SHOP TALK - Disordered Eating
While at the ADA convention, I sat through many a lecture on the obesity crisis and weight management strategies and there was something that just didn't quite feel right.
I figured out what it was while waiting for my plane home in the airport. I was listening to a CD of a couple of seminars from the 2005 National Eating Disorders Association conference. That little tickle deep in my gut was there because with all this talk about how obese we are as a country and world and what all the health & cost ramifications will likely be for the resultant chronic disease (billions and billions)....I don't recall anyone (although I could have missed something that was said at other lectures) mentioning the importance of making sure we don't increase the risk of eating disorders (and food & body obsession) as we attempt to tackle this "obese" elephant that is now sitting in the middle of the American living room.
The way I see it there is a second elephant in the room and that's the toxic environment/culture we live in that breeds body image obsession, disordered eating, to full blown eating disorders.
On the up side, I was ecstatic and relieved to hear a couple of speakers state that changing our eating and living environment and food culture (not just focusing on individual change) was absolutely critical to stop the obesity epidemic. Hallelujah!
My personal view is, a host of environmental changes got us into this bloody mess and it's going to take a host of changes in our environment to get us out of it. And whatever we do...We better make darn sure we are, at the same time, working to prevent eating disorders and body/food obsession rather than promoting them.
Related Topics: Men Have Body Image Problems, Size 14
I figured out what it was while waiting for my plane home in the airport. I was listening to a CD of a couple of seminars from the 2005 National Eating Disorders Association conference. That little tickle deep in my gut was there because with all this talk about how obese we are as a country and world and what all the health & cost ramifications will likely be for the resultant chronic disease (billions and billions)....I don't recall anyone (although I could have missed something that was said at other lectures) mentioning the importance of making sure we don't increase the risk of eating disorders (and food & body obsession) as we attempt to tackle this "obese" elephant that is now sitting in the middle of the American living room.
The way I see it there is a second elephant in the room and that's the toxic environment/culture we live in that breeds body image obsession, disordered eating, to full blown eating disorders.
On the up side, I was ecstatic and relieved to hear a couple of speakers state that changing our eating and living environment and food culture (not just focusing on individual change) was absolutely critical to stop the obesity epidemic. Hallelujah!
My personal view is, a host of environmental changes got us into this bloody mess and it's going to take a host of changes in our environment to get us out of it. And whatever we do...We better make darn sure we are, at the same time, working to prevent eating disorders and body/food obsession rather than promoting them.
Related Topics: Men Have Body Image Problems, Size 14
