It’s Not Just White Girls

Bull. Therese of Avila was French. She died of tuberculosis. NNDB.com, and check out the movie Therese.

YYatp, the whole point of the article was to bring to light that these eating disorders cross all ethnicities, genders, and cultures. The author was not trying to give a solution for anorexia. She was simply saying that this is not a "white girl" disorder and that people need to be aware of that. She does give a few reasons as to what may cause a person to become anorexic (i.e. religion), but that is not her focus in this article. The more people are aware of the "car crashes" the more they can help prevent and treat the disorder.

I think Always Surprised is generalizing this condition. I doubt that "many cases" are misdiagnosed because pancreatic insufficiency is a medical condition - anorexia is a mental condition that manifests itself physically. There is no food rotting in the gut because the anorexic is not eating. Eating food does not make them suffer physically - they suffer mentally because they are out of control and worry what it will do to their body. Although your theory could apply to some people, I question that there is this severe misdiagnosis going on. My daughter dealt with anorexia - always will - and trust me, its really a psychological issue that needs to be addressed at its root. I will agree that being in tune to your body is always a good thing - whatever type of medical practitioner you go to. But I wish it was as easy as you say. If anything, I think that eating disorders as a whole are often underdiagnosed.

I recently became familiar with Anorexia. My 16 year old son came a hair away from being admitted to the hospital due to failing organs from lack of nutritiion. I'll try and make this short but informative. He was always obese. He comes from a broken home and lives with an alcoholic mother and two siblings. In Aug. 07 after being made fun of for the last time he deciced to lose weight. He began living on 500 or less calories per day. (Let me add that if any one would like to discuss in detail with me feel free to email me). He started at 230 pounds and 5' 8". by Feb 09 He was down to 150 lbs. He wanted to start working out, being I'm a certified trainer I was excited that he was finally showing interest in fitness. In a weeks time I realized that he was getting weaker and losing more weight. He assured me he was eating but I knew better and had to cut him off until he went in the other direction as far as weight gain. I had him to the doctor the next day. His body was shutting down. His blood pressure was critically low, his liver was shutting down, his organs were feeding off whatever muscle he had left. I took him into live with me and began exploring avenues of treatment. Unfortunately there are limited resources for male anorexia. I found a nutritionist, psychiatrist & social worker along with his General Practioner. I began cooking for him. It made compromises as long as he made compromises in regards to what food he was willing to eat and what food I wanted him to eat. It was a struggle and at times I had to get demanding which he didn't like but was not going to budge. It was either make him do this or that or watch him die. Between the medication (Zoloft) prescribed by his Psychiatrist, His Doctor who is absolutely Fantastic and the path I took him down I can say that today he has gone from 127lbs in March 08 to 170lbs today. I will make myself available to whomever needs guidence to inform you what worked for us. Good Luck & Good Health to all. (frebrd1976@aol.com)

My battle began first as bulimia at age 14. Innocently enough, my mom read me an article about how jockeys purge to keep their weight down and the next day I started. I went from 144 in a size 14 to 100 lbs. in a size 6 in 6 weeks. Best of all, my weight conscious mother was never happier. From the time I was about 8 she was putting me on one kind of diet or another. She was convinced that I was headed towards obesity. When my parents found several months later out that I was purging all hell broke loose. They threatened to take me to a psychiatrist and ordered me to stop. That's when I decided the solution was to avoid food and I discovered how much power I had over my parents and for the first time I felt in charge. Where before mom was cooking separate ???diet??? food for me now she was begging me to ???just eat something!??? My dad and I both learned that eating was something he could not order me to do. For many years bulimia/anorexia, like atlholley, this too would be my "addiction" with food being my "drug" of choice. I once remarked to my therapist that I wished I had a drug or alcohol addiction because I didn't need either of those to survive but could not live without food. I finally got control after 20 years, 4 kids and a divorce but you???re never cured. You just learn to manage it. Mom still makes comments about how I've either lost or gained but I've learned not to take the bait so to speak. Thankfully my kids didn???t inherit my food issues and my new husband accepts me quirks and all.

My battle began first as bulimia at age 14. Innocently enough, my mom read me an article about how jockeys purge to keep their weight down and the next day I started. I went from 144 in a size 14 to 100 lbs. in a size 6 in 6 weeks. Best of all, my weight conscious mother was never happier. From the time I was about 8 she was putting me on one kind of diet or another. She was convinced that I was headed towards obesity. When my parents found several months later out that I was purging all hell broke loose. They threatened to take me to a psychiatrist and ordered me to stop. That's when I decided the solution was to avoid food and I discovered how much power I had over my parents and for the first time I felt in charge. Where before mom was cooking separate ???diet??? food for me now she was begging me to ???just eat something!??? My dad and I both learned that eating was something he could not order me to do. For many years bulimia/anorexia, like atlholley, this too would be my "addiction" with food being my "drug" of choice. I once remarked to my therapist that I wished I had a drug or alcohol addiction because I didn't need either of those to survive but could not live without food. I finally got control after 20 years, 4 kids and a divorce but you???re never cured. You just learn to manage it. Mom still makes comments about how I've either lost or gained but I've learned not to take the bait so to speak. Thankfully my kids didn???t inherit my food issues and my new husband accepts me quirks and all.

I have struggled with disordered eatting. After a year at college I had gained some weight. I was refurred to by family members as "curvy" and I guess I figured they were really thinking "fat!" I was about 140 lbs at the time and 5'2. Then I went on a diet to get back to my normal weight. I got back down to 120 and felt good. Everyone was complementing me. At that point I felt such a high from losing the weight I continued to lose. I figured that if I lost a little more then that would insure that I wouldn't put on the extra weight again. Long story short I dropped to 92 pounds at my lowest. I was depressed and in a very dark place. With a lot of help from family members I have gained some weight. I am currently 112 lbs. I have very good eatting habbits now but I struggle with food every day. To the outside world I have defeated the eatting disorder but I believe the disorder will always live on in my mind.

My 16 year old son recently was diagonosed with

i'm a current bullemic. the reason i say current is b/c you never get over this. you think about it all the time. eating disorders seep into every part of your life. i was a raging bullemic/anorexic in high school. oh, by the way i'm a gen-x - A-A woman. after, HS i went to the other extreme and blew up to over 231 lbs. now, i am at 148. understand, i realized what i was doing. i coul not stop. it was my addiction, my security, it was me. however, A & B is worse than any "normal" addiction. i say that b/c unlike most addictions this one is FREE. you don't have to go to a special store to buy booze, or travel to some alley to buy drugs. you can just go to the golden arches (or not depending on which you suffer from) and then head to the privacy of your own bathroom. you get your high from purging. this is not about what other people think. it is about control. it is about when you feel like you have none and you want to control something in your life. what is easy, visible, and fast? food. it's funny sometimes i THINK i have control.... . but when things start to feel "shaky" i think about it all the time. i still have habits that linger from my A&B days. what i mean is.. i won't eat past 6pm, i abuse laxatives and diruetics. also, i have "scars" from my raging days. I have lost teeth, i have chronic bad breath, and hormone issues. no kids...it a'int just white chics

as i once was bolimic i understand the concept, i have had bouts of excess exersice, and not eating, and bouts of eating little and taking laxatives and purging to rid of what i did eat.. now im overweight and afraid to diet, its out of controll. it is good to see people are recognizing the problem more now then ever.. come on people whats wrong with a little extra woman, my husband says its the softest and safest feeling hes ever had when we are cuddling.. too bad its all about what other people think and not what we want cause most of the time what other people want is not any better than what they have... should be about the inside not the outside..

I am of Indian origin. Trust me, people from India suffer from this too. Around the world our food is perceived as fattening and unhealthy, thus the youth of today avoid these foods, and just stick to black tea or lemon juice to lose/maintain their weight, or go the bulemic way! Our forefathers ate the same food, but lived an active lifestyle, hence they were healthy and lived a happier life as opposed to us today.

I am of Indian origin! Trust me, Indians too suffer from this. Everyone assumes Indian food as unhealthy, that today's youth, would rather skip it and have a glass of lemon juice as opposed to a decent nutritious meal. Our forefather were quite healthy and active despite the same foods, but they maintained an active life to maintain their bodies, unlike people of today, who will go down roads of bulemia to induce this on themselves.

elaminrashad, you cant really label this as an american problem, its present all over the world. Did you not retain a single word of that article, saying anorexia has no boundaries, be it ethnic or cultural?i live in korea, have lived in japan and germany as well as 7 states in the US, and they too have their fair share of anorexia cases. Anorexia exists everywhere. Scary aint it?