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Wednesday, March 1, 2000 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER B3 Body image phobias can lead to eating disorders By Sandra Omand SPECIAL TO TH E BEAVER C areless com m ents about being too fat, co m bined w ith the im possible physical standards set for w om en by the m edia, could set your child up for a life threatening eating disorder. Dr. G ail McVey, director o f the O ntario C om m unity O utreach Program for E ating D isorders and an assistant professor in the Faculty o f M edicine at the U niversity o f Toronto, said parents need to be very careful about w hat m es sage they are sending their children. McVey, speaking to 50 people at an inform ation evening held recently at St. T hom as A quinas Secondary School, told the m ostly adult audience that girls as young as seven are com plaining they feel fat and have to lose weight. "We are living in a very fat phobic and thin obsessed society," said McVey. "Children and teens tend to adopt the adult values around w eight and shape so they learn very quickly in life that thin m eans good and fat m eans bad." Because o f this she said parents should be aw are o f the com m ents they make about their own body, and about oth er p e o p le 's b odies, to carefully avoid p erp etu atin g stereotypes and prejudices. T hey should also guard against expressing guilt when they eat certain foods. "A lot o f the m essages intended for adults the youth hear but they think more in extrem es," said McVey. "W ith adults w e can kind o f m uster through this in form ation and m ake som e inform ed decisions for ourselves but teens rarely do. T hey see one thing that says low er your fat intake and they go dow n to zero." A dded to this is the daily bom bard ment o f im ages on television, bill boards and in m ag azin es o f thin women, like super m odel Kate M oss, that im ply if you are thin you will have success, good relationships and be socially accepted. `T h e m edia pushes the idea that w hat you see in the m irror is the only im portant part," said McVey. "You m ust be taller, thinner, and have perfect teeth and hair." McVey said many o f the models them selves suffer from eating disorder, as being 5 ' 10" and weighing 105 to 115 pounds is not normal. Furtherm ore many o f the images teens and adults are com paring them selves to are not even real. McVey said with com puter assisted technology an im age o f the top h alf of an adult model can be (and is being) superim posed on teen-aged hips and legs.____________________________ "The media pushes the idea that what you see in the mirror is the only important part. You must be taller; thinner, and have per fect teeth and hair." -D r. Gail McVey A nother trick is to take an im age o f a real person and m ake so m any changes that McVey said you are not even dealing with a real w om an any more. She said she has had clients who have taken 100 laxatives three tim es a day in an attem pt to get this "ideal" fig ure. T he result, according to a fact sheet prepared by the Ontario M inistry o f Health, is there are 85,000 people diag nosed with anorexia and bulim ia in the province w hile thousands more remain undiagnosed and refuse to seek medical care. A bout 20% o f these young people will die, usually from heart failure that occurs after starvation has weakened the m uscles surrounding the heart. "T hey are literally dying to be thin," said McVey. W hat is w orse is they are fighting a losing battle. McVey said the set point theory states that genes determ ine w hat your body will be like as an adult. This means that, ju st as you have no control over how tall you will be or what colour your eyes and hair are, you also have no control over your body shape and size. "You are going to look more like your parents than your neighbour's par ents," said McVey. Set points vary for each individual and when a person diets the body fights to maintain this natural w eight range. McVey said that yo-yo dieting (a cycle o f severely restricting calories then returning to previous eating pat terns with a corresponding loss and gain o f weight) is much m ore severe to your health then staying at your natural weight throughout your life. "Heavy people who exercise can be healthier and live longer than slim couch potatoes," said McVey. W hile McVey said girls in elem en tary school grades are already talking about feeling fat - unlike their male counterparts - they do not start to do anything about it until they hit puberty. By high school McVey said 90% of fem ales are dieting in some form. This is why she feels early preven tion is crucial. McVey said girls need to be pre pared for the natural increases in weight and fat that occur w hile going through puberty. They also need to develop a positive body image and self-esteem. McVey said young girls facing the double stress o f puberty and changes to their social relationships, w ho also tend tow ards perfectionism , will be more likely to indulge in a severe form o f eat ing disorder. Early warning signs that a teen is headed for trouble is: over or underesti mating size o f their body; talking about feeling fat or ugly; talking negatively about parts o f the body; worries about being to small, large, etc.; asham ed or em barrassed by appearance, size, height, physical m aturity and "over does it" with physical activity; and restriction o f food intake. U nusual eating habits, irregular menstrual periods, m ood swings, guilt or shame about eating, strict avoidance o f certain foods, particularly "fatten Photo by Barrie Erskine Dr. G ail M cVey, d irector o f the O n tario C om m u nity O u treach P rogram for E ating D isorders and assistan t p rofessor in the F aculty o f M edicin e at the U niversity o f Toronto, em p hasis a point in a sp eech ab ou t eatin g disorders. ing" ones, feeling "fat" when not over w eight are also w arning indicators. McVey recom m ends parents em pha size from an early age w hat your body does for you and how strong you feel in your body rather than w hat you look like. She also reco m m en d s avoiding labeling food good or bad because w hen children eat food they have been told is "bad" they think they are being bad. 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