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Web Sites Promote Anorexia and Bulimia as a 'Lifestyle'


They go by names such as "Anorexic Beauty," "Emaciate Me" and "Salvation through Starvation."

They glorify snapshots of women with their rib cages and spinal columns protruding.

They also give such tips as how to hide an eating disorder from friends and family. Or how to trick doctors into believing you're gaining weight by stuffing your pockets with weights.

Dozens of sites that promote anorexia -- and the related illness bulimia -- as a lifestyle choice rather than a mental disorder are flourishing on the Internet.

And doctors and nutritionists are appalled.

"These sites are horrific," says Lauren Solotar, vice president of clinical services and operations at the May Institute in Walpole, Mass., which specializes in behavioral health care, education and rehabilitation.

"These are people who have a disorder who are rationalizing it. It is very dangerous," Solotar says.

Experts say the sites, some of which include message boards and chat rooms, probably wouldn't cause the average person to develop an eating disorder. But they could trigger the irrational fear of becoming fat in someone prone to it.

And the sites can certainly worsen an eating disorder in people who already have one by giving them the "how-to" tips on starvation, and by convincing them their warped perceptions of food and body image are shared by many.

"What everyone else --- friends and family -- are saying is abnormal or unhealthy, these Web sites are promoting and normalizing," says Molly Kimball, a nutritionist at the Ochsner Clinic Foundation in New Orleans. "The sites tell them they're being strong for making the decision not to eat."

An estimated 7 million women and 1 million men in the United States have an eating disorder, according to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD).

Complications can include hair loss, weakened bones, gastrointestinal problems, kidney failure, heart attack -- even death.

Eighty-six percent of eating disorders occur before the victim turns 20. And unless the problem is caught early, which happens all too infrequently, the treatment, including therapy and medical monitoring, can be lengthy -- two years or more -- and costly -- $100,000 and up, ANAD says.

As anorexics become more and more obsessive about avoiding food, they often start to isolate themselves from friends and family. The Web forums provide them with an online community of other people with an eating disorder. They provide one another with support -- by telling them that starving themselves is OK.

Consider this posting on one site from a woman who called herself "Emma" and wanted to know what to do about dizzy spells prompted by not eating.

"Wicked site, it's really useful!! It's helped me loads with how to cope with hunger and how to be anorexic."

Or this posting from a woman who was giving tips on hiding an eating disorder from a spouse.

"I always do my binges on the days he's working. Then on the days he's not, I stick to salads, or super light meals when I'm around him so I don't have to purge. He thinks that I'm 'cured' and that I'm just eating healthy. He doesn't know that mia/ana is back in my life."

"Mia" is short for bulimia nervosa, the disease in which people binge on food and then force themselves to vomit. "Ana" is short for anorexia nervosa, or self-starvation.

As the anorexic grows thinner and thinner, family and friends will often try to intervene, Kimball says. They'll tell the person they look too skinny and encourage them to eat. The anorexic will often further retreat into secrecy, and many -- no one knows the exact number -- look to the message boards on the pro-anorexia Web sites for validation.

"These sites further alienate them from their friends and family," Kimball says.

Rather than help them recover, the people who run these sites are defiant about their illness. They claim their eating disorder is something they can "turn on and off." Or they simply have more willpower and determination than the rest of us to be thin.

"It is most definitely not a lifestyle choice," says Solotar, who specializes in eating disorders. "It is a very serious disorder that can lead to death. There are many medical and physical complications. There is a high mortality rate."

"The longer they have the belief system -- the intense focus on thinness and the phobia against gaining weight -- the more solidified it becomes and the more difficult it is to treat," Solotar says. "These are sick people and for some of them, the Web sites are making things worse."

So what can parents do to protect their teens from these sites?

Thwarting their impact isn't easy. But Kimball suggests that parents keep computers in the family room or kitchen, rather than a bedroom, so teens can't be secretive about their Web surfing habits.

**taken from HealthScoutNews**

Wow... that's horrid...

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Wow.

i just wanna cry or something things like this make me be proud of my fatness fat or skinny are evil words i try to make both good .............Anorexia and Bulimia scare me alot of gurls i know suffer from it and may be they all ways will.......... :fear:

yeah it really is bad, especially when some live it as a lifestyle on purpose.....they think that being that skinny is sexy or something.... i think that is really terrible. If its a sickness ok, fine, but if its not, get help! thats what i think.

i have a friend who i suspect may be anorexic. she has this weird vegan thing going on right now and eats EXTREMELY light. i heard from a mutual friend that this girl was starting to make herself vomit over the summer. i think that she looks thinner every time i see her and not in a good way. this article makes me very sad because i don't want my friend to end up dead as i fear may eventually be the case if she doesn't recieve medical attention soon.

I hope you are trying to help her silverflame. Do all you can for your friend.

i'm trying the best that i can. i care about her very much, she being one of my very closest friends. its hard to do anything though for a person who won't even admit to themselves that they have a problem.

yes, i agree with you there, it is hard. As long as you try your best though, its all you can do. Its nice to see that some ppl in this world are still so caring .... it seems that is a rare thing over here these days....

unfortunately, you're right about that. most people are more focused on their own needs instead of others around them. i'm pretty good though at reconizing a silent cry for help.

and you wonder why everybody likes you? haha, i think thats pretty easy to see.

Ah, i see you've read my post in the thread "introduce yourself" why thank you, one.

ah making friends in an anti-anorexia webforum, how classic

Can anyone refer me to any statistics about eating problems in other countries, including "needy countries". Society mixed with a off-beat ego I thing is why people "suffer" from these mild disorders. It doesnt start mentally, it becomes a mental defunct.

p.s. anyone up for a quick trip to washington for an assasination attempt.

off-beat? try no ego to speak of

there is nothing mild about them.

Iv'e found it is more in the direction of overdeveloped ego. Not selfishness, but think about how someone with those disorders view their self-image? Besides extreme cases, i find them mild, compared to other mental disorders ive had the unfortune to meet.

You know, in my experiance, the eating disorder, when it's happening, isn't that hard to deal with. You find a way to do it the first time and no one notices. At least in the case of buliemia since it's less likely to produce noticeable results. But then comes the time when you are either caught or decide that you should stop. So suddenly people know, and it's harder. Or, if you really, really try to stop, you realize that yuo're done some irreversable damage to your brain. Any time you notice the slightest bit of weight gain, or even think you do, you have to fight not to slip back into your old habits.

Since I "stopped" I've fallen back into the pattern of buleimia many, many times. Sometimes for a while and sometimes not. Ther have been many nights when I've sat on the floor of my bathroom crying... I can't explain how hard it is, and unless you've actually lived through an eating disorder you will never understand, but I'm rather offened that you call it "mild". Perhaps it seems that way, but I don't agree. A lot of teen age girls may claim that they had it happen to them, may pretend that it bothered them, but I don't see it. However, when I read that, I started to cry. Those few quotes seemed to echo the thoughts I've been having since I was in eighth grade, and they only got worse as I grew older.

This probably it's as coherant as I would like it to be, but it really bothers me that you would write off an eating disorder as "mild".

*Hugs Sphyre*

I have to agree with you on that one. Even though i have not had one myself, i know they are no more mild than any disorder, and actually much worse than some. I also don't see how one could refer to a disorder that many ppl die from as mild. OK, i mean yes, some ppl may have a "mild" case of it, but that does not mean its always "mild". I think the same would apply to just about any disorder.

I am so sorry to get anyone upset.

I do not see a difference between those disorders and someone who is suicidal. And its probably my views on suicide that influence my opinion on eating disorders. It's a problem to be overcomed, to prove yourself against, but I would never wrtie it off as anything. I've purged before, but i realized i wasnt wealthy enough to keep it up. If I may ask, why did you start? I truly believe that if someone can overcome the start of those disorders (like suicide) that it couldn't get to a point of an mental problem of self-image, or even obssesive compulsive(like ive heard anorexics called)

I apoligize again for any ignorance i have on the subject and thank you for not biting my head off.

"I want to kill myself."
"I want to be thin and pretty."
I see an amazing difference between those 2 statements.