How to Defeat Harmful Habits (Counseling Through the Bible Series) (21 page)

“I miss Ana,”
¹
an anonymous blogger laments in a candid Internet post. Her dear friend is gone.

And with that departure, her world turned upside down.

But now she wants everything back to the way it used to be. That’s when she had control over her life…that’s when Ana was crucial in her life. Yet others objected—those who pushed Ana away.

Today, however, the bereft blogger has asked Ana to return, and she’s determined to get Ana back. Her familiar friend, her best friend, her only friend called Ana—short for
Anorexia
.

It’s startling! Around the globe, growing numbers characterize themselves as “pro-ana,” namely,
pro-anorexic
or prone to self-starvation. They wear the label with pride, fastening it to their slowly withering figures. They claim, “Anorexia is not an eating disorder but rather a
lifestyle choice
.” And now hundreds of “pro-ana” Web sites dispense their dark, distorted message of death.

Web sites and blogs alike help these individuals to link forces internationally to share tragic tips on everything from how to become anorexic to how to hide their noneating habits. And for the “Mias” (short for
bulimia
), who binge and purge food, there are “pro-mia” sites as well.

An unmistakable cloud of darkness hovers over these deadly eating disorders. Meanwhile, too many
anas
and
mias
in the world proudly declare that they’re simply
dying to be thin
.
²

For those who are painfully deluded, God’s plan differs dramatically from the one destroying their lives. For God wants them to eat and enjoy the
daily
bread He provides, and He wants to be their “bread of life” for all their tomorrows. For it was Jesus who said,

“I am the bread of life”

(J
OHN
6:48).

Karen Carpenter—the internationally acclaimed vocalist—could never have imagined being at center stage for anything other than her music.

She was the sister in the sibling duo The Carpenters—a sound sensation in the 1970s and early 80s that repeatedly rose to the top of the pop music charts. Songs like “We’ve Only Just Begun” and “Close to You” contributed to this Grammy award-winning pair’s achieving worldwide sales of albums and singles exceeding 100 million.
³
Karen was known for her vibrant glow and velvety voice, a combination that ignited invitations for stage performances all around the world.

But February 4, 1983 marked her final curtain call. She was found unconscious at her parents’ home and rushed to the hospital, where, a short time later, she was pronounced dead. Karen died of a heart attack at the tender age of 32. And it was her medical diagnosis that once again catapulted her back to center stage.

Proverbs, the biblical book of wisdom, presents this painful truth:

“There is a way that seems right…
but in the end it leads to death”

(P
ROVERBS
16:25).

Before Karen Carpenter’s death, the word
anorexia
—unknown to the average person—was only occasionally uttered in doctors’ offices, hospitals, and rehab facilities. But all that changed in the early 1980s when a stunned public learned that the gifted “girl next door”—America’s singing sweetheart—had literally starved herself to death. From that day forward, the word
anorexia
became more and more a part of everyday language.

The obvious question both then and now is this: Why would anyone enter into self-starvation, especially if they, like Karen, had it all—fame, family, fortune? In truth, Karen’s battle with anorexia began as a desperate and deliberate attempt to eliminate her curves because she loathed her “hourglass figure.”
⁴

At age 17, the 5’4” brunette began focusing on her figure when she reached 145 pounds. At that point she went on a diet, and in 6 months lost 25 pounds. She then maintained an average weight of 120 pounds for the next 6 years.
⁵
But in August 1973, Karen was appalled at pictures of herself in a concert. An unflattering dress revealed what Karen perceived to be a bloated belly—and then her painful journey began.
⁶

Those in the throes of this debilitating eating disorder continually struggle with a warped sense of beauty and a distorted self-image, and if asked, they would be the first to admit the accuracy of these words from the Bible:

“Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting”

(P
ROVERBS
31:30).

•
Anorexia
is an eating disorder characterized by compulsive, chronic self-starvation with a refusal to maintain a body weight within 15 percent of a person’s normal weight.
⁷
The word
disorder
indicates that the normal function of the mind and/or body is impaired.

•
Anorexia
is derived from a Greek word that means “without appetite,”
⁸
which is actually “a misnomer because loss of appetite is rare.”
⁹
However, after the body goes without nourishment for three days, natural hunger subsides—at least for a period of time.

•
Anorexics
weigh far less than what should be their normal body weight, which is different for every person, based on age, height, bone structure, and muscle mass. Body weight that is 15 percent below normal poses a serious threat to a person’s physical health.
¹⁰
(Sometimes the word
manorexia
is used for males.)

•
Anorexics
may experience a different cause for this life-threatening eating disorder than the irrational fear of weight gain or distorted body image. (For example, if you believed that God told you to eat and drink nothing indefinitely—and that to consume anything would be a clear act of rebellion against His supreme deity—then out of “obedience” you could become anorexic and literally starve yourself to death. Someone like this may be suffering from a type of obsessive-compulsive disorder known as
scrupulosity
.)

Regardless of the reason for the lack of eating, the Bible says,

“My knees give way from fasting; my body is thin and gaunt”

(P
SALM
109:24).

When it came to consuming food, Karen Carpenter displayed willpower—to a fault.

Unlike bulimics, who binge on food and then purge it, Karen was never found raiding the fridge for favorites like ice cream or hoarding hidden candy. Her world revolved around weight
loss
—every potential calorie was a threat. Karen’s spiral downward into a full-fledged eating disorder began in November 1973, following an appearance on a Bob Hope TV special.

After viewing the videotape, Karen was distressed by how she looked, and Richard, her brother and singing partner, agreed that she looked heavier than before.

Richard passed off the conversation as insignificant, yet Karen vowed “to do something about it.”
¹¹
In the process, she abandoned logical, adult reasoning and embraced irrational, deceptive thoughts, seeing herself through the distorted lenses of her flawed perceptions.

Sadly, she shared the distressing thoughts of the psalmist: “How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?” (Psalm 13:2). Being deceived, Karen did not heed the words of God:

“This is what the L
ORD
Almighty says:
‘Give careful thought to your ways.’…
The wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to their ways
,
but the folly of fools is deception”

(H
AGGAI
1:5; P
ROVERBS
14:8).

Describing the Affliction

Those afflicted with anorexia are assaulted by a barrage of obsessive thoughts about body image and food and are consumed with irrational fear and anxiety.

•
Anorexia nervosa
is an intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, even though a person is dangerously underweight (at least 15 percent below normal).
¹²

•
Anorexia nervosa
is psychological in that the
mind
pictures a distorted image of what the body looks like and produces an abnormal fear of weight gain.
¹³

•
Anorexia nervosa
is seen in two subtypes:
¹⁴

–
Restricting anorexics
maintain their dangerously low weight by excessively restricting their eating and possibly excessively exercising their bodies.

–
Binge/purge anorexics
restrict their eating but also purge by self-induced vomiting, laxatives, diuretics, or enemas; they may also engage in binge eating.

Many who have anorexia nervosa move back and forth between these two subtypes. Sadly, it’s as though they are living out the words from the book of Job:

“A man may be chastened on a bed of pain with constant
distress in his bones, so that his very being finds food repulsive
and his soul loathes the choicest meal. His flesh wastes away
to nothing, and his bones, once hidden, now stick out”

(J
OB
33:19-21).

Many people caught in the cruel web of compulsive weight loss are also caught in the snare of compulsive exercise. The two compulsions work hand in hand for those seeking to control their weight not only by controlling their caloric intake, but also by controlling the amount of calories their bodies burn through excessive exercise. They abuse their bodies through both starvation and severe workouts. These desperate souls create their own excruciating experience by starving their bodies while working them to death.

While the Israelites worked under the whip of the Egyptians, those who are enslaved to anorexia athletica all too often whip themselves into early graves. Unlike the Israelites, who cried out to God for a deliverer, these slaves suffer in silence. But God hears their unvoiced cry and yearns to deliver them from their cruel taskmaster just as He delivered the children of Israel:

“The L
ORD
said, ‘I have indeed seen the misery of my people
in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave
drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have
come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians
and to bring them up out of that land into a good and
spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey’”

(E
XODUS
3:7-8).

•
Anorexia athletica
is also called “Compulsive Exercise,” “Obligatory Exercise,” “Exercise Addiction,” and “Activity Disorder,” and refers to those who no longer exercise for pure enjoyment, but feel compelled to exercise more and more excessively over time.
¹⁵

•
Anorexia athletica
sufferers live to do physical workouts.

– They experience severe guilt and anxiety after missing a workout, and not even exhaustion, depression, anxiety, sickness, or injury can stop them from fulfilling their perceived need for exercise.
¹⁶

– With excessive stress on the heart, an unhealthy diet, and a refusal to allow their damaged body the time it needs for healing, the end result can be severe depression and even death.

Although exercise, in and of itself, is not wrong, the Bible presents exercise in its proper perspective.

“Physical training is of some value
,
but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for
both the present life and the life to come”

(1 T
IMOTHY
4:8).

Self-destruction