New dangerous phenomenon: drunkorexia

If you go overboard with losing weight and eat way too little, that's called anorexia. We know that. But now a new phenomenon is spreading around the world and it's dangerous.

It's called drunkorexia.

And it's bizarre, but it's suddenly quite common, especially among younger girls. It means you hardly eat anything during the day because you drink wine or something else with alcohol in the evening. Because you count those calories, you allow yourself not to eat anything during the day. So you are starving yourself because you want to drink (a lot of) alcohol, and on an empty stomach, it hits extra hard. People do it to become thinner and therefore eat nothing so they can party, but they also do it to get drunk quickly and spend less money on drinks. Either way: life-threatening. And an incredibly bad plan.

The difference with a ‘normal’ eating disorder like bulimia or anorexia is that drunkorexia is intended to not gain weight while still wanting to party, want to act crazy and want to drink. It can also be accompanied by intentional vomiting or obsessive exercising, so that you can drink that glass of wine without feeling guilty afterwards. Of course, there are always gradations to be found. Research shows that it occurs quite frequently, although you might not expect that: at least 12 percent of adolescents between 16-21 years old have eaten ‘a little less and watched their calories because they were going to drink alcoholic beverages’ in the past month. Among female students it even occurs in some degree in half, according to some researchers. It goes something like this: you had a night out drinking with your friends, wine, beer, everything you felt like . You're hungover. But you feel guilty about all those calories you've consumed, so you plan a spinning class for the next morning while still half-drunk in the middle of the night. You’re getting rid of those calories again, so to speak. This is also drunkorexia. Research involving more than 25,000 young people shows that those who binge drink also tend to exercise excessively.

I have honestly never thought about it like this when pouring myself a glass of wine, but now that I know this, I want to say just one thing as a psychologist to all young people, older people, women, students, men, everyone who feels guilty about the calories in a drink: please let it go. Enjoy your sip. It's not worth that battle in your head.

Source: Psychology Today