Anorexia nervosa is a terrifying phenomenon of the modern world. Despite the heyday of the body-positivity movement, this disease continues to affect people all over the world, regardless of their occupation and social status.
We tell you about the stars who were able to overcome the disease. Together with an expert we understand how to recognize the first signs of anorexia and how to help people with this diagnosis.
endocrinologist, nutritionist
Anorexia is an eating disorder, which can lead to obsessive thoughts about losing weight, slim figure, dissatisfaction with their body. Of great importance are the pressures of society and social “standards” of appearance. It is also the relationship in the family and with close people. Teenagers are more susceptible to such pressure, and it is in this age category that anorexia is detected most often.
Why is it so dangerous?
Every 62 minutes, one person dies worldwide from an eating disorder (ED). According to statistics, the global mortality rate of anorexia is 5-6%. The symptoms of this disease are not only refusal to eat and progressive weight loss, but also a difficult psychological background following life’s problems and the negative influence of society.
According to the expert, the main sign of the disease is weight loss or lack of weight gain when it comes to children. It is also headaches, dizziness, up to loss of consciousness, abdominal pain, sleep disturbance, stool problems and others. On their own, a person, as a rule, it is difficult to assess the signs, as he, on the contrary, feels good and is happy to lose weight. Patients note that they “never felt so good”, although health problems are already present. The changes are usually noticed by family and close friends.
It should always be remembered that everyone has a chance for full recovery, the main thing is to contact a specialist in time. No one is immune from anorexia, and quite often through this thorny path pass and celebrities. We tell you about some of them.
Victoria Beckham
Victoria told reporters that sits on the strictest diets to maintain a slim figure. Sometimes the restrictions came to the point that her diet consisted of apples and lettuce leaves. As a consequence, polycystic ovaries. In 2011, doctors insisted that the girl gained weight for the normal course of pregnancy, which Victoria did.
Then gradually began to return appetite, but strictly control the diet and a lot of exercise Beckham has not stopped to this day. Often Victoria’s thinness was ridiculed in commercials, after which the girl began to be called an icon of anorexia.
Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga since the age of 15 struggled with anorexia and bulimia. Stefani admits that for a long time talking about her body was a sore subject for her. When the actress was diagnosed with fibromyalgia – a disease that manifests itself with severe chronic muscular-skeletal pain in the body – it gave her the impetus to seek treatment and accept herself.
To date, Lady Gaga is an advocate of body positivity. She ignores negative comments from subscribers, is not afraid to gain weight and encourages women to enjoy life in any body. “To all the girls who think they’re ugly because they’re not a size zero, I want to tell you that everyone is a number one beauty! This society is ugly.”
Angelina Jolie
The first person to notice the actress’ unnatural thinness and sound the alarm was Angelina’s ex-husband Brad Pitt. He asked her to start immediate treatment, but Jolie could not postpone the UN Ambassador and appearances in charitable organizations. At a height of 169 cm, she weighed about 37 kg. The situation began to change in 2013, when Robert Stromberg, director of the movie “Maleficent”, approved Jolie for the lead role on the condition that she gain at least 10 kilograms.
It took the actress five years to get back to a healthy weight and tell fans what caused her eating disorder. A difficult period of life, several surgeries to remove breasts and ovaries, the death of her mother and divorce from Pitt – all affected the body’s rejection of food.
Yulia Lipnitskaya
The figure skater left professional sports because of her struggle with an eating disorder. Before this, she spent three months in a European hospital, where she was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa. The athlete was unable to accept the body changes during puberty – she was unable to perform spins and jumps with the same ease as before.
After Yulia moved from Eteri Tutberidze to Alexei Urmanov, the coach set a task – to quickly lose weight. After that, the girl found it difficult to perform any physical activity and had to undergo a course of inpatient treatment.
endocrinologist, nutritionist
The most important thing is to seek help from a specialist in time. A psychiatrist or psychotherapist is engaged in this problem, but in addition it may be necessary to consult a nutritionist, endocrinologist, gastroenterologist. Independent actions can be ineffective, because a person can not adequately assess himself and his condition.
Anorexia is a disease of the XXI century, and not everyone copes with it. It’s okay if I openly talk about it. The only thing I regret is that I didn’t do it earlier, because everything went on for not the first, not the second and not the third year.
Yulia Lipnitskaya