It’s National Eating Disorders Awareness Week

This week is National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, a special week aimed at preventing eating disorders and body image issues while reducing the stigma surrounding eating disorders and improving access to treatment. With the recent public scrutiny of Jessica Simpson’s curvy figure and Lindsay Lohen’s skinnier-than-ever look, this week couldn’t come at a better time to bring awareness to the very real dangers of eating disorders.

According to the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), nearly 10 million females and 1 million males are fighting a life and death battle with a disorder such as anorexia or bulimia. Millions more struggle with binge eating disorder.

Here are some surprising statistics about eating disorders from NEDA:

• 42% of first through third grades want to be thinner
• 81% of 10 year olds are afraid of being fat
• Over 1/2 of teenage girls and nearly 1/3 of teen boys use unhealthy weight control behaviors such as skipping meals, fasting, smoking, vomiting, and taking laxatives
• Anorexia has the highest rate of mortality of any mental illness
• There has been a rise in incidence of anorexia in young women 15-19 in each decade since 1930

To connect with resources, get help, read stories of hope from sufferers of eating disorders, or find out more information, visit the National Eating Disorders Association online.