this generation is seeing an epidemic of men, women, girls and boys with eating disorders and body dysmorphia. But what has caused this dramatic increase? This is the question we should be asking – not overly concentrating on shock tactics.
Today’s society is obsessed with diets, physique and celebrity status – however, eating disorders are much more than a matter of vanity. They are a mental health illness and can control the sufferer’s lives. We must start to move on with narrow definitions and judgements, and start to ask what is the true cause of these eating disorder epidemics – and we must look less to blame the sufferer which is the easiest route to take.
We will each have our own ideas about the cause – and they may very well be multifaceted. Personally, I think they are caused by a lack of opportunity for people to fulfil their potential and have control over the basic things that make all our lives happy ones (flexible time to spend with loved ones, reasonable workloads, decent salaries, etc). This lack of control is increasingly something in all our lives – especially when we are in the middle of a economic recession or other things that bring undue stress to us all. Eating disorders are only ONE manifestation of that frustration and stress. Others may turn to drink, alcohol, domestic violence and other more obvious outlets. The thing about eating disorders, is the first victim is the sufferer, and it is such a deceptively quiet illness that it is easier to ignore and easier to blame the individual and easier not to fund the support needed. Rather than attract sympathy and empathy, it seems to incite dismissive judgement. Perhaps it is because it seems so linked to ‘looks’ and ‘looks’ have become an obsessive focus of today’s society. And society divides itself constantly over the topic of whether ‘looks’ do or do not matter. But that is a whole other debate, for a whole new blog…
We must stay away from the ‘shock-factor’ and our obsession with the size zero trend. Personally, I was horrified to watch Louise’s Redknapp’s show last year, which showed Louise following a diet/exercise programme to become a ‘size zero’ in order to expose how difficult and damaging it can be. However, such issues need more analysis than a light-hearted factual entertainment show which, to the vulnerable viewer actually taught trick on how to lose weight, and I felt it made eating disorders look like a trivial issue.
Yes, eating disorders are about weight loss/gain and how we view ourselves physically but most of all internally.
If we see that overly skeletal girl or that morbidly obese guy we must not jump to conclusions but begin to learn more about an illness that affects so many people, from anorexia to obesity and binge-eating disorder – they are all physically harmful in there own rights (of varying severity) but most of all, mentally damaging and upsetting for the sufferers and their family/carers/friends.
Finally, on a more optimistic note eating disorders can be prevented, managed and even ‘cured’ with the right treatment and understanding but first we must rid society of the stigma surrounding them. The best known treatment for eating disorders is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and it is essential that if you or someone you know has or is on the road to an eating disorder to put tem in touch with professional help.
For further information, please see: http://www.b-eat.co.uk
