Anorexia Athletica. Drunkorexia. Diabulimia.

The headlines of this entry are not official medical terms, but are used to describe troubeling phenomenon in addiction and eating disorders. J shared three articles that she found on the internet, which discussed these issues. Anorexia Athletica refers to the fine line that many competitive athletes walk, when they step up their workouts and step down their eating to gain a "competitive edge." However, this concept of "running on empty" actually compromises the ability to perform, and uses competitive training as a mask for an eating disorder. Drunkorexia refers to someone "starving themselves, cocktail in hand."  Although calories from food may be "forbidden," in part this is to offset calories in alcohol consumed.  Of course this is a dangerous behavior, because there is no nutritional value in alcohol, the body becomes depleted of essential nutrients as the alcohol is metabolized, and chronic drinking can be a sign of alcoholism.  Finally, Diabulimia refers to people who are diabetic, but who skip their insulin shots in efforts to lose weight.  However, this results in the loss of many nutrients in the urine plus dehydration, and many end up blind and in organ failure, all risking life to be thin.  At what price, thinness?