Kim Rossi

Eat for God's Sake!

First, I am not poking fun at eating disorders, OK? I've seen girls who weigh 85 pounds and it's dreadful for all concerned. BUT..... Today's women are so consumed with "self" and "image" and staying young and thin that I think the level of selfishness involved is what is really the problem.

Studies show women who get cosmetic surgery are more likely to commit suicide. You have twenty year olds undergoing cosmetic surgery for what? To look 13? What's next, pulling all your teeth out of your head to acheive that four month old look?

What has happened to us that we are so focused on image that we make ourselves sick, we deny ourselves food, we submit to invasive surgery? I just ate two donuts. I worked out for 30 minutes this morning. And I ate the God damned donuts. They tasted good. They felt good on my tongue. I will not throw up my donuts. I liked 'em.

I can't wait to be an old woman with crazy white hair and harsh pink lipstick and cream blush stuck in my wrinkles. Nuts? Maybe. But I plan to allow myself the luxury of growing older. I'll try to look as nice as I can every day - but really, harm myself to do so?

When you have kids with challenges you get a healthy dose of perspective. You wake up to a perspective ENEMA every f'ing day. You go to sleep on a perspective pillow, and it ain't filled with soft down feathers. Worry about my body to the point of self-injury? Who has the time?

To the gal in the article below - good luck sweetie. To you and to your kids, if you have them. Oh! And the NYT article I read this morning? "Regular women undergoing cosmetic surgery." A women took out $10,000 in loans to pay for fake tits so she'd fill out a bathing suit top. After she had kids her boobs disappeared. Hey pal, my KIDS disappeared -and I buy padded swimsuit tops..... And twenty somethings using credit cards to pay for cosmetic surgery but they will not pay for HEALTH INSURANCE! Docs worried about that trend. Terrific, Tiffany will have the biggest boobs in the ER when she goes there for health care. Fabulous.....

This is from the Boston news:

Most people think of eating disorders as a problem that strikes girls and young women. But increasingly, experts say eating disorders are becoming an epidemic among baby boomers,

At 41 years old, Lauren is finally gaining control of her body and her life. She has suffered from bulimia and anorexia for 25 years. I consider it like a heroin addiction, Lauren said. I was terrified at this time last year that I was going to die.

Lauren is not alone in her struggle. Experts say between 1 and 3 million middle-aged women in this country have anorexia or bulimia. One out of every 10 eating disorder patients is over 40.

There's probably a several fold increase in the last decade of middle-aged women seeking treatment, said Dr. David Herzog, director of the Harvard Eating Disorders Program at Mass General Hospital.

According to Herzog, a mid-life crises, or the fight against mid-life weight gain can trigger eating disorders. They may be married or suffered a divorce. They may be have had a recent loss of a parent, he said. There is pressure out there to maintain a more youthful appearance.

Dr. Herzog said some women have been struggling in silence for years. But whether the patient is middle-aged or a teenage girl, he said characteristics to look out for are primarily the same.

"They may be restricting their intake or they may be binging eating or engaging in self-induced vomiting or purging behavior, said Herzog.

Lauren wants people to know that women of all ages are winning their personal battles with eating disorders by getting help from treatment centers like MEDA, the Multiservice Eating Disorders Association, of Newton.

Lauren said she is not bulimic or anorexic anymore. I am feeling amazing. I'm learning myself again, I feel healthy, she said.