I found two related stories on exercise bulimia in my news feed today, and although they weren't glaringly inaccurate, there were some aspects I found mighty amusing (but not in a funny way).
The two stories were:
Emerging Eating Disorder- Exercise Bulimia, and
San Diego Clinic Helps Exercise Bulimics. The first aired on the CBS "Early Show," and the second appeared to be from their San Diego syndicate.
First of all, exercise bulimia isn't an "emerging" disorder. It's a fairly new name for a really old phenomenon. When the first clinical descriptions of anorexia were written in the 1870s, doctors noted the patients' hyperactivity in the face of starvation. Compulsive exercise has long been a feature of eating disorders, and our current cultural obsession to try and burn off excess calories through exercise only feeds this mentality and normalizes the disorder.
Secondly, a link on "related articles" on the first piece linked to an item called "
Want to Lose Weight? You Gotta Work Out."
I mean, Holy Irony, Batman!
Also, very 80s graphic they have going there. Yikes.
Thirdly, the text about the San Diego clinic opened with the following: For most of us, hitting the gym is a necessary evil to keep those extra pounds at bay.
*
headdesk *
This just confirms that so many people
just don't get it. The mentality that exercise is all about weight loss and that more exercise is better because it means more weight loss and dedication only fuels the problem. During my exercise addiction, no one ever asked if I had better things to do than live in my rank sports bra. I get that these articles are meant to be helpful, but they also continue the subtle misinformation about the nature of these disorders.
The two stories were: Emerging Eating Disorder- Exercise Bulimia, and San Diego Clinic Helps Exercise Bulimics. The first aired on the CBS "Early Show," and the second appeared to be from their San Diego syndicate.
First of all, exercise bulimia isn't an "emerging" disorder. It's a fairly new name for a really old phenomenon. When the first clinical descriptions of anorexia were written in the 1870s, doctors noted the patients' hyperactivity in the face of starvation. Compulsive exercise has long been a feature of eating disorders, and our current cultural obsession to try and burn off excess calories through exercise only feeds this mentality and normalizes the disorder.
Secondly, a link on "related articles" on the first piece linked to an item called " Want to Lose Weight? You Gotta Work Out."
I mean, Holy Irony, Batman!
Also, very 80s graphic they have going there. Yikes.
Thirdly, the text about the San Diego clinic opened with the following: For most of us, hitting the gym is a necessary evil to keep those extra pounds at bay.
* headdesk *
This just confirms that so many people just don't get it. The mentality that exercise is all about weight loss and that more exercise is better because it means more weight loss and dedication only fuels the problem. During my exercise addiction, no one ever asked if I had better things to do than live in my rank sports bra. I get that these articles are meant to be helpful, but they also continue the subtle misinformation about the nature of these disorders.