Anorexia and obesity, sisters under the belt

A former anorexic writes:

"All of the factors that contributed to my eating disorder were lined up in a row and ready for it to take root: It was born of a desire to exert a sense of control over myself and the world around me. It was a way to punish others, and, although I didn't realize it at the time, to punish myself. It was a way to assert my independence from my parents, and a way to reject them. . . "

The link between anorexia and obesity:

"Yes, the fast food industry has more than a tacit role in the prevalence of heart disease, obesity and premature deaths in this country. Yes, if we all turned off our televisions and computers and went for a bike ride or a walk, that'd be incredibly helpful. Yes, the pharmaceutical and surgical industries are getting rich exploiting another's misery. But an eating disorder, literally an inability to eat normally and without distress, is a highly complex psychological state. For us to point fingers at the obvious culprits without addressing that there is a deeper, insatiable hunger that drives eating disorders is to only have a superficial understanding of why anorexia, bulimia and obesity are rampant in this country. We need to learn how feed ourselves, literally and figuratively.

The emotional politics of food, by Marla Rose