Coping strategy
“There’s huge pressure on women to drink and look thin,” says Louise Noble, chief dietician at the Berkshire Healthcare Trust.
“It means they’re often missing out on important nutrition, so they can get drunk.
“In my experience, many young women will find the only way they can cope with both is to drink rather than eat, to substitute alcohol for food.”
Noble says the problem is heightened by images of celebrities “lauded” for staying stick-thin while maintaining a hectic social schedule.
Dangerous routine
Skipping dinner so you can party like (and still have the figure of) Rita Ora might sound harmless, but it could become part of your weekend routine.
Now dieticians have coined the term “drunkorexia” because they believe, based on their work with clients, that there is a link between binge drinking and eating disorders, though further clinical investigation into this connection is needed.
Reality check
“Someone who skips a meal to drink isn’t necessarily going to become an anorexic,” said Emma Healey, spokesperson for eating disorders charity Beat.
“But it’s obviously highly unhealthy and if people are vulnerable it could be a high risk behaviour.”
Healey says the problem comes when someone’s drunkorexia means they start obsessing over food and it begins to start controlling them
So, what seems like a harmless tactic to have fun and stay thin could develop into something a lot more serious.
Simply put, for the calorie conscious, it makes sense to cut back on alcohol rather than food.
Just for today
I will treat others with the tolerance and forgiveness I seek for myself.
The AA Estcourt branch hosts meetings every Tuesday at Forderville Primary School from 7pm to 8pm. Contact Desigan on 082 849 3014.
The AA Winterton branch hosts meetings every Thursday at the Springfield Church opposite the police station from 7pm to 8pm. Contact Dolly on 071 688 5330 or Virgilo on 079 688 0432.
