Picky eating = new eating disorder?

An interesting story popped up on my RSS feed the other day, and although I fought the inclination to post about it right away, I can’t fight this feeling anymore (oh yes, I just said that).

The story was about how the University of Pittsburgh and Duke University launched the first national registry of picky eating in adults – and some researchers are thinking about considering it an officially recognized eating disorder.

Yes, you read that correctly, picky eating may become an OFFICIAL eating disorder in the same vein as anorexia and bulimia.

The premise of the argument stems from the idea that these picky peoples’ eating habits prevent them from getting all the necessary nutrients one needs to maintain a healthy lifestyle, and thus are at a disadvantage. Ok, fair enough. But do we really need an officially classified disorder to give people yet another excuse to engage in unhealthy behavior?

If you hate the taste of carrots and broccoli, that’s your preference and you’ll probably develop some vitamin deficiency. If you avoid a party with friends because you know the host makes weird, outlandish food when she entertains, that’s your prerogative and you’ll maybe lose a friend or have someone think you’re strange. Why must it be a disorder all of the sudden?

I can’t stomach asparagus or uncooked tomatoes – maybe I need to see a psychiatrist. My wife hates all seafood for the most part – maybe she needs to take a pill. Is that a stretch in the not so distant future?

My beef (hehe) is this: at some point someone needs to draw the line between disorders/addictions and weaknesses/shortcomings.

I am nothing special – let me say that first. I do not consider myself to be any healthier, smarter or more socially adept than anyone else. However, the following statements are true…

I understand that eating nothing but red meat and fried food can be detrimental to my physical health. I CHOOSE to try to avoid fast food and eat healthy. I understand that gambling can get me in trouble financially and possibly legally. I CHOOSE to not gamble very often. I understand that cheating on my wife has many ramifications. I CHOOSE to be faithful.

But the guy next door can say his heart attack and extreme obesity was caused by his picky eating disorder, his house was foreclosed because of his gambling compulsion and his wife left him over his sex addiction that made him cheat on her with multiple women.

NO – you made poor decisions and succumbed to weaknesses that millions of people fight everyday.

I don’t know how anyone else feels about this, but I say we chill out with making everything official. Maybe some people just make “officially” poor decisions sometimes. Maybe some of us are “officially” bad people.



All right, enough ranting and raving for one day. Give me your thoughts, if you have some – and I know you do, you wonderfully intelligent, opinionated readers you. ;)

See you on Monday, when we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled, twice a day programming. Please try to contain your excitement. Xoxoxoxo

DIY Medicine vs. The Doctor - eh?

I heard an ad on the radio the other day for a free magical in-home cholesterol testing kit and it really got me thinking about doctors and health care and politics… and then I drove my car directly off the nearest cliff.



Just kidding, but seriously. It did make me wonder about the cost of health-related services and the legitimacy of do-it-yourself medicinal practice. Let’s break this down like its 1997 and Limp Bizkit just hit the stage… ya’ll.

TIME
1) The magical in-home cholesterol testing kit, or MIHCTK as we call it on the streets, gives your results immediately… which means apparently this company has the technology that my doctor, who tells me I need to wait 10 days for the results, is sorely lacking. Seriously, 10 days to get blood test results? Aren’t they just putting the blood in a little robot that shakes it up then analyzes it? Or maybe that was Jurassic Park…. Either way, 10 days seems a bit absurd doc.

COST
2) The MIHCTK costs practically nothing – after all, the ad said it was free, and I think I heard that somewhere on the Internet too (ed. note: sarcasm). Whereas the doctor… well that’s a conversation that could be as diluted and misunderstood as the health care bill itself (heyooooo!). Let’s say you have a $20 co-pay, you haven’t reached your $500 deductible and the test isn’t considered “preventative” according to some stranger-with-no-insight-into-your-specific-health-situation’s definition of the term. One could realistically be looking at $100 just to determine your HDL, LDL and Triglycerides.

So for those of you keeping score at home…
Doctor: 10 days (or 14,400 minutes) vs. MIHCTK: 5 minutes
Doctor: $100 vs. MIHCTK: free
Score at the end of two -- Doctor: 0 – MIHCTK: 2.

I know, I know – (read this in a condescending tone) “What do you know about cholesterol and health care and all that jazz Mr. Big Shot blogger dude with 35 fans on Facebook and three followers on Twitter?” And to be honest, you’d be absolutely correct in assuming said condescending tone. I know next to nothing, other than what Bill O’Reilly and John Stewart tell me.



What I DO know is that many people, including myself, avoid the doctor / dentist / optometrist / podiatrist / whateverist like the plague (how ironic) because every time we go, we get a bill a few weeks later even though we thought the service/procedure was covered. During a routine procedure recently, I flat out looked my doctor in the eye and said “Wait, is this going to cost me extra?” He quickly mutters something about how it’s definitely covered if I have insurance X (which I do). Two weeks later, wouldn’t you know, I get a bill from his office for several hundred bucks and then a $350 bill from some lab who apparently analyzed the results. What. The. Ef. (PG-13)

So at this point, the only saving grace for doctors in my cholesterol screening competition is the expertise factor. If my doctor finds that my cholesterol is high, he can set me on the right path and give me recommendations for a healthier lifestyle… but can’t I get that on the internet anyways? Ugh.

In the end though, despite trailing 0 – 2, the doctor will inevitably win this round. The organization offering the MIHCTK was a fish oil company that claims its product drastically reduces cholesterol… I’d be willing to bet the MIHCTK tells damn near everyone their cholesterol is too high. And after all, haven’t our grandparents, parents and economics teachers always said there’s no such thing as a free lunch? And if there’s no such thing as a free lunch, clearly there’s no such thing as a free MIHCTK.

- TS