Surely everyone has had about enough of the great "Pro Ana" debate. From those saying how bad Pro Ana is, to those saying don't judge those who are Pro Ana. I've always wondered how many people realize that Pro Ana borrows heavily from "healthy dieting" practices.
When I first began to use the Internet as a weight loss tool, I found quite a few healthy dieting websites. Most of these websites of course were hosted by people who were just starting, restarting or were still in the middle of their weight loss journeys, and every once in a while I'd stumble upon a that gem of a website where the person had completed their weight loss goals. Their website would be filled with heart swelling motivation, before and after pictures, sample diet plans, the works. They would be bombarded with accolades on their achievements.
After a while, I began to stumble upon Pro Ana websites.
I took all of these with a grain of salt, because I know all too well the desperation that can ensue when pursuing a weight loss goal. I began to notice that these websites were fairly similar to all the healthy dieting websites I was frequenting. The only difference was of course at the Pro Ana websites the girls were glorifying anorexia as a method of weight loss.
But everything else would pretty much be the same. At healthy weight loss and Pro Ana sites alike you can find: weight loss tips, personal stories, progress photos, quotes for inspiration and lists of reasons why it's better to be thin, accolades for achievement, and the creme de la creme, thinspiration.
Many years ago when Pro Ana sites were still underground and healthy dieters as well as the rest of the Internet population had no idea what was going on, said healthy dieters advised one another to look at photos of thinner women as inspiration, to cut out photos of your favorite starlet and post it on your fridge so that you'd see it whenever you felt like eating.
No one would bat an eye something like that being posted on a healthy website, but as soon as you associate it with Pro Ana, it is a product of the devil. Never mind that more and more healthy on-line chronicles are now using the phrase thinspiration. Never mind that looking at photos of thinner women as inspiration for weight loss is something that girls and women have done since before anorexia was known to be a disease.
The phrase, "nothing tastes as good as thin feels," I first read that on a healthy dieting website. Healthy dieting sites and Pro Ana sites will equally advice you, to "hold out one day before you eat that cookie," or "to go out and jog around the block instead of succumbing to a burger and fries."
I am in no way trying to advocate Pro Ana. What I am doing is trying to explain how something that is supposed to be completely innocent can be taken to the extreme. People don't realize that a healthy dieter is just as susceptible to developing anorexia or bulimia as a girl who frequents Pro Ana websites. Actually, they are probably even more prone to because they have actually gone through the motions of losing weight and cutting their calories to an unhealthy level or exercising to an unhealthy level is only the next stop on the spectrum. While girls (and women) who wake up one day and
decide they are going to be anorexic usually end up in a perpetual struggle between trying to starve them selves and not being able to.
Never the less, the mind of a healthy dieter and that of a Pro Ana is ultimately quiet similar. At the end of the day all either wants is to lose weight. All either wants is to be able to resolve the issues that torment them. All either wants is to be happy.
What do you think about how closely Pro Ana is to healthy dieting? Does it make you look at Pro Anas differently?
Comments (92)
I guess if you wanna look at it like that. But, I tend to think of anorexia to be a severe disorder...not a healthy thing ;pp. I get that you're saying though. They're doing all the right things like pictures and quotes and stuff to keep you motivated, but they're a bit more extreme with the results. If I'm making any sense?
I've been called an "anorexic bitch" to my face before once because I said that I eat about 5 small meals a day.... wtf?
"Moment on the lips, forever on the hips" and "Nothing tastes as good as thin feels" are NOT healthy dieting tips.
They are "you will only be happy and healthy when you starve yourself to death" tips.
NOTHING that revolves entirely around appearance is healthy. Absolutely nothing. Only judging how much better your body feels (while eating more or less, depending on the individual, and what type/amount of exercise) can indicate a healthy change. People just need to admit that in their eyes, hot=healthy. Time for a change.
I am a mother of 4 girls and I can tell you Ana SCARES me. So much so that I would lose it and go off the deep end if I even thought one of my girls was frequenting such sights.
That being said i'm also a woman who diets, well kind of. Not so much so as in the past but yes I see what you mean. So, I guess i'm beside myself on the issue. Just, please do not go to extremes :)
@starcrossedloversdivine@xanga - small minds
@carsiiia@xanga - I agree I get it but still ;)
@Wendy@lovelyish - If you have children, the best thing you can do for them is set a good example. Teach them that food is just nutrients for their body - its not evil, it's not emotional, and it's not a reward for being good. Don't talk about your diets, and don't cut yourself down in front of them. If you do need to diet, say that you are trying to make sure you can live a long time by eating healthy. Teach them nutrition, because health class is nothing but bullpucky. Teach them that everyone has a different body and ever body had different needs.
But most of all, teach them that you love them for who they are as people - like what they do, what they are good at, how determined they are - not for being pretty!@zretrareo27@xanga - Pretty close to what I try. But, thank you for the advice. :)
@vixen_with_a_cause@lovelyish - i actually first saw those quotes at a healthy eating/living site.
i suppose so... the principles may be similar but it's a slippery slope to something dangerous.
i can definitely see the correlation.
if you dig a bit deeper though, many "pro-anas" will give tips that include things that mimic ED behaviours-- such as extremely low caloric intakes, excessive exercise, fasting, and so on. healthy dieting sites advocate for healthy caloric intakes, moderate exercise, and so on. so while they may have the same goals (to lose weight), the fine print is very different.
Everything is fine in moderation; things like dieting are fine until you take them too far.
@Peppermint__Kisses@xanga - Eh, my point still stands. I believe you, but it makes me wonder . . . would someone with a Ph. D endorse those statements? I highly doubt that; although I do admit I may have a bias as most of my education on matters of health revolves around ED's and psychology. That being said, I don't care who said it, those two "tips" revolve around nothing but appearance, and appearance does not indicate health. Only how well your body functions through daily activities and a physicans opinion can indicate health.
When I do actually eat, it tends to be very nutrient rich foods that are low cal but super healthy for you.
Lots of fruits, veggies, lean meats, whole grains.
So if I actually ate about 1000 more cals a day, I'm sure I'd be extremely healthy.
We talk about all the same diet tips and tricks as anyone else, too.
Coffees and teas to hold you over til dinner, take a brisk walk before you reach for the chocolate cake, etc.
The only difference is, we just take it to extremes.
Some people will pick at every diet blog you post. Out of every 100 Pro Ana sites maybe one of them is actually run by a thin person. You never know whats on the other end of the computer. After they make a fool out of themselves by posting nude skeleton photos of themselves they feel this need for redemption so then they go Anti Pro Ana and make some sorry ass excuse for why they got so thin. Some of the stories are to insane to believe. Cant they just say "Hey I fucked up" sorry.
idk. the problem (for many) about pro-ana is the focus on thinspiration. If you look at photoshopped pictures all day long when you go to the mirror your body image will be distorted, you will feel like crap, but not be any thinner.
i like this particular post because it is honest. you are right. there is not much difference. a few of the commenters got off topic a bit with the details, and strayed into "healthy vs. unhealthy" debate and the "you don't know who is real" argument, but that was obviously not even close to the point you were attempting to make. i agree with you completely, and i know this from experience. your situation sounds similar to mine: when the internet phase of weight loss leads you onto those "pro-ana" sites. and i've been through the process. and you are exactly right. i was pretty much fat my whole life...worked my way up and up. probably hit 200 around 12 or 13. and by 18/19 was just shy of the 300 mark. a few years later, i got down to 166. but then i thought, if i can do that much, why not see how far i can really go. and i began healthily. and it turned into obsession. and i got down to the 130s. and i don't think i have been that low since i was like 8. and now these unhealthy thoughts/habits/behaviors will not go away. if i eat, i gain, it is inevitable. so i go through the yoyo rollercoaster now. up and down from the 140s to the 180s every few months. but once you make something your lifestyle, once you dedicate yourself to something, once you've worked THIS hard for something and one little thing has the potential to ruin it all, you just can't let it go. it's never enough. you needed to make it your mindset in order to be successful. but then you can't stop. so you're right. there is no difference.
there really isn't much of a difference, pro ana just cuts back more calories than a healthy dieter would do.
Honestly, I've seen things that have been on pro-ana sites for years recently popping up in articles in magazines. So it's also the other way around.
And before I'm bashed, I'm proana in the sense that I chose not to try to recover (until recently, but it's a long story). I don't encourage people to be anorexic, actually it's hell and I'd say no one should want to be anorexic. Actually, I don't really believe you can develop anorexia solely from looking at bone-thin women and reading advice. There usually has to be some much deeper issues going on inside. Especially to take it to a life-threatening level. 9 times out of 10, anorexia is not about looking good or losing weight. That's just how the issues are projected.
Heck, I had never heard of proana first time I skipped a meal, or for several years after.
Yes, Pro-ana does borrow tips from healthy dieting, but they expand on them until they make it obsessive to the person following them. From my personal experience, going to a pro-ana website makes you obsessive and decreases your caloric intake too much.
I don't believe either are healthy dieting.
The healthy dieter is one that tries their best to eat whole and unprocessed foods in reasonable and balanced portions, but doesn't obsess about everything they put in their mouths.
To me, dieting sites are pretty twisted as well. Dieters have just taken things too far. Focusing and thinking so much about food makes it harder to stay away from it. If you keep busy and live your life, dieting is much easier.
@ellekensington@xanga - You may be interested in trying to stop that rollercoaster by taking a look at the module on the left side of my site. :3 Be healthy again and your body will try to lose the fat pretty easily if you allow you gene expression to do it for you. Just keep an open mind is all.
Healthy =/= thin/curvy/thick/fat/ has very little to do with the external appearance
If you have a balanced nutrition and lifestyle, you're able to be active, deal with stress, and still be able to eat properly, I think that's pretty healthy. Overdoing something is never healthy. If your muscles and bones can function properly and you can run for 5 minutes without feeling like you're going to have a heart attack, that's healthy. I don't know. It really sucks that the main concern is the outer appearance rather than the healthy, long-lived life for this 'healthy lifestyle' for the majority of the people. The toned body and or so-called skinniness should just be the bonus instead of the priority.
WOW! A thoughtful, honest, whole-spectrum comment about ana sites! Even pretty well-written! Good job and thanks.
I don't think Pro-Anorexia resembles healthy dieting in no way shape or form. The mind of somebody that has anorexia nervosa using those statements or looking at pictures of someone thinner is nothing like a person who just wants to lose a few pounds to look better. I don't even see how they resemble each other on the surface.
@Erika_Steele@xanga - Agreed..
i try my best not to eat and when i do its small portions of very healthy things like raw veggies or soemthing, so yah, there are similarities. but we are just warped.
@carsiiia@xanga - Sometimes they do it for darker psychological reasons. But even healthy people can slip into anorexia and let it ebb away at them.
It starts with limiting intake to 1200 calories. But 1200 calories is a lot of calories, so maybe you knock it down to 800. Which is still a big number. Maybe 500? Or a 10 day fast.
But it's worth it.