Eating disorders in other countries

[Taualumna]

Eating disorders is pretty much an open secret in Asian countries. Pick up any magazine from Hong Kong or Singapore, and you'll find girls with bodies like the Olsen twins. Diet centres are popping up like Starbucks in Hong Kong, and diet ads often feature often normal looking women (usually about 5'3 and 115 lb in the BEFORE picture!!!) saying that they've lost weight. However, people don't seem to be as aware of it there as they are in North America, according to my mom, who says that people don't really address it there. However, I'm not sure if she even fully understands what eating disorders really are. You could have an eating disorder that isn't really anorexia or bulimia. There was an article in the NY Times the other day about "Ednos" (eating disorders, not otherwise specified), basically people who don't fall into the anorexia category (for women, it means not having a period for more than 3 months in a row) or bulimia (purging for 2 or more weeks straight). My mom also seems to think that the diet centres actually help, and monitor what the dieters eat and do. I think otherwise. These people who are going to these centres are generally of normal weight. Some "normal weight" people are taking diet pills that are no longer legal over here. While I'm not sure whether they are anorexic, bulimic or ednos, there's something going on, and people there are only beginning to address it (Therapy is often not really an option, because seeing a shrink is considered bad.)

The following are old links to articles about eating disorders in the Far East:

http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/998

http://mentalhealth.about.com/gi/dyn...ws%2Fasia.html

[sugar and spice]

There's a myth that eating disorders only exist in the U.S. and Europe, which is ridiculous. They are rampant in East Asia and South America, and are even on the rise in a number of Africa countries.

The problem with East Asia and South America is that, like in America, the ultra-thin figure is worshipped. However, unlike in America, almost all of society actively encourages you to pursue the ultra-thin figure, like you gave with the example of fitness magazines showing a 5'3", 115 pound "before" model -- that would not happen in the U.S.A. There are similar problems with "nutritionists" in some South American countries who put women on 600-800 calorie diets to lose weight, whereas up here, few reputable doctors would recommend below 1200. There are many families in Brazil, for example, who would think nothing of telling their daughter, "You're too fat. Go on a diet." That kind of thing is much more frowned upon here, although of course it still does happen. To girls with tendencies towards eating disorders, comments like that can be devastating and very triggering.

The U.S. culture, while it worships thinness as an ideal, tends to have an overall push for the goal of healthiness rather than skinniness. The same is not true for some other countries.