Newsletter

November 1, 2008 Keeping An Open Mind

We live in a society where food has many meanings. We use it not only to nourish our bodies but to manage our emotions. It is both comforting and stimulating. It makes us happy and calms our nerves.

Eating may be an art form for some, a pleasurable social activity for many but for others it can be an agonizing process of regret, pain and self-recrimination. As bizarre as that may sound to someone who has no trouble with food, to a person with an eating disorder that statement rings true.

By some estimates there are at least 8-10 million people with eating disorders. This is probably a very low estimate.

Broadly speaking an eating disorder is a severe disturbance in a person’s eating habits. When a person seems to no longer have control over his/her ability to eat normally he/she is said to have an eating disorder.

In this month’s Newsletter I write about Male Eating Disorders. It is one of those topics you don’t often hear about. Nevertheless the problem has been growing steadily in the male population.

In the second article, Different Characteristics, I reprinted important characteristics of this disease from... Please read on

Male Eating Disorders

Myth: Eating disorders such as Anorexia nervosa and Bulimia nervosa occur only in the female population.
Fact: Recent research has shown that perhaps as many as 1 in 4 (25%) of people with eating disorders are male.

Myth: Men who suffer from Anorexia and Bulimia are mostly homosexual.
Fact: Upwards of 80% of the men with Anorexia and Bulimia are heterosexual.

Cultural pressures and media attention focusing on the perfect body impact all of u... Please read on

Different Characteristics

Characteristics of an Eating Disorder

Each one of the 3 types of Eating Disorders has unique characteristics. It is important to recognize what these characteristics or symptoms are so that you can be helpful in identifying them in yourself or your loved ones.

The National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) has listed these on their website (www.nationaleatingdisroders.org) and, for convenience, I have reprinte... Please read on