Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/68012
pathology perspectives BY RUTH WERNER EAT YOUR WAY HAPPY Body Respect, Distorted Self-Image, and Massage In the United States, anywhere from .5–3.7 percent of all females will meet the diagnostic criteria for anorexia at some point in their lives. About 1–4 percent of all females will struggle with bulimia.1 The people who are most prone to anorexia and bulimia tend to be adolescent girls and young women. At the opposite end of the scale, 64 percent of all mature adults—both men and women—are overweight or obese.2 In this edition of Massage & Bodywork dedicated to honoring the body, we will examine some of the health and pathology issues related to chronic over- and under-eating, with special emphasis on the role massage can play as our clients live with these challenges. We will address three basic varieties of disordered eating: anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating. With these astonishing and often contradictory statistics, it is easy to draw the conclusion that as a culture we Americans have a less-than-optimally functional relationship with food. Nowhere is this better illustrated than in the headlines we see every day in supermarket checkout lines: a new diet, a new dessert recipe, all on one explosive page. OVERVIEW Many people with eating disorders report that their choices and behaviors around eating are less about food and more about a chance to enact a sense of personal control in a world where they can feel profoundly powerless. Ironically, dysfunctional eating habits can quickly become ingrained and that sense of control can be completely overwhelmed by addictive and self-destructive behaviors. It isn't hard to point to the media as a source of misinformation about what healthy bodies "should" look like. [A wonderful example of this is available at www.youtube. com/watch?v=tbb8D-u8ues.] visit massageandbodywork.com to access your digital magazine 111