By Kimberly Davidson, MA, Olive Branch Outreach

In this culture, an obsession with food and dieting can often be mistaken for a healthy lifestyle choice. We’re often praised for working out three hours a day or having the willpower to eat teeny-tiny meals. We can download applications to help us count each calorie we ingest. These are deceptive traps disguised as a potentially deadly eating disorder.

Through my ministry Olive Branch Outreach www.olivebranchoutreach.com  I have partnered with hundreds of teens and women to help them overcome an eating disorder. What I find interesting is most of the mothers I speak to do not believe they, or their spouse, put pressure on their daughter to look a certain way or weigh a particular number of pounds. So from whom are they receiving the messages? Peer groups, coaches and through media images are the most common…and boys!

Almost nine in ten American teenage girls say they feel pressured by the fashion and media industries to be skinny. "The fashion industry remains a powerful influence on girls and the way they view themselves and their bodies," said researcher Kimberlee Salmond, of the Girl Scout Research Institute. "Teenage girls struggle…when they look at themselves in the mirror," she said.

Kimberly Lawrence Kol, clinical psychologist, links exposure to over-sexualized images with three of the most common mental health problems diagnosed in girls: eating disorders and depression which leads to the third, low self-esteem.
“Once these idolized perceptions are accepted as truth, thought distortions may develop, which can lead adolescent girls into self destructive behaviors such as eating disorders, self-injurious behaviors, excessive exercising and other destructive behaviors.”

Although psychological, biological and genetic factors play an important role in the development of eating disorders, media-based psychological and social factors are also significant. The Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness website states, “Eating disorders affect up to 24 million Americans and 70 million individuals worldwide.” They have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness. Twenty percent of people will die prematurely from complications related to their disease.

According to statistics compiled by The Alliance for Eating Disorder Awareness and the National Eating Disorders Association:

• The rate of suicide for those with anorexia is fifty-seven times higher than in the general population.
• 90 percent of people with anorexia or bulimia are females between the ages of twelve and twenty-five.
• It has been estimated that 11 percent of high school students have been diagnosed with an eating disorder.
• 15 percent of young U.S. women who are not diagnosed with an eating disorder exhibit significant disordered eating attitudes and behaviors.
• The most common behavior that leads to an eating disorder is dieting.
• Almost half of nine to eleven year olds are “sometimes” or “very often” on diets.

Types of Eating Disorders
Anorexia Nervosa is a serious, potentially life-threatening eating disorder characterized by self-starvation and excessive weight loss. Anorexia is a condition in which one sincerely believes they are overweight and chooses not to eat.

Bulimia Nervosa is a serious, potentially life-threatening eating disorder characterized by a cycle of bingeing and compensatory behaviors such as self-induced vomiting or ingesting large amounts of laxatives designed to compensate for the effects of binge eating.

Exercise Bulimics instead of vomiting, purge on exercise after eating in order to burn the calories consumed. It is not unusual for a girl to get up at 3 or 4 A.M. to exercise for hours before school.

Binge Eating Disorder (BED) is the most underestimated, but widely occurring eating disorder. It is characterized by recurrent binge eating without the regular use of other measures to counter the binge eating such as a bulimic might use.

Disordered Eating is a term that is used by some to describe a wide variety of irregularities in a person’s eating behavior but does not warrant a diagnosis of a specific clinical eating disorder. There are many women you would not call anorexic or bulimic or a compulsive overeater, but they eat for emotional reasons. In other words, their eating is disordered.

The following terms are pop-psychology terms, not considered to be an official medical diagnosis but may still used as a diagnosis by some practitioners who have documented the damaging results.

Orthorexia Nervosa
Orthorexia denotes an eating disorder characterized by an excessive focus on eating healthy foods. In rare cases, this may turn into a fixation so extreme it leads to severe malnutrition or even death. Women striving to be super thin while pregnant have pregorexia.

Vegetarians
The Teen Vogue Beauty Blogger posed the question in an online article titled, “Are Vegetarians Really Hiding an Eating Disorder?” The vegetarianism trend has been gaining ground for a while. The most common reasons teens gave for choosing to eat veggie were weight loss and maintenance. Shirley, eighteen, said, "A lot of girls at my school say they're vegetarians to cover up their eating disorders. It's hard not to notice when all someone brings for lunch is a tiny block of tofu. But it's also hard to argue with someone who is justifying her eating habits on moral or political grounds."

Athletes and Eating Disorders
Eating disorders are pervasive among athletes. Some athletes have learned the image of a lean long-distance runner can be as damaging to emulate as that of a swimsuit model. Research shows that female athletes are three to six times more likely to exhibit disordered eating than their non-athletic peers. Monica Seles, famed tennis athlete, tells her story of BED in her book, Getting a Grip: On My Body, My Mind, My Self.

Kimberly Dennis, a leading psychiatrist specializing in eating disorder treatment, believes that sports like figure skating and gymnastics often sanction behaviors more consistent with eating disorders than healthy living. The result impacts the athletes who often risk injury to compete at unhealthy weights, and consequently may suffer life-long physical and psychiatric complications. She said Olympic athletes also project an unrealistic body image that influences younger competitors and the public watching on television.

How can we help the increased number of women struggling with eating disorders? Unlike some addictions, it is difficult to remove food from one’s life, and so it is a daily issue to be addressed. Eating disorders are serious and require a team of professionals. Typically it calls for the combination of spiritual, psychological therapy and a solid medical, nutritional and exercise plan that comprise a winning combination.

The shepherd’s role is to give spiritual guidance, encouragement and support. We often hear that the signs were there, but loved ones had no reason to look for the red flags. Do your homework first. There is a vast amount of information available on eating disorders. Approach cautiously, but don’t allow too much time to go by. Prayer is essential. Pray for her. Pray with her. Assure her you will be praying for her all week. It is imperative to be working in the power of the Holy Spirit. He has the power to break to begin breaking down the wall down.

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For more on understanding women with eating disorders, see chapter 12 “Eating Disorders” written by Kimberly Davidson, in the book Shepherding Women in Pain.

RESOURCES: Reuters Life!; “American teen girls feel pressure to be thin,” http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6104Q420100201
Quoted in: Cooper Lawrence, The Cult of Celebrity: What Our Fascination with the Stars Reveals About Us, 214, Guildford: Skirt!, 2009
“Celebrity Worship: Adolescents Newest Addiction,” Sherry Gaba, Psychotherapist and Life Coach, http://www.sgabatherapy.com/Articles1.en.html
BBC News, “Media is fuelling eating disorders, say psychiatrists,” February 22, 2010; http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8528443.stm
http://www.eatingdisorderinfo.org
See www.eatingdisorderinfo.org and www.nationaleatingdisorders.org
Suite101.com, “Female Athlete Triad,” February 3, 2010
PR Newswire, “Figure Skating Standards Foster Eating Disorders, Says Kimberly Dennis, M.D.,” February 20, 2010