A French model died yesterday, of anorexia. She was 28 years old, weighed something like 59 pounds, and had struggled with anorexia since she was 13.
It's stories like this that make me worried every time I hear Michele Obama maundering on and on about how our children are too fat, and need to eat less and exercise more. Girls are unable to get away from boys obsessed with their looks as it is, and obsess over their weight from an early age already, now a horror of weight gain is going to be institutionalized in schools? Kids are going to have to be weighed every day to make sure they aren't ...horrors! 5 pounds over weight? How many more cases of anorexia is this going to engender?
Yes, anorexics take this weight obsession to extreme, and lets not forget there are bulemics out there also....women who eat, but then vomic it all up again. (That's something I'll never understand. Better to eat nothing than to vomit everyday, I've vomited when I've been sick and it is the most unpleasant experience. And they do it after every meal!)
That is why, in this blog, I urge you not to concern yourself with your weight. I don't even want you stepping on a scale more than once every 2 weeks or so. Find a pair of jeans that are just a leetle bit too tight, and use them as your measuring stick once a week. If they are loose, you're losing weight. If they continue to be too tight, then you're taking my advice about a relaxed approach to weight loss a little too relaxed.
I can't emphasize enough...you should not be losing weight because you're concerned about your appearance to other people, in particular boys. You should be concerned about being at a healthy weight, because it is the healthy thing in order for you to live a long and enjoyable life. Eating well is part of that enjoyment.
French Model Dies of Anorexia
Ironically, the 28 year old model and actress, Isabelle Caro, who told aspiring models in an online video, "Believe in life" has died of anorexia, on November 17th, in France. The young French model told friends and interviewers, that she had struggled with anorexia since she was only 13 years old.
Caro was featured in a controversial Italian ad campaign shot by Oliviero Toscani in 2007. The ads were run in the United States and Europe, after a 21 year old model from Brazil died from anorexia. Caro appeared in the ads which contained headlines which said "No Anorexia". In these displays, Caro was pictured naked, with jutting out check bones and back bones. The model stated that she weighed only 59 pounds at the time the pictures were made.
Vincent Bigler, a singer from Switzerland had been at work with Caro on a music viideo, for lyrics he wrote for a song about anorexia. Speaking of Caro, he said, she "left me with many images, and much hope."
Distributors of pro-anorexia sites on the Internet have posted her obituary and photos of Caro containing the words, "Die young, stay pretty." [Apparently, pro anorexia sites, or 'pro-ana' are quite popular on the web. These people believe anorexia is a lifestyle choice, not a mental illness, and their goal is to be as skeletal as possible! Sorry, folks, it may be a lifestyle "choice" but its an incredibly stupid one.)
Anorexia is an eating disorder characterized by an unrealistic fear of weight gain, self starvation, and the conspicuous distortion of one's body image. 90% of all persons suffering from anorexia are female. On-set of the disorder usually begins in females between 14 and 18 years of age. Anorexia is a serious public health problem. Over the past years, the number of persons suffering from the dis-order, have increased. Anorexia has the highest mortality rate of all psychiatric disorders.
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