Listen in . . .

. . . to a fabulous radio show hosted by Susan Barnett of 51%, on body image, dieting, and anorexia. Barnett held a roundtable with four contributors from Feed Me, and then graciously gave me some airtime for a commentary as well. Good stuff.

Offline

I can't tell you how much I appreciate everyone who reads and comments on this blog. It means a lot to me to have the kind of thoughtful, intelligent discussions we do here with all of you.

For the next month or so, though, I'll be offline at a writing retreat. I hope to emerge refreshed and mostly through done writing my next book, BRAVE GIRL EATING.

Happy June!

Has your family been denied insurance coverage for an eating disorder?

I got a call this morning from a staffer at Good Morning America, looking for families to profile and potentially help with insurance coverage. If you're interested please get in touch ASAP.

Interview on True/Slant

Katie Drummond is an interesting young Canadian writer living in NYC and writing for a site called True/Slant. She interviewed me last week for the site, and here's a link to the results of that chat. It's always good to see eating disorders covered intelligently rather than in the Madonna/whore way of most media outlets, where people are either "accused" of having anorexia or ridiculed for being fat because they're wearing size 2 jeans.

Cooking therapy (with a video! and a recipe!)

When I'm stressed, I cook. And right now I am stressed to the max. And there is someone in my household whom I need to feed up. So this morning I baked a batch of beautiful gigantic pumpkin chocolate chip muffins.




Next up: applesauce bread and chicken couscous.

Meanwhile, here's my famous Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffin recipe, adapted from a recipe given to me by Sarah Minkoff of Madison, Wisconsin. Thanks, Sarah!

The key to this recipe is the pan: You need a pan with six extra-large cups rather than the usual dozen.

Marvelous Muffins

2 C packed light brown sugar
2/3 C butter, softened
4 eggs
2 C pumpkin puree
1/2 C whole milk

Cream these ingredients well in a large bowl.

3 C white flour
1 C whole wheat flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
2 C high-quality chocolate chips

In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients. Stir into pumpkin mixture. Beat gently until mixed. Lightly grease muffin cups. Fill 12 muffin cups to the brim. Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes. Muffins will puff up nicely and brown.

Enjoy!

Knitting and EDs

I have to admit my eyebrows went up when I first read about this study, which looked at whether the act of knitting could help people recovering from eating disorders. There are a lot of wacky, unproven, and frankly ridiculous "therapies" out there for eating disorders, many of which are rubbish.

But this one actually makes sense. Researchers from the University of British Columbia, Oxford University, and the Beau Cote Centre for Eating Disorders looked at whether the repetitive act of knitting could help with the inevitable anxiety and perseveration that comes along with the recovery process. While their study sample was small--38 women on an ED ward in a hospital--the results suggest that knitting did in fact have something of a calming and even therapeutic effect.

I can understand the principle: For me, washing dishes or weeding provides a similar effect. Human beings are hard-wired to work with our hands. And repetitive work like knitting can facilitate a zenlike meditation state that can be very soothing.

I like the fact that the researchers aren't claiming that knitting helps people recover from EDs. They point out instead the secondary but still important component of anxiety management. And I know not only from my own experience but also from Ancel Keys' Minnesota Starvation Study that anxiety is a major biological component of re-feeding and recovery.

And if knitting helps with anxiety, I'm sure there are other activities that do the same, that help break the cycle of obsessive thinking that comes along with EDs. Maybe crocheting? Quilting? Fiber arts as ED recovery corollaries? I love it.

Families and eating disorders

This story in the Gloucester Daily Times makes me see red. Literally. For its seemingly complete ignorance of the genetics of not just eating disorders but also personality traits like perfectionism, ambition, etc. The story reads as if whenever something goes wrong it's got to be the family's fault.

We know that it just isn't this simple. Fellow blogger Carrie Arnold summed it up wonderfully in this post. We also know that the blam-and-shame game undercuts families, who are often the best (or only real) resource for someone with an eating disorder.

So knock it off, will you? You're not helping. In fact, you're hurting families and sufferers alike. Do some reading. Do some thinking for a change. Then try your hand at some responsible journalism.