In her new book “Hungry”, Renn, 23, chronicles the heart palpitations, excessive water retention, clumps of hair that would fall out and loss of her menstrual cycle, as she struggled to slim down to the unrealistic sample sizes.
“I honestly couldn’t feel myself, I would have to literally count the veins on my arm when looking in mirror for reassurance that I was still standing in the same place that I was yesterday,” Fox news quoted her as saying.
But she knew she had hit rock bottom when at just 16 years old and living in London, she forced herself to do laps in an unheated pool at 5 a.m. in the middle of winter.
“I sat on the edge psyching myself up, forcing myself to get into the pool. Eventually I just threw myself in,” she recalled.
“I made myself do laps for over an hour; I was screaming and sobbing the whole time. I just had this image of myself on the runway…” she said.
Renn does not hold the industry responsible for her life-threatening disease and assured that her agents, photographers and colleagues embraced her decision to move into plus size modelling in order to recover a few years ago.
“I don’t blame anyone, I made the decision to be a model and to have an eating disorder, and I was prepared to do anything to accomplish my dream,” she said.
“I thank the experience taught me everything to appreciate myself today,” she explained.
She also added that her newfound female curves in the size 12-plus arena have not only given her comfort and confidence but her career has sky-rocketed. (ANI)

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Doctors have been issued with controversial new guidelines which spell out for the first time when they are legally allowed to force-feed anorexic patients close to death.

The rules state that if two doctors believe an anorexic patient is mentally ill and in danger of dying, the patient can be sedated and tube-fed against their will.

The new Scottish guidelines, issued by the Mental Welfare Commission, also allow dangerously underweight children to be force-fed against the wishes of their parents.

Anorexia affects a growing number of Scots and there has been severe criticism of the lack of specialist services. Scotland on Sunday can reveal that each year around 30 patients are already tube-fed without consent north of the Border.

The practice is allowed under existing mental health laws, but until now there has been no specific guidance on when and how anorexic patients should be force-fed, leaving medics vulnerable to compensation claims.

Patients’ groups last night expressed concern about the guidelines because they fear doctors will be more likely to resort to force-feeding rather than trying to persuade patients to consent to treatment.

But Dr Flora Sinclair, medical officer for the Mental Welfare Commission, said they wanted to ensure the practice was only carried out as a last resort and under strict criteria.

Patients who become extremely ill as a result of their eating disorder need to be kept alive by artificial means, such as a tube inserted into the nose or stomach which gives the body vital nutrients.
(more…)

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On the afternoon of August 12, Nicole Richie finally reached her boiling point. As the actress and a friend exited the Planet Blue boutique in Malibu, California, a photographer yelled out to her, “Nicole, you look disgusting. Gain some f—cking weight!” A little while later, a shaken Richie walked right up to the photographer’s window and, in tears, verbally confronted him. Richie talked to Us’s Ken Baker about what made her snap, how she’s taking control of her life and her hopes for a healthy and successful future.

“You don’t scream at people that they are overweight, so what makes people think that they have the right to scream at me that I am underweight? It’s upsetting and mean,” Nicole tells Us. “I am not anorexic. At the moment, I was just sick of everyone constantly bothering me about how I look. I walked up to the photographer and told him, ‘What if I really had anorexia? What if I had a disease? How would you feel about saying such horrible things?’ He probably just wanted to get a rise out of me, but I’m a human being and he hurt my feelings.”

Vía: PopSugar

What do you think?
Does she thinspire you ?

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When you’re hungry, take a nap. Shower, drink tea, numb your taste buds with teething gel, give yourself a manicure. Do anything but eat. These are some of the tips that “pro-ana,” or pro-anorexia Web sites offer to those who choose to restrict their eating.

These Web sites gained popularity the last few years as a kind of support group and community for those who have accepted anorexia as a lifestyle rather than a disorder. They have also become a source of national concern as those with eating disorders reinforce self-destructive habits and ideals through the Web sites.

Before this year, there was no actual study on the effects of viewing the Web sites, but two MU researchers, Anna Bardone-Cone and Kamila Cass, have published a pilot study in “European Eating Disorders Review.” Their larger study about the topic is being considered for publication in an eating disorder journal.

There is a format that comes with a pro-ana, mia (bulimia) or pro-ED (eating disorder) Web site. There’s the “thinspiration” section filled with pictures of rail-thin runway models and celebrities, sometimes accompanied with their measurements, “to set better goals for yourself and to keep on track,” as displayed on “Shophisticated,” a pro-ana Web site. There’s also the “reverse trigger” section, composed of pictures of morbidly obese people, greasy food and “fat” celebrities.
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More than half the people diagnosed with eating disorder anorexia never fully recover, 20 percent remain chronically ill and five percent die, the British Medical Journal estimates.

Here are some key facts on the disease:

WHO IS MOST AT RISK?
- Anorexia has the highest fatality rate of any psychiatric illness, with 13 to 18 percent of sufferers dying, most commonly due to heart disease or suicide, health experts in Britain say.

- Eating disorders are generally more prevalent in industrialized countries, among young women or adolescent girls.

- An estimated three percent of young women experience eating disorders. In Britain, about five to ten percent of women aged 14 to 24 suffer from some form of eating disorder.

- Eating disorders are more common among competitive athletes than the general population. Female gymnasts, ballerinas, figure skaters, and distance runners are at high risk, as are male bodybuilders and wrestlers.
(more…)

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