After Vince Withers lost his daughter to an eating disorder, he started the Newfoundland and Labrador Eating Disorders Foundation. This week, the foundation is hosting numerous events aimed at raising awareness about -- and de-stigmatizing -- eating disorders.

"Having gone through this personally, I would suggest to families that they be very aware to changes in personality of their adolescents," Withers told CBC News. "People with an eating disorder will have noticeable changes in terms of mood, self esteem, school, in terms of having their friends around them."

Withers estimates that there are about 8,000 families in the Newfoundland/Labrador area with families members who are struggling with eating disorders. He hopes to bring the issue out in the open so people who need help can get it.

Labels: awareness, daughters, fathers

Peter Rae, whose 18-year-old daughter died earlier this year of anorexia-related health complications, has expressed anger over the care his daughter received in days leading up to her death. Alice was admitted to a hospital Dec. 29, 2008, but was discharged just 20 hours later.

The matter was addressed in a Dec. 3 article on the Hampshire Chronicle website:

[Christine Rae] was admitted to Winchester's Royal Hampshire County Hospital on December 29 last year. She was sent to hospital after telling a doctor she had spent the Christmas period sleeping all but four hours of each day.

"We had very grave concerns [about her discharge] with very good basis," said Mr Rae, a company director. "We had been told on admission she would be in for a number of days.

"We were very surprised she was discharged after 20 hours with no instructions other than to resume the treatment programme that was not working."

Winchester Coroner's Court heard that Miss Rae had become so weak she was unable to walk more than 50 yards and doctors at RHCH had discussed fitting her with a heart pacemaker. ...

Isabel Lewzey, who treated Miss Rae at an eating disorders clinic in Eastleigh, said her client had been angry about the treatment she was receiving.

"She felt that we were not taking her condition seriously enough and that she needed more than outpatient individual therapy."

Labels: anorexia, daughters, death, great britain

The story is ironic, sad and true: A writer who worked as a food critic had a daughter who struggled with anorexia. While Sheila Himmel was judging America’s favorite and finest foods, her daughter Lisa was home starving herself.

California's Mountain View Voice recently reviewed the book that the mother and daughter wrote to chronicle their battle against anorexia:

[Sheila and Lisa] tell their story in a new book, ‘Hungry: A Mother and Daughter Fight Anorexia,’ which they co-authored…. ‘Hungry’ is not just another book about anorexia, of which there are many. It is also a portrait of how a confluence of societal and social pressures wreaked havoc on the Himmel family. As Sheila highlights in the book, their situation was fraught with a terrible irony.

Though writing the book was hard and painful, both mother and daughter told The Voice that they are glad they did it. “Hungry” underscores the obsession most Americans have with food and body image. It also tells a story of successful recovery – a story that many still struggling with eating disorders need to hear.

Labels: anorexia, daughters, mothers, parents

Sheila Himmel is an award-winning food writer whose daughter, Lisa, fought a life-threatening battle with anorexia. The irony is not lost on either of them, and is a running theme in their new book, Hungry: A Mother and Daughter Fight Anorexia.

An Aug. 10 San Francisco Chronicle article by Katherine Seligman provided the following details about the Himmels' struggle, and their decision to write about their experiences with an eating disorder:

Lisa describes starving herself, her 5 foot 3 inch body so thin her hip bones hurt at night, and throwing up as many as 10 times a day.

Sheila writes about the depths of her fear, her family's history of depression, a relative's struggle with weight, the out-of-whack way Americans eat and her own relationship to food – she celebrates it, but admits she was flattered when people met her an invariably commented, "but you’re so skinny!" ...

"The book isn't about blaming," says Sheila, sitting next to her daughter. "It's more about, 'This is what happened to our family. It can happen to anybody.'"

The summer after high school, Lisa had gotten help and seemed to be doing better. But college found her spiraling back into bulimia and she was eventually hospitalized. She has since made tremendous progress, attributing her recovery to an excellent psychoanalyst, a concerned high school teacher and a well-educated nutritionist.

Labels: anorexia, daughters, mothers

Often, the things that moms and daughters need most to talk about are the things that never get discussed at all. Co-authors Mary Jo Rapini and Janine Sherman hope their new book, Start Talking, will help open the lines of communication.

"Despite all the resources out there, there are still a lot of misconceptions out there... This book is really about starting the conversation, and it doesn't have to be about sex. It can be about other things, such as how your child is feeling about her best friend."

During her years as a therapist, Ms. Sherman discovered that many of the issues facing girls today can be linked to body image issues. Sexual promiscuity, bullying, eating disorders and other risky behavior are often tied to girl's opinion about herself and her overall appearance, she said. Source: Courier Post (New Jersey)

Labels: communication, daughters, mothers