Have you ever turn on the television and not see at least one commercial that is related to dieting such as weight loss pills, programs, and foods to help you lose weight? In earlier days, losing weight only had one answer: exercise. Now people are presented with so many different methods to lose weight with fast result without knowing the consequences. People might lose weight from unhealthy programs, but the more important thing that they are losing is their ability to appreciate their body with result in low self-esteem.
It is very important for people to understand that developing eating disorders does not start with how you look from the outside, but how you feel toward yourself. An interview was done with Jennifer Lombardi, co-founder and therapist at Summit Eating Disorders and Outreach Program where she shared her personal stories on how eating disorder develops, what the behaviors are, what steps are needed to overcome it, and most importantly how to avoid it. The complete interview with Jennifer is at the bottom of the article.
Summit Eating Disorders and Outreach Program is a treatment center in Sacramento California that provides intensive, medically-supervised treatment for adolescents and adults struggling with eating disorders including day treatment, and medical and nutritional therapy. You could find more information on their website.
There is no easy way around to prevent from someone developing an eating disorder because of the consistent negative exposures from the media and how people communicate with each other. When someone develops an eating disorder, it is twice or third times as hard to treat it because the person is already strongly influenced by the outside forces. When you read the interview, Jennifer stated that it is very difficult for anyone to overcome an eating disorder by themselves, but with the help of family and friends.
In order to help yourself and your love ones not to develop any eating disorder, we need to come together as one and support each others to live a life that no one needs to change or look like someone else in order to develop happiness, but only being themselves. If not, the media is getting more manipulated and stronger every second. The only way to stop the media from influencing the young and old is to have the support of family, friends, and relatives to work together and create a better environment for the youths and adults to develop into confident people without the belief that they need to look a certain way to become happy.
Jennifer Lombardi's Interview:
What is an eating disorder? – There are three basic types of eating disorders: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder. Symptoms of anorexia include restricting food intake, severe weight loss, and at times, excessive exercise. Symptoms of bulimia include episodes of binge eating, followed by some form of compensatory behavior including self-induced vomiting, laxative, diet pill or diuretic abuse, excessive exercise, and restricting. With binge eating disorder, the person struggles with episodes of binge eating, but there is no compensatory behavior.
What are the major reasons of someone developing an eating disorder? Eating disorders are caused by a combination of several factors: genetics, such as anxiety or depression; cultural issues, such as a pressure to achieve an unrealistic body image or high expectations to excel academically or in a sport; family dynamics, which could include conflict or enmeshment; personality traits, such as conflict-avoidance, perfectionism and sensitivity to criticism; and trauma or loss.
What were your (Jennifer) reasons for developing an eating disorder? My reasons included many of the aforementioned issues, but primarily my temperament was biologically wired to put me at risk. Classic personality traits, such as people-pleasing, conflict avoidance and a high drive for achievement, set the stage genetically. Add to this a series of personal losses, and the environment triggered my developing an eating disorder as a means of coping.
Why are people having a hard time accepting and appreciating their body? Culturally, we have conditioned both girls and boys to be dissatisfied with their bodies. Nearly half of girls as young as 8 years old are wishing they were thinner. Many of them have already dieted. With boys, the pressure is increasing – to be fit and have a “hard” body. At the same time, we teach children to not listen to their hunger cues and vilify foods as either “good” or “bad”, “junk” or “healthy.” And then we wonder why they develop unhealthy relationships with their bodies and with food.
What was the first thing that prompts you to realize that putting yourself through an eating disorder was not the healthy approach? I think the majority of individuals struggling, myself included, can identify at any point in time that the eating disorder is dangerous and unhealthy. The challenge is to leverage this knowledge with support and an opportunity for treatment. Most people who are struggling are scared and cannot imagine their lives without an eating disorder. Having the support from loved ones coupled with effective, comprehensive treatment provides the person with the best chance of not only accepting treatment, but achieving full recovery.
Is it possible for someone to recover from an eating disorder by themselves? Absolutely not. If there were a book, meal plan or magic pill that could “cure” an eating disorder, someone would have discovered it by now. Eating disorders are life-threatening illnesses that require intense medical, nutrition and psychological treatment. One of the most important components of treatment is that the person develop a close, supportive and honest relationship with someone. When someone is struggling, the closest relationship that she or he has is with the eating disorder. Part of recovery has to include developing a connection with someone so that this relationship becomes more important than the one the person has with their eating disorder.
What kind of eating disorder did you went through? I struggled with anorexia.
What kind of behaviors (physically and mentally) did you went through with your eating disorder? My experience was typical to that of anyone who struggles with anorexia: depression, anxiety, fear of change, isolation, fatigue, and a never-ending drive to be thin, despite continued weight loss.
What is the first step someone needs to take to recover from an eating disorder? The first step is to reach out to a specialist in the field and seek an assessment. Most people are unaware of the need for intense medical monitoring and the dangers that come, especially during the first phase of recovery. Most individuals need a team of experts, including a physician, dietician and therapist, all of whom truly have the education and experience to work effectively together.
Do you feel like you need to have the “perfect” or skinny body to be happy when you were having the disorder? You would think so – but that’s the deceptive part of the illness. No matter what changes occur within a person’s body while they have the disorder, it is never enough. Their eating disorder always finds something “wrong,” and pushes for increased engagement in the behaviors. This is also a result of distress – that whenever something in life is stressful or the person experiences difficulty, they turn to the eating disorder as a way to cope.
How did you engage with foods before, during, and after you develop your eating disorder? Growing up, food was a source of comfort and a way to cope with life’s stressors. During the disorder, it became something tangible that I could use to punish and control my life. Thankfully, in recovery, food truly becomes what it was meant to be: a way to nourish the body and something to be enjoyed.
How do you feel about food and body image now that you have recovered from your sickness? Relieved. It saddens me to witness all the ways in which our society vilifies food and teaches us to hate our bodies. In recovery, it’s important to recognize how you are going to stay recovered in what can be a truly toxic environment. The analogy that I give clients about recovery is this: imagine you complete a detox program for alcoholism. You are clean and sober. And now you have a new job – as a bartender. You are surrounded by things that can trigger you on a daily basis, from advertisements to comments from friends and family members. And you often feel isolated because dieting and body dissatisfaction is a socially accepted phenomenon. But I also tell clients to have hope. Although the first year or so in recovery is challenging, it does get easier. It’s liberating to be able to let go of the diet mentality and appreciate what your body can do.
Do you think that someone who recovered from an eating disorder could develop the same kind of sickness again? Unfortunately, yes. This is why continued support from loved ones and outpatient therapy is so key. Many people believe that after going through an intensive program for six weeks or a few months, they are “cured” and are done. But it’s important to accept that individual therapy, possibly nutrition therapy and medical monitoring, especially during that first year in recovery, are critical to long-term success.
Do you think you could develop another or similar eating disorder in the future? I feel very solid in my recovery process. I have the support that I need, and being 17 years away from that life, I can say with absolute confidence that I do not want it back. I realize what I would have to give up – relationships, connections, my body and mind – in order to go back to the disorder.
How do you prevent yourself or anyone from developing the same or similar disorder in the future? I think it’s important to always have a small group of people in your life who know about your struggle and with whom you can give and receive honest feedback. Staying connected and pursuing what it is that you love are two of the best predictors for staying recovered.
Comments