4 The Daily Collegian
My Opinion
Beth
Harmen
Bulimia
life,
about
emotions
y best friend was slowly
killing herself and there
was nothing I could do
'about it
It didn't matter that I loved her,
or that I was always there to listen.
. From the outside, Rebecca seems
like one of the luckiest people around.
She's captain of an athletic team, has
a 3.4 grade point average, and could
get a date without even trying. She's
young, beautiful and thin. She's
everything her parents and friends
expect her to be.
But Rebecca's sense of reality was
so drastically distorted, that when
she received a C on an Econ 2 test,
she panicked. She had never gotten
a C before.
Not living up to the expectations
she set for herself was not accep
table it could not be tolerated.
A rational person would think, "In
the scheme of life, what does this
C really matter?" But Rebecca
reacted differently.
Rebecca somehow wound up in her
dorm room. She didn't remember the
walk home, or buying the food except
that she had stolen two candy bars.
She locked the door and her rit
ual began.
One bag of Cool Ranch Doritos, two
bags of M&M's, a pack of Twizzl
ers, 5 Sugar Daddy's, 4 packs of
Twinkies, a bag of Oreo's and a liter
bottle of Coke.
Rebecca didn't even chew the food;
it took her one hour to consume over
20,000 calories.
Her binge stopped after self
induced vomiting. And once again
she felt like shit.
Binge eating is typically done in
secrecy and is not done in response
to the sensation of hunger. The
abnormal eating may be done in
response to anxiety states in an effort
to achieve a soothing emotional effect.
She felt helpless and out of con
trol. It happened again despite the
promises she made to herself.
Rebecca knew she was sick and
wanted the disorder to go away, but
was afraid to let her bulimia go.
Eating disorders are never about
food and weight there are always
underlying issues.
Rebecca started limiting herself
to one meal a day when her family
moved away. One day she ate a little
more than her usual bagel and bowl
of cereal. So to compensate for the
extra bagel, she starved herself the
next day. She liked the way her
stomach looked, so she thought her
life was falling in to place.
But in reality, Rebecca was iso
lating herself from her family and
friends.
Rebecca continued to starve herself
throughout the week, and would binge
on the, weekends. Eventually she
developed bulimia, and was binge
ing and purging five times a day.
The disorder allowed Rebecca not
to feel. In the process she had isolated
people who cared about her. I was
one of them, and it was painful
watching Rebecca deteriorate.
The last time she went to the
dentist she had eight cavities. Her
face was always swollen because of
the purging. Her nails were brittle,
nearly half of her hair had fallen out
and her throat was always sore.
But her eating disorder had become
a survival mechanism to deal with
depression and despair.
I've heard people talk about
Rebecca's disorder.
"It's disgusting. What's the big deal,
when you're full, you stop eating. She
doesn't need to lose weight any
way."
IT'S NOT ABOUT FOOD.
Rebecca was scared to feel pain.
She believed she missed her
childhood.
Bulimics turn to food to cope, like
the alcoholic turns to beer and liquor,
like the drug addict turns to cocaine.
Eating disorders are not scarce.
They're dangerously common. Unlike
alcohol or drugs, food cannot be
avoided by the addict.
Our cultural obsession with food
and weight has blurred and in many
cases erased the line between eat
ing and having an eating disorder.
For Rebecca, food became her
central life preoccupation, ultima
tely draining her energy and attention
away from living a healthy life.
Rebecca's recovery came when she
started living for herself.
Beth Harmen is a junior major
ing in journalism and French and the
science reporter for The Daily
Collegian.
Bottled water not always healthier
Tap water
may be
as pure
By BETH HARMEN
Collegian Staff Writer
Despite the tranquil moonlit lakes
or cascading waterfalls depicted on
many water bottle labels, bottled
water is not always healthier or purer
than tap water.
"There's no need to spend a lot of
money on bottled water if it's no
better than your own," said Paul
Robillard, assistant professor of
agriculture engineering.
In fact many brands rely on city
systems for their water, Robillard
said.
"About 25 percent of bottled water
in the United States is just proc
essed tap water from municipal
systems," Robillard said.
Although public water must meet
certain state and federal stan
dards, bottled water does not have
to meet all of the standards and is
not tested as often, Robillard said.
Bottled water can legally contain
more toxicants than water that comes
from the tap, but "anyone selling a
bottled water is going to want to
maintain the quality if the compa
ny intends to survive," he said.
"Our goal is to get people to
examine the water they're drink
ing," said Martin.
"What we can guarantee is that the
sources of water in Pennsylvania are
tested two to four times a year for
contamination," Robillard said.
But sales of bottled water have
quadrupled over the last decade,
partly because consumers are
Media's
image of 'ideal body'
may promote eating disorders
By BETH HARMEN
Collegian Staff Writer
In the media almost everyone is portrayed as having
the ideal body thin and beautiful.
"Everywhere you look you'll find an attractive
woman," said Melissa Martilotta, director of the
University's Nutrition Clinic, Ritenour Health Center.
"Even the weatherwomen are attractive. None of them
are fat or ugly."
But as many as 50 percent of college women and
5 percent of college men suffer from an eating disorder
in attempt to reach the ideal weight.
Women are pushed to achieve a perfect body more
than men, Martilotta said.
Our culture makes statements about women and
weight, said Jill Morgan, psychologist at the Cen
ter for Counseling and Psychological Services at
Ritenour Health Center.
"It is a culture that tells women they can be
successful but they better be thin," she said. "If you
pick up any magazine, it says you won't ever be
accepted in a relationship if you're not thin."
"The media creates this idea of a female that is
basically anorexic," Martilotta said, adding that she
would ban Cosmopolitan and said she refuses to have
a copy in her house.
Our culture also justifies the symptoms of an eating
disorder, Morgan said.
"There is a cultural ideal that a woman is a piece
of shit if she weighs more than 100 pounds."
An eating disorder is defined as a disturbance in
eating behavior that jeopardizes a person's physi
cal or psychological health.
The common eating disorders are anorexia ner
vosa and bulimia.
Bulimia is characterized by binge-eating, com
monly counteracted by a variety of weight control
Dying to be Thin?
The following questionnaire will give you an indication of whether or not you
are living a lifestyle that indicates anorexic and/or bulimic tendencies. Answer
the following questions honestly and circle your answer. Key on facing page.
1, I have eating habits that are different
from those of my faintly and friends.
1) Often 2) Sometimes 3) Rarely 4) Never
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exercise I:is I planned for fear of
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Science
Although most bottled water companies claim their product comes fresh
from natural springs this is not always true. About 25 percent of bottled water
concerned that their water sources
are endangered by chemicals
accidentally released into the
environment, Robillard added.
"Because there's so much infor
mation on water contamination,
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people operate out of fear," said Kelli
Martin, senior research technolog
ist in agricultural engineering.
The Food and Drug Administra
tion has primary responsibility for
ensuring the safety of bottled water.
methods including self-induced vomiting, diuretic
and laxative abuse and rigorous exercise.
Anorexia nervosa is described as self-induced
starvation. The weight loss is achieved through a
variety of methods, most commonly severe calorie
restriction and fasting.
Eating disorders are less common among men
because overeating for them is accepted if not
encouraged, said Martilotta.
"It is more acceptable for a man to sit down with
two platefulls of food," Martilotta said. "If that was
a woman, it would be disgusting."
Martilotta said she is being bombarded with eating
disorders in the University's clinic.
"After seeing someone virith an eating disorder,
I'm mentally and physically drained," she said, adding
that emotional pain not food is the issue.
Society places no premium on feelings or emo
tions but emphasizes figure, stylishness and social
sophistication, Martilotta added.
"Eating disorders are not about weight, eating or
culture," Morgan said.
"Eating disorders are symptoms of other strug
gles not feeling OK about yourself," Morgan said.
"They're not this disgusting thing that people do with
weight."
The insecurities stem from childhood and lack of
family approval, Morgan added.
"Women who develop eating disorders have hard
shit in their backgrounds," she said. "The message
along the path is 'You're not OK.' "
"Focusing on food and eating is not as painful as
focusing on what's sitting underneath it," Morgan
said.
Often women with eating disorders don't know that
part of recovery is realizing that purging or restricting
has helped her to survive, Morgan said.
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Wednesday, Oct. 16, 1991
from the United States is processed tap water, said Paul Robillard, assistant
professor of agriculture engineering.
"The FDA's monitoring system is less frequently and by more relaxed
pretty reliable," Robillard said. methods than tap water.
"They're always sampling bottled "When bottled waters come in from
waters looking for contaminants." Europe, the source is never tested."
But both Martin and Robillard Martin said. "It spot samples an
agreed that bottled water is tested individual bottle."
'Fake fats' misused
by consumers, ads
Eating properly important
By BETH HARMER
Collegian Staff Writer
Although "fake fats" allow peo
ple to consume cholesterol-free and
fat-free desserts, these substitutes
are ripe for misuse.
"When we introduce products that
are fat-free, we're not teaching people
to eat correctly and in modera
tion," said Joyce Gilbert, assistant
professor of nutrition.
Eating large amounts of prod
ucts containing fat substitutes defeats
the purpose of them, she added.
"Before (fake fats), if you were
an ice cream fanatic and had it every
night, you would cut your fat intake
during dinner," Gilbert said. "Now,
with Simplesse, people are over
compensating" by eating a full meal
in addition to the guilt-free desert.
Simplesse, a protein-based fat
substitute that acts and tastes like
fat, is found in the frozen dessert
Simple Pleasures, Gilbert said.
NutraSweet's Simplesse, approved
by the Food and Drug Administra
tion in 1989, allows a product to be
lower in calories, fat-free and
cholesterol-free, said Arun Kilara,
professor of food science.
For the maximum benefit "peo
ple who consume Simplesse must
make up for caloric differences by
eating other foods not containing fat,"
Kilara said.
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Simplesse, made from egg or milk
proteins, provides only 1.3 calories
per gram compared to the 9 cal
ories per gram fat provides.
"Simplesse can only be used in cold
products" such as ice cream, but
ter, cheese spreads and mayo
naisse, said Elaine McDonnell, a
nutritionist at the University's
Nutrition Center, 417 E. Calder Way.
If heated the substitute coagu
lates like the white of an egg, Patel
said.
The fat substitute olestra can be
used in fried or baked products and
is awaiting approval from the FDA.
A sucrose polyester, olestra is a
compound that tastes and acts like
fat, but passes through the body
undigested.
"The FDA is examining all of
evidence dealing with toxicology and
safety, and will not be approving it
quickly," Kilara said.
Proctor and Gamble first peti
tioned the FDA for olestra's approval
as an additive in May 1987, said
McDonnell.
Caloric-free olestra can be used
in shortening and cooking oils to
replace some fats, she added.
Gilbert said she fears that many
people will gorge themselves on foods
that were once fatty and then eat less
fruit, vegetables and whole grains
foods that provide nutrients and
fiber not found in ice cream and cake.
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16. The most pcnverful fear in my tile is
the fear of gaining weight or
becoming fat
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leading bOOks !beta tratttrm, exer
cising and (*brie counting to the
point that I spend how's studying
them. M air
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Callaghan
M. Atkinson