Great post, thanks for including us. We’re in good company!

Re: The Biggest Loser

I think that show is so bizarre. Whenever you go on a nutritional/exercise regimen to lose and control weight, you have to ask yourself, Can I continue doing this program for the rest of my life? Whenever I see what they do on that show, I immediately think, “You people are nuts. No, you can’t go on like that forever.”

Re: Myth- If the packaging says it’s “low cal” or “low fat” or “fat free” it must be okay.

Things that come in packages, which are difficult to open and which have any kind of writing on them, are things that I generally try to avoid. It’s best to try to cook from scratch as much as humanly possible.

Anorexia can happen to anyone, it just depends on what happens to you! Case in point my 58 year old (smoker) brother who neglected his dental care and had to settle for full dentures 15 months ago. Since then he complained of not being able to ‘enjoy food’ as the taste and texture was different and very unpleasant. As a result, this 210 lb. 6′ guy declined to 125 lbs? est. today, and now is in hospital with (constipation first, then severe diarrhea) and Drs. determined to diagnose lung Cancer as the culprit. What I see is 1/3 to less what he used to eat and complaining about the taste and texture of everything – smoking will reduce you sense of taste and smell, but not that much – what to do next?

The myth that people with EDs “look a certain way” is so dangerous! In college I didn’t believe I was bulimic because I wasn’t stick-thin, never mind that I was binging and purging multiple times a day. In grad school, I didn’t think I was anorexic; again, I wasn’t stick thin, but I vigilantly controlled my food intake, exercised 15+ hours a week, stopped menstruating, and was cold all the time. In the summer. In southern California.
The worst part is that many people who desperately need help don’t get it because they don’t fit their insurance company’s “profile.” Most companies stipulate that you must fall below a certain weight and/or BMI before they will pay for treatment. And so these folks, like me, don’t believe they deserve help, or that they really have an ED. It’s just sickening.

A myth that is on the cusp of changing (I hope) is that anorexia and bulimia are the only eating disorders. That leaves out binge eating disorder and ED-NOS (which is actually what most ED patients are diagnosed with). It’s related to what Sunny Sea Gold said and JJ commented on: You don’t have to be alarmingly thin, or be at death’s door, to need and deserve help. I’m currently in treatment for ED-NOS, and while I’d heard of it, I’d thought it was “eating disorder lite” and that A) I couldn’t get treatment for it, and B) I was still failing at being “thin enough”–not only to fit what I thought was attractive, but for anyone to think that I might have a problem. But I can see now that those thoughts were symptoms of a legitimate eating disorder that can be treated.