An apple a day keeps the doctor away

But uh, you actually have to eat more than that. You know, get your protein and other daily nutrients. 

Recently, in my language arts class, we've been watching a documentary called "Miss Representation." While talking about the media setting unrealistic body images for girls and women, they mentioned that 65% of women and girls in the U.S. have an eating disorder. This really made me question it. Would over half the population of the United States have an eating disorder, when womenshealth.gov also reports that as of 2007, over 60% of women in the U.S. are overweight? I kind of doubt that our entire demographic could shift within six years. And it hasn't. The Weight-control Information Network reported that in 2009-2010, 64% of women were overweight or obese.
 
The main questions that were brought to my mind were involving both ends of the spectrum then. What was considered an "eating disorder?" And what qualifies someone as overweight?

Firstly though, I fact checked the 65% statistic that the documentary gave me. And it was true. According to News Medical, 65% of women in the U.S. do have an eating disorder. But reading that article, you can see there are links for the words "eating disorder." Following that link, it takes you to a page titled "What is an Eating Disorder?" And according to Dr. Ananya Mandal, MD, an eating disorder can be someone eating too little or too much. Wait, so why would "Miss Representation" say that 65% of women have an eating disorder? Oh right, to make their case look better. Much of that 65% we could assume is simply eating unhealthily, such as overeating. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defined overweight, saying that "Overweight and obesity are both labels for ranges of weight that are greater than what is generally considered healthy for a given height." They also state that BMI (body mass index) also helps determine someone's physical state, by using height and weight to determine their amount of body fat. While that often cannot be applied to some people, such as athletes, it is often a fairly accurate measure of a person's body fat.  

So might I be interpreting these eating disorder statistics wrong? I suppose. Science Daily reported the same 65% statistic, along with an extra 10% of women who report consistent symptoms of disorders like bulimia and anorexia. So wait. What was the 65%? Overall, not much of this adds up. They also say that 67% of women are trying to lose weight. Well anyone can say that. I'm trying to lose weight, I've been skipping that bag of chips at lunch! "53% of of dieters are already at a healthy weight and are still trying to lose weight." Wait, this one doesn't say women. I know that's jumping to a huge conclusion, but it's a little suspicious. And it doesn't say it'd be unhealthy for those dieters to lose weight. You may want to be more healthy, gain more muscle, whatever. Then it says that 13% of women (I assume women anyway) smoke to lose weight. Hang on, did I miss the memo? Does this is actually a good idea? I was a little lost in all these statistics,

So I decided to go straight to the source. This 65% business came from a survey taken by Self magazine. Self magazine is a magazine for women that features tips on health, beauty, fitness, nutrition, and happiness. Now this information's starting to make more sense. Let's think for a second? Who subscribes to a fitness magazine? Healthy people who are happy with their bodies? Honestly, they're not usually the ones to do so. So looking at the actual article, something struck me as hugely disproving of this 65% statistic. "The online SELF survey garnered responses from 4,000 women ages 25 to 45..." HOLD THE PHONE. Since when is 4,000 women with only a twenty year age frame a good enough sample size to apply the statistic to the entire United States? And an online survey nonetheless, from a health magazine website? 

So in conclusion, folks, I encourage you to always doubt what you are told. Though the words might be true, are they being presented in a way that is meant to imply something different? "Miss Representation" used a fact that is apparently widely accepted. But from a few simple Google searches and a little bit of reading, I'm doubting the way they presented it. And it will also make me doubt any other statistics they try to show me. They weren't lying, but they sure weren't telling the truth.