http://www.amazon.com/Gaining-Truth-About-Eating-Disorders/dp/B002IT5OXO/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1
This book is available on amazon dot com. Written by a Aimee Liu, a former model who wrote one of the first memoirs about living with anorexia in the 60's and 70's, this new book focuses on her life afterwards; the triumphs, the relapses, and all the steps in between. She catches up with her old friends from high school, the same clique from her first book, "Solitaire", and writes about their lifestyles and eating habits.
This memoir surprised me in that there is quite a bit of scientific research in her book on statistics and the typical profile of anorectics/bulimics. She goes to a University and discusses the personality types with a pioneer in the field of eating disorders. It was very interesting to read the characteristics that are commonplace among those with an eating disorder.
What I didn't like was the hidden message anorectics give off: if you're overweight, you have more issues than I do, and you should do something about it. A reviewer on amazon dot com mentioned the same thing, that there is an undercurrent of disdain for normal sized and plump women. Compare this with books on binge eating disorders, where you do not typically find comments that imply slender women are freakish or socially brainwashed. I think this may have to do with the profile type that the author describes at length: a perfectionist and critical person who needs to feel she stands out in a crowd. The question begs: what is perfect and who are you to make that call?
My best friend was anorexic the entire time I knew her and she was that way: highly critical of ME (for the record, I weighed 113-115 pounds and was a size 5 mostly, back then anyways). I was there to support her through her hospitalization after a car accident where it was revealed that she ate even less than I had assumed (and I already assumed she was an anorexic who refused to state it). It was painful to watch her try to pawn off her meal to me in the hospital, or when she spat out "I don't want to get FAT [like you]," to a gentle, overweight nurse who had the unfortunate role of caretaker.
Having read lots of memoirs what strikes me is the amount of hatred anorectics have for overweight people and in particular, nurses at hospitals, whose task it is to make sure their electrolytes are within range, and their heart rate remains normal. Yes, some nurses tend to be overweight, but this is not some conspiracy where fat people love to change the power dynamics in modern society (thin women rule, fat women serve or get out of sight): this is due to the fact that a lot of women who have the capability of care-taking a total stranger have an exaggerated selfless personality (perhaps not healthy). This means they care about strangers more than they care about their own well-being. Also, a lot of nurses had to play the care-taker role at home, and often times their childhood homes were turbulent. Turbulent childhoods often play a major role in over-eating, bulimia, and other disordered eating habits.
Anyways, I had to write that because the campus library has a limited amount of books on BED (binge eating disorders) and yo-yo dieters and a ton of memoirs by anorectics, so if I want to read a book on the plight of women and food, I have to read another anorectic's memoir. I don't mind, I just sometimes need to step back, out of this woman's mentality, and re-evaluate myself and society, so I don't find myself mimicking another disordered eating person.
After note: don't let my influential personality type stop you from discussing your issues. If you're suffering from anorexia, bulimia, or BED, please talk about it, as part of the illness revolves around a secret obsession with food and/or starvation. Secrecy breeds stigma, which is bad for everyone. I just wrote that above paragraph because I spent a lot of time around anorexics, one was my best friend for about 5 years, and the other was my boss, or rather, the wife of my boss who herself was a boss. I spent 3 years watching her pick at a salad every shift, and I eventually started doing the same due to my desire to fit in and what not. Then the salad became my sole meal, then I lost a lot of weight, went mad, got asylumed, and wound up gaining all that lost weight within 6 months of my release. My point: I'm easily influenced by the behavior of others, not their fault, it's mine. So if you have this illness, speak up!
This book is available on amazon dot com. Written by a Aimee Liu, a former model who wrote one of the first memoirs about living with anorexia in the 60's and 70's, this new book focuses on her life afterwards; the triumphs, the relapses, and all the steps in between. She catches up with her old friends from high school, the same clique from her first book, "Solitaire", and writes about their lifestyles and eating habits.
This memoir surprised me in that there is quite a bit of scientific research in her book on statistics and the typical profile of anorectics/bulimics. She goes to a University and discusses the personality types with a pioneer in the field of eating disorders. It was very interesting to read the characteristics that are commonplace among those with an eating disorder.
What I didn't like was the hidden message anorectics give off: if you're overweight, you have more issues than I do, and you should do something about it. A reviewer on amazon dot com mentioned the same thing, that there is an undercurrent of disdain for normal sized and plump women. Compare this with books on binge eating disorders, where you do not typically find comments that imply slender women are freakish or socially brainwashed. I think this may have to do with the profile type that the author describes at length: a perfectionist and critical person who needs to feel she stands out in a crowd. The question begs: what is perfect and who are you to make that call?
My best friend was anorexic the entire time I knew her and she was that way: highly critical of ME (for the record, I weighed 113-115 pounds and was a size 5 mostly, back then anyways). I was there to support her through her hospitalization after a car accident where it was revealed that she ate even less than I had assumed (and I already assumed she was an anorexic who refused to state it). It was painful to watch her try to pawn off her meal to me in the hospital, or when she spat out "I don't want to get FAT [like you]," to a gentle, overweight nurse who had the unfortunate role of caretaker.
Having read lots of memoirs what strikes me is the amount of hatred anorectics have for overweight people and in particular, nurses at hospitals, whose task it is to make sure their electrolytes are within range, and their heart rate remains normal. Yes, some nurses tend to be overweight, but this is not some conspiracy where fat people love to change the power dynamics in modern society (thin women rule, fat women serve or get out of sight): this is due to the fact that a lot of women who have the capability of care-taking a total stranger have an exaggerated selfless personality (perhaps not healthy). This means they care about strangers more than they care about their own well-being. Also, a lot of nurses had to play the care-taker role at home, and often times their childhood homes were turbulent. Turbulent childhoods often play a major role in over-eating, bulimia, and other disordered eating habits.
Anyways, I had to write that because the campus library has a limited amount of books on BED (binge eating disorders) and yo-yo dieters and a ton of memoirs by anorectics, so if I want to read a book on the plight of women and food, I have to read another anorectic's memoir. I don't mind, I just sometimes need to step back, out of this woman's mentality, and re-evaluate myself and society, so I don't find myself mimicking another disordered eating person.
After note: don't let my influential personality type stop you from discussing your issues. If you're suffering from anorexia, bulimia, or BED, please talk about it, as part of the illness revolves around a secret obsession with food and/or starvation. Secrecy breeds stigma, which is bad for everyone. I just wrote that above paragraph because I spent a lot of time around anorexics, one was my best friend for about 5 years, and the other was my boss, or rather, the wife of my boss who herself was a boss. I spent 3 years watching her pick at a salad every shift, and I eventually started doing the same due to my desire to fit in and what not. Then the salad became my sole meal, then I lost a lot of weight, went mad, got asylumed, and wound up gaining all that lost weight within 6 months of my release. My point: I'm easily influenced by the behavior of others, not their fault, it's mine. So if you have this illness, speak up!
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