Keep Learning

My documentary for April is Thin. I've been wanting to watch this for some time and have never gotten around to it... it's an HBO film and I must say, they did a pretty nice job overall.

The film is about eating disorders, an area of interest for me, and takes the viewer into the Renfrew eating disorders treatment center. Renfrew is a really well-known treatment center and I've heard good things about it from former patients of the center and my colleagues. But I did get a different perspective watching this film. I didn't realize how thoroughly and how often the staff will search the belongings of the residents for "contraband." I learned more about the lengths some people will go to maintain their eating disorder... even though I know the lengths, it still surprised me. For instance, one young woman had an feeding tube in her stomach, obviously to help her gain weight and keep nutrients in her body, but she also used it to purge sometimes. Yes, purge. More than one girl or woman noted that their eating disorders started when they were as young as 7 and 8 years old.

What are we doing to these young women (and men*)? And more importantly, how the hell can we stop doing what we're doing?!

There's a scene in the movie, Little Miss Sunshine, that is quite telling and far too common. I often use it in talks or lectures to illustrate where little girls get messages about food, fat, and their bodies. In the scene, Olive wants to order her waffles a la mode so that she can have chocolate ice cream. Her dad basically starts telling her that ice cream will make her fat. Olive is like 10 years old... maybe younger. I get so angry seeing that scene! Every time!

And what about the comments we make (supposedly) to ourselves about "being fat" or "needing to lose a few more pounds"? I can almost bet that someone else hears those comments, whether that someone is a 10-year-old impressionable girl or boy, someone struggling with body image issues, or someone that is desperately trying to recover from an eating disorder.

I cannot tell you how many times I've heard the women and men that I've worked with over the years tell me stories about the comments they've heard, directly or indirectly, and about how those comments have stuck with them for years. It's heartbreaking. This film was heartbreaking to watch. I walked away from it wondering if I can actually help people recover from an eating disorder. Hey, if Renfrew's success rate (based only on the cases in the film) is so low how can I do anything better?

Yet I also walked away with that spark of passion to figure out something better. If this post feels different for you to read, that's because it is different. I feel different writing this. And maybe that's good. Maybe you'll think a little differently about something I wrote. Maybe you'll check out the film. Or maybe the next time you want to make a negative comment about your body or someone else's body, you'll stop and look around to see if there's someone else that might be listening.

*I include men here because men do in fact have eating disorders. They tend to hide them better because of their body structure, but they do have eating disorders.