Depression Treatment

News stories have been reporting an alarming situation among women in the United States and Great Britain. Reports say that females are attempting to use alcohol as a weight loss method. They will skip a meal and have a few drinks of alcohol in place of it with the idea that it will help them shed pounds quickly. According to one statistic, almost a third of young adults between the ages of 18 to 24 skip eating in order to be able to drink more alcohol.

However, there is no evidence to support the idea that this is a growing trend. It is more likely that the phenomenon is just now being written about. The story has gained popularity by referring to young female Hollywood celebrities that likely take part in replacing meals with alcohol, and the practice has been given a new name: drunkorexia. The hope is that the women of these countries will not begin to increasingly follow this model of behavior that Hollywood is putting forth.

Drunkorexia combines two behaviors with serious negative consequences for women. Alcoholism or binge drinking and anorexia are big problems in the United States and the UK. It has been said that alcoholism is more commonly associated with bulimia than anorexia. An eating disorder along with alcoholism creates serious health conditions because the individual is getting virtually no nutritional value from the few calories that they are consuming.

Experts say that trying to lose weight by drinking alcohol in place of eating food doesn’t work, anyway. Alcohol contains a large number of calories, actually a higher ratio per gram than protein and carbohydrates.

Individuals who participate in alcohol abuse and binge drinking and tell themselves they’re doing it to lose weight could be in denial of a major problem in their lives.