Nutrition & Eating Disorders
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It was like being stuck in a nightmare from which I couldn't awake. A nightmare in the sense that my perception was distorted and no one really understood what I was experiencing. But why would they? Between being the salutatorian of my class, playing sports year round, and participating in student government and other clubs, I seemed to have my whole life under control. I decided to lose a few pounds because I didn't play basketball my junior year and felt I had become a little out of shape.
However, stress soon took over my life due to a very rigorous class schedule and control seemed to be slipping out of my hands. I couldn't give up, so I buried the pressures inside of me and used my diet as an outlet. My weight began to drop rapidly but never stepping on a scale, I was oblivious to how much weight I had lost. My life began to slowly unravel and became an agony I couldn't escape. I tore my shoulder swimming because my body was weak which ruined the rest of my swimming season. My boyfriend and I, who had been dating for 3 years, broke up. My family began to fall apart as every dinner ended in a screaming fight because I refused to eat and no one understood my actions, myself included. My hair began to fall out and my skin looked dead and pallid. Although my life had disintegrated into a chaos I had never imagined, I had no idea I had lost so much weight or that it was the root of my problems because my stomach was bloated because of water retention which made me feel fat. I sought refuge under the covers of my bed, praying that my mind could think about something other than food for just a second and hoping that everything would end. One day I heard my friends talking about how disgusting it was that they could see all the bones in my back and it hit me that maybe there was some correlation between my new eating habits and the hell which I had come to know as my life. After looking in the mirror, I couldn't believe that the emaciated figure staring back was my own.
Recovery in itself was a torment. I had doctors' appointments four times a week and my family and I had to go to therapy throughout my senior year. Eating was a painstaking chore rather than a delight, and I had to force myself, with the undying support of my family, to overcome the power of anorexia that controlled my mind. Relapses occurred due to the abominable fear of becoming fat which polluted my thoughts. My doctors feared that college would be detrimental to my treatment and they were convinced I would have a complete relapse.
Coming to UCSB has strengthened my sense of self in my endeavor to triumph in my battle with anorexia. I took two classes: ED 191-C (Healthy Eating And Living) and a ESS A 3 (Nutrition) which helped reinforce ideas about healthy eating. In addition to the free and confidential appointments with the dietician and eating disorder specialist that Student Health offers to all students, Student Health also has a program called Healthy Eating and Living which advocates preventing and helping students with eating disorders and encourages healthy eating habits. I became a Healthy Eating and Living Intern which has surrounded me with a positive atmosphere and has repressed the anorexia which occasionally comes forward from the depths of my mind and rears its ugly head.
I have learned that rather than focusing on my diet and weight which proved to be destructive, my life is much more meaningful when I leave those behind and direct my energy to something constructive. I have learned that I am more than what I eat and will never let the superficiality of external appearance be a means of measuring myself as a person.
- Jenna Kruger
myths and facts: nutrition, weight, and eating disorders
myth:
Everybody gains at least 15 pounds as a freshman eating dorm food.
FACT:
Research on this topic is sparse and conflicting. Some college campuses have found that of the students who gained weight in their freshman year, the average weight gain was 5 pounds. Risk factors include: calories from alcohol, dieting, evening snacks and reduced exercise.
myth:
Dieting is an easy and effective way to lose weight.
FACT:
90-95% of people who lose 10 pounds or more on a diet regain it within one year.
myth:
People with anorexia lose weight by eating nothing at all.
FACT:
Anorexics often eat a lot of "empty" food that fill them up but have no calories.
myth:
Only Anglo women from high-income families get eating disorders.
FACT:
Eating disorders are found in all socio-economic levels. Eating disorders occur at the same rate in Asian, Anglo and Latina-Hispanic women at UCSB. According to a 2002 survey of UCSB students, 15.9% of men at UCSB have a diagnosable eating disorder.
myth:
Anorexia and bulimia are the most common eating disorders.
FACT:
The most common eating problem in women and men is called an "Atypical Eating Disorder." This is characterized by two or more of the following:a) An obsession with nutrition and eating habits and/or the use of supplements and meal replacements.b) An obsession with losing weight and/or building muscle mass.c) Compulsive exercise: Exercising even though you are sick or injured; missing class or social events to exercise; feeling angry or disgusted with yourself when you don't exercise enough; forcing yourself to exercise to "get rid of" calories. d) Constantly comparing yourself to others (Am I bigger than that person? Do they look better than I do?") e) Occasional use of Laxatives, vomiting or diet pills to get rid of calories.
myth:
Weight-loss dieting is a harmless fad.
FACT:
The #1 risk factor for developing an eating disorder is severe dieting. This includes any of the following: using diet pills, meal replacements, or fasting to lose weight; eating very few calories (under 1200) per day, "getting rid" of calories by vomiting, over exercising or taking laxatives.
myth:
Once you have an eating disorder, you never really recover.
FACT:
80% or more of people who seek treatment recover. The sooner a person gets help, the better their likelihood of full recovery.
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