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Statistics
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| 5 to 10 million women and 1 million men suffer from eating disorders. |
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In the past 10 years, the number of males with eating disorders has doubled.
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| Eating disorders, previously diseases of adolescence, are now affecting kids between the ages of 9 to 12. |
| A U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services task force reports that 80% of girls in grades 3 to 6 have bad feelings about their bodies, an issue diverting attention from schoolwork and friendships. |
| By age 13, 80% of girls are dieting to fight the natural changes in their maturing bodies. It is normal for pubescent girls to gain 20% of their weight in fat. |
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Statistics
In a recent
study, it was
shown that
adolescent girls
who don’t eat
breakfast have a
higher
percentage of
body fat.
Obesity is
largely
determined by
genetics. When
both parents are
obese, the
chances of a
child developing
obesity are 80
percent; When
one parent is
obese, the
chances are 40
percent; if
neither parent
is obese, the
chances are 15
percent.
Bob Condor, a
columnist in the
Chicago Tribune
reports research
supporting the
notion that TV
skews kids’ view
of food. The
study showed
that grade
school children
can develop
eating
dysfunctions
simply by
watching TV,
with researchers
suggesting that
TV watching is
prime time for
imitation.
Models twenty
years ago
weighed eight
percent less
than the average
woman. Today
they weigh 23
Percent less.
If Barbie was a
real woman,
she’d have to
walk on all
fours die to her
proportions.
A psychological
study in 1995
found that three
minutes spent
looking at a
fashion magazine
caused 70
percent of women
to feel
depressed,
guilty and
shameful.
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We have taken draconian measures to make a precise science out of eating, calculating calories and fat grams ingested and burned; our total fat and saturated fat intake has decreased, as has caloric intake from the use of low calorie food products since the 1960’s. Yet, the obesity epidemic has been on the rise and has doubled during the 1990’s, and as a society, we are becoming less healthy; we have never before been at greater risk for obesity, eating disorders and disordered eating.
- In a recent study, young girls were quoted as saying that they would prefer to have cancer, lose both their parents, or live through a nuclear holocaust than to be fat.
- Childhood obesity is at an all time high, afflicting five million children in America today, and with another six million on the brink; a condition resulting in diabetes, high blood pressure, heart problems, as well as a proneness to adult obesity.
- We are seeing a continuing rise in eating disorders.
- Of the currently more than 10 million Americans afflicted with eating disorders, 90 percent are children and adolescents.
- The average age of eating disorders onset has dropped from 13-17 to 9-12.
- The number of males with eating disorders has doubled during the past decade.
- Eating disorders are not restricted to kids. I have known adults to struggle with these diseases for fifteen to thirty years, giving birth to children at high risk for eating and emotional problems, carrying misguided attitudes. By age five, kids of parents with eating disorders demonstrate a greater incidence of eating disturbances, whining and depression.
- Disordered eating, eating quirks and “sub-clinical” disturbances are rampant in homes, schools…and increasingly in the elementary grades. On American college campuses today, 40-50% of young women are disordered eaters;
- In sorority houses and cafeterias across the country, normal eating is no longer healthy eating, where students report being made to feel like “gluttons” eating meals in front of peers who pride themselves on “meals” of water or Diet Coke.
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