Participants: Don Mckintosh (Host), Jennifer Jill Schwirzer
Series Code: HFAL
Program Code: HFAL000186
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00:01 The following program presents principles
00:03 designed to promote good health 00:04 and is not intended to take the place of 00:06 personalized professional care. 00:09 The opinions and ideas expressed are those 00:11 of the speaker. Viewers are encouraged to 00:13 draw their own conclusions about 00:15 the information presented. 00:49 Hello, welcome to Health for a Lifetime. 00:51 I'm your host, Don Mackintosh. 00:52 We are glad that you joined us today 00:54 because we're gonna be talking about a very 00:56 important subject and in fact it afflicts many 00:59 people mostly women, but also some men 01:02 in America. And, it's the subject of 01:05 Bulimia and Anorexia. 01:08 So, joining us today to talking about this 01:10 important subject is Jennifer Schwirzer. 01:13 And Jennifer, where do you live? 01:15 Philadelphia. And, you're an author, 01:17 you're, you're singer. We met some years ago. 01:20 I've always appreciated your ministries and 01:22 you know you're sharing here in this subject 01:25 from the perspective of some really good 01:28 research been endorsed by you know, 01:31 dietitians and psychologists and 01:34 others, but also the thing is most powerful 01:36 about that, is that you're coming from your 01:38 own personal experience in a way as well. 01:41 That's right I'm a survivor. 01:43 Survivor of Anorexia. Okay, great. 01:45 Many years ago. So, let's talk about this 01:47 Anorexia and Bulimia. 01:51 How prevalent is this problem? 01:52 Well, lets look at our first graphic here about 01:56 5-10 million females in the US are thought 01:59 to have some form of disordered eating. 02:01 5-10 that's a lot. So, our population 02:04 is about almost 300 million, right. Umm! Umm! 02:07 So, you do the math. Okay. 02:09 It's a, it's a significant percentage. Umm! Umm! 02:12 So, 5-10 million. And, are there, 02:13 would there be some of those, 02:14 who would be considered border line 02:16 or are these four blown cases 5-10 million. 02:19 It no, not necessarily, but some form of 02:21 disordered eating meaning you're not 02:22 normal in the, in the area of eating. 02:24 Umm! Umm! Now, you know, 02:26 if thinness hasn't always been in or has it? 02:29 No, it has not always been in vogue like 02:31 it is today. In fact, days of your, 02:34 we have an association with beauty and, and 02:38 a little more flesh especially 02:40 in the female body. So, the soft folds 02:42 of a women's body that you know, 02:43 fullness of flesh was considered beautiful. 02:46 I think, look at the other, the next graphic, 02:49 think about some of the Renaissance 02:51 paintings for instance "The Mona Lisa." 02:54 She was not thin. You know, she looks. 02:56 She is you know. You know, she looks like, 02:57 she is put away a couple of veggie burgers. 03:00 That's right. She is, she full of flesh, 03:02 but that's considered beautiful. 03:03 I was looking at another painting. 03:05 This ones Da Vinci, I was looking at a 03:07 Michelangelo painting, the Creation of Eve. 03:10 And I, and I looked at Eve and I said, 03:11 you know, she would, she would 03:12 qualify as fat, today. Umm! Umm! 03:14 But that was considered beautiful back then. 03:17 Things have gradually changed. I want to 03:20 look at a couple of things having to do 03:21 with the industrial revolution because 03:23 that female standard of beauty, and, and well 03:27 rounded beauty was in place for many 03:29 centuries. Including Pre-Industrial 03:32 Revolution you can see by these graphics 03:34 that the women were you know, 03:36 they were normal to sometimes a little on 03:39 the full side. But then this radically changed 03:42 as a result of the Industrial Revolution 03:44 and let's look at Post Industrial Revolution 03:46 fashions. You can see the pinched waist. 03:49 What's that called? Corsets or. Yeah, 03:51 well they used corsets to get that look, 03:53 its, it's called the pinched waist or whatever. 03:57 These women have a much narrow profile 03:59 and they have that very small waist and 04:01 various forms. I would say this that various 04:03 forms of thinness although the thin is 04:06 change over the next couple centuries, 04:10 but various forms of thinness have been in vogue since then. 04:12 That just looks painful those dresses. 04:13 It, it is painful, but to them it's worth it 04:16 because they want that look. Umm! Umm! 04:18 So, the question is what changed as 04:21 a result of the Industrial Revolution 04:22 as relates to food. Yeah, a good question. 04:24 We're gonna break it down a little bit. 04:25 Alright, yeah. What changed, what changed? 04:27 What do you think about it? 04:28 Food became more processed. 04:30 That's right. Well, of it didn't just become 04:32 more processed it become more available. 04:34 More available, abundant. 04:36 Pretty much everybody had food after the 04:38 Industrial Revolution because of transportation 04:40 and different agricultural techniques. 04:43 You know, food wasn't only; abundant food 04:46 wasn't only something that the wealthy had 04:48 after the Industrial Revolution. 04:50 Was there a chicken in every pot? 04:51 That's right. And, so as a result there was a 04:54 changing thinking about body fat because 04:58 body fat, if you think about it is a form of 05:00 food, isn't it? That's. It's. 05:02 That used to be food. That's right. 05:03 Its food is a stored form. So, there were 05:06 changing thoughts on body fat. 05:08 And, I want to look at this graphic for a 05:09 moment here and just, just break this down 05:11 a little. As food became more available there 05:16 wasn't as much of a need for food in the 05:18 form of stored fat. So, in other words 05:21 you didn't have to be as fat like hybrid. 05:23 To get through the winter. 05:24 Through the winter, okay. 05:25 That's correct. And so fat became 05:26 disassociated from wealth. Women could 05:28 afford to go to be thinner because they didn't 05:31 need to worry about having to go for long 05:33 periods without food, right. And then as 05:35 a result of that, thinness eventually became 05:37 associated with wealth. So, the higher class 05:40 of women could afford to be kind of frail 05:42 and have that oh I'm fainting kind of look to 05:44 them you know. Okay. 05:45 That became vogue, that became you know, 05:48 if you think about it, the culture back then 05:50 was very much about women being very 05:52 frail and fainting all the time just, just 05:55 exhausted and all these things and men 05:56 coming to their rescue. So, thinness 05:59 and frailty became fashionable. 06:01 As partly as a result. 06:02 So, let me, let me just summarize this. 06:04 You, you're saying that, it used to be 06:06 necessary to be fat because you need to 06:07 hibernate through the winter or whatever. 06:09 Right. And fat was a sign of wealth because 06:12 you were, you were, you had what you 06:14 needed and everybody could see you had 06:16 what you needed to make it through hard times. 06:17 Right. But then it kind of shifted, 06:19 when food was really available. 06:21 They had the Wal-Marts and everything else 06:22 came in that, somewhat like that. 06:23 Well, they didn't have Wal-Mart. 06:24 Oh! they had, it was much more available. 06:26 That's right. And then wealth became 06:28 associated with, I'm so rich I could go get 06:30 food anytime I want down at the store. 06:32 Not only that, but I don't have to work. 06:34 I don't have to work hard. I just sit around 06:36 all day so, I can afford to be frail. 06:38 So, this was kind of a gradual metamorphosis. 06:40 And, this was the Industrial Revolution, 06:42 you mean by that when all of these things 06:43 became mechanized, all kinds that, there 06:45 was a mass production of everything. 06:47 And there were just a available of all kinds 06:49 of things. That's when the switch took place. 06:51 Roughly around that time that triggered this, 06:53 this chain of events that eventually led to 06:56 this idealized, idealization of, 06:58 of thinness in women. And then there were 07:01 several other factors. Like what? 07:03 For instance. Well, first of all I want to look 07:06 at graphic of, of a corset. 07:08 Just to give you an idea the kinds of things 07:10 women went through around that era to 07:13 make themselves look fashionable. 07:14 This corset effectively compresses the 07:18 internal organs. So, that you can get that 07:20 very thin waisted look. Very, very harmful 07:23 to the body obviously. Umm! Umm! 07:24 Push them all the organs up, 07:26 making it hard to breathe all that kind of stuff. 07:28 That's right. We're gonna later on. 07:29 We're gonna have a picture of person in a 07:32 corset, that's just extreme. 07:33 So, this took hold, this kind of fashion. 07:35 This kind of fashion and then in around the 07:37 1920s and I'm you know, fast forwarding 07:39 through a lot of decades here, but around the 07:41 1920s the idealization of thinness changed 07:45 a little bit into the flapper look. And, if you 07:47 remember instead of having that pinched 07:49 waist, the flapper was one straight thin kind 07:52 of tube like structure of a women's body. 07:55 And, then thin legs and thin arms, 07:57 but again another form of thinness is 08:00 idealized in the fashion world. Umm! 08:02 So, different you know, what you see as you 08:06 start to study these things is in one way or 08:08 another women are pinched, pulled, pushed, 08:10 stuffed to, to change into the ideal of fashion. 08:14 Umm! Umm! And ever since the 08:16 Industrial Revolution and worsening with 08:18 the time or increasing with time. 08:19 or increasing with time. The Ideal has been a 08:21 thin ideal for the most part. 08:23 So, and, and fashion I mean they want to 08:25 change every year because of course that's a 08:27 new revenue stream for them. They wanna 08:28 make it different, so what comes around 08:31 doesn't necessarily go around at least that 08:33 soon because they wanna make their money. 08:34 That's right. Okay, another factor that came 08:37 in, it was the sexual revolution of the 1960s. 08:39 And again we're fast forwarding through a 08:41 number of decades, but the sexual revolution 08:43 brought in several features. 08:46 One was birth control, women generally had 08:49 birth control available. So, they had "Sexual Freedom." 08:55 Partly as a result of that 08:56 and partly as a result of other factors 08:58 divorce increased. Umm! Umm! 09:00 Because older women were now finding 09:02 themselves single because of the increase 09:04 in divorce and they were finding themselves 09:06 active and dating. Umm! Umm! 09:08 There was a greater pressure on them to be 09:12 physically attractive. According to what 09:14 the fashions were. According to what 09:15 the fashions were and so they were more 09:17 and more pressured to conform to fashions 09:19 ideal of beauty. So, that they could 09:21 you know, work the market so to speak 09:23 and attract men. Umm! 09:26 The culture of the image is another factor 09:28 you know, the proliferation 09:29 of photographs in the later part of the 1900s. 09:34 I think the first photograph is sometime 09:35 back in the 1800s, but as technology 09:37 increased and now with computer. 09:39 The computer age, we have just the 09:41 availability of image is just, just very great 09:44 and we've images everywhere. So, I call it. 09:47 So, these, these, these photographs had been 09:48 really kind of negative because people 09:50 always want to look good in whatever 09:52 society says good is. 09:53 What's happening to women today is we're 09:55 constantly barraged with, with images 09:58 of perfect women? Umm! Umm! 09:59 And not only have these women have the 10:01 best of genetics. The best of make up and 10:04 hair design. The best of fashion, but they've 10:08 also had the best of plastic surgery, 10:10 they've had the best of computer generated 10:13 you know, cosmetics. I mean they look perfect 10:16 Umm! Umm! And, so we're constantly 10:17 surrounded with these images of female 10:19 perfection and it's, it's; very intimidating to 10:22 the average women, who is just you know, 10:24 normal looking. And, so that increased the 10:26 pressure I called that the, the culture of the 10:28 image because, it used to be, you had, 10:29 you got a magazine it was all printed words, 10:31 right. And people read, but now it's mostly 10:33 pictures and a few printed words. 10:35 So, the proliferation of the image has an 10:38 impact here and then if you think about the 10:39 fashion industry. Let's start back in the 10:42 1960s and 70s. Lets will start with Twiggy. 10:45 Do you remember Twiggy? 10:47 Twiggy 99 something like that, yeah 10:49 I remember hearing about this. 10:51 She was, she was Twiggy was 97 pounds. 10:53 Let's look at the graphic of Twiggy 10:54 here 97 pounds between 93 and 97 pounds 10:58 probably about 95 pounds. Umm! Umm! 11:00 And she was five foot six. 11:02 This was back in. Very tall, very thin. 11:04 This, she is not real super tall, but she is 11:06 very thin I mean 95 pounds 11:08 that's really, really thin. Alright. 11:10 I'm about a 115. So, 95 pounds would be 11:12 and I'm 5'6. So, 95 pounds would be 20 pounds 11:15 off of me. Wow! 11:16 That's was how thin Twiggy was. 11:18 Very thin, too thin. And that's too thin. 11:20 And so that jump started the thin, 11:22 what I would I like to call the thinness 11:24 revolution. And as a result, we have this; 11:28 this incredible obsession with thinness in our 11:30 culture today and particularly as pertains 11:33 catwalk fashion. This isn't so much true of 11:36 Hollywood actresses and actors, they're not 11:38 as skinny, but if you look at the catwalk models. 11:41 The ones that go down and show off the 11:43 different clothes at the whatever 11:45 the name of the designer is. 11:47 The reason they keep them so thin is 11:48 because they resemble a court hanger 11:50 The clothes just hang on them then the focus 11:52 is on the clothes and not on the women's body. 11:54 Now, you tell me. Who, what age group are 11:58 the ones that, that view these catwalk 12:00 models and that are most you know, 12:02 concerned with them. Probably teens and. 12:03 Teens, that's right. And, so they're trying 12:05 to impress them to buy all their clothes. 12:07 That's right. So, for these teenagers, 12:10 this very, very thi ideal is healthy for 12:12 them and not surprisingly eating disorders 12:15 are much more prevalent among young women. 12:18 We're talking with Jennifer Schwirzer. 12:20 She has a web page jenniferjill.org, 12:24 isn't that right? That's right. 12:25 And, you can access some of this 12:26 information there. Look if you're watching 12:28 today you know, for the young lady, 12:30 for the young man, mostly young ladies are 12:32 watching today. This history has been 12:34 illuminating, I mean the reason you're going 12:36 through this is trying to help these 12:39 individuals who are watching say, 12:40 hey look wasn't always this way. 12:42 There is another way to look at things, 12:44 don't just be a consumer, don't just 12:46 fall into this trap. 12:47 That's part of the recovery process is 12:50 recognizing that. You may have imbibed of 12:53 these messages even unconsciously 12:54 you might not even know how these things 12:56 are impacting you. And, if you could start to 12:57 identify it that's often the first step away 13:00 from the problem. Do you find that 13:02 a lot of people come up to you and talk with 13:04 you when you're presenting these 13:05 material in different places, maybe 13:08 someone's parents or just as it? 13:11 How about the people themselves that are 13:12 struggling with Anorexia, do they come 13:14 and talk to you. You know, in reality, 13:16 eating disorders are not that large of a 13:18 segment of the population. I think 13:20 the lifetime prevalence rate of Anorexia 13:22 is 0.5 percent, which is half of a percent that 13:24 means for the entire life of an individual, 13:27 if they have had it, Anorexia at anytime. 13:30 So, that's about 5, 0.5 percent 13:32 and then believe me it's between one 13:33 and three percent. So, it's not a huge 13:35 percentage of people that actually have the 13:36 disorder. However, everybody is influenced 13:39 by these cultural factors. And reacts in one 13:42 way or another to them and feels the 13:43 pressure that pushes some people over the 13:46 edge into an eating disorder. And, not only 13:48 that, but often people are a loved one of 13:50 someone with an eating disorder. Umm! Umm! 13:52 So, I, what I get a lot of when I give these 13:55 kinds of talks is women feeling a sense of 13:57 relief that yeah, I do feel like I have to 13:59 perfect and I'm not. Umm! Umm! 14:01 And they come to an understanding of, of 14:05 the way that society is impacting them 14:08 and then what I do is I appeal to them to 14:10 value themselves on a different basis than 14:12 the way they look. When we comeback, 14:14 we're gonna continue talking with 14:17 Jennifer Schwirzer about Anorexia and Bulimia. 14:20 We're gonna look at a little more of the 14:21 history, but you know what the impact 14:24 this has been on our culture and maybe how 14:26 we can start to avoid these problems. 14:28 So, join us when we comeback. 14:31 Have you found yourself wishing that you 14:33 could shed a few pounds, have you been on 14:35 a diet for most of your life, but not found 14:37 anything that will really keep the weight off, 14:40 if you have answered yes to any of these 14:42 questions then we have a solution for you 14:44 that works. Dr. Hans Diehl 14:46 and Dr. Aileen Ludington have written 14:49 a marvelous book that's called Reversing 14:51 Obesity Naturally and we would like to send 14:53 it to you free of charge. Here's a medically 14:56 sound approach, successfully used by 14:58 thousands, who were able to eat more 15:00 and lose weight permanently without feeling guilty 15:03 or hungry through lifestyle medicine. 15:05 Dr. Diehl and Dr. Ludington have been featured on 3ABN 15:09 and in this booklet they present a sensible approach 15:12 to eating nutrition and lifestyle changes that can 15:15 help you prevent heart disease, diabetes 15:17 and even cancer. Call or write today for your free 15:20 copy of Reversing Obesity Natural and you could be on 15:23 your way to a healthier, happier you, it's absolutely 15:27 free of charge, so call or write today. 15:32 Welcome back we are talking with Jennifer Schwirzer. 15:35 She has written a book on Anorexia and Bulimia, 15:38 it's called Dying to Be Beautiful and if you put 15:42 that in your search engine like I did just a few 15:44 minutes ago. It probably would come up or you can go 15:46 through her webpage jenniferjill.org. 15:50 You also are involved with like a vegetarian cafe 15:53 and you're saying and what, what don't you do? 15:57 You do a lot of different things. Windows. 15:59 You don't too, you don't do windows. 16:01 Okay and you are the mother of two. 16:02 Mother of two. And happily married for? 16:05 26 years. 26 years. 16:07 And you're a survivor from Anorexia and Bulimia. 16:10 That's right. So, whatever we talk about today. 16:13 The big message is you're sitting here, 16:14 so there is hope. That's right, that's right. 16:15 And what we talked about in the first segment, 16:17 if you just joined us was kind of the how Anorexia 16:21 and Bulimia have become more prevalent. Okay. 16:24 We've been talking about the fact that thinness is 16:26 not always been in, the changes that came through 16:28 the Industrial Revolution. The changes that came in 16:31 the fashion industry and then the sexual revolution 16:34 in the 1960s. That's right. 16:35 So, we talked about all those different things 16:37 and you led us through fact that you know, 16:39 fat used to be where it was that? 16:41 That's right. But now thin is in. 16:43 Many, many of us would love to go back to that day. 16:46 Right. And I mean it was the sign of being affluent. 16:48 That's right. And being someone that was looked 16:50 up to. That's right. That person has money. 16:53 That person has money because they, they. 16:56 That's right. They have eaten a lot of foods. 16:57 And its not that way. It's not now. 16:58 Now, its kind of shifted. That's right. 17:01 So, in the second segment you wanna look a little more 17:04 closely at you know, some more technical aspects 17:09 and then, what you called the fat gap? 17:10 What's the fat gap? The fat gap is the fact that for the 17:15 most part, we're gonna dwell on this a little more 17:16 later, but as the ideal of thinness has gotten thinner 17:20 and thinner with each passing year. 17:23 Real women have gotten fatter. 17:25 And, so what I'm saying is that women are not 17:28 succeeding at reaching their ideal of beauty. 17:31 And this sets them out for a lot of stress 17:34 and a lot of sense of failure. 17:36 Most women will diet, many women diet. 17:39 And most of them will fail to achieve their goal 17:42 in dieting. So, women are heavier than they would 17:45 like to be. And they're constantly faced with these 17:48 images of, of perfection and thinness 17:50 and beautiful figures and as a result for that feeling 17:53 a constant sensitive failure. Most women will 17:56 just kind of settle into that and feel defeated, 17:58 but there are a few women who will reach their goal 18:00 and a few of those who will go beyond it 18:03 and develop pathological dieting. 18:05 And that depends on their personal make up, 18:07 kind of who they are as a person. 18:09 The individual that goes over the line that has to do 18:12 with you know certain factors within them. 18:14 Umm! Umm! But the same, 18:16 the same pressure is on every single women. 18:18 And this is kind of triggered as these images 18:20 proliferate, in other words as. That's right. 18:22 Are you look at the new stand, you don't see, 18:25 you know, a whole bunch of people that are overweight. 18:28 Yeah. As the, as the model for what you wanna look like. 18:31 And we can do something to control how many image, 18:34 images we see obviously not watching television, 18:36 not watching movies, not watching, 18:38 not being on the web all the time and, 18:40 and getting fashion magazines, 18:42 but even the women who completely avoids all those 18:44 things is impacted by them because you know, 18:46 you go to grocery store. Umm! Umm! 18:48 And there they all are staring at you as you are 18:50 in the checkout lines. So, it does affect all of us 18:52 I think. So, you say that dieting is a 18:54 national pass time. It's a national, 18:56 I mean that just about everyone. 18:59 At one point or another is dieting. 19:01 People genially feel like they need to lose weight. 19:03 And the reality is. So, this is kind of that caught 19:06 me out of the situation is that most of us do. 19:10 Need to lose weight. That's right, we're, we're, we're a 19:13 fat nation becoming more so obesity. 19:16 Is this. It's pandemic. Yeah. 19:18 But I'm not focusing on that, that's a larger problem 19:20 affecting a greater population of people, 19:23 but there are few people that will, 19:25 will reacted the same. There is two things going on 19:28 the proliferation of images of perfect bodies. 19:30 But also the proliferation of food. 19:32 And the proliferation of images of food. 19:35 So, you're constantly being told be thin, be thin, 19:37 be thin and then you're told eat, eat, eat. 19:39 Yeah. You know, 19:40 if you watch like prime time television. 19:41 Some of the family shows and the you know, you know, 19:44 the girly shows and stuff. Right, Umm! Umm! 19:46 The women are always eating. I don't know, 19:48 if you've noticed that, but. I, I haven't noticed that. 19:50 You haven't noticed, but they're thin, 19:51 they're beautiful and they are eating all the time. 19:54 So, you're constantly getting this, 19:55 this duplicitous image. This duplicitous message 19:58 you know, eat and be thin. Yeah. 20:01 And they don't together. They don't go together. 20:02 And, so some women just respond to that by gaining 20:05 weight, but some just over the edge 20:06 and develop an eating disorder. 20:08 So, how do you know when you've developed an eating 20:11 disorder. How do you know, when you've crossed that 20:13 line from you know, a good sense of guilt. Yeah. 20:18 Saying, hey look I should be eating this and what not, 20:21 to becoming pathological. Well, we're gonna go into 20:25 the criterion for and the actual bonafide case of 20:29 Anorexia or Bulimia in the next show, 20:31 but I would say in, in a nutshell, if food and dieting 20:35 and figure are all important to you. 20:37 You've got a problem. Umm! Umm! 20:38 Because we are so much more then just 20:41 who we are physically you know. 20:43 Right, now I know that we haven't defined this 20:45 on this show and we're probably assuming people 20:48 know the difference between Anorexia and Bulimia but. 20:51 Umm! Umm! What is the difference between 20:52 Anorexia and Bulimia? Okay, in a nutshell, 20:55 Anorexia is self starvation, just not eating enough 20:59 to sustain your weight and Bulimia is a binging 21:03 and purging disease that involves the same diet 21:06 and thinness obsession. However, it manifest itself 21:09 in the different way. People would eat large quantities 21:11 of food and then find a way of purging either through 21:13 vomiting or exercise or other meanings. 21:17 So, if you are eating a lot and then going somewhere 21:21 else and throwing it up, you've got Bulimia. 21:23 That's a problem, yes. Well, you very well could. 21:25 Very well could. Yeah. 21:27 And, you know, I have mentioned to you 21:28 that in my own family and some of, some of my family, 21:31 they are, they are, there were a number of men that 21:33 had this and you were like kind of surprised. 21:36 I was surprise because 90-95 percent 21:38 of eating disorders are women. Umm! 21:41 And you can see why, because fashion impacts women 21:43 much more, men could be I say, this way men can be as 21:46 frumpy as they want typically. 21:48 I mean there is not as much stress on men to be 21:51 physically perfect. A man could be successful 21:54 and be pretty ugly. Okay. 21:55 But women, I'm serious about this. 21:57 Well, women have to be good looking. Umm! Umm! 21:59 And so there is not as much pressure on men. 22:01 I mean there is more now, now that men are starting 22:03 to get plastic surgery and everything, 22:05 but there is a way more and there is historically been 22:07 much more on women, much more pressure. 22:10 So, this is you know, this disparity between what we 22:13 expect men to look like versus women really 22:16 fuels this. That's right, it really fuels it 22:18 and for most women it just makes them very frustrated 22:21 and have very low self worth, but for some it 22:24 pushes them over the edge and they develop a full 22:26 blown eating disorder, so. Umm! Umm! And that's that, 22:29 that's the group we're talking about. 22:30 Usually people are suffering from diseases of over 22:34 abundance in America. That's right. 22:35 But these are, there is a few that just really get 22:37 caught. That's right, they get stuck. 22:40 And, how serious is this. It's pretty serious. 22:45 In fact lets look at the next graphic. 22:49 15-20 percent of those with eating disorders may die. 22:52 This is especially true of Anorexia, 22:54 which is self-starvation. 22:56 What happens in eating disorders, 22:57 is they take on a life of their own. 22:59 So, once someone starts limiting their food intake. 23:02 It sort of snowballs and they start eating less 23:04 and less and it feels right to them. Umm! Umm! 23:06 And so often anorectics literally starve themselves 23:10 to death. In fact eating disorders have the highest 23:13 fatality rate. The highest risk of premature death 23:17 of any psychiatric illness. You know, 23:19 I used to work for a small brief amount of time. Yeah. 23:22 You know in psychiatric care and there was a eaters, 23:25 eating disorders unit that I would flow to 23:27 and our biggest problem was, these people would be, 23:31 you know, they would be sneaking off and getting rid 23:33 of the food? They would make it look like they ate 23:35 the food. I mean they just were. They were like very 23:38 skilled at this whole thing and they, and, 23:41 and they were just set on their goal of losing weight. 23:46 I mean they just were focused on that. 23:48 So, this is, this is really you know, 23:50 this is really an issue and I, of course, 23:51 you've been through this. What kind of, is there help 23:54 is there hope, is there for the person that's been, 23:57 you're a survivor. I'm a survivor, 23:59 this is probably 25 years ago now. 24:01 So, it's a long time in the past, 24:04 but I'm a survivor of Anorexia. 24:06 There are two types of Anorexia. 24:08 One is a binging, purging type and the other is 24:10 just someone who just limits their food intake 24:13 and I was that type. I just you know, 24:16 it took on a life of it's own, like I said. 24:18 And I started to become sort of obsessed with the whole 24:21 conquest of being thin and I didn't realized 24:25 how bad off I was. I was in the process of dating my 24:28 husband and he would tell me things 'cause he had been 24:30 through something kind of similar. And, in fact 24:33 there are a couple kinds of Anorexia. 24:36 One has to do with religion and the other has to do 24:39 with diet, and thinness and fashion. The majority are 24:41 the fashion oriented ones, but there is a few people 24:44 that develop Anorexia because they're trying to 24:46 attain to a certain spirituality. 24:48 And that was true of him when he was in his spiritual 24:50 search in life. He was involved with various 24:54 eastern communities, eastern religion communities 24:58 and he ended up starving himself down to a 120 pounds 25:02 and he is five foot eight and very broad shoulder 25:04 and big boned guy and so this was very, very 25:06 under weight for him and he collapsed on the floor 25:10 and was not able to eat and he ended up living through 25:12 the experience, but he saw me in the condition I was in 25:16 and wanted to help me. And, so he was able to minister 25:19 to me and he would say things to me that would sort 25:22 of help me recognize that they were, 25:24 they was something really wrong. Umm! 25:26 And I want to say that most definitely there is hope. 25:29 I was, I was on the way down as an Anorexic. 25:32 In fact, my lowest weight was 85 pounds. 25:35 85. 85 pounds and that. 25:38 Now, you were still the same height and everything. 25:39 Same height and so I'm a 115 so that would be 30 pounds. 25:44 That would be 30 pounds off me, right. Wow! Yeah. Okay. 25:46 So, and I'm thin you know, so that was really, 25:48 really, really starving. Umm! Umm! 25:50 And, so my lowest weight was 85 pounds so today. 25:53 Now, you run a restaurant. I mean that's like 25:55 the opposite. I mean I pour olive oil in my food. 25:58 I mean Anorexics will avoid calories, 26:01 as best they can and eat lots of lettuce, and carrots, 26:04 and grapes and things that are gonna burn out 26:06 right away, but I'm always trying to gain weight, 26:08 I have this Ectomorphic body type. 26:11 And so I need the clarify that a thin person is not an 26:14 Anorexia necessarily. You know, 26:15 just cause someone is thin. Right. 26:16 That may just be the way they're made and it is kind 26:19 of the way I'm made, but I'm constantly trying to 26:20 gain weight, eating things that are too rich. 26:23 Say, I've never been on a program where women will 26:25 tell me how much they weigh. So, I mean this is like 26:27 the first for me. And, that, that's great I mean that's, 26:30 that's very necessary and your husband 26:31 how much does he weigh now. Oh! He's fine. He is like, 26:34 I don't know 150 or something. I even. 26:37 Okay. I've even ask him recently to be 26:38 honest with you. But he is, he is. He is fine. 26:40 Looking buff and good. Oh! You know, he 26:41 He is a rougher, he is physical kind of guy. 26:43 Yeah, he never went back, neither of us. 26:45 And, and that's the thing is it often people ask me 26:48 you know, do you still struggle with this, 26:49 not at all. Umm! Umm! 26:50 And so apparently it can be completely overcome 26:53 if you look at my own experience. 26:54 So, just you know, we've about a minute left. 26:58 Is there a spiritual component that helps you? 27:01 Oh! definitely Umm! You know, 27:03 I'm gonna touch on this in a later segment, 27:06 but all of the techniques that they have in the 27:10 counseling field really don't work that well on eating 27:12 disorders, but I have discovered the grace. 27:15 Has a very high success rate. 27:18 Every person that I've talked to, was, was helped by God. 27:22 We've been talking with Jennifer Schwirzer. 27:23 We've been talking about Anorexia and Bulimia. 27:26 You can get some of this information or more of it. 27:29 More information about her book "Dying to Be Beautiful" 27:33 on her website jenniferjill.org. 27:37 Thank you, so much for coming and sharing the 27:39 information. I'm looking forward to exploring more 27:41 of this with you in other programs, but two things 27:44 I'm saying for the research you've done. Umm! 27:47 And the fact that you're willing to share your 27:48 personal testimony. And, thank you for watching this 27:51 today and we're glad and we hope that as result |
Revised 2014-12-17