About 7 million American girls and women suffer from eating disorders and 86 percent of them develop the illness as teenagers.
The words of Psalm 139 inspire Christians to celebrate the amazing wonders of our bodies and God’s tender loving attention to each detail. The dynamics of daily life, however, along with unrealistic portrayals of ideal body weights and shapes in the media are threatening an increasing number of adolescent girls to engage in unhealthy weight loss or gain.
Almost unheard of 40 years ago, there are three core eating disorders identified today by the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders” :
- Anorexia nervosa — a preoccupation with weight gain and a resistance to maintaining a normal weight for age and height;
- Bulimia nervosa — recurrent episodes of binge eating followed by inappropriate compensatory behaviors to prevent weight gain, such as vomiting or abusing laxatives; and
- Binge-eating disorder — excessive overeating without the use of compensatory behaviors.
Much like chemical dependency, eating disorders appear to have both biological and environmental components. Psychological theory focuses on underlying emotional pain as central and reflecting one of seven possible scenarios: (1) a single traumatic event (2) a two- or three-year period of unusual stress or pain, (3) an extended period of emotional pain, (4) onset of a mood disorder, (5) a very sensitive child, (6) a controlling environment and (7) invalidated feelings.
Be proactive
As we focus on spiritual development in our faith communities, we need to be proactive in nurturing the health and balance of our overall mental, emotional and physical well-being.
As you acknowledge the personal nature of these illnesses, consider reaching out to youth, adults and their families in some of the following ways.
- Embrace the youth or adults and their families in prayer and nurture their integrity in your faith community. Acknowledge their infirmity and God’s healing presence through your practical and appropriate care.
- Be mindful of your own individual attitudes toward women, their appearance and their role or significance in our society and faith communities. Be careful of messages that categorize and nurture relationships that celebrate the unique gifts each individual has to offer.
- Strengthen a person’s sense of belonging and significance as you relay messages of God’s immeasurable love for them through healthy and caring relationships with people in your faith community.
- Contact a local medical or mental health center to gather appropriate brochures to display in places that are accessible to teens and adults of all ages.
- Use your congregation’s newsletter as an ongoing vehicle for sharing information about eating disorders and other health issues. Invite a mental-health professional to be a guest speaker in a youth or adult class to describe symptoms and recommendations for appropriate referrals, peer care and support.
- Be proactive in your partnerships with parents regarding possible symptoms or behaviors that might be associated with an eating disorder. Provide ready access to appropriate referrals in your community.
There's one huge cause behind these disorders that is completely missed here: our "war on obesity". We actively ostracize, shame and guilt people into thinking that they eat too much and that they risk being "fat". The amount of pressure our culture and society places on not being fat is incredible. Even we Christians worship the false idol Health. In pursuing that idol, we're turning our backs on our neighbors, even as we tell them 'it's for their own good', and 'we just want them to be healthy'. When we put this much value on Health, we implicitly everyone who doesn't have their health that they have less value. And in the end, death takes us, regardless of our health.
And yet, even as we worship the false idol Health, there is One who shows us the way. Jesus Christ did not bow to Health, and had his very health stripped from him, as he was first beaten and then crucified. In this act, Jesus became unHealthy, in solidarity with us, even as His health was so completely assured that He could jump off a temple, and angels would catch him, lest he dash his foot against a stone (Luke 4:11, etc). He gave his Health up for us, and yet God restored Jesus to life. Furthermore, God promises on Jesus' account that we will all be given new life.
How does trust in that promise shape how we deal with our health and that of others? When we are freed from our bondage to Health, how can we live?
I think we can talk about taking care of ourselves (mind and body) in ways that don't devalue people who have health problems and without making a false idol of health. (We start by acknowleding we are created in the image of God.)
Experience tells us that bad things happen to good people. Sometimes people just get sick.
Experience also tells us that we can do some things to take care of the bodies God created just as we take care of the earth and other people.
There are a number of causes for obesity, as there are for heart disease, diabetes, and many other illnesses. There are also precautions we can take for some of them.
Now, while I don't recall a story in which Jesus tells us to exercise or diet, I do recall a number of stories in which Jesus restores health to the ill.
We trust that God promises new life. But we live in an 'already but not yet' time. We live awaiting the fruition of that promise. But we also live knowing that God created the earth and all that is in it--this is God's kingdom too--and that we are stewards of these things, our own lives included. We are bound to the promise that God created us, loves us, and redeems us. We are freed to live with that promise and do with it what we will.
Thank you for including this article! I and many (if not all of my friends) have been affected by eating disorders at some point in adolescence. So many girls don't know that God created them in His own image and that He thinks we're the most beautiful creatures he's ever made.