Quote:
Originally posted by DolphinChicaDDD
Some people might not say it for validation. Yes, many people say it just to hear the "no your not", but they may actually have an eating disorder.
I said earlier that I am in shape, but cannot be mistaken for an eating disorder. I know because I had one. And when I was really bad, I would look at myself and see fat- everywhere. I still do somewhat- and I've been 'fine' for a few years now.
On both ends of the spectrum, its a touchy subject.
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It is true that we live in a society full of gigantic portions and rampant obesity, but there is still a tremendous amount of societal pressure imposed on girls to be thin. I grew up in a wealthy white town just west of Boston. Eating disorders were so rampant that at any given time, one or two girls from my 500 person high school was probably hospitalized for treatment. Most girls stuck to diet coke and salad for lunch, maybe a plain bagel with no butter or cream cheese. It wasn't acceptable to be seen eating anything else in our cafeteria, really. There was competition to be thin and we fed off each other in a sick contest to see who could be the skinniest, who could fight their cravings, who could pass out at play rehearsal or sports practice because they hadn't eaten at all that day.
I also used to have an eating disorder (shocking, considering the high school I went to
. At my worst, I was 5'5" and weighed 95 pounds - not bad enough that I was ever hospitalized, but bad enough that one summer my parents gave me an ultimatum - start eating like a normal human being or I would be going to the hospital in the fall rather than going back to school. Even at that weight, I looked in the mirror and all I saw were imperfections and all I could think was that I was FAT. It didn't matter how many times I was called down to see my guidance counselor because a teacher had expressed concern about my weight loss. (Before I got sick, I weighed about 115 pounds). The first day I wore a sundress in the spring, twelve people commented on the fact that I was extremely skinny - and still, I thought I was fat. It's the other extreme for obesity, and I agree with whoever it was who said that our society has become polarized - increasingly, really thin is the ideal, really fat is the reality.
Even now that I am supposedly "recovering" - because anorexia, like alcoholism, is something from which you never really recover - I do not view myself in an entirely normal light. True, I am a normal weight for my frame, and most days, I am happy with my appearance. Yet, every morning when I wake up, I have to make the conscious decision to eat like a normal person that day - and by eating like a normal person, I mean eating what my body tells me to eat, and stopping when I am full. (Something most Americans don't do!)
I don't know what causes eating disorders - personally, I think some of it is societal (otherwise, why would it have been so rampant at my high school) but some of it must be genetic - my mother, my sister, and my father's sister have all also suffered from eating disorders. It's probably the same combination of factors with obesity. It really saddens me though that so many Americans have such a troubled relationship with food - from both sides of the spectrum.