National Eating Disorders Awareness Week
February 28, 2007 by Kristen King
Filed under Women's Health
Thanks to Hsien over at Genetics and Health for cluing me into the fact that this week is National Eating Disorders Awareness Week. As a disordered eater, I can’t say enough good things about an awareness event that educates people about eating disorders and helps to remove some of the stigma. There’s no stereotype here. You can be overweight and have an eating disorder. You can be underweight and have an eating disorder. You can be perfectly average and have an eating disorder. Race, gender, age, nationality — none of them mean a thing when it comes to eating disorders. They can affect anyone.
If you have an eating disorder, you’re not alone. Don’t be afraid to talk about your experiences, your questions, your worries. They’re yours, and they’re valid, and they’re important. And most importantly, remember that your eating disorder is not who you are. It doesn’t have to define you, even if it’s something you struggle with every day.
Contents © Copyright 2007 Kristen King
Kristen – very well put. One of the things that people with disordered eating have such a huge issue with is body image – it is distorted.
I was having a discussion with my 8 year old about why some people are overweight. We talked about how you have to eat healthy and get enough exercise. I said that I don’t eat as healthy or exercise as much as I did before I was a mom, but need to keep working on it. Her response – you are fine Mom.
I was very tall and lanky as a teen yet I thought I was fat. In retrospect – I wore a size 6 (gasp) because I was tall not because I was fat. My best friend was a 2 because she was 8″ shorter than me. For some reason that logic didn’t make sense to me as a teen.
Sounds like you’re on the right track with your kiddo. That’s a good thing. It’s wonderful that you’re starting so early! Living a healthy lifestyle should be something that we all do all the time.
kk
I’ve found this blog, written by a mother, thoughtful and thought-provoking:
http://www.eatingwithyouranorexic.blogspot.com/
Hi
Yes,that’s right people with eating disorders have distorted body image and distorted assosiation with feelings of pleasure, self-control, self-identity with food.
So, the question is – how do you go about changing these distorted associations with food and what must exactly be done to get the sufferer to see other avenues for themselves other than their present predicament. More importantly can we get the sufferer to change at all?
The answer – Yes, we can.
But how can we do it? – We need to change the meaning she/he has attached to food, to break the endless cycle they find themselves in on to a totally different one: time consuming yes, but not impossible.
Actually, success with any Psychotherapy depends on how quickly people can change the meaning they attach to different things in their life. This is what all professionals try to do although their methods change accordingly to their techniques. But and unfortunately most Psychotherapists dwell on the negative by rehashing the past. IT DOESN’T WORK!
The thing is you don’t have to go to professional to make these changes – you can do it yourself if you know How to change the meaning of association, the sufferer has with food.
Here are three Fundamentals to create a new meaning in your life (in your case about food and eating disorders):
1) Get leverage.
2) Interrupt the pattern.
3)Create a new association.