May 27 2008
Study Finds Disorderd Eating in Two-Thirds of U.S. Women
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A groundbreaking study has revealed that one in six young U.S. women exhibit disordered eating behaviors, with one in ten reporting symptoms of a full-blown eating disorder such as anorexia and bulimia nervosa, or binge eating disorder. The study, conducted by SELF magazine in conjunction with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, polled over 4,000 women online between the ages of 25 and 45. It was also found that three-quarters of the women polled eat, think and behave “abnormally” around food. The survey found that these behaviors cut across racial and ethnic lines and are not limited to any one age group either. The findings were published in SELF magazine’s April 23 issue.So basically what this means is that the majority of women in the U.S. are feeling high distress related to food and weight.
This distress is so normalized and validated that most women probably don’t even recognize it as disordered. Instead, they turn to the media that spawned their behavior — makeover books and TV shows, for example — instead of support groups. Girlfriends talk to each other endlessly about their latest fad diets, but it doesn’t occur to them that they could talk to therapists about how often they feel genuinely depressed and anxious about their weight. When we feel bad about ourselves, we think weight loss is the solution, and we may momentarily feel on top of the world when we begin a diet. But more often than not, our weight loss attempts only make us feel worse–physically and emotionally. |
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