HEALTH & FITNESS

■ ■ ■

wellness

The number of

females battling an

eating disorder in

the United States

has doubled to at

least 5 million.

Eat Right

Campaign to spotlight

midlife eating disorders.

Lynne Meredith Schreiber

Special to the Jewish News

ou know that woman in
yoga class, over in the cor-
ner of the room, wearing
long sleeves and long pants
even though the room is buzzing at
85 degrees? The one who blasted
the space heater directly at her mat?
She's 40, and she's battling an eating
disorder.
And the one who orders water
with lemon when everyone else is
eating California rolls. And the one
who whips up 12 dishes for Rosh
Hashanah but never takes a bite her-
self — despite being surrounded by
everyone dipping apples in honey and
savoring soft-as-silk brisket.
And don't forget the woman eat-
ing massive amounts of food while
you wonder how she can eat all that
food and stay so thin? (Answer: within
a half-hour, she disappears to the
bathroom to vomit or from the party
altogether and into the low point of a
binge-eating cycle.)
It's hard to spot an eating disorder
in an adult woman and even harder in
a community so centered on the ritu-
alism of food.
In the past three decades, the
number of females battling an eat-
ing disorder in the United States has
doubled to at least 5 million, accord-
ing to the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services. The nonprofit

y

National Eating Disorders Association
puts the number higher — as many as
10 million women and 1 million men.
Even more — 25 million, according to
the association — struggle with binge
eating.
Out of those stats, experts say
1 million to 3 million middle-aged
women in America have anorexia or
bulimia. One out of every 10 eating
disorder patients in America today
is over the age of 40, and doctors
say that midlife lifecycle events are
triggers — divorce, a parent's death,
traumatic illness like cancer, eco-
nomic pressures or children leaving
the nest.

Coming Forth

"It's time to bring this topic out of
the closet," says local fitness leader
Allison Stuart Kaplan, whose e-maga-
zine, ASKInYourFace.com is launching
a Midlife Eating Disorders Awareness
Campaign on July 1.
"Midlife eating disorders are the
silent killer that affects us all," says
Kaplan, 50, and a Bloomfield Hills
resident. "Some husbands stay silent,
friends don't want to interfere and
kids not only don't speak up, they
copy our self-destructive behavior. It's
time to deal with this growing problem
and help each other get healthy."
The ASKInYourFace.com Midlife
Eating Disorders Campaign will fea-
ture a month of articles by experts
in the field, including Kaplan (who

battled an eating disorder and has
helped countless women face theirs);
Beverly Price (a registered dietitian
who owns Reconnect with Food at
Inner Door Center in Royal Oak,
Michigan's only comprehensive eating
disorder treatment center); Dr. Lisa
Elconin (an internist at Henry Ford
Hospital at the forefront of eating dis-
order treatments); Lena Piskorowski
(a fashion consultant certified through
the Body Beautiful Institute and
member of the Association of Image
Consultants International and Fashion
Group International); Brenda Strausz
(a holistic psychotherapist specializ-
ing in women's issues) and others.
The articles will focus on the three
major disorders: anorexia, bulimia and
binge eating; cross-addictions like
kleptomania, drug and alcohol addic-

tion, and
app abuse;
treatment,
resolution and
healing. A depart-
ment specifically devoted to eating
disorders will be an ongoing effort
located under the site's Beautiful You
category.
Kaplan is also creating a Michigan
Coalition on Midlife Eating Disorders,
corralling leaders in health care to
create a first-of-its-kind local think
tank on the topic.

IN MR FACE

More On Women

Women not battling eating disorders
but who are challenged with self-
esteem and self-image problems
will find relevant content, too. With
the Fourth of July on the horizon,

"We are raised in a culture that uses
food to celebrate. Our holidays are
characterized by an overabundance
of food — or a complete elimination
of it, like on Yom Kippur. And yet,
we are surrounded by the conflicting message
of thinness as the supreme ideal."

- Allison Kaplan

EAT RIGHT on page 48

46

June 24 2010