I had an eating disorder in my late teens that has been a secret for a solid chunk of my life. I shared with a few, and very carefully selected people, that I had suffered from anorexia for a number of years. Today, my disordered years feel like a century ago, and I am very proud to say I am fully recovered. What I've accomplished from that time would completely shock my past self.
Eating disorders: the illnesses of prepubescent girls and shallow adolescents. At least, that’s how society often perceives them. Yet eating disorders are not solely focused on food, or weight, or even body image; they are not a vain cry for attention. They are mental illnesses, molded and given power by fear, anxiety, a lack of control, and a myriad of other factors dependent on the individual who is suffering.
The holidays are supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year, but they are often difficult for various reasons. If you currently have an eating disorder or are in recovery, the time of eggnog, gingerbread houses, turkey, and buffets can be more about constant anxiety and triggers than it is a winter wonderland...
For decades, people with eating disorders have been living (and dying) in shame and misery all around us – but we don’t seem to be any closer to beating this disease.
The gym I am a member at recently had a free personal training session. I took the chance because, well, it’s free. It started off with me getting weighed both for my BMI and my body fat and a discussion with the personal trainer about how to get both of those down, about coming to the gym more often, about having a meal plan—under the assumption that those should be everyone’s goals…
We are everywhere. The ones who had an eating disorder. Who clawed a way through and out of our respective nightmares. And who, more often than not, keep totally mum about it.
It was nearly 15 years after pulling myself free from a 20 year stranglehold with this disease before I could say the words, admit it, put it out there: I had an eating disorder.
Research into the incidence and impact of eating disorders is pretty clear on at least one score. Our kids are at risk for this devastating disease...
Eating disorders can be overcome. While this may seem impossible before or during treatment, many people leaving a residential care facility feel like they have received a new lease on life. New, healthy eating behaviours, thought processes and habits have been formed. But how difficult is it to cope with eating disorders after residential treatment?
Nobody chooses to have an eating disorder like anorexia and bulimia. To the outside world, it may seem like you’re over-analyzing your looks or just being stubborn. Here at The Woodstone Residence, we know how an eating disorder can affect a young person’s life...
A recent article, “Anorexia, the Impossible Subject” by Alice Gregory, published in The New Yorker has made me reconsider the way we speak and write about eating disorders. In response to Kelsey Osgood’s newly-published book, How to Disappear Completely: On Modern Anorexia”, Alice Gregory builds on the argument that much of contemporary literature about anorexia paradoxically glamourizes the disease rather than exposing its dark and deadly nature...
