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Life-Size Barbie Is Anything but Perfect

Annie Scudder — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 13:52:46 PDT

When Galia Slayden was a little girl, she admired her Barbie's perfect blond hair and slim figure. When she entered high school and faced an eating disorder, she realized the body image Barbie portrayed was less than ideal. Using math, balloons, and other supplies, she built a life-size Barbie, pictured here, in time for National Eating Disorder Week. She showed it off at her school and later brought the Barbie to her college campus, too.

We've all likely heard facts about how ridiculous Barbie would look if she was a real woman, and Galia shares one I hadn't heard before in the Huffington Post: "If Barbie was a real woman, she'd have to walk on all fours." But seeing these proportions takes the unrealistic body to a much more shocking level.

This morning on the Today show, Galia explained that while she doesn't believe Barbie gives people eating disorders, the doll does play a role in a young girl's development. As for the goal of her project, she says: "It's beyond the actual Barbie herself. It's really about finding who you are. Not wanting to become Barbie, not wanting to become this celebrity, that person. It's about finding that internal you." Mattel has defended itself, maintaining: "Barbie is a doll who stands at 11.5 inches tall and weighs 7.25 ounces - she was never modeled on the proportions of a real person."

Do you think this life-size Barbie could help improve young women's body images?

Supportive Websites For Help With Eating Disorders

FitSugar — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 13:00:16 PST

The last week of February is National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, and this year's motto is, "It's Time to Talk About It." If you or someone you know is suffering from an ED, here's a list of online resources that can offer information, support, and help. Hopefully, this will help in bringing them one step closer to talking about it.

SomethingFishy: This is an active website with lots of forums, which makes it a great way to get info while also being part of a supportive community. If someone you know has an ED, it recommends ways that you can help, which include a comprehensive list of treatment centers so you can find one near you.
National Eating Disorders Association: If you're looking for someone to talk to, you can call its toll free helpline at 800-931-2237, Monday through Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. PST.
EatingDisordersOnline.com: This website is full of recent articles on eating disorders and gives a lot of valuable information on the different types of eating disorders and recovery. It also describes many different treatment options to help you decide which one will work best for you.

See more resources when you

Do You Appreciate It When Stars Open Up About Struggles?

Annie Scudder — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 10:45:12 PDT

Portia de Rossi has been making the rounds this week opening up about the unbearable lightness of being anorexic and bulimic. In her new book and in the interviews promoting it, the openly gay actress has offered a very honest, and very dark portrayal of life with an eating disorder. Portia tells People about her state of mind when she weighed only 82 pounds:

"At the time, I thought, 'Okay, my arms look awful so I should cover them up, but my legs look pretty okay now.' I didn't think I was crazy to only eat 300 calories a day. That made perfect sense to me."

Portia, who suffered organ failure and osteoporosis, started battling her eating disorder while working on Ally McBeal, and she points to the pressure from that show, along with her then-closeted sexuality, as the reason behind her struggle. Very thin women on TV can influence a regular woman's body image, and Portia's honesty about the unhealthy and painful side of extreme thinness does make it seem anything but glamorous. Do you appreciate her openness?

Kara DioGuardi Covers Women's Health

FitSugar — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:30:52 PDT

Since suffering from an eating disorder in her 20s, Kara DioGuardi has come a long way. With Paula Abdul gone, she is the current Queen Bee on American Idol; she also has an accomplished career as a songwriter and music producer. And at 38, she looks damn good - something she shared with the world during the series finale of American Idol last year. Kara stripped down to a black bikini to battle it out with a contestant known as "Bikini Girl," a move that she tells Women's Health this month defined her: "It probably saved my job. It was a defining moment. Like, 'She's serious and industry, but also as kooky as everyone else on this panel.' "

Here are more highlights from the interview.

Battling an eating disorder. "I’d pretty much clean out the refrigerator. Food was my drug of choice. It anesthetized me so I wouldn’t have to feel whatever I was feeling. I’d stuff myself full of sugar and fall asleep."
On eating healthy. "The more roughage you eat, the more it fills you up."
On the importance of water. "Two huge bottles a day, minimum. I have them around - one upstairs, one in the car - to force me to remember."
Her exercise routine. "Two miles of running or 25 minutes of cardio - boxing, treadmill, step-ups, walking lunges, sprints. I mix it up. And weight training is important as you get older. You build muscle which burns fat when you’re at rest."

To see the rest of the interview, pick up a copy of Women's Health, on newsstands tomorrow.

Photo courtesy of Fox

Alanis Morissette on Defeating Her Eating Disorder

FitSugar — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 08:07:10 PST

Grammy-winner Alanis Morissette has traveled a long road struggling with depression, self-image, and food. In a recent interview with Health magazine, the singer shares that as a teenager, she was both anorexic and bulimic. Although her recovery began at age 18, Alanis says, "eating issues dogged me through my 20s." During that time, she wasn't worried about her weight, but was working long hours and eating salty and processed foods. Admittedly, she wasn't taking care of herself.

Life changed completely when she discovered Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s book Eat to Live. "It’s become my bible, pushing me to completely reorient my thinking about what to put into my body," the singer says. Check out her current diet:

"Now I concentrate on eating high-nutrient foods like fruit, nuts, collards, kale, and spinach. I’m obsessed with them. I even put spinach in my smoothies! - and arugula, too. For lunch, say, I’ll put it in a whole grain wrap with cucumbers, green peppers, hummus, tomatoes, and some lemon juice, cayenne, and hot sauce. I eat a lot of flaxseed oil to keep my omega-3s up, and I put cruciferous veggies like broccoli in soups - they’re so good for you."

Learn Alanis's philosophy on alcohol when you

read more. Alanis isn't all healthy foods all the time. She definitely indulges in the occasional glass of wine or piece of chocolate, believing that "treats are mandatory." Making healthy food swaps is another way the singer enjoys her favorite foods without feeling bad. Instead of regular mozzarella on her pizza, she tops it with soy cheese and organic tomatoes. In place of buttery popcorn, she loves snacking on "popcorn with balsamic vinegar, vegan butter, and all kinds of spices" - sounds tasty and I think I will try it. As for dairy products, Alanis rarely eats them. She says, "I’ll never forget my friend Woody Harrelson telling me I needed to get rid of the dairy in my fridge to clear up my skin. He was right. My skin looks great now." This nutrient-rich diet also gave Morissette the fuel to train for and complete a marathon this year, to raise awareness about eating disorders. Now that she's discovered how good it feels to treat her body right, starving herself just isn't an option. She adds that, "Eating the right way has become a sort of spiritual practice for me." To that I say rock on Alanis!

The Dieting of Mothers Visits Daughters in Eating Disorders

FitSugar — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:00:16 PDT

Parents model behavior for their children, whether consciously or not. A recent survey conducted by British teen mag Sugar (no relation to the PopSugar Network) found that a dieting mother can have unfortunate consequences for daughters.

Out of the 512 girls surveyed, ages 12 to 18, six percent had an eating disorder; that number rose to one in 10 among girls with mothers who dieted. Girls learn how to create a self-image from observing their mothers, and when mom labels certain foods bad and dangerous, her daughter internalizes the message. It has been shown that regular family meals can help prevent eating disorders, and when the female head of household removes herself from the ritual of the family dinner impressionable eyes are watching. Negative body image from mothers affects girls too. This is why I learned to stop talking smack about my thighs. Did your mom diet? Did it affect your relationship with food?

Health Food Obsession Gone Too Far: Orthorexia

FitSugar — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:00:39 PDT

If you're reading this site, chances are you're into eating healthy. While it's beneficial to be conscious about what you put in your mouth, it's not good to become so obsessed that your lifestyle goes from a healthy diet to an unhealthy fixation on a healthy diet. The condition is referred to as an eating disorder by some, known as orthorexia nervosa. Symptoms include sticking to a strict diet such as a raw food diet, making a list of foods that are off-limits, or nervously avoiding foods deemed unhealthy, such as those with artificial flavors, preservatives, or that aren't organic.

Being obsessed about eating healthy seems like a positive thing, but problems arise when a person's healthy lifestyle becomes so overwhelming that it pushes other activities and interests to the periphery, and interferes with relationships and day-to-day responsibilities. As the quality of their diet increases, the quality of their life decreases. It can ironically lead to unhealthy consequences like malnutrition or starvation (anorexia orthorexia).

This is not to say that those who have diet restrictions such as vegans or those following a macrobiotic diet have orthorexia. It has to do with the rigidness of the lifestyle, and whether or not it's actually detrimental to a person's health. While some mental health professionals classify orthorexia as an obsessive compulsive disorder, others think orthorexia isn't a real disorder at all. What do you think?

Were Eating Disorders Prevalent in Your High School?

FitSugar — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 03:00:43 PDT

With two young daughters, I really hate reading about eating disorders in the news. In a recent study, I learned a surprising statistic about eating disorders. The risk of developing one is higher among girls whose mothers, fathers, and grandparents are highly educated. A study of more than 13,000 girls in Sweden found that as a family's education increased, so did the risk for being hospitalized for anorexia or other eating disorders. The risk also increased as the girls' high school grades climbed. You would think that with more education, there would be more discussion about eating disorders, but researchers think it has to do with the strong pressures to be both smart and good looking.

There are so many pressures in high school, and it seems that everyone knows at least one classmate who dealt with a eating disorder and in some cases many more. This reminds of last week's episode of Glee, when Rachel Berry attempts to make herself vomit after the brutal choreographer tells her to lose weight. Fortunately for viewers, both impressionable and squeamish, she wasn't successful.

I'm curious to know what it was like in your high school . . .

Stephanie Pratt Says The Hills Made Her Bulimic

FitSugar — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 11:10:25 PDT

In a recent issue of Us Weekly, Stephanie Pratt opened up for the first time about her struggle with bulimia. Stephanie cites working alongside her super-skinny costars on The Hills as the cause of her eating disorder, which began after joining the cast in 2007. After watching a scene she shot with Lauren Conrad, the 5'7" star said, "I was horrified. I remember saying, 'I can't believe how huge I look walking over to Lauren.'" Then the awful cycle of binging and purging began. When filming in Hawaii with female cast members clad in only bikinis, Stephanie wore a bathing suit and a cover-up. When she asked costar Audrina Patridge what looked better, "shirt on or off," and Audrina responded "On," Pratt really felt the pressures to be thin. Stephanie said she never felt pressure directly from the producers, but she said, "It's embarrassing working with skinny girls."

Do you empathize with Stephanie? Have you ever felt pressure from your peers or co-workers to be "skinny"?

Source

How Monica Seles Smashed Her Eating Disorder

FitSugar — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 06:00:00 PDT

At age 16, tennis pro Monica Seles became the youngest winner in French Open history, so we were all stunned in 1993 when she was stabbed in the back during a match in Germany, and forced to leave the game for two years. She eventually healed, but was gripped by emotional trauma as she slipped out of the number one ranking and into a depression. In her new book, Getting a Grip, Monica reveals how the sad series of events led to her eating disorder. She says, "I turned to food for comfort. Food became my best friend. When emotionally I got down, depressed and had anxiety, I found comfort in food."

Monica was training six hours a day, but was also secretly binging late at night. It led to 37 pounds of weight gain, which translated to criticism by her trainers, nutritionists, and the media. To hear more about how Monica tamed her eating disorder

read more. After a debilitating injury in 2003, Monica's foot was in a cast for three months, so she was forced to take time off. That's when she made some big life changes. She fired her trainers, coaches, and nutritionists when she realized she was using them to fix her problems on the outside. It was her emotions, though, that were causing her to binge, so she needed to get those settled if she was going to control her eating habits and make any progress with her body. She said,

I threw out every single diet notion I’d learned. I allowed myself to eat every single food group. My extreme cravings went away. I allowed myself to have cookies or pasta. I stopped dieting and I started living life. That’s how I lost 37 pounds.

When Monica was upset and got the urge to eat, she'd go for a walk instead to calm her down. She's also big into journaling to get her thoughts and emotions on paper, and it's helped with her recovery tremendously. Reading through old journal entries helped her realize she didn't ever want to go back to that place. It became clear that it was time to end her love-hate relationship with food and turn it into a positive relationship, so she could in turn "have a love relationship with her body." Source