“It’s not official unless it’s on Facebook.”

You know the phrase is true. Did you hook up with a new boyfriend lately? Get a new job? Start grad school? Yeah, you probably updated your Facebook to let everyone know about it. Facebook has acquired a terrifically powerful role in our culture, one which legitimizes every facet of our lives.

As much as passing the bar exam officially makes you an attorney, updating your relationship status officially makes you one-half of the new “It” couple in your social network. Bring on the wall-comments and congratulations! But what about when Facebook users begin posting personal details that don’t merit digital high-fives?

Such is the case with a new trend in Facebook groups that actually promote such eating disorders as anorexia nervosa and bulemia nervosa. Think about your average, “Hell Yeah I Went To Public School!” group and channel all of that enthusiasm towards the idea of starving yourself. Imagine scrolling through a list of your friend’s groups and finding one like “Ana Boot Camp” (which has recently been disabled by the Facebook administration) which attracts users who view anorexia as a fitness goal, not an eating disorder. They’ve even co-opted the name “anorexia” to just “Ana,” as a way of reinforcing the idea of anorexia positively. Members of “pro-Ana” groups collaborate on starvation plans and look to one another for “thinspiration.” Read More »

We all know that many celebrities such as Posh and Nicole Ritchie could really stand to eat some more food due to their skeletor like figures.

Not only are their stick thin bodies unattractive, but a new study reported on in The New York Times shows that young women who are consuming too few calories could be putting their bones at risk. I know that seems like an issue you won’t need to deal with till later in life, but come on, who really wants to end up looking like this because of weak bones?

The study found that even girls who still had their periods regularly were still not consuming enough calories and endangering their bone health.

“The study, by Anne Loucks and Aiden Shearer of Ohio University, looked at the role of nutrient intake and bone formation in women ages 18 to 32. For five days, the researchers restricted the women’s caloric intake and had them exercise for more than an hour and a half each day…When the researchers drew volunteers’ blood at the end of the five days, they found decreased levels of two markers for bone formation.”

The results from the study are not a total surprise, and mainly reinforce the fact that extreme dieting or starving yourself really will affect you in the long run. Although you may get immediate gratification from the loss of a few pounds, it can affect you in so many ways later in life that just don’t seem to be worth it.

Go eat a sandwich!