Smart phone apps might trigger eating disorders

New smart phone or iPhone applications that allow users to monitor their caloric intake and body weight could fuel or trigger an eating disorder, some experts warn.

Though keeping a food journal has been shown to be an effective weight loss tool-- tracking minute details of everything you eat 24 hours a day “fosters the illusion that excessive monitoring of food intake and weight represents a normal, health-conscious lifestyle,” said Dr. Harry Brandt, Director of the Center for Eating Disorders at Sheppard Pratt in Baltimore.

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A Few Cookies a Day to Keep the Pounds Away?

Just ask Christina Kane, who has tried everything from the grapefruit diet to Atkins, with no success. Then she heard about Dr. Siegal’s Cookie Diet, which involves eating six prepackaged cookies a day, plus one ‘real’ meal — say, skinless chicken and steamed vegetables.

“I thought, ‘That diet looks so incredibly easy,’ ” said Ms. Kane, 43, a legal secretary in Washington, who started paying $56 a week for the prepackaged cookies in June, when she weighed 255 pounds. Three months later, she was 40 pounds lighter. “If you can make it through the first week you’re in the clear,” she said.

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Lauth: Calorie restriction: fountain of youth or dangerous diet?

College-aged students across the country sweat long hours in the gym, experiment with the latest appetite suppressants and devour the latest media bites on health — all in the pursuit of losing a few pounds.

One trend gaining popularity across the country is calorie restriction, which is loosely defined as decreasing one’s calorie intake from one’s current intake. While this may appear to be just another diet at first glance, some health experts are touting calorie restriction as the “fountain of youth.” But for individuals who suffer from eating disorders, this diet serves as the perfect facade to hide behind.

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How Might a Religion Scholar Understand Women’s Body Image and Eating Problems?

I am both humbled and a little daunted by the invitation to write a blog about body image and eating problems for Psychology Today. For one thing, I'm not a psychologist. And although I have learned a great deal from the field of psychology, I'm not technically trained in this area, nor do I work in a clinical setting. Instead, I am a scholar of religion, trained in theological and religious studies. I teach college students in the upper Midwest, and I have a particular interest in the relationship between religion, gender, embodiment, and culture.

So what does a religion scholar like myself see when she looks at women's manic and often dangerous attempts to reduce the size of their bodies? What new insights might emerge from considering our culture's devotion to thinness through the lens of spirituality and religion?

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Are celebrities causing our daughters to starve themselves?

The other day I read an article about a fashion model angry that the advertiser for which she posed had Photoshopped her body into an anorexic swizzle.

Filippa Hamilton, who stands 5-foot-10 and weighs a scant 120 pounds, is considered underweight by doctors' standards. She claims Ralph Lauren fired her for being too heavy. In a similar incident, the curvy, weight-battling “American Idol” star Kelly Clarkson said Self magazine digitally altered her cover shot, shaving off curves and thighs, giving her virtual liposuction.

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The Skinny On Fashion

When fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld recently proclaimed that no one wants to see curvy women in magazines, I could not have agreed with him more. The German couturier who also designs for French fashion brand Chanel made the statement when he heard women's magazine Brigitte was banning skinny models in favour of "real women".

While I find the idea of portraying real women fresh and modern even, let it be known that, to quote Lagerfeld, "fashion is about dreams and illusions".

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Eating disorder student finds new calling

She was a good student, played basketball and swam.

And at the lowest point of her eating disorder Christina Boudreau, then a sophomore in high school, was throwing up eight times a day and contemplating suicide.

Now the bright UC Riverside theater major with beaded bracelets and a vibrant dress is hoping to give back to the facility that helped her overcome her disorder and "find herself."

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There's something fishy about Victoria Beckham's new diet

Spice Girl Victoria Beckham may be famous for her marriage to soccer star David Beckham and her high fashion sense, but she's probably best known for her rail-thin figure. It's been reported in the past that Posh has survived by eating little more than edamame, seaweed shakes, and cupcakes, but her latest diet may be the strangest yet.

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'I thought I'd put on 7 lbs in weight if I ate a biscuit -- and these websites agreed'

After a day of forcing herself to eat nothing but fruit or low-fat jelly, Michelle needs something to help her ignore her body's screaming demands for food and just a click away on her computer are hundreds of people willing to help.

But instead of encouraging her to take care of herself, the websites are devoted to promoting starvation and painful thinness as a perfectly normal way of life instead of as a deadly illness.

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H1N1 and Eating Disorders

The 2009 novel H1N1 (swine flu) virus has raised concerns around the world. We know that nutrition can be a big part of helping the immune system function, and a healthy immune system is more able to defend against infection. So, if you have poor nutrition due to an eating disorder, are you at greater risk of catching H1N1?

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How the Government plans to tackle pro-anorexia sites

The Government says it is concerned about the growth of pro-anorexia sites and, although it can not ban them, is trying to limit the dangerous impact they can have.

According to the Office for Internet Safety (OIS), which falls under the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, the best way to limit the impact of websites promoting unhealthy eating habits is to promote alternative websites that offer genuine help and advice.

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Mirror, mirror: Why are American women dissatisfied with their bodies?

American women have a problem.

You can't blame it 100 percent on the media, although researchers estimate women see 400 to 600 images each day promoting weight loss, or a "thin look."

Neither are family and friends unduly responsible for this problem. But they have been shown to contribute.

The bottom line is, most women in this country are dissatisfied with their bodies, according to psychologists and nutritionists. Studies show as many as 86 percent of American women want to lose weight, and girls as young as age 5 have been shown to engage in dieting.

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Having the strength to cope with what life throws at you

Yesterday morning I had a horrid shock. I went outside and where my bike and my boyfriend's should have been there was instead an empty bike-stand. The planned quiet Saturday-morning ride to the gym followed by some food shopping was suddenly postponed for what felt like hours of wandering round looking hopelessly for bikes or clues, digging out old receipts, ringing the police... We were plagued by the usual feelings of anger (with ourselves and the thieves and by extension the rest of humanity) and sadness at the seclusion of the marina having been violated, and at the loss of the two lovely bicycles - his a present from me, mine a present from my mother. It was all a depressing shock that left us exhausted by teatime, but I compared my reactions, and my ability to deal with them, throughout the day and now, in retrospect, with how it would have been when I was ill.

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Cutting out the 'fat talk'

When Joanna Elmquist was attending an all-girls’ school as a teenager, “fat talk” was everywhere.

“The girls would say, ‘I’m so fat’ or ‘Does this outfit make me look fat?’” says Elmquist, 22, now a senior at Trinity University. “I could see how it made them more appearance-conscious and ultimately made them feel badly about themselves.”

That’s why Elmquist participates in Fat Talk Free Week, a five-day initiative launched by the international sorority Delta Delta Delta (Tri Delta) to create public awareness of the damaging effect of fat talk, or talk about weight. The campaign kicks off today and runs through Friday.

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We must address our love affair with food

October, the month when Americans officially celebrate their love affair with candy, marks the start of our end of the year, three month holiday from sensible eating that leaves so many women and girls feeling fat and frustrated on the bleak, morning after known as New Year's Day. Unfortunately, females tend to let bathroom scales define their beauty as a woman and their worth as a person.

According to Thoughts by Dena, an online Web site, "the average American woman is 5-foot-4, weighs 140 pounds and wears a size 14 dress. The 'ideal' woman, portrayed by models, Miss America, Barbie dolls, and screen actresses, is 5-foot-7, weighs 100 pounds and wears a size 8. One third of all American women wear a size 16 or larger."

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Tokio Hotel fans think singer is too thin!

The road to pop stardom is known to be paved with endless travel, stress and screaming masses of fans - is it now all getting too much for Bill?

Rumours of the star singer's possible eating disorder started online in the Tokio Hotel fan forums after Bill looked unhealthily skinny in an appearance on German television show “Wetten Das...?” two weeks ago.

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Supergirl meltdown: How middle-class girls today are under unprecedented pressure to succeed

On the phone to a friend, the talk soon turned to her teenage daughter. At 17 she is beautiful, popular and doing well at school - yet, despite this, she is also, her mother revealed, increasingly unhappy.

'She's so worried the whole time,' my friend said. 'She's convinced that she's going to fail her exams, that she won't get into any of the universities she's applying for, that she'll never do well at anything . . . she gets so wound up about the slightest thing. I find her in floods of tears and nothing I say can convince her that she's going to be fine.'

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Khloe Kardashian: ‘I’d Have an Eating Disorder if I Was Alone in Hollywood’

Khloe Kardashian is glad she isn’t in Hollywood all by herself — because she’d probably end up with some kind of eating disorder!

The Keeping up With The Kardashians star insists she’s perfectly happy with her weight — but admits she’d probably have some body issues if she didn’t have the support of her curvy sisters.

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Ex-model battles thin fad

FORMER model Dena Ashbaugh has seen friends die as they battled eating disorders.

She too spent 30 years fighting anorexia after developing the condition as a child.

Now, three years after getting her health back, she is in New Zealand promoting a film based on her life.

"In New Zealand 80% of women are unhappy with their bodies," Ashbaugh said, "We live in a culture where we feel like we never measure up."

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Body building brought Fatheree back from bulimia

Becoming a body builder saved Bobbie Jo Fatheree’s life.

After seeing her weight drop by more than 100 pounds as she battled anorexia and bulimia, Fatheree needed something to get her diet, and her life, under control.

What worked in getting her life under control was becoming a body builder. This Saturday, Fatheree will take part in her third body building competition. She will compete in the Northern States Natural Classic Body Building and Figure Competition at Elk River (Minn.) High School.

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Fashion statement aims to counter eating disorders

It was a fashion show unlike most: Seven models ranging from thin to plus size walked the runway yesterday where Montreal Fashion Week had just wrapped up.

They were role models for Quebec's new charter for a healthy and diverse body image, unveiled yesterday by Christine St-Pierre, the minister responsible for culture, communications and the status of women, along with members of a working group of media, doctors, designers, industry and modeling representatives.

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Digital Anorexia

Ralph Lauren has apologized, but that doesn't mean blogs or feminist groups are about to let go of the grotesque retouch job on a fashion shot that makes the model's waist look like it was sqeezed into an illegal torture device. Her hips appear narrower than her head, as blog Boing Boing pointed out, and her thighs look like they came straight from a classroom skeleton. The clothing company eventually confessed to the mistake, saying it was having a bad Photoshop day.

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Is Food Intolerance an Eating Disorder in Disguise?

Australian Consolidated Press launched one-off health magazine Your Body this week. The magazine aims to help women live a healthy, balanced life and covers everything from nutrition, stress management, relationships and emotional wellbeing to health and fitness.

An article in Your Body titled 'Allergy or Anxiety; the rise of the 30-something eating disorder' explores food intolerance as a judgement free way of restricting food intake. This article is a must read for anyone who knows someone suffering food intolerance as while many women suffer from genuine conditions, others use this as a convenient excuse to avoid certain types of food.

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New thinner Barbie doll may fuel rising eating disorders in young women

Designer Christian Louboutin thinks the already unrealistically thin Barbie doll's legs are too heavy and is redesigning a newer, thinner version due out in the states next year. This move may help to fuel the already rising incidence of eating disorders among women in the U.S. who strive to obtain impossibly thin figures.

The new Barbie will have even thinner legs because Louboutin found the doll’s “…ankles too fat,” according to the New York Daily News.

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Bravo's Thintervention Inadvertently Recalls Horrifying Anorexia Lingo

Jackie Warner, one of the choicest reality TV lesbians of the modern era, is set to follow her first show Work Out with another Bravo reality program, this one entitled Thintervention with Jackie Warner. Catchy! Fierce! Totally ignorant of common, anorexia-related “thin” wordplay!

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Tweens convene for learning, support on body image

WASHINGTON — When 12-year-old Chloe Harris sees a large-screen image of a stick-thin model in a new ad campaign, the seventh-grader from Alexandria, Va., says the picture makes her "feel sick" because the model looks so "unnormal."

Her reaction is on target, says body-image expert Jess Weiner, who speaks about the eating disorders that began for her at age 11.

"Every single person here wonders whether they've got the right body or the right look," says Weiner, who writes a body-image column for Seventeen magazine. She spoke to more than 200 tween girls, ages 9-14, gathered for the first National Tween Girl Summit here over the weekend.

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Karl Lagerfeld: No Fat Chicks

Karl Lagerfeld is not afraid to make a bold statement. Usually it’s his clothes doing the talking, but this week the German fashion designer commented on the “size-zero debate”, saying people prefer to look at rail thin high fashion models, and the only ones who don’t are “fat mothers with their bags of chips sitting in front of the television”.

71 year old Lagerfeld is the creative director of Chanel and has designed costumes for Madonna’s Re-Invention tour and Kylie’s Showgirl tour. His comments come after magazine Brigitte announced that it would no longer use professional models in its pages, because its readers could not relate to them.

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