By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
5 common myths about eating disorders
36bfde488d71fe5f68d44ad8c8c4148c3dc662d2ce33ee66d403484475d0e3fd
Eating disorders are serious life-threatening mental illnesses. Eating disorders are treatable, but often go undetected due to common misconceptions. - photo by Emily Fonnesbeck
Eating disorders are serious life-threatening mental illnesses.

National surveys show that 20 million American women and 10 million American men will suffer from an eating disorder at some point in their lives. There is not a single, specific cause its usually a variety of biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors that combine to create the vulnerability in the individual.

National Eating Disorder Awareness Week happens each year during the month of February and this year's awareness week is Feb. 26 - March 4.

This year's theme is Lets Get Real with the goal of expanding the conversation to real issues facing eating disorder prevention and recovery. This is an opportunity to raise awareness about eating disorders, bust eating disorder myths and misconceptions, share stories, and help those struggling to access the help they need.

Eating disorders are treatable, but often go undetected for a few reasons: misconceptions about what they are and who they affect, and the cultural normalization of food and weight preoccupation.

Below are common myths and misconceptions:

Myth #1: You can tell if someone has an eating disorder based on how they look.

The media often portrays individuals with eating disorders to be emaciated, female, young and white. In reality, eating disorders affect individuals of all shapes and sizes, ages, genders and ethnicities. Too often, individuals delay treatment because they arent thin enough to have an eating disorder, so its important that we recognize this as a common misconception.

Myth #2: Eating disorders are a lifestyle choice and are about vanity.

Eating disorders are life-threatening mental illnesses with serious physical and mental ramifications. Eating disorder behaviors are often used as a way to cope with uncomfortable emotions or difficult life events. Once the disorder has taken hold, it becomes a functional and self-sustaining process that is difficult to break free from. A patient can choose to pursue recovery, but it will require the help of a team of professionals ideally consisting of a therapist, dietitian and physician and possibly others, depending on the case.

Myth #3: Eating disorders are caused by bad parenting.

As stated, eating disorders are caused by a variety of factors. They are not a choice; no one chooses to have an eating disorder. Affected families are very diverse and 50 to 80 percent of a person's risk for developing an eating disorder comes from genetic factors, according to the Center for Eating Disorders at Sheppard Pratt. Causation has far more to do with the genetic predisposition of the individual than with any environmental stimulus. That said, families can be a great support to their loved one while in recovery.

Myth #4: Eating disorders are only about food and weight.

You may be tempted to tell someone with an eating disorder to "just eat" or "just stop eating," but its far more complex than that. While recovery from an eating disorder will include interventions for normalizing food patterns and behaviors, there are underlying issues that need to be addressed in order to make a full recovery. This is why a full treatment team is essential.

Myth #5: Once a patient is at a 'normal weight,' they have recovered from an eating disorder.

According to the Eating Disorder Institute, the three facets for eating disorder recovery are:

  • Body acceptance: including weight restoration for some, but ultimately full acceptance of the genetic set point that quite possibly may exceed BMI standards of "normal"
  • Repair of physical damage
  • Developing new neural patterns in response to anxiety triggers.
As you can see, its about more than just weight.

These myths can lead to stigma, making it difficult for individuals to seek treatment. It can also affect the medical professionals ability to identify and diagnose an eating disorder that falls outside of the stereotype. National Eating Disorder Awareness Week gives us the opportunity to educate the public on these issues.

This is especially important given the nutrition, diet and weight-obsessed culture we live in. Its become culturally acceptable to struggle with food and body image, so someone that has a serious eating disorder could easily fly under the radar and delay treatment. The quicker an eating disorder is diagnosed and treatment interventions begun, the better the chance at a full recovery.

If you suspect that you or someone you love could be struggling with an eating disorder, you can use this short screening tool from the NEDA to determine if its time to seek help.
Sign up for our e-newsletters
From the book 'Outliers' comes proof that good health is more than just genetics
8ccd7d661f85d37c8298791c9a56bec6e0f8449d4aea5c09c6ffcf527854f186
Friends Jim Young, left, Mike Natale, Jeff Natale and Ryan Kiernan were on Greenwich High School football team together and Jim and Mike were captains. Jim, who was the youngest in Sherry Young's family, was welcome in the homes of the other three boys who still had siblings around and grandparents near. - photo by Sherry Young
As I look back on my life and the lives of others, both personally and in the reading I have done, I am convinced of the necessity of positive human contact in our lives. We are doubly blessed when we are able to make good friends or are a part of a family where we are accepted and loved.

Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers tells of a time in the 1950s when Dr. Stewart Wolf met a physician who practiced in the area of Roseto, Pennsylvania. Roseto was settled by a group of Italian families from Roseto, Italy, who re-created their life again in America.

This was in the 1950s before drugs and measures to prevent heart disease became important. In their conversation the physician said, You know, Ive been practicing for 17 years. I get patients from all over, and I rarely find anyone from Roseto under the age of 65 with heart disease.

Wolf was surprised by these words as, It was impossible to be a doctor, common sense said, and not see heart disease.

Wolf enlisted the aid of a sociologist and friend John Bruhn to help him. They found, There was no suicide, no alcoholism, no drug addiction, and very little crime. They didnt have anyone on welfare. Then we looked at peptic ulcers. They didnt have any of those either. These people were dying of old age. Thats it.

They checked into diet, genetics and possibilities of something in the foothills of eastern Pennsylvania but nothing made sense.

What they found was that Rosetans visited one another, stopping to chat in Italian on the street, say, or cooking for one another in their backyards. (Researchers) learned about the extended family clans that underlay the towns social structure. They saw how many homes had three generations living under one roof and how much respect grandparents commanded. They went to Mass at Our Lady of Mount Carmel and saw the unifying and calming effect of the church. They counted 22 separate civic organizations in a town of just under 2,000 people. They picked up on the particular egalitarian ethos of the community, which discouraged the wealthy from flaunting their success and helped the unsuccessful obscure their failures.

What they found eventually convinced the medical establishment to look beyond the individual and understand the culture people are part of their friends, families and town they came from. They determined that the people we surround ourselves with and the values of the world we inhabit have a profound effect on who we are.

Likely, this study could have been done with other ethnicities. However, my family's experiences with the Italian families in Connecticut ring true to the study. Our hungry and growing sons, especially our youngest son, Jim, who was left home alone with two beady-eyed parents, all had some memorable experiences being fed and loved in the Cos Cob multigenerational families. Proof of the African proverb, It takes a village to raise a child.

We live in an age when the contact we have with people often is on the internet, and many of us live among strangers. Unless we make the effort to reach out, we will become isolated, especially as we age. The Rosetan study is proof that reaching out and communicating may be good for our health.
Latest Obituaries