"Stressorexia" Affects Working Moms

"Stressorexia" is the latest media-invented term to describe disordered eating behavior (remember drunkorexia and diabulimia?). Experts say that stressorexics are mostly working moms who might skip lunch one day to meet a deadline, but self-starvation quickly becomes a way of coping with the stress of juggling work and home life. And of course once the pounds drop off, the MILF talk starts--whether it's compliments about losing baby weight or praise for juggling so much and managing to look so good.

"They are trying to be sexy, fashionable and slim, have a career and be perfect mothers and wives, says Dr. Adrian Lord, a psychiatrist. "Some neglect to eat because they are too busy and others are just totally stressed-out, which suppresses the appetite. Fifty years ago, women just had to be a good mother. Now they have to do everything and they can't abdicate."

Unfortunately, Dr. Lord goes on to blame this pressure on the "blurred roles of men and women," which seems to suggest that if we all went back to being June Cleavers and let the men bring home the bacon, there would be no mommies with eating disorders. Um, ever heard of The Feminine Mystique? That scenario didn't really result in optimum mental health for a lot of women. There's nothing wrong with staying home with your kids if you can afford it, but being a SAHM certainly doesn't protect you from being over-stressed and developing an eating disorder. The truth is that all moms would benefit from a definition of success and beauty that is more in balance with reality, not Us Weekly. [Daily Mail]