Newest ED "News"

I received an email update from NEDA (National Eating Disorders Association). Now, I have some issues with this organization especially in the past few years. Granted, I did go to Washington D.C. on NEDA's "lobby day" when I felt that NEDA represented people like me, but since then, I have seen this organization do more harm than good for the eating disorder population.

Not only have they just RECENTLY started to address men in the community (something I have written to them about and even spoken about in Senate meetings many years ago), but it seems to me that NEDA is only concerned with their ability to gain funding....by...any.....means....or narrative....necessary.

What proof? Welp! Just ask yourself, "where is all of this money even going?" When I was still sick in my disorder, I wrote to NEDA. I did not have money, a rich family, a support system...and due to my state laws, I wasn't eligible for state health insurance nor unemployment or disability. I was 55 pounds and couldn't walk more than 20 steps without a cane. I needed help and resources. What did I get? Nothing. I was directed to look at programs such as Remuda Ranch.....with that hefty price tag, and other options that rarely accepted health insurance (even though I had none anyway). I had to find my own way. Thanks to God...He did it for me!

I can't help but get upset when I get NEDA newsletters that report their annual "ball", a fundraiser so extravagant that I suspect that the planning costs more than what is raised. I get upset when I see newsletters speaking of "gender dysphoria" equated with people who have eating disorders...as if we need even MORE of a stigma and pigeon hole! Not to mention wanting MEN to be transparent with EDs...yet inject the thoughts that people with disordered eating connects to trans? Ugh!

This latest newsletter is a congratulatory statement about a grant received that is to be used to study how anorexia is a brain disorder. Gag me with a spoon! (Pun intended) Seriously.....all that money to find out what we already know? Of COURSE EDs are partly a brain issue! Why? BECAUSE WHEN YOU STARVE YOU BODY, YOU STARVE YOUR ABILITY TO PRODUCE HORMONES THAT EFFECT YOUR BRAIN!!!!! It ain't rocket science! You all know by now that I believe EDs start with a spiritual issue, but we will never receive any kind of mass attention if we actually put a label on THAT issue. It's not trendy, or "sciencey". NEDA is notorious for riding the main stream "fads", talking points, and popular "inclusive" topics that will ensure funding.

Funding raised doesn't go to help actual people suffering. It does not obtain any kind of legislation changes that will ensure that sufferers can live, heal, or function on their own. NEDA doesn't have the funding for high stakes lobbyists that make "deals" with governmental entities that can get things done. (You know, we give you money, you make our stuff "happen") Eating disorders are serious, and always have been, but instead of attention and money going to people in need of help; society, medicine, and government would rather attack and throw money at people wanting to cut off genitals, pretend they're the opposite sex, etc.....

Make this make sense! If ED is body dysphoria and has a death and suicide rate higher than any mental illness....then why is it okay for someone with "gender dysphoria" to not be classified as having a "brain" issue or mental illness? People are kissing their proverbial padded spanks in order to make them comfortable, provide insurance coverage for procedures and medicines that degrade their health....yet EDs are still ignored? Well, I guess NEDA must have the right idea after all, huh? Combine trans with EDs and maybe people will pay attention? At what cost? Shame is associated with eating disorders. Why make them think they have (or have had) issues with their gender as well? Oh man! Anyway, I guess my biggest beef here is that NEDA is by far the most widely known organization dedicated to the eating disorder population. Instead of helping sick people, they are doing what every other organization does: waste money on pointless studies that ultimately get us nowhere. What's the point of funding scientific research to gain answers, if after we get answers, nothing is done anyway? We need to start getting real about the issue of food, psychology, physiology, and money. Efforts are wasted, if bad money is going after bad money while people suffer and die.

I wrote articles about how covid impacted EDers.....nobody talked about this until years later. I wrote articles about men and eating disorders (especially in the gym atmosphere)....nobody talked about it until a decade later. I'm frustrated with everything concerning this issue. I know this is a bit of a rant, but I have gone through hell, made it out (with zero help from any organization)...and watch people sit in their own hell with no option for recovery, that is, unless you're rich and spoiled......which by the way, isn't that the stigma that NEDA was originally trying to break? Hmmmm.....go figure.