If you travel to a foreign country and you speak the local language, you might overhear a native poking fun at the food consumption excesses of Americans. Yes, we can be spotted in a crowd of tourists because many of us are overweight. We should hang our heads in shame for this embarrassing distinction.
We also should be appalled at the other end of our unhealthy excesses—the excessive weight loss. So many of us feel we should be model thin to be beautiful. That’s so untrue. God didn’t give us our bodies as His temples with the intent that they merely be straight columns. He wants well-built temples filled with all the healthy food He has provided.
We need to guard ourselves against following the pressures of the media to push our bodies to unnatural levels of thinness. And we need to watch our friends to ensure they’re not doing the same. Our quest for slim, sleek bodies can get out of control quickly. At least 23 people die each day as a direct result of suffering from an eating disorder. Among females ages 15-24, anorexia nervosa has a higher mortality rate than any other cause of death, according to the National Institute for Mental Health.
How do we know if we’ve become too thin? Doctors at Veritas Collaborative, an eating disorders center that opened this summer in Atlanta, believe that a person has a problem if he or she is:
- preoccupied with weight, body size and shape, and control of food.
- preoccupied with weight loss, calories, carbohydrates, fat grams, and dieting.
- consistently logging food intake.
- inflexible about what, when, or how much to eat.
- refusing to eat certain foods, progressing to restrictions against whole categories of food.
- unwilling to eat around others and withdrawing socially.
- hiding or throwing away food.
- having extreme mood swings and irritability.
- experiencing rapid weight changes.
- suffering from stomach cramps and other GI complaints.
- having menstrual irregularities.
- experiencing dizziness, especially upon standing, and fainting.
- noticing thinning hair, dry skin, and brittle nails.
- suffering from dental problems, such as enamel erosion, cavities and discoloration from vomiting.
If you or a friend of yours is experiencing any of these symptoms, please confide in an adult you can trust. If necessary, contact Veritas Collaborative directly.
You were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. — 1 Cor. 6:20
Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? — 1 Cor. 3:16