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Yo, Dudes! You Can Help Stop EDs, Too!

by angelique on January 7th, 2008

Plenty of men know little to nothing about eating disorders, I’ve discovered. 

It’s not that EDs don’t affect guys… it’s just that they don’t affect as many guys as gals.  So many dudes tend to think of EDs as a “woman thing” and forget they themselves play a huge role in making certain the females in their lives never have to deal with anorexia, bulimia or binge eating disorder.

But there’s something all you boys and men can do! 

Below are four significant ways to make sure the cycle of disordered eating never starts for the women and girls about whom you care.  (Ladies, please share this list with the gent in your life…)

1.  Don’t Focus on Weight

When a daddy tells a mommy, “Oh my god… you’re getting really fat!”, his daughter hears this inside her head:  “If I get fat, daddy won’t love me.”  Right then and there, she begins to equate her father’s affection with a number on a scale.

When a husband/boyfriend/lover tells his wife/girlfriend/partner, “You’re putting on too much weight!”, she tells herself that her self-worth is defined by how many pounds she weighs. 

The next time you find yourself starting to make fun of someone because of a little (or even a lot) of pounds, censor yourself.

2.  Don’t Make Fun of Other People

If you have the habit of pointing to people in person, in magazines, and/or on television, saying, “Wow.  S/he is so fat and disgusting!”, knock it off.  You’re sending every female around you a message that says, “I only like chicks who are skinny.” 

Even if you think you’re being funny and the girl in your life laughs, trust me… you’re doing damage that you may never see but that she’ll feel for years.

3.  Get Your Own Body Image Problems under Control

Do you have a tendency to yo-yo diet or starve/binge?  Your out-of-control eating may be the catalyst for a daughter, wife, or companion’s ED.  

Even if you tell the gal in your life that you think she’s physically beautiful (and even if you mean it), she’ll think you’re lying and that you want her to stop enjoying food, too.

Make a plan to eat healthier and exercise regularly, and your weight will stabilize.

4.  Don’t Enable the Anorexic, Bulimic, or Binge Eater in Your Life

If you know that someone you love is anorexic, bulimic, a binge eater, stop enabling her by allowing yourself to be part of her condition! 

Instead of playing a “woe is me” role, plan an intervention… but first, get yourself some counseling.  Chances are good that if you’ve been dealing with her issues, you need to “get right” with yourself before you can help her.

Remember — the cycle can be stopped.  By you. 

So “man up” and help us advocates strike down EDs.

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POSTED IN: Anorexia, Bulimia, intervention