Our society generally assumes that ‘body issues’ spawn from the desire to be thinner. Ioana Spangenberg actually suffers from the opposite. This Romanian born, 30 year old model has been trying to gain weight for the past 15 years. I was skeptical of her weight gaining efforts at first, but in Romania men consider heavier women more attractive, because it is a sign of wealth. It’s no surprise, then, that Ioana found her dating situation less than favorable. I imagine being on the receiving end of gawking disapproval can’t do much for your self esteem. At the time her waist was a mere 15 inches!

Ioana blames her hourglass shape on her small stomach. Despite eating three hefty meals a day, she finds it nearly impossible to gain even a few pounds. Many people are skeptical and believe that her tiny waist is the result of corsets and an eating disorder, but she insists this isn’t true. She was incredibly self conscious about her abnormal figure until she met her husband. She says , “he was the first person to see me as beautiful.” He taught her to love her shape and be totally comfortable in her own skin. Does he have a brother?

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I always hated the day when we would watch movies involving a girl with an eating disorder in middle school and high school. Suddenly people would be leaning back in their chairs and furrowing their brows at me. I could never escape their concerned glances, the way they watched me eat my salad I had packed that day. Sometimes I’d even hear them whisper to each other about how I was unhealthy. Usually I would react by rolling my eyes and getting the greasiest pizza slice the cafeteria had to offer. This wouldn’t stop them from shaking their heads when I headed to the bathroom after lunch. Read More »

I’m pretty sure all of us have had at least one Barbie doll in our lives. In fact, I’m pretty sure some of us had an entire Barbie army. She was just too gorgeous with that luxurious blonde hair, that elaborate wardrobe that fit her body to a tee, those feet that fit perfectly into even the highest of high heels.

But in real life, Barbie isn’t so cute. Actually, Barbie is pretty scary.

At 5’9″, with a 39″ bust, 18″ waist, 33″ hips, and a size 3 shoe, this is what Barbie would look like as an actual person. And the best words to describe real life Barbie would be effing scary severely disproportionate. Read More »

I fell in love with the British show, Skins, so like most fans of that series, I was skeptical yet curious when MTV announced that they were premiering their own version of the show. The creator of Skins, Brian Elsley, is responsible for both versions, which explains the almost-identical characters and very similar plot lines.

But, with the possible exception of Tea (MTV’s character is a lesbian; she replaces Maxxie, a homosexual guy from the British version), one character seems to deviate much more from her British counterpart. I’m of course referring to Cadie, who was the focus of this Monday’s episode. In the British Skins, Cadie’s character was named Cassie and was in and out of a hospital for anorexia treatment. Cassie is seen faking her weight for clinicians, obsessively arranging food, and lying her way out of meals.

But rather than using this plot, MTV’s Cadie suffers from anxiety and depression. Read More »

To parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and writers of The Denver Post,

Thank you so much for your concern about my supposed “drunkorexia,” which is apparently the deliberate decision to eat less food on days destined for drunken debauchery. Though this is not an official medical term, it has been noted in Colorado as a recent “growing trend” among college women. However, let me assure you, drunkorexia is not actually real, and the things that appear similar to the nonexistent disorder may actually be conscious dieting choices among university realities.

Any college student’s diet is abnormal and worthy of attention on its own. Our campuses are equipped to fight our appetites with buffet-style dining halls filled with low-quality options, and our kitchens are stocked with frozen pizzas, chips and Cup of Noodles, each drenched in unhealthy preservatives and way too much salt. Our meal times are tightly squeezed into our schedule among study sessions, work shifts, volunteer programs and internship hours – meaning we chow down while running out of our apartments and we treat ourselves to late-night breaks in the middle of all-nighters. It may not be an ideal routine for our waistline, but it works out well for our resumés, academic transcripts and graduate school applications. Read More »

[We're all about celebrating a positive body image here at CollegeCandy and many of our readers claim the same thing. However we've noticed that while many commentors are quick to jump to the defense of curvy women, they're even quicker to accuse skinny women of having an eating disorder. This is one (skinny) CollegeCandy writer's reaction.]

I always hated the day when we would watch movies involving a girl with an eating disorder in middle school and high school. Suddenly people would be leaning back in their chairs and furrowing their brows at me. I could never escape their concerned glances, the way they watched me eat my salad I had packed that day. Sometimes I’d even hear them whisper to each other about how I was unhealthy. Usually I would react by rolling my eyes and getting the greasiest pizza slice the cafeteria had to offer. This wouldn’t stop them from shaking their heads when I headed to the bathroom after lunch. Read More »

We’ve spent the last week discussing eating disorders, what triggers them and how they can negatively affect your life.  But we don’t want anyone to think that all weight loss attempts result in disordered eating or full-blow eating disorders.

If you want to lose a few pounds (or a lot of pounds) there are very healthy ways of doing so. Ways that don’t require you to binge on exercising or skip meals. We asked our friend Erin, a health and diet connoisseur for the college female at Student Body, for her advice on dieting the healthy way.

Her advice is below: Read More »

As women, we spend a lot of our time focusing on our flaws. Whether it’s standing in front of a mirror and staring at the cellulite on our thighs, talking about said cellulite with our girls over salads (dressing on the side!), or Googling creams that promise to erase cellulite, we tend to only notice the negatives.

Not the beautiful, strong legs underneath.
Or the killer ass on top of those legs.
Or the perfectly shaped lips that form a beautiful smile in pictures.

This week, National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, we’ve all seen the scary effects this sort of negative thinking can have on people, especially college women like us. It’s really easy to get caught up in it – compare yourself to others, find serious flaws within yourself – but it’s just as easy to think positively. There is no ideal woman. There is no perfect body. Everybody’s got something to be proud of.

So today I asked the CollegeCandy writers to stop thinking about what they hate about their bodies and focus on what they love. What’s your favorite part? Read More »

The average woman sees 400-600 advertisements per day. By the time she is 17 years old, she has seen over 250,000 commercials. With the constant message of beauty and perfection reminding women every day of their flaws, many girls are self-conscious about their appearance, especially their weight. Unfortunately for some, that concern can grow into an obsession, and turn into an eating disorder.

In the U.S. one or two out of every 100 students will have an eating disorder. The most common of these are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Sadly, we usually aren’t aware that someone we know has one until it is too late. My friend Tina (not her real name, obviously) suffered alternatively from anorexia and bulimia for years and she agreed to share her story.

Her anorexia began when she was around eleven years old, and continued on and off. When she began to suffer from bulimia, she was fifteen. She used to throw up after every meal, no matter how small it was. On average, that was about three to five times a day. All of this was so that she would reach her ideal weight of eighty to eighty-five pounds, which is the weight she was in 7^th and 8^th grade.

Tina said that before eating a meal, regardless of how hungry she was, she would feel guilty for eating. She would tell herself to go ahead and consume the food, as long as she threw it up afterward. While eating she would feel “disgusted and bloated,” and regret eating at all as soon as she finished. Because of this Tina says, “sometimes I had to force myself to eat.” Read More »

Eating disorders are seemingly easy to talk about…when they’re not affecting you or someone that you love. Tabloids may make speculation about one’s eating and exercise habits seem commonplace, and chide while simultaneously glorifying scary-skinny celebrities, but when it comes to reality, it’s important to know what’s healthy and what’s not. It’s easy to judge others. But for a minute, for our health, let’s turn the judgmental eye inward.

Ladies, in honor of National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, it’s time to ask ourselves, “Do I?” and “Am I?” It’s about looking at our own lives, and figuring out what’s healthy and what’s not.

So, ask yourselves “Do I…”

“Weigh myself every day?”

You are not a number! Letting numbers on a scale determine how you feel about yourself is dumb, but also lets your weight control you. The scale doesn’t know you. It doesn’t see what an amazing athlete you are, what great hair you have, how cute your butt looks in booty shorts, or how much your boyfriend drools over your smile (and boobs). The scale is a number. Which means it’s akin to math and science (EWWW). The scale doesn’t say anything about who you are on the inside. They weigh you when you’re at the doctor’s office anyway, so let your doctor tell you if you’re at a healthy weight or not. Read More »