August 19, 2015
Page 7
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O PINION
Binge Eating is a Hidden Hand in Obesity
The clock ran
out for my
brother
J ILL R ICHARDSON
If you looked at
me, you might not
be able to tell that
I’m obese.
According to the measure of
my Body Mass Index (BMI), I
am. Slightly.
I don’t wear plus-sized cloth-
ing, I’ve only got one chin, and
you wouldn’t mind sitting next
to me on an airplane.
Most people who are con-
sidered overweight or obese in
United States are a lot like me.
In fact, even though 69 percent
RI DGXOWV ZHUH RI¿FLDOO\ RYHU-
weight or obese in 2012, only
about 15 percent are so obese
BY
that they’re expected to suffer
increased mortality.
My brother Adam was one of
those people. He suffered from
Binge Eating Disorder, a
B
d diagnosis psychologists
d didn’t even recognize
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a after his death.
During his life, my
b brother was mired in
shame about his body and his
eating. He hid his binges from
our family. He lied about it. He
told us he never ate fast food,
but a glance at his bank state-
ments after his death showed he
was a regular at every drive-th-
ru in town. And he made large
purchases.
An estimated 3.5 percent of
women and 2 percent of men
share my brother’s problem.
Two-thirds of them are obese.
That includes a close friend
of mine. Unlike my brother,
she doesn’t keep her eating a
secret. She hates it. She wants
to stop. But she feels com-
pelled to frequently eat beyond
feeling full. And I don’t think
she knows why.
Others who binge eat have
shared that they eat so much
in order to block out their
emotional pain. They want to
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so that the physical pain fully
consumes them and their emo-
tions disappear.
Some research suggests that
binge eating might provide a
high similar to smoking mari-
juana.
Often, public discussions
of obesity focus on educating
Americans to help them “make
better choices.” If you’re suf-
fering from Binge Eating Dis-
order, someone telling you
to eat an apple instead of a
brownie isn’t going to help.
Hounding people about their
diets doesn’t address the root
causes of eating disorders. It’s
about as effective as telling an
anorexic that she’s too skin-
ny and telling her to eat a big
steak.
In fact, shaming someone
with Binge Eating Disorder for
his or her weight could even
make the problem worse.
Not all obese people suffer
from Binge Eating Disorder,
but it’s good to be aware that
some do — especially since
shame compels many suffer-
ers to keep it a secret. And be
compassionate. Because only
through compassion and em-
pathy can we help people fac-
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back to health.
The clock ran out for my
brother, but I wonder what
would have happened if he’d
found help. What if he knew he
didn’t have to be ashamed of
his binges? Or of his body?
Now that Binge Eating
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ognized diagnosis, we should
change our national conversa-
tion about diet-related health
problems to address it.
If you think your loved one
or a friend might be suffering
from this problem, offer real
help — not diet advice. And for
those of us who aren’t medical
professionals, the best help we
can give might be love, empa-
thy, and listening without judg-
ing.
OtherWords columnist Jill
Richardson is the author of
Recipe for America: Why Our
Food System Is Broken and
What We Can Do to Fix It.
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Sandra Bland’s
life mattered
M ARC H. M ORIAL
For many of us, it
was with a sickening
sense of familiarity
that we watched the
video recording of
the violation of the
welfare and rights of
yet another person of color at
the hands of law enforcement.
Unfolding right before our very
eyes, we witnessed as another
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to a tragic and fatal end.
Two days before authorities
would discover Sandra Bland’s
lifeless body in her Texas jail
cell, the 28-year-old called a
IULHQGDIWHUKHU¿UVWFRXUWDSSHDU-
ance and left a 22-second voice-
mail asking, “How did switching
lanes with no signal turn into all
of this? I don’t even know.”
The details of her arrest and
her untimely death have left her
family, friends, and those con-
cerned about the treatment of
people of color in our nation’s
criminal justice system, wonder-
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stop “turn into all of this?”
On Friday, July 10, Bland was
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pulled over by state trooper Bri-
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cer’s dashboard camera video,
Encinia ordered Bland to
step out of her car after she
refused his order to put out
her cigarette.
The confrontation be-
tween the two continued
to escalate as Encinia at-
tempted to pull Bland out
of her car and then threatened
to use his taser gun on her. The
remainder of the confrontation,
and her eventual arrest, is not
caught on camera, but we can
hear her screaming during the
arrest that the trooper is about
to break her wrist and that he
has slammed her head into the
ground. She was taken to the
Waller County jail on a charge
of assaulting a public servant
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Three days later, on Monday,
July 13, Bland was discovered
dead in her jail cell after alleged-
ly hanging herself with a gar-
bage bag. A medical examiner
has ruled the death suicide by
hanging, but her family and pro-
testors are disputing the autopsy
results. Bland’s relatives have
ordered a private autopsy and
Waller County District Attorney
Elton Mathis has opened up a
probe into Bland’s death and has
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case like a murder investigation.
We don’t yet know how San-
dra Bland died in her jail cell, but
the video of her arrest is cause
enough for grave concern. And
for those committed to reform-
ing our nation’s broken criminal
justice system, it is an urgent call
for action.
As the litany of names of un-
armed black and brown men and
women brutalized and killed by
law enforcement multiplies, so
does the skepticism and distrust
so many feel for a system that
has proven time and again to be
stacked against them and their
communities at every level of
justice.
Encinia’s behavior at the traf-
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The Texas Department of Pub-
lic Safety must not tolerate this
disrespectful and provocative
method of policing from Encin-
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supposed to be trained to de-es-
calate tense situations, not esca-
late them.
We cannot limit our concern
and anger to motionless out-
rage. While we mourn the loss
of countless victims of police
violence and injustice, we must
be loud and engaged advo-
cates for the sort of change that
will save lives and rebuild that
much-needed trust between law
enforcement and all communi-
ties entrusted to their care and
protection. Attorney General
Loretta Lynch has expressed her
hope that the tragic loss of San-
dra Bland will galvanize more
law enforcement departments to
institute de-escalation training.
This is the kind of training that
could have saved Bland’s life.
We reiterate our call ¬ as we
have in the wake of far too many
incidents of police violence ¬
for the comprehensive retraining
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and strengthening of police hir-
ing standards and the widespread
use of body and dashboard cam-
eras. We will continue to hold
law enforcement accountable
when it fails to treat all citizens
fairly and with dignity.
We will work to bridge the
widespread and dangerous dis-
trust between law enforcement
and too many communities of
color. And we will dedicate
ourselves to this mission for
our nation’s sake, for Bland
and for the innumerable others
taken by police violence that
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us or with us.
Marc H. Morial is president
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the National Urban League.
The Law Offices of
Patrick John Sweeney, P.C.
Patrick John Sweeney
Attorney at Law
1549 SE Ladd, Portland, Oregon
Portland:
Hillsoboro:
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Email:
(503) 244-2080
(503) 244-2081
(503) 244-2084
Sweeney@PDXLawyer.com