Comments on: National Eating Disorders Awareness Week 2010: “It’s Time to Talk About It”

By: Alyssa Yff

Alyssa Yff — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 17:05:40 +0000

Excellent Post! I have a cousin who is incredibly skinny and definitely has an eating disorder. However, her mother is in COMPLETE denial and says that “she eats.” To make matters worse, my family seems to be obsessed with physical appearance and constantly tells my cousin how petite and beautiful she is. It drives me nuts! They reinforce these terrible behaviors and make those of us who are healthy in the family feel like we are the “unhealthy” ones of the bunch. I should forward your blog onto them. Maybe it would open their eyes.

By: Dara Chadwick

Dara Chadwick — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 22:30:26 +0000

Julia, I’m glad you talked about it.

What a moving and powerful story you’ve told. I hope it inspires someone else who doesn’t think they can recover from an ED — or doesn’t want to admit they have one. Thank you for sharing that.

By: Amanda D.

Amanda D. — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 13:21:38 +0000

Julia, thank you for sharing your story! You are such an amazing person and a true “3:00 a.m.” friend! You have really inspired me to help End Fat Talk and educate the people around me. I am so lucky to have you in my life, you are very important to me. Please continue writing, speaking and informing our society about eating disorders, you are making a difference!

By: Leslie Edsall

Leslie Edsall — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:54:59 +0000

Thank you, thank you, thank you – for writing about you! You’ve come so far in your career and now in your personal ambitions to get healthy. From two old roommates finishing up at GMU almost 10 years ago to a DC Health Coach (me) and a NC School Counselor (you), I’m always here for you in every way, every day.

Your career experience speaks has always spoken for itself, but your personal journey is beginning to take shape and truly inspire others. It’s your journey that will resonate with others who struggle w/ED and help them take further steps to a healthy lifestyle. Keep it going!

By: Erima

Erima — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 01:44:31 +0000

Julia, thank you! You are an inspiration to me and you help so many people every day. As a society, in addition to eliminating “fat talk”, we need to eliminate “thin talk” too and focus on valuing “healthy”.

By: Amy

Amy — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 02:04:37 +0000

Hi Julia, Thank you for sharing your personal journey with ED. As the mother of two wonderful young women with eating disorders, I can only say that I appreciate your plea to parents and friends to NOT BE AFRAID to bring up the subject of the eating disorder to the affected person. I can guarantee that speaking up will not be comfortable and will likely be met with anger and denial, and perhaps even with rage, but it WILL be appreciated and it may save a life. Although I have never had an eating disorder, I would be lying if I said that I haven’t had body issues…I cringe every time I think about asking my husband “if my butt looked big in these jeans” or sat back after eating a big piece of cake and complained that I felt “like a pig”. I have struggled for years now, wondering how I contributed to my girls’ issues. Cynthia Bulick, at UNC, helped me understand that an ED is probably 60-70% genetically, but it is society and our experiences that “pull the trigger”. In our family’s case, there is an aunt that had bulimia and our family tree is full of anxiety issues and other mental health diagnoses often found in people with eating disorders. Until we, as a nation, as citizens of the world, acknowlege that an ED is a disease and not a choice, people WILL continue to die from this disorder. Treatment is expensive and most residential treatment is not covered by even “good” insurance policies. Our family was fortunate to have a home to mortgage and grandparents with resources so that we could afford treatment. However, over $250,000 later, the girls are still in treatment. The financial stress of an eating disorder affects the entire family and adds to the patients anxiety and shame. What happens to those who cannot afford treatment? Sadly, I know of two women who passed away after leaving treatment when their insurance benefits ran out… One was a young mother of 2 children. Lastly, I am pretty outspoken about eating disorders and other mental health issues. If we cannot take the shame away from these disorders, we will never have the potential for a truly open dialogue about treatment options and best practice, etc. I am not throwing a pity party here, but do want to say that if my daughter had cancer and treatment was not covered by insurance, there would be fund raisers and perhaps the neighbors would arrange for hot meals to be brought in during her hospitalization. And noone would ask me what I might have done to cause my child’s disease. If you are reading this and have an ED, my heart is with you. If you are a parent of a child with an ED, my heart is with you, as well. Stay strong. Speak up. Godspeed.

By: Talia Dean

Talia Dean — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:16:13 +0000

This is such a moving blog. You are so brave for sharing this and I will be passing it along to a lot of people. It’s so cool to hear about how your struggles inspired your work. I am sure you’re a better teacher because of what you’ve endured. Thank you.

By: Angie

Angie — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 03:33:59 +0000

Thank you so much for sharing your story! I saw my own weaved throughout and was blessed by your openness. Thanks for being willing to talk about it – to join the effort of getting the word out that eating disorders are serious and need to be faced.