For men, it’s just not “cool” to have an eating disorder. 
I mean, it’s not exactly hip for gals, either, but when you hear of a female with an ED, you are more apt to think, “Oh, I’m not surprised.” 
But a guy… well, that’s just unusual.
According to the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), there are an estimated 1 million American males out there suffering from anorexia, bulimia, EDNOS and/or binge eating disorder. 
Honestly, though, I’ve never met a man with an eating disorder.  Never.  No anorexics, no bulimics.  None.
I’m wondering… have you?

If you’re not from the “world” of eating disorders, you might think that all disordered eaters treat one another the same.
Not so.
You see, like any other “clique”, those with EDs have a caste system, a heirarchy of sorts.  It’s not usually discussed, but it definitely exists. 
Allow me to explain (and feel free to let me know if any of this has changed recently or if I’m missing something)…

December 14, 2002, I received a delicious surprise. It came in the form of a positive pregnancy test.
I was elated.
I was amazed.
I was scared poopless.
As someone who had anorexia and EDNOS problems for over a decade, I just knew that being “with child” would open the door for Ana to move back into my life. It totally freaked me out.
Ironically, I needn’t have worried. The real surprise was that my focus changed dramatically from me to my child. I stopped worrying about the size of my thighs and the amount of fat on my ribcage.
After my son was born in …read more

I only wish this were a joke.
On the web, there are underground programs and “schools” (loosely defined) of pro-ana and pro-mia supporters that, in essence, claim to help and support the anorexic, bulimic or EDNOS sufferer who does not want to get better.
Yes, these “thinstitutes” (my word) of ana/mia education are available.  And many of them have strict policies on who is allowed to become a “student”.  (I think they are concerned that people like myself might try to infiltrate their societies, which, I admit, is a legitimate worry from their point of view because I’ve considered doing so many times.)
Thinspiration …read more

This is fascinating news — a family in Canada claims that their son’s anorexia came about as the direct result of bullying by his peers.
According to an article published in Ontario’s Chatham Daily Times this morning, the elementary-school aged boy was taunted by peers about his weight.  He found old food in his desk, pieces of his lunches were stolen and the combined effect of the episodes left him so depressed that he went on a drastic “diet” and lost 60 pounds in a few months.
As any concerned family would do, his mum and dad looked for someone to blame, finally deciding that the fault lay …read more

I recently read a blog post where the author lamented he had forgotten to eat. 
Forgotten? 
Really?
Honestly, even when I wasn’t eating (as in anorexic or, at other times, EDNOS), I never forgot about food.  I might have been restricting, but the thought of food never left my mind.
Incidentally, I just ate something right before I typed this post.  And although I’m sated, I’m still thinking about food and when I’ll be able to eat again.  I could no more forget to eat than forget to breathe.  So that whole phenomenon is fascinating to me. 
Have you ever sincerely forgotten to eat?  What does …read more

I haven’t written any poetry for a little while, and was inspired today to pen my thoughts about Ana, the mythical “friend” to anorexics (and those suffering from EDNOS and bulimia, too, in some cases.) 
I must alert you that this poem is quite rough.  It’s actually kind of lousy.  So I’d like to request your help in cleaning it up.  Please feel free to add your own stanzas (or change mine) in the comments section.  Be gentle, but honest.  I can take it… 
UNTITLED
Ana called me in for tea -
She said she had to talk to me.
Her room was …read more

Happy National Eating Disorders Awareness Week!  From February 24 – March 1, plenty of bloggers, media personnel and ED education and awareness advocates will be talking about anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, EDNOS and everything in between.
Without a doubt, it’s exciting and it’s wonderful to be living in an age where EDs are “out of the closet”, so to speak.
But there’s a little voice inside me that says, “So what?”
It’s not that I don’t support the purpose of the week; after all, I’m blogging about it just like everyone else.  My concern is what people DO with the week.  I’m …read more

EDNOS.
It sounds like the name of some futuristic robot created by the brilliant scientists at NASA.  And who knows?  Perhaps it’s an acronym used in space land… but for those dealing with eating disorders, it has a different meaning:
Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified.
You see, medicine and psychology haven’t quite pinpointed all EDs.  Not only are they still naming them, they are also leaving some “up in the air”. 
So what constitutes EDNOS?  Here are a few of the traits EDNOS sufferers share…
- A woman who exhibits all the symptoms of anorexia but has not stopped menstruating.
- An individual who exhibits all …read more