Interviews with Eating Disorder Advocates – The Kari Adams Show 4/17/13

This past Lobby Day with the Eating Disorders Coalition, Kari Adams of The Kari Adams Show joined us to check out the policy side of the fight against eating disorders. Already a big advocate for positive body image and self-acceptance, Kari was a great fit w/ the EDC. She interviewed a few advocates that were in town, including EDC President Johanna Kandel. Check out the videos below to get a feel for what drives EDC volunteers, why we’re passionate about eating disorders, and what keeps us coming back to Capitol Hill to promote change:

Johanna Kandel is the current President of the Eating Disorders Coalition, founder of the Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness, and author of Life Beyond Your Eating Disorder.

Suzanne Lewandowski is the founder of the Eating Disorders Collaborative of Massachusetts and a current Junior Board member of the Eating Disorders Coalition.

Seda is the founder of the Cambridge Eating Disorder Center, which offers a spectrum of recovery services including residential and outpatient programs.

Gail is recovered from an eating disorder and the founder of the F.R.E.E.D. Foundation, a fundraiser for treatment scholarships. You can read more about Gail and the foundation here.

We actually don’t know who this guy is. I hear they found him wandering aimlessly around the House of Representatives, clearly sleep-deprived and mumbling something about locating the nearest Metro stop.

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Anorexia in Men on the Rise – Huffington Post Live Interview

Happy Eating Disorder Awareness Week! I had the pleasure of participating in a discussion on Huffington Post Live on eating disorders in men this past Thursday. I’m excited that they chose to highlight this subject during awareness week, and appreciate the thoughtful questions they had for everyone on the segment.

You can watch the full segment below, which includes a young man named Alberto De Leon in Chicago who is currently in recovery from an eating disorder; Margaret Johnson, the editor for HuffPost Women; Amanda Webster, an Australian mother who’s son developed anorexia in childhood; and Dr. Gregory Jantz, an eating disorder specialist in Seattle. You can watch the full video below:

You may notice that the title on the video says, “Manorexia on the Rise.” Well, I don’t care for that term one bit, and I’m happy to report that when I emailed my contact on the production team, they changed it on the main video page and wherever else it was possible. Unfortunately, it’s much harder to edit out of the video stream, but I want to extend my gratitude for the quick response they had in changing it where they could.

I’ve written about my disdain for that term in the past:

If you’ve been keeping up with me on here, you have probably heard me talk about “gender inclusivity.” I believe for ED treatment, research, and prevention to advance, it has to be fully inclusive and not just catered to the majority. I almost slipped through the cracks of the resources available to me during my own recovery because it was all designed for women, and I mourn for other boys and men who find themselves in similar circumstances.

I grimaced at the original title because taking a word like “anorexia” and altering it to reference EDs in men carries the implication that men experience it differently in some way – otherwise, they would just call it anorexia, right? …In short, it by default is not gender inclusive.

It won’t do us any good to take notice of how our recovery culture is feminized if we just turn around and make it gendered in the opposite direction. Eating disorders are, more than anything, a matter of public health concern.

Thanks again to Huffington Post Live for having me, and for responding to my request regarding the segment title so quickly. If more media outlets handled this issue with the same level of care, we’d all be the better for it.

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Reasons For Recovery Blog Series – Part 2 (My Turn!)

Today it’s my turn to talk about reasons for recovery! In case you didn’t know, I’m collaborating with some other writers in a blog series for the entire month of February. The theme is simple enough: reasons to recover. Special shout-out to Anne-Sophie over at Fighting Anorexia for starting the conversation that turned into this little project and for doing most of the organizing.

Beyond the guilt, shame, and self-hatred of any eating disorder is a person who is entirely capable and worthy of giving and receiving love, and fully capable of recovery. The eating disorder tries to convince you otherwise, and will do anything it can to stick around. It poses as your best friend, but in truth, it wants to kill you. In fact, eating disorders result in more deaths than any other mental health condition due to the physical effects they have on the body. Usually when someone enters recovery, there are a myriad of excuses, barriers, and reasons (some real, some exaggerated, some fabricated) which stand in their way. Let’s say someone had to go into a sixty day inpatient treatment program, how do you think that someone would react to such news? Most people do not respond with enthusiasm.

NEDA 2012 Winter Lobby Day – Richmond, VA 1/18/12

Did you know that, at present, there are no procedures implemented on the state or federal level to screen for eating disorders among adolescents?

The most recent data provided by the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) shows that in American high schools, 30% of girls and 16% of boys suffer from disordered eating, which includes bingeing, vomiting, fasting, abuse of laxatives and diet pills, and compulsive exercise.

It gets worse.

Females between the ages of 15-24 suffering from anorexia have a mortality rate twelve times higher than that of their peers, a statistic that translates into anorexia having the highest mortality rate of any mental illness. Unfortunately, even though eating disorders are preventable and effective treatment exists, they are on the rise.

Smash Your Scale (And Anything Else Holding You Back)!

Note: this post keeps things vague, but still references eating and weighing a lot. If that kind of thing is triggering, please take care of you and use your own discretion. Also, I’m on Tumblr now, so there are even more ways to stay up to date on posts!

Most people probably don’t realize this, but the avatar on my blog of the smashed scale isn’t some stock photo I found on the internet. It’s a picture of the actual scale I actually smashed seven years ago in the alley behind my first apartment while I was still in college – February 2005, to be exact.

Virginia Lobby Day with the National Eating Disorders Association

Just a quick post to let everyone know that the National Eating Disorders Association will be hosting it’s second state-level Lobby Day with the VA General Assembly on Wednesday, January 18. If you’re a Virginia resident, please consider attending.

Last year, we met with members of the General Assembly and were instrumental in educating them about the importance of a bill being introduced by Senator Puller to study eating disorder prevalence in VA. As a result of the advocacy and lobby work, the bill passed unanimously! You can read the follow-up with a link to the study results here.

Myself (2nd to left) with other advocates and Senator Puller in 2011.

There’s still work to do, though. Even if you can’t attend, you can write or call your state representatives and ask them to support NEDA’s work. We know for a fact that phone calls and emails were also influential in some representatives considering this cause. You can find the full press release here complete with contact info to RSVP. It’s free, it’s easy, and it’s an opportunity to make a difference for everyone effected by eating disorders in Virginia.