Hmmmm, very interesting. Having suffered from eating disorders myself for most of my life, I didn't see any hypocrisy in this article, and I'm not surprised at all if 2/3 of American women have an issue with food.
I have suffered anorexia, bulimia and obesity between the ages of 12 and 34. I am now about to turn 38, and have been free of food addiction/disorders for nearly 4 years.
The way I broke the cycle was to stop punishing and hating myself and my body and to feed myself properly. This is why I felt the eating plan they linked to at the end of the article was not a diet, it was a philosophy about how to eat properly so that you can break the cycle of addiction and unhealthy attitudes to food.
As Mort said, the links might change, so here is the specific link, to avoid any confusion:
http://www.self.com/health/articles/2007/08/0807simpleI agreed with the advice they gave in that article. I found that taking the time to shop for myself and to cook proper/well balanced meals for myself at home helped my overall health, reduced my overeating, and made me feel I was important enough to myself to take care of myself properly.
Rather than being in a vicious cycle of self-abuse and self-hatred, these new self-nurturing habits slowly built my self-respect and self-confidence. But I can't take all the credit for the self-care, I was also cared for by my husband, who was a key factor to my getting well. He does most of the cooking, which made me feel cared for and not overburdened by the responsibility of planning, shopping for and cooking meals. The fact that I was in a healthy relationship with him, whereby he loved me for who I was, made me feel unpressured to be thin.
Before I met my husband, I had already decided to follow a healthy eating plan, similar to the one on the link in the article, but I hadn't fully progressed to the stage where I could lose the excess weight I had gained. My point is that it took me 2 years to change my eating habits, even though my logical self knew exactly what I needed to do (and thus in theory I could have changed my habits overnight, but instead it took me 2 years to do so). This is why I shake my head when I read magazine articles about losing a stone in 7 days, etc. on a daily caloric level that is too low to be sustained. I suppose the "slow fix" approach doesn't help to sell magazine articles, whereby they profile someone like myself who took 2 years of dedicated efforts to change my eating habits fundamentally.
What works for me to sustain my current weight (my BMI is between 20 and 21) is the "adequate protein" (not high protein) method of meal combining. There are a few books that explain how to do this, including "Protein Power" and "The Zone" - both of which I can personally recommend. It is a sustainable lifestyle and I do not suffer sugar cravings anymore, which is what caused my blood sugar peaks and dips, which led me to overeat in the past.
The argument that one has a choice about overeating is not entirely accurate in my opinion, and probably tends to be said by someone who has never suffered the neurological effects of food addiction. Yes I had a choice then just as I have a choice now, but back when I was messing with my blood sugar, my cravings were so compelling and my obsession so strong, that sheer willpower was not enough. My willpower has not changed, the only change has been that I have fixed the root cause so I don't have these uncontrollable cravings anymore. Rather than trying to manage the cravings, I manage the cause of the cravings, and that is what works for me.
I would be happier in a world whereby people with weight/eating issues were treated with compassion and understanding. However, it is difficult to understand if one has not suffered similarly, or been close to someone who has suffered and understands why that person has suffered. I hope my little testimony has made a difference to someone out there.
