With glp1s moving from a diabetes drug to nearly over the counter weight loss pills in 3/4 of commercials, eating disorders are on the rise again. “Heroine chic” is back; celebrities are skeletal. And it’s celebrated as body positivity. Everyone has a hot take, but no one is talking about the very real damage calorie depletion causes. Eating Disorders have the highest mortality rate with suicide being the number one cause and heart failure second. Despite the numbing nature of calorie restriction it actually increases depression and anxiety, so suicide makes sense. For heart failure, when a person’s blood sugar drops too low, especially at night, they become too tired to wake up and eat. Eventually, it drops so low the heart stops. These a just a couple terrifying things I learned in Sick Enough.
I picked up Sick Enough when I was going through Eating Disorder recovery. I wanted solace or justification or to know I was not alone. I wanted to know what was happening to me and my body. I know if it was as bas as it seemed. Could I really have done so much damage just by skipping breakfast and sometimes lunch, but running and exercising regularly? So many people including nutritionists and doctors say that’s a healthy lifestyle. But once I started eating I got gastroparesis; it would take hours for my stomach to digest food, such that I had to eat again even though my stomach was still digesting my last meal. My liver swelled to the 3/4 the width of my abdomen. I had pancreatitis. How could something so sold as healthy be so damaging? The book addresses the physical repercussions to calorie restriction and bulimia. (It covers more than that, but I only read the parts relevant to me.) Dr. Gaudiani shares the brutal medical realities through conglomeration cases in a way that makes them relatable and real. For many of us, weight loss and thinness isn’t healthy.
I used to recommend this book to people adjacent to eating disorders. Now I recommend it everyone because we are now all eating disorder adjacent. Most of can recognize extreme anorexia and bulimia. But chronic dieting, orthorexia (obsession with healthy eating), calorie counting, and other restrictive disorders can be just as dangerous. It is easy to vanquish our physical pangs and pains as mental or emotional when being ruled by our disorders, but Dr. Guadiani reveals the hard truth of the mortal damage we’re doing to our bodies with the solace that it can be healed.
Back of the Book:
Patients with eating disorders frequently feel that they aren’t "sick enough" to merit treatment, despite medical problems that are both measurable and unmeasurable. They may struggle to accept rest, nutrition, and a team to help them move towards recovery. Sick Enough offers patients, their families, and clinicians a comprehensive, accessible review of the medical issues that arise from eating disorders by bringing relatable case presentations and a scientifically sound, engaging style to the topic. Using metaphor and patient-centered language, Dr. Gaudiani aims to improve medical diagnosis and treatment, motivate recovery, and validate the lived experiences of individuals of all body shapes and sizes, while firmly rejecting dieting culture.
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