Anyone here ever watch that movie “Requiem for a Dream”?
It basically follows Labyrinth princess and 30 Seconds to Mars Guy on their downward spiral into drug addiction. But the fun side story to it is Ellen Burstyn’s character, Sarah Goldfarb – who plays Leto’s mom. Homegirl loves to snack on candy and watch motivational speakers on T.V. When she falls for a scam and believes she too can be on T.V., her main mission in life’s suddenly to lose several pounds. Thus, she hits up her local white coat cloaked legal pusher who subsequently diagnoses her with some sort’ve binge eating disorder. And administers her an array of amphetamines to eat each day.
And, before we know it, she’s just as much a junkie as her son and his woman.
The movie was a very accurate portrayal of our culture at the time.
And while I’d love to say we’ve improved over time….
Not so much. In fact, it’s only gotten worse since nineteen-ninety-whenever-this-came-out.
The thing is – if it’s not heroin or cocaine or something-else-illegal, people believe these extremes are acceptable. Binge eat… and then barf it up. Binge eat… and then take a pill til you wanna eat nada. Binge eat… and… wait. Why not press the reverse button on binging? Prior to pushing a palliative, why aren’t we asking why? Why are we binge eating? That’s what the advent of this new anti-feasting pharmaceutical called Vyvanse has got me asking. Though I’ve heard about it (and its “success”) in a couple’ve different places, I couldn’t help but develop cranial scrapes from all the facepalm after reading into it.
Because aside from being a strong central nervous system stimulant, they don’t even know how it works.
Per WebMD:
“In the two large clinical trials done by Shire, researchers found the drug worked to lessen the number of binge eating episodes.”
Okay. Well that’s nice. Let’s move onto the “yes-but” bit:
“It’s not clear how the drug helps against eating binges, says Marx, who’s also the associate medical director of the Eating Recovery Center in Denver.”
Okay, it’s great that people got results. But, while that might sound like success, we have to decide how we’re defining “success” here. Is it losing a fkk ton of weight now, gaining a drug dependency long term (and tolerance to your newfound el-bee deficit in a bottle) only to gain it all back while you lose your mind in a psych ward?
If we look deep into our hearts, I feel like we’ll all realize simultaneously that answer is “no”.
What’s needed here, rather, is good a psycho-shovel to our subconsciousness.
To ask: why is it we wanna overdo our oral Dyson-ing in the first place?
As one nutritionist (who runs one’ve those wellness retreats) aptly puts it:
“A multi-pronged approach, one that addresses the many factors at the root of the disorder, offers the greatest hope of recovery. Among those factors is the need to move away from restrictive notions about food and eating, as well as unrealistic ideals about body size. Notions about “good” and “bad” foods, how we all “should” eat, and what we all “should” weigh have created an epidemic of eating problems that has culminated in eating disorders like BED.”
It’s not about thinking thin.
It’s about thinking about why you eat fat in the first place.
Healthily thin people don’t think thin.
It’s not a battle won one affirmation at a time.
They just do it naturally.
If you hafta actively fight a malicious default, you’ve gotta unveil the motive behind that.
What’s more, the side effects (you know, that laundry list of awfulness the T.V. announcer says in a low tone at the commercial’s conclusion at the speed of an auctioneer?) sound pretty effing bad: there’s the dry mouth, the insomnia, racey heart symptoms, tweaked out feelings, and backed up bowels – just to name a few. The most serious, though? Cardiac complications. And this would all be easy to pass off if 85% of the pill popping test subjects hadn’t experienced some sort’ve bad reaction. But they did.
And then, finally, there’s the biggie:
Substance abuse.
You know, anyone can become physically dependent on a habit forming pharmaceutical. However, someone with a binge eating disorder (particularly someone who’s not addressing the underlying issues as suggested above) is uber prone to other compulsive feel-good behavior that leads to full on addiction. The only way to keep the demons from regenerating like some demonic starfish leg, is to start peeling away your layers of motivation. Self help books. Shrinks. Over-nommers Anonymous meetings. Whatever works for you – just find some thing that helps you turn inward for answers – not out. This is one of those rare instances where I can be an authority on something – because I’ve struggled with all sorts’ve external obsessions my entire life. And the moment you quit one thing, another rears its hideous head, like a vexing game at Chuck E. Cheese. Good hypothetical example? Quitting the binge-age, only to fall for the adrenalizing high that accompanies such uppers as Vyvanse.
And that, I think, is what makes pills like this so abhorrently unforgivable.
They’re hitting on a prime target demographic: people seeking solace through addictive behavior. Vyvanse is not going to fix you. Medical manufacturing corporations don’t profit off wellness. The profit off problems. Thus, there’s no desire to fix the issue ’cause they need the issue for income. (Cue to meme of Jack Sparrow, asking, “Savvvvvy?”) And that’s why they’re taking whatever these poor gluttonous bastards have been gnawing on from the frying pan, throwing it into the fire, leaving them fried… and ultimately returning for more.
Moral of the story?
Don’t be a Goldfarb and fall for this shiz, my fellow foodies. Don’t fall for your own bullshiz, for that matter, either. (You know, that nagging non-logic telling you you’re any better than the common dope fiend?) Instead of all that nonsense, I encourage you to chat up some fellow folk afflicted with your same condition. (I did for mine – and it was invaluable.) If you suffer from face-stuffing and want help, there’re heaps of meetings and media out there:
1.) Here’s a website for eating disorders (complete with a hotline).
2.) Here’s a OA chatroom (if you need good, faceless assistance ASAP).
3.) And here’s a literary list of DIY books on how to go from gorging to gorgeous – from the inside out.
Best of luck.