Eminem Used To Have An Eating Disorder and So Might A Lot of Guys
A forgotten Men’s Journal magazine story on Eminem reveals some interesting news: the rapper developed an eating disorder after he got back from his time in rehab for a pill addiction.
He said this in an interview:
“It’s easy to understand how people replace addiction with exercise. One addiction for another but one that’s good for them. I got an addict’s brain, and when it came to running, I think I got a little carried away. I became a fucking hamster. Seventeen miles a day on a treadmill. I would get up in the morning, and before I went to the studio, I would run eight and a half miles in about an hour. Then I’d come home and run another eight and a half. I started getting OCD about the calories, making sure I burned 2,000 every day. In the end I got down to about 149 pounds. I ran to the point where I started to get injured. All the constant pounding from the running began to tear up my hip flexors.”
Behavior like this falls into the same category of disordered eating as bulimia and anorexia. And Eminem’s not alone. The Chicago Tribune just wrote a piece on the rising issue of male anorexia.
“80 percent of eating disorders in men go undiagnosed,” one doctor, Dr. Kimberli McCallum said.
“I really think men and boys aren’t getting treatment at all. Instead they’re worked up for gastrointestinal problems, or told their pulse is low because they’re athletic, or sent for psychotherapy that’s not specialized. Sometimes the primary care doctor will think it’s an endocrine or thyroid problem. They don’t think to screen young men for eating disorder.”
And according to the National Eating Disorders Association, gay men make up 42 percent of all men who have eating disorders.
Well guys, the good news is: we’re all in it together.
