Eating disorder recovery in a diet culture world
4/21/202614 min
Eating disorders are complicated illnesses that skyrocketed among teenagers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pediatrician Eva Trujillo says they "literally rewire the brain," decrease brain size, and make it harder to concentrate and to regulate emotions. Malnutrition can slow the metabolism, impact bone density and even lead to cardiac arrest. But Eva says, with the right treatment, people can also recover fully. She's the president of the International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals and co-founder of Comenzar de Nuevo, a leading treatment facility in Latin America. Today on the show, host Emily Kwong talks about the physical and mental impacts of eating disorders with Dr. Trujillo and Moorea Friedman, a teen mental health advocate and host of the podcast Balancing Act. Plus, how to recover in a world steeped in diet culture. (encore)
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First 90 secondsSpeaker 00:00
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Emily Kwong· Host0:13
[gentle music] You're listening to Short Wave from NPR. Mireya Friedman is truly one of the coolest 17-year-olds I've ever met. We started talking a year ago because she wanted advice on how to start a podcast.
Mireya Friedman· Guest0:30
Hello, and welcome to Balancing Act, a mental health and wellness and semi-unfiltered podcast made for teens- Our conversation, though, quickly turned to something else that happened to both of us.
Emily Kwong· Host0:44
We both developed an eating disorder in middle school. Eating disorders among teenagers skyrocketed during the pandemic. Mireya's began during the COVID lockdown. She was cut off from her peers and spending way more time watching TV.
Mireya Friedman· Guest0:59
When you see the protagonists and they're all, like, so beautiful, and you're like, "Do I have to look like that to be worthy, to be lovable?"
Emily Kwong· Host1:11
And Mireya, who was already struggling with perfectionism and anxiety, started to feel awful about herself.
Mireya Friedman· Guest1:18
The world was spiraling out of control, and now my body was spiraling out of control, and so what did I try to do? I tried to control it.
Emily Kwong· Host1:26
Eating disorders among teenagers skyrocketed during the pandemic.