I wish the following happened on 2/23, but it didn’t. This is another entry into Brian’s mileage milestones. As usual, I saw the number coming before it arrived. Sometimes I get distracted by driving. This is not a bad thing. Paying attention to my driving is job number one, but a close second is seeing my mileage milestones with my own eyes. If I can also get a picture of the momentous event, I am extra happy. At exactly 3:15 pm, my mileage reached 232323, and I snapped a picture of my dash. I mainly take pictures so I can show other people. It’s good to remind them I am still a crazed weirdo about cool numbers.
Whether I’m qualified to talk about my next subject, I still question myself, but it’s an issue I see around me. It is mainly an issue of girls and young women, hence my resistance to weigh in on it. The issue concerns weight and the extremes I’ve seen people around me deal with societal pressures to be as skinny as possible. I’ve had weight issues, so I understand being self-conscious about how you look. I lost about 40 pounds by going on a vegan diet. It helped that I did this when I was in my 50s. What I’m going to talk about concerns young people who develop dangerous eating habits. They put their health at risk to feel happy about what they see in the mirror, even though they never feel satisfied with what they see.
Some people refuse to eat more than a minimal amount of food. The extreme of this is anorexia. I’ve had family members and co-workers whom I strongly suspected were anorexic. One sign is never seeing them eat at all or very little. When other people bring up how skinny they are, they deny it or deflect by pointing out other flaws they have. If they eat anything, it is usually something unusual. They will only eat certain foods to avoid eating what others are eating. Being extra busy seems to be their normal mode of operation. They put the weight of the world on their shoulders to avoid dealing with the real emotional problems causing their behavior.
A much more serious problem is bulimia. Binging and purging become a fix when controlling one’s diet. Many of the autobiographies I’ve listened to mention this form of controlling themselves. All of them are mentions of previous times in their lives. No one talks openly about binging and purging to other people unless those people are also binging and purging. Some people do it on their own and others hear about doing it from other people. I know of people in my life who dealt with this when they were younger. In a world that is mostly out of your control, this is one form of control you have over your body.
Problems with eating and weight all stem from insecurities and a lack of a support system. People may perceive this lack of support, or it may be real. As the person actively hides their actions, the support system that could help them remains unaware. The only help is from other people who have dealt with the same issues who can recognize the signs that other people can’t see. They may also be the only person who can get through the defenses and denial of the other person. As with other habits, it takes time to re-train your brain to think about food differently. You need to find a healthier way to control your eating habits.
As Patti can tell you, I weigh myself every day. I despair when I see that I’ve gained weight, but I always know why it happens. It often takes place on my days off from work and is often more about what I didn’t eat or drink than what I did. We all have times when we feel out of control of why we’re gaining weight and our ability to change our habits. Emotional eating can be just as bad as not eating. Binging and purging are worse than both. Not getting enough nutrition in your diet is the fundamental problem with these habits, but the toll on your health can follow you for the rest of your life. Getting people the help they need is difficult. My only inadequate suggestion is to get the person to read an autobiography by someone who has dealt with this issue, like Jane Fonda’s book My Life So Far. Especially if you are dealing with this issue, find someone you trust who can help you.
Thoughts from Life 
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