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Eating Disorders: Not just a “Girl Thing”
2/24/2009
 During Eating Disorders Awareness week (Feb. 23-27) the media often discusses the risks of eating disorders in women, but few people are aware of the more than 1 million men who also suffer from these debilitating disorders. Research has shown that men and women with eating disorders suffer similar rates of anxiety, depression, phobias and panic disorder. However, the nature and course of eating disorders in men can differ from women’s experience with eating disorders. Men are less likely than women to seek treatment for eating disorders because they feel shame or embarrassment. This is why it is important for friends and families of men to be aware of the signs:
• An obsessive preoccupation with his body, weight and shape. compulsive over-exercising or abusing products that help “bulk up;”
• Restricting the amounts or types of foods eaten (ie. no fat or eating only vegetables);
• “Purging” eaten foods by vomiting or using laxatives or diuretics;
• Relying on diet pills;
• Losing noticeable weight or fluctuating in size.
Although eating disorders can cause dangerous health problems in both sexes such as heart failure, kidney failure and severe gastrointestinal problems it is more dangerous for men to develop disorders like anorexia because severe weight loss in men means more loss of essential muscle mass and tissue than in women.
If you or a person you know is struggling with an eating disorder, call Counseling and Disabilities Services at 713- 525-2169 or 713-525-6953. Inform yourself www.nationaleatingdisorders.org
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