Eating Disorders

Demi Lovato tweeted a photo of herself without makeup on Wednesday, urging her almost 13 million followers to do the same. "Ladies, be brave today.. take off your make-up and stop using those filters!! WE are beautiful!!!," she wrote as a caption to the photo (a cropped version of which is shown above).  Her followers responded by sending along pics of themselves in a similar state, with a handful of them earning attention from the "Heart Attack" singer, who offered props for beautiful smiles, skin and more.

Bryan Piperno was just 9 years old when he began keeping his secret. The Simi Valley youngster tossed out lunches or claimed he ate elsewhere. As he grew older, he started purging after eating. Even after his vomiting landed him in the emergency room during college, he lied to hide the truth. Piperno, now 25, slowly fended off his eating disorder with time and care, including a stay in a residential treatment facility. But surveys show a rising number of teenage boys in Los Angeles now struggle with similar problems.

Eating disorders among children and adolescents appear to be on the rise, especially among younger kids. This report published online Monday in Pediatrics estimates that 0.5% of adolescent girls in the U.S. have anorexia and 1% to 2% meet the criteria for bulimia. It also says more boys and more children younger than 12 are being diagnosed with eating disorders. Early diagnosis and treatment are key to heading off serious medical problems. Parents who think their child may have a problem might want to check out this screening test from PsychCental.

Amanda Bynes went on quite the Twitter rant late Thursday, claiming she has an eating disorder and once again threatening to sue "certain blogs and magazines" for saying she has "a mental illness. " "They take pictures anytime I've gained weight then write a fake story!," Bynes complained, adding, "I have an eating disorder so I have a hard time staying thin. " And to think, most stories lately have mentioned anything but her weight, choosing instead to focus on tidbits like the once-blond 27-year-old's insistence (in tweets since deleted)

Weight and body image issues do not belong soley to the young, researchers have found - perhaps making official what plenty of women already discuss over coffee, with fake sugar, please. The study released Friday in the International Journal of Eating Disorders found that 70% of women over 50 are trying to lose weight and 62% say their weight or shape has a negative effect on their lives. The study also found that 3.5% report binge eating at least once a week, and 7.5% reported using diet pills.

April Dunlap was 17 and weighed 165 pounds when she began a diet and exercise regimen. After three months, the 5-foot-5 teen had lost the 20 pounds she had hoped to shed. But she kept going. "It was like a drug," she said. "I always wanted to lose a little more. " When she hit 120 pounds, Dunlap's mother worried that April was losing too much weight. The family's doctor agreed. Four months after Dunlap's diet began, she found herself in a treatment program for anorexia nervosa. After only 10 days, she had gained enough weight to be discharged from the hospital.

Eating disorders and the proper way to deal with issues related to food will be discussed at a seminar led by two marriage, family and child counselors Wednesday at Pierce College. The free program, to be held from noon to 2 p.m. in the campus center, 6201 Winnetka Ave., will be given by Linda Sherman, who is also a dietitian, and Ellen Mayer, director of Joint Advocates on Disordered Eating.

When we first meet the character of Sam, he's staring down at his breakfast of half a grapefruit and yogurt with a familiar look of dissatisfaction. In disgust, he chucks it in the garbage -- then begins to root around in the trash. Suddenly, an ordinary morning ritual takes on a disturbing cast as Sam pulls out a soggy, misshapen piece of chocolate cake coated with white flakes of detergent. Undeterred, he eats around the soap, smearing icing over his face in the process.

The Duchess of Windsor was wrong. You can be too thin. Just ask Cathy Rigby. Better yet, if you (or a friend or a loved one) suffer from anorexia nervosa or bulimia--potentially fatal eating disorders characterized by a fanatic dedication to losing weight--pick up a copy of the $24.95 videotape "Faces of Recovery." The tape is a not-for-profit effort by College Hospital in Cerritos, Rigby (who narrates) and her husband, Tom McCoy.

This post has been corrected. See the note at the bottom for details. The Israeli Parliament's move to ban skinny models from appearing in that nation's media may be less momentous than its efforts to thwart Iran's bid to build nuclear weapons. But to the Israeli politicians who sponsored the measure, which won approval in Tel Aviv on Monday, and to American experts on eating disorders, the measure is a clear step toward a key goal: promoting more realistic body images among girls and women.

Demi Lovato tweeted a photo of herself without makeup on Wednesday, urging her almost 13 million followers to do the same. "Ladies, be brave today.. take off your make-up and stop using those filters!! WE are beautiful!!!," she wrote as a caption to the photo (a cropped version of which is shown above).  Her followers responded by sending along pics of themselves in a similar state, with a handful of them earning attention from the "Heart Attack" singer, who offered props for beautiful smiles, skin and more.

Lady Gaga, who has faced a week of open criticism for gaining weight, confronted detractors Tuesday the best way she knows how: by rallying her legion of fans and also revealing something personal, a battle with eating disorders. After an Amsterdam concert displayed a fuller-figured Gaga, blogs ignited with comments and side-by-side comparisons of her shape. A radio interview saw the singer admit she'd put on more than 20 pounds, by her count. "I'm dieting right now because I gained, like, 25 pounds," she said . "I really don't feel bad about it, not even for a second.

Last in a series of occasional stories on L.A.-area athletes hoping to make it to the Olympics. Linda Dawson will be sitting inside a velodrome in London early next month, waving a small American flag and trying to figure out track cycling, a sport she doesn't completely understand. It seems like the least she can do for the woman who saved her life. Dotsie Bausch will be introduced to the crowd as a world-record holder and medal contender in the woman's team pursuit, but Dawson, a 52-year-old attorney from Paris, Ky., knows that description doesn't begin to tell the story of the Irvine cyclist.

Weight and body image issues do not belong soley to the young, researchers have found - perhaps making official what plenty of women already discuss over coffee, with fake sugar, please. The study released Friday in the International Journal of Eating Disorders found that 70% of women over 50 are trying to lose weight and 62% say their weight or shape has a negative effect on their lives. The study also found that 3.5% report binge eating at least once a week, and 7.5% reported using diet pills.

April Dunlap was 17 and weighed 165 pounds when she began a diet and exercise regimen. After three months, the 5-foot-5 teen had lost the 20 pounds she had hoped to shed. But she kept going. "It was like a drug," she said. "I always wanted to lose a little more. " When she hit 120 pounds, Dunlap's mother worried that April was losing too much weight. The family's doctor agreed. Four months after Dunlap's diet began, she found herself in a treatment program for anorexia nervosa. After only 10 days, she had gained enough weight to be discharged from the hospital.

This post has been corrected. See the note at the bottom for details. The Israeli Parliament's move to ban skinny models from appearing in that nation's media may be less momentous than its efforts to thwart Iran's bid to build nuclear weapons. But to the Israeli politicians who sponsored the measure, which won approval in Tel Aviv on Monday, and to American experts on eating disorders, the measure is a clear step toward a key goal: promoting more realistic body images among girls and women.

Eating disorders among teens is dangerous enough. Now researchers say these teens face a higher likelihood of having more psychological problems, including suicidal thoughts. There’s no sure-fire cure for any of these self-destructive and potentially fatal behaviors, but learning how to identify them is the first step. Friends may be the first to be aware that something's wrong. People with anorexia nervosa, for example, don't eat enough because they think they're too fat -- even though they may be very thin.

Alyssa Kitasoe studied herself in the mirror, and the image was shocking. She had been standing near the bathroom sink, vomiting into a plastic container. When she looked up, through eyes blurred with tears, she was disgusted by what she saw. "It was like seeing a ghost of yourself, or a monster," Kitasoe recalled. "I remember just staring at myself. " A year earlier, Kitasoe viewed herself very differently. A striking young woman with long black hair and a radiant smile, she was strong and proud — the UCLA gymnastics logo on her clothes providing instant respect around campus.

Admitting you have an eating disorder after living with it for years is no easy task -- but that's exactly what Demi Lovato told Ryan Seacrest in an interview. The 18-year-old Disney Channel alumna, who said her family had known about her eating issues for six years, has had the words "stay" and "strong" tatooed over self-mutilation scars on her wrists. Why does it all too often take so long to recognize and deal with a problem such as an eating disorder? Lovato called her situation the "elephant in the room.