College campuses offer a whole host of newness, which in addition to increased stress/workloads, the freedom to eat constantly available food, and a growing sense of displacement from home may contribute to an eating disorder arising, resurfacing, or worsening for many young women and men. Further, toxic habits imposed by drinking culture, greek life, or athletic groups may reinforce distorted thoughts around food or body image, thus aggravating the entanglement of disordered eating and college culture. This is discussed in depth in today's episode, in addition to anecdotes from our host, Kiera Russo, who is a college student recovering from an ED. Jaeden Luke's original song, entitled "Beautiful" is also featured in this episode, which may be found on Spotify!

How are eating disorders portrayed and understood today? This is a question we explore in today's episode, with a discussion on diet culture, body curriculum, and how our media has perpetuated a thin ideal and body-obsession. We also briefly discuss public figures who have shared their ED stories and how our media consumption can contribute to a dangerous, inauthentic conception of eating disorders.

This week’s episode will explore eating disorders through a historical lens. We will track when they emerged and how public discourse and understanding transformed as the trajectory of eating disorders shifted. Anorexia mirabilis, the Minnesota Starvation Experiment, and eating disorder emergence in the Diagnositic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder (DSM) are all landmarks that we discuss.

This episode I discuss how trauma and eating disorders are intertwined in more ways than one. Trauma can exist as a risk factor for developing an eating disorder (ED), occurs during the suffering of one with an ED, and triggers (an indicator of trauma) traverse the junction between suffering and recovery. Although trauma presents itself in different ways with various eating disorders and with survivors, research surrounding this topic reveals interesting insights as to why comorbidity between EDs and trauma exists.

Episode #1 of Heavier Than I Look details the conception of the podcast in addition to a description of the different types of eating disorders and risk factors associated with each. This episode also features a poem written by Kiera Russo which details her experience with anorexia and which won "Best Poem" at New Canaan High School's 2019 Poetry Fest. 

 

If you are interested in sharing your own story, please direct message @heavierthanilook on Instagram.

Episode #2 of Heavier Than I Look shares the ongoing story of host Kiera Russo's own struggles with disordered eating and body dysmorphia. She chronicles six years of struggling with anorexia, binge eating disorder, and body dysmorphia.