Solutions Through Advocacy and Reform

Solutions Through Advocacy and Reform (or commonly referred to as STAR), is a movement started by NEDA (National Eating Disorder Association) to raise awareness of eating disorders and to promote better research funding and insurance support.
This program is hugely important in the saving and betterment of millions of lives.
As stated before, insurance companies have a rather foul track record when it comes to eating disorder recovery funding. This is something that is unacceptable for the health of incredible amounts of people, and it is something that needs to change.
The out-of-pocket expenses for the saving of one's life is completely unreasonable.

Through showing your support for this movement, you will be supporting increased awareness, available treatment, changes in the insurance's role in recovery, and many more very beneficial factors - many of which would be very easy to implement, such as screenings in schools akin to vision and hearing tests already practiced to catch early signs of eating disorders.

Every single supportive hand is invaluable in this program.

Access To Treatment

Treatment is something that is clearly difficult for many eating disordered people to obtain, with only 1 in 10 sufferers being assisted. This is a result of many things, but the foremost is lack of funds. The average cost of inpatient treatment of an eating disorder is $30,000 a month. While this is certainly a high cost, it is usually a matter of life or death. Insurance companies refuse to cover even a fraction of these costs, and cut payments altogether once a patient shows signs of physical improvement (bear in mind that an eating disorder is a mental disorder). Despite this being the sad reality, 3 out of 4 people believe that insurance companies should cover the cost of recovery just like any other harmful psychiatric disease.
I believe this lack of access to proper treatment for the vast majority of afflicted individuals is a large factor in the high death rates of this crippling disease.

Eating Disoders in Men

While men make up a very small portion of the eating disordered population (around 10%), it is important to recognize their unique struggles. An eating disorder is something commonly associated with women, and it is easy to turn a blind eye to the other gender.
A male's struggle with the media, self-image, and their disordered behavior is something that can be quite different from a woman's, but it is incredibly harmful nonetheless. It is sad to me to watch struggling men go unnoticed simply because it is uncommon in our society for a man to face such conflicts.

Awareness needs to be raised for people of all genders and from all walks of life, not just the typical young suburban white female we are trained to imagine when we hear mention of eating disorders.

A Country Turning A Blind Eye

Despite eating disorders having the highest premature mortality rate of any psychological illness, it is one of the least funded. It is estimated that 10 million women and 1 million men are suffering from these horrible psychiatric disorders in the United States alone. While eating disorders have 200% higher diagnosis rates as Alzheimer's disease, it receives less than 2% of the funding. With the death rates of eating disorders being so high, this seems simply outrageous to me.
Something is clearly amiss if the funding for such a disastrous epidemic is so very scant. Unfortunately, not much seems to be changing to correct this.

These statistics and more can be found at the National Eating Disorders Association website.

Countries Compared

I recently looked at various charts and numbers comparing the mortality rates and prevalence of eating disorders between countries. The United States shows numbers rivaled only by one other country on this planet. America makes up roughly 36% of all eating disorder related deaths, and roughly 8 million citizens suffer from this affliction. This is simply unacceptable.

Something is clearly dysfunctional in our society to promote and allow this to continue in our country (the currently #1 eating disordered nation). As I have shown before, the media is absolutely saturated with dietary pollution and ideals that promote unhealthy self-images.
This harmful trend needs to be stopped.

Even the Famous..

You are not alone.
Eating disorders affect people in all walks of life. 

Gaining... Strength, Momentum and Commitment

Eating disorders affect a quiet but giant number of people in the United States. I recently read the book Gaining: and it carefully explores the genetic and psychological (as well as environmental) contributions that promote eating disorders. It's an easy read and incredibly hopeful and offers very helpful information to those just looking to recover or who are already in the process of recovery.

A Country's Obsession

Eating disorders are not things that happen at random. Look at any newsstand and you'd be hard pressed not to find something broadcasting how importance weight loss is, the societal pressures to be thin, or how to "better" yourself and be more toned/thin/etc.

For those with eating disorders, material like this can be detrimental to recovery; its incredibly triggering and harmful to positive goals.

Thin

For those with eating disorders the desire to become thin becomes a compulsion. It becomes symbolic of perfection, and in perfection the problems that are really contributing to the eating disorder in their minds, will suddenly disappear. Treatment is scary and it is hard. It's someone coming in and telling them that how they make themselves feel better is wrong and it robs them of something that is seen as achievable means to happiness. 'If I just get thin I'll be happy.' I'm sure many women who don't have eating disorders have thought this, have said this, have believed this. Since when did size equate happiness? This documentary sheds a very garish light on the underplayed and highly idealized affects that eating disorders actually have on a person's mental and physical health. All parts are on youtube and its worth the watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZm2g9FLrGA

Relapse

Recognize that relapse is a reality. It doesn't mean failure, but it does mean that there is still a lot of work to be done. Eating disorders devour people's sense of self, personal relationships, and will to live. For many, they will be life-long battles. They are a way of dealing with stress and it is incredibly rare that life is not stressful. If you're suffering in a battle with relapse or know someone who is,do not let it get out of hand. Address it as quickly as possible; IT DOES NOT MEAN FAILURE.

http://www.nytimes.com/ref/health/healthguide/esn-eating-disorders-know.html

Insurance Injustice

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2008/06/23/critical-care.html

It's rare that I read things that actually make me feel sick to my stomach because I'm so mad.
This article, even though I knew the facts before hand, still made me furious.

I feel that our country's insurance has grown careless and has cast an enormous group of its citizens by the waste side simply because it would be expensive. Isn't that what we pay for insurance for? Care when we need it? I think that with the chance of relapse being so high and the mortality rates of anorexia especially being as drastic as they are (20% of those with anorexia will die of complications) insurance companies should cover treatment in full. This is a serious mental illness despite their desire to label it as anything but.

A lasting change..?

http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/v-magazines-size-issue-curves

So, this issue with those photographs came out in January. Have you noticed a change in any other magazines, billboards, ad campaigns, etc. or is the classic image of the stick figure model still being bombarded across media?
Personally, I have not.

What do you think of this being controversial?

I think it's incredibly sad that in our society that to have a magazine with bigger woman was something unheard of. In the same sentence, I'm highly hesitant to label these photographs as "groundbreaking". These models are still airbrushed, still scantily clad, and still in sky-high high-heels. I think the message this is sending to young girls is contradictory to what its supposedly preaching about self-satisfaction and acceptance. It seems our culture offers consistently hypocritical views of what it means to be a woman.

Additionally, though a size 14 is the "average american women", do you think this is healthy?

This number has sky rocketed as technology has promoted a more sedentary life style and food processing has made food less healthy and full of hidden fats. Disordered eating does not simply refer to anorexia and bulimia; binge eating and emotional eaters have their place in eating disordered culture as well. Over 1/3 of Americans are overweight.

So what do you think? Is this article groundbreaking, useless, or actually promoting a different (but still unhealthy) image for young girls to look up to?

love and light,
ashley <3

An open door of possibilities..

First and foremost, eating disorders are incredibly serious disorders. They're multi-dimensional issues that draw in problems from society, personal biology, psychology, family dynamics, and most often, a perfectionist and easily dissatisfied temperament.

Though I wish it weren't the case,
Eating disorders are a lifelong struggle.

Recovery is a life-long process that results in just as many failures as it does victories and it takes an enormous and heartfelt amount of dedication and a resilient attitude that life is in fact worth living.

Eating disorders are on the rise in the United States and girls and boys of consistently younger ages are being affected. If you know anyone with an eating disorder or you have one yourself, just know that you are not alone. 

I'm hoping this blog will be able to address many of the contributing factors to eating disorders, the variety of treatments, how intertwined American culture is in the breeding of anorexia and bulimia, and many other ideas. Hopefully this will be an organic process with small bits and pieces from anywhere I can find them. Eating disorders can tear lives and families apart and they're an incredibly sensitive and personal issue that I know is often shied away from. Hopefully this blog will assist in my own recovery and acceptance of my body as my life as it begins to knit itself back together and become whole. All I really know is that I want to make a difference. Even if it's just a single person;

Never lose hope.


love and light, 
ashley <3


If you're serious about recovery, here are a few useful resources:
http://www.edap.org/
http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/get-help-today/
http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/information-resources/stories-of-hope.php
http://www.adha.org/CE_courses/course8/table1.htm
http://www.something-fishy.org/treatmentfinder//
http://www.anad.org/