The Daily O’Collegian

Amanda Grigg’s hair was long and blonde.

She had killer legs and a body that makes others want to order a salad for dinner then work out for a few hours.

Her smile wasn’t the only thing that was bright. She was incredibly intelligent. The intimidating type of intelligent.

Her passion for life and her unyielding determination dripped from every word that came out of her Loreal #253 painted lips.

This girl has it all. But if you were to tell her that you’d get a roll of her eyes and an uncomfortable clearing of her throat. For she does have it all, including an eating disorder.

Eating disorders are complex conditions that arise from a combination of long-standing behavioral, emotional, psychological, interpersonal and social factors.

Disorders are becoming more prevalent today than ever before as the media put more emphasis on physical appearances.

More than half of teenage girls and nearly one-third of teenage boys use unhealthy weight control behaviors such as skipping meals, fasting, smoking cigarettes, vomiting and taking laxatives, according to the National Eating Disorders Association.

Grigg experienced different types of eating disorders from bulimia to distorted perception. She lived in a nightmare of her own mind and had an obscured reality of her body.

“We moved to Northlake right before high school,” Grigg said. “My mom got a new job and uprooted me and my dad. I was never really self-conscious before. All the girls I went to high school with were unreal. Head to toe Louis Vuitton and a size two waist is going to get to a girl after a while. I don’t know; it kind of crept up on me. It’s not like anyone decides one day to have an eating disorder. Feelings of not being good enough just get embedded into your head. Then it starts.”

Sociological factors, in particular the role of the media, have recently received the most attention as a possible contributor to body image disturbance and eating dysfunctions, according to a story reported in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology.

“To the extent that media messages like advertising and celebrity spotlights help our culture define what is beautiful and what is ‘good,’ the media’s power over our development of self-esteem and body image can be incredibly strong,” according to the National Eating Disorders Association.

In a study of non-eating-disordered college females, researchers reported that a three minute exposure to 12 photographs of models taken from popular women’s magazines led to transitory increases in depression, stress and insecurity that were not evident for controls who viewed photographs of average-sized models, according to the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology.

“When I see women on TV that are in shape, it definitely makes me conscious of my own body,” said Rachel Hetrick, an elementary education junior.

In reality, less than 10 percent of women appearing on television are overweight. In fact, most are thinner than the average American woman, according to the International Journal of Eating Disorders.

In high school, Grigg was a straight-A student, a member of the National Honor Society, a lieutenant on her drill team and treasurer of the Student Council. Now in college, she spends most of her time conducting research in the botany lab.

She confessed that she feels more pressure to be perfect because of the fact that she is so smart.

“When you do well, people expect you to keep doing well,” Grigg said. “Then when some things, like school or guy problems start to nose dive, you scrape for something else that you do have control over. Mine was my body.”

Mallory McCormick, a health promotions freshman, has seen this first-hand.

“My best friend has an eating disorder,” McCormick said. “She’s a perfectionist and when she feels like she’s losing control, she takes it out on her body.”

The Dual-Pathway Model asserts that maladaptive messages in the mass media predispose individuals to certain eating disorders when those messages are condoned and reinforced by family and peers. Adolescents become more susceptible as these predispositions interact with developmental changes, such as puberty and academic stress, according to the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology.

In high school, Grigg would eat little then work out until she felt like passing out or throwing up. In the beginning of college she “progressed” to making herself throw up after she thought she had eaten too much.

Some serious effects of eating disorders consist of an abnormally slow heart rate, kidney failure, hair loss, diabetes, gallbladder disease and tooth decay, according to the International Journal of Eating Disorders.

“Eating disorders really take a toll on your teeth,” said Marlissa Reid of Reid and Reeves D.D.S. “It can lead to decay by eating away at the tooth’s enamel.”

Physical problems aren’t the only side effect of eating disorders. There are psychological problems too.

Treatment, such as individually-tailored counseling or group therapy, is available to those suffering from this overwhelming disease.

“Given the relationship between the mass media and internalization of sociological standards for appearance, researchers have proposed possible interventions specifically targeting the negative effect of mass media messages,” according to Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment and Prevention.

Suggestions include helping individuals be more discriminating in their use of the mass media, developing strategies to reduce social comparison, focusing on exercising and positive self-esteem and reducing the stigma regarding obesity.

Today, Grigg is healthy. She eats things that are good for her. Foods high in protein and fiber keep her strong as she runs three miles a day.

“Working out gives me the control I constantly need in order to feel as if my life is in balance,” Grigg said. “It took a serious amount of strength to stop. It takes an even greater amount to fight the urge to start again. However, with each battle I win, there are triumph and sense of accomplishment.”