Hey buddy! So you want to lose weight, eh? Its summertime and you want to look all nice and hot for those babes at the beach. Ok, here’s what you have to do if you want this to happen quickly; eat lots of cabbage and drink a gallon of prune juice twice daily at noon . . . no wait. Hmm, try this; eat nothing but ice cream and lard for the next three weeks or until the next full moon . . . no that’s not it either. Aha! Here we go; eat six hotdogs per day (with syrup), while cutting out all meat products and carbs . . . . . what? Why are you giving me that look?? Ok, so maybe that wasn’t quite your cup of tea . . . Did I mention tea? Try this magic herbal-essence tea, with the special fat melting ingredient, Babaganoosh. Of course to ensure its potency, the only additional foods you can eat is two loaves of rye bread with pickles and mayonnaise . . . STOP THE MADNESS ALREADY!!!

Anorexia nervosa has the highest mortality rates of any psychiatric condition – 10% of those diagnosed die due to related factors. This eating disorder primarily affects women, especially adolescent girls, struggling with the pressure of today’s society to be thin. The obsessive fear of gaining weight, combined with body image distortion is a deadly lethal mix. It drives individuals to try to control their body weight by voluntary starvation, binge-eating, purging, vomiting and excessive exercise.

When I hear the word anorexia, I usually think of Nicole Ritchie, Lindsey Lohan and the Olsen Twins. Every gossip rag at the supermarket’s check out counter has always some big bold letters announcing which female celebrity is seeking treatment for it. So I was quite surprised when I picked up our local newspaper last week and read about Dennis Quaid and his battle with “manorexia” – the male version of anorexia. Well, well, well…. What do we have here? It seems that the big Hollywood trend of “skin and bones” is not just limited to its female population.