Binge Eating Disorder Help for Men
Former Model Ron Saxen Recovers from Anorexia and Bulimia
Binge eating disorder help for men can be hard to come by, as eating disorders are seen as “women’s issues.” But former model Ron Saxen has recovered from anorexia and bulimia and is speaking out.
Binge Eating Disorder has been gaining a lot of attention lately, as it was recently reported to be the most prevalent eating disorder in America. It affects about 4 million people in the country and nearly 40% of them are men.
"I do think it's a growing problem nationwide that men are really suffering from eating disorders," says Marilyn Kotcher, a psychotherapist who specializes in eating disorders, "There is more pressure on men to look better. And eating has become a way that people feel that they can control some part of their lives that they can't control any other way."
At 21-years-old, Ron Saxen was a blond haired and slim model who graced the covers of magazines and strutted down the runway for top designers. But beneath his success was his secret of binge eating.
"I spent so many years in the darkness of binge eating disorder," says Saxen to abc News, "It was a way to cope with stress, good or bad. It would just numb me out. So maybe it would be a stressful situation, and I would start to feel real jittery and I would think, 'Oh, I can have some food.'"
As with most individuals with binge eating disorder, they often cut off contact from loved ones and friends in order to binge. It’s common for them to start at one fast food place and visit another, and then another, in the pursuit of food to numb them.
"I'd pull up to a McDonalds and get a couple of Big Macs, large fries, cheeseburger and a chocolate shake," he remembers, "I'd pull my jacket over the food so the person in the Taco Bell drive-thru wouldn't look at me and say, 'I'm giving you food and you've still got food.'
"Then I'd go from there and pick up a king-size Snickers, king-size Reese's, king-size Nutrageous. And then that'd be kind of too sweet. So, you might come back and have another burger or something like that."
Because Ron Saxen had to keep slim for work, though, he went through phases of over exercising and starvation. He ate less than 1,000 a day in order to try to combat the effect of his binge eating.
Now he says he’s living a life free of the disorder and will never go back to using food as a coping mechanism.
"Do I think I'm going to go back to those dark days?" Saxen asks, "Absolutely not. It's a safe bet. Put your money on it. I'm not going back." By sharing his story, hopefully many more will follow suit.
Buy his book at Amazon.
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