Anorexia

laureltp

Registered
Joined
Mar 15, 2010
Messages
176
Likes
37
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0224/p12s02-lihc.html

According to this article Argentina has the world's second highest rate of anorexia in the world followed by Japan.

Now I think it's obvious, even if you haven't spent much time here or talked to too many woman here. You see it on the streets everywhere; REALLY thin woman.

This really concerns me. Anorexia is considered the only psychological disorder that can lead directly to death. You are literally starving yourself to death until your heart gives out. I am just wondering if everyone else realizes this and what they think about it. It also might explain why so many people think Argentine woman are so difficult, I would be difficult too if I were starving.

This topic has been bothering me since the last conversation I had with an Argentine guy. I told him that I found it sad and scary that there is such a problem with eating disorders here. He told me no, the woman are naturally thin and if we want to talk about eating disorders we should look at the obesity problem in the U.S. I was like "WTF???"

How could anyone think that being so skinny that your thigh is as big as my arm is natural? Are they really that unaware of the issue or was I just talking to a really stupid guy?
 
To be honest, I'm really surprised to read that! I've been in Bs As for 6 months now, and I haven't seen one single girl that could look anorexic. On the contrary, I see really big women here (more than in my home country) and that's one of the 1st thing I noticed when I arrived here.
 
hibhy said:
To be honest, I'm really surprised to read that! I've been in Bs As for 6 months now, and I haven't seen one single girl that could look anorexic. On the contrary, I see really big women here (more than in my home country) and that's one of the 1st thing I noticed when I arrived here.

Hmmm... Can I just ask what country you are from? It's really good to share different view points from different countries.
 
hibhy said:
To be honest, I'm really surprised to read that! I've been in Bs As for 6 months now, and I haven't seen one single girl that could look anorexic. On the contrary, I see really big women here (more than in my home country) and that's one of the 1st thing I noticed when I arrived here.

I remember 7 years ago noticing anorexia on the streets here but now it is extremely rare and there is a noticeable fattening of the population. Laurel did you know that Argentina is the 13th fattest country on the earth from 194 countries . Click on link

http://www.forbes.com/2007/02/07/worlds-fattest-countries-forbeslife-cx_ls_0208worldfat.html
1. Nauru (94.5%)
2. Micronesia, Federated States of (91.1%)
3. Cook Islands (90.9%)
4. Tonga (90.8%)
5. Niue (81.7%)
6. Samoa (80.4%)
7. Palau (78.4%)
8. Kuwait 74.2%)
9. United States (74.1%)
10. Kiribati (73.6%)
11. Dominica (71.0%)
12. Barbados (69.7%)
13. Argentina (69.4%)
14. Egypt (69.4%)
15. Malta (68.7%)
16. Greece (68.5%)
17. New Zealand (68.4%)
18. United Arab Emirates (68.3%)
19. Mexico (68.1%)
20. Trinidad and Tobago (67.9%)
21. Australia (67.4%)
22. Belarus (66.8%)
23. Chile (65.3%)
24. Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) (65.2%)
25. Seychelles (64.6%)


I travel all over the Capital Federal and obesity is a much larger problem these days.
 
This really concerns me. Anorexia is considered the only psychological disorder that can lead directly to death. You are literally starving yourself to death until your heart gives out.

Why do you think anorexia is the only psychological disorder that directly leads to death? As a clinical psychologist who has worked in psychiatric inpatient hospitals and outpatient community services I can assure you that many psychiatric disorders lead to death every day in every country.

Yes, many years ago I studied, through a research grant, the terrible problem of anorexia in sth america, and it is a problem. But obesity is a big problem here too, and many many other psychiatric disorders also. In fact this is a psychological research paradise. Unfortunately the local trend is to see a psychoanalyst for x years for a lot of money with little psychological gain.

It's a huge oxymoron - many people here talk incessantly about wanting to be thin and beautiful, but eat badly (lots and lots of carbs and few veg), go to the psychoanalyst to chat about their problems but don't practice anything remedial to make a change.

It's just how it is here!
 
Dolly said:
This really concerns me. Anorexia is considered the only psychological disorder that can lead directly to death. You are literally starving yourself to death until your heart gives out.

Why do you think anorexia is the only psychological disorder that directly leads to death? As a clinical psychologist who has worked in psychiatric inpatient hospitals and outpatient community services I can assure you that many psychiatric disorders lead to death every day in every country.

Well, I sure hope it concerns you if you are the person who is supposed to help these people.

I say this because a friend of mine actually did this to herself until she suffered cardiac arrest and died. From talking with her parents her psychologist apparently had tried to teach them a bit about what she was going through and informed them it is not something to play around with that it has the highest death rate of any psychological disorder. But yeah, they do have an obesity problem too, but what worries me is how obsessed these girls get about their bodies. It's not really a nice way to live and I really should hope they realize it's silly and just stop.
 
laureltp said:
Hmmm... Can I just ask what country you are from? It's really good to share different view points from different countries.

I'm from Paris, France.
 
hibhy said:
I'm from Paris, France.

oh, to me that makes sense. :) A lot of people I know say that French woman are usually small but I don't really know if it's true because I have never been there, it's just what people say.

Actually, a while ago I remember a French woman, Mireille Guiliano, published the book French Women Don't get Fat. Her basic diet plan that she proposed to American woman was to eat what you like but in moderation and to slow down and actually enjoy your food. A lot of people were offended by her, but after seeing an interview with her I didn't think she was as crazy as people made her out to be.

I really do try to eat healthy but once in a while when I really want some chocolate or something I remind myself of her, eat just a little and really enjoy it. I think it's a good theory but I have always wondered if it's really how people eat in France or it was just this one woman's theory.
 
Well, it's true that in France we tend to be more skinny than the rest of the world.
Myself am skinny as hell.
But things are changing even in France with more and more teenagers getting overweight.

Nutritionnists and medics have disserted about the "french paradox" because we eat many plates with salsas, are the heaviest wine drinkers in the world (wine by the way is good for the health on little dosis, it kills the fat in the blood), and we are usually fit and have very little cardiovascular problems compared to the rest of the world.
Maybe the key is to eat of everything a little, not eating snacks during the afternoons, walking a bit more (like not taking the car to go buy some bread nearby), etc...
Too, if I'm correct, a law was passed in France in order to prohibit the sale of snacks (chocolate bars, ...) in schools, just fruits.

About twenty years ago my best friend was dating an anorexic girl. We went to ski altogether and it was kind of terrifying how skinny she was (literally a bag of bones) while she was really cute. Two years later, she had left to study in a provincial town. One day she was found dead, aged about 23, in her room : her heart had stopped, very sad.
 
In the last couple of years there has been more mention of anorexia in the press.....

I understand a law has passed in 2008 declaring both anorexia and bulimia as illnesses
http://www.nutricion.pro/08-09-2008...idad-anorexia-y-bulimia-aprobada-en-argentina

what this means is that both public and private heath systems are required to treat it within their health plans (no extra cost), also from the article it says nutritional information has to be included in every level of school, etc....

How effective this is I dont know, I am not in the field, but the Law exists and there are specialist treatment centres ... if you Google "Centros de Tratamiento de la Anorexia" "tratamientos para la anorexia Argentina" there will be a list of those.

http://www.ambiente-ecologico.com/ediciones/073-08-2000/073-salud1.html
What some say is that it is very important to identify & treat as soon as the systoms are recognized....

Laurel I am very sorry for your loss...
 
Back
Top