Well, he managed the stress by resigning from government, and he has himself drawn attention to his weight and how he's trying to manage it on a number of occasions.

For the last frickin' time people, eating disorders are psychological, not physical diseases.

I think that statement requires more qualification/expansion, because as it stands, it's not a very meaningful (or accurate) statement. That sort of dualism certainly isn't reflective of our current understanding of eating disorders. I assume you have very sophisticated knowledge of the topic, so maybe some further elaboration of your understanding would be beneficial.

Alright, well looking at your book, I'll assume you have ridiculously sophisticated understanding of the topic. But would still appreciate some clarification.

Pup, MD, thanks for the prompt. What I mean is that eating disorders, while they have physical implications, stem from psychological causes. You can't just gain or lose weight and then expect the disorder to be solved because the conditions that create it are rooted in the mind and heart. I could go on forever, but I hope that clarifies.

Well said Courtney! It's not *about* weight. Weight is usually a cover for everything else.

while you're absolutely right in your analysis of the bbc article and how it's excellent to focus on the ways in which men struggle with body image...

i think it's a little inaccurate to cast "men's health" as a "lad mag" - the category which includes mags such as maxim and fhm...

while i've definitely found men's health to be severely lacking in positive substance when compared to some of rodale's other publications (women's health, prevention, etc.), it's definitely more fixed on fitness and healthy choices than, say, cosmo, and is more marketed to men who are interested in fitness rather than men who are interested in simply being desired (cosmo) or looking at half-naked women (lad mags)...

at the same time, it is telling that both MH and WH have weight loss as one of their top categories... even if those weight loss categories primarily stress active lifestyles...

i mean, where's the balance... i think both MH and WH are great mags in that they're both fitness-focused periodicals that are not strictly about body building... are there any magazines out there that you think speak to an active lifestyle but do not encourage unhealthy self-image? (i'm thinking of Outside magazine right now, though it's not really focused on fitness, more on getting outdoors...)

in the interest of full disclosure, my partner is an editor at WH...

finally, i think soledad's point that it's ridiculous to claim that this cat is more brave than less privileged women coming forward is on point... and that your point about the psychological root causes of the disease need a lot more attention than they get... no matter who's coming forward...

Thanks, Courtney. And I'd 100% agree.

I thought you were going all Cartesian on us :0)

I've known one of my friends (one of my best friends) since I was 14 or 15. We went to junior high together (not actual junior high, but the equivalent we have in my country) and we've stayed closely in touch since then.

When our friendship started, he was slightly pudgy. Not over-weight or anything, just not Brad Pitt-like. Soon after that he started working out (something I didn't do at that time), and there was a bunch of other people in our little group of friends that did that too, so they talked a lot about it (best techniques, how much they could bench, etc.), and it was pretty clear he was really into it.

By the end of high school, he was buff. I mean, he basically had washboard abs. He could have modeled. I didn't really think anything of it at the time.

A few years after high school (I think we were 20 at the time), we were out drinking one night and we got to talking, and he confessed to me that he had an eating disorder that he had struggled with for years, a result of having gone in to a depression.

I was stunned. I had absolutely no idea. I'm fairly perceptive when it comes to these things, and I was totally shocked. I told him that I didn't think it was anything to be ashamed of, and that I certainly didn't think any less of him. I also shared with him some pretty traumatic things I've been through, for reciprocity and to show him that he could trust me.

He hasn't (as far as I know) told any of our other friends, and we don't really talk about it (we're guys, we don't interact in that way), but I've subtly let him know that I'm there if he ever needs help or support.

My only experience with men who have eating-disorders is him, but I don't think his situation is unusual. I never thought he looked dangerously thin or anything, he just looked extremely good. I suspect that there's many guys out there who have eating disorders that also work out a whole lot, so you don't see the results. I suspect that the proportion of guys is higher than 10%, we just don't know that they are out there.