I love a girl who can eat...

Last Monday a colleague of mine, let’s call him Jim, was describing his weekend to me. He thoroughly covered the highlights of the soccer game (I actually watched it myself but I decided not to burst his manly bubble), his new cool sneakers and his date Saturday night. After describing how the wonder looked (the girl) – tiny waist, longs slender legs, blond – he exclaimed “…and she ate almost as much as I did! I love a girl who orders a big steak with lots of sauce instead of a skimpy salad.” EERHHH, now wait just a minute, did he say tiny waist AND steak dipped in béarnaise? As Jim received slaps on the back from the nearest cavemen, the woman next to me looked as puzzled as myself but shook it off and continued with the news paper. As you might know by now – I talk before I think and even if I think first, I rarely find much reason to shut up – so I said what every female within earshot was thinking. “…and how long was she in the bathroom after you had dinner?” Well I never said I was elegant.

Now it was Jim and the buddies turn to look puzzled. If you feel the same way let me explain to you as I did to them. If a girl has long slender legs and a tiny waist she must have a certain diet. Either she eats healthy and is an excessive runner, or she doesn’t eat. If she on the other hand inhales a big steak with chips and cream sauce on the side and suggest dessert afterwards you have a binger. Which means she loves food so much that she sees it twice – second time in reverse.

Jim huffed and said “no no, she said she has a high metabolism,” Yeah…

Let’s set that one straight once and for all. High metabolism is a syndrome and is very rare. The people who suffer from this disease really struggles to maintain a healthy weight not to lose all the calcium, iron, vitamins and other essential things for the body to function that flushes through their system almost untouched. It is so to say an ‘error’ in the body that makes it unable to hold on to the nourishment it is fed with. Considering the rareness of this illness, the chance of you dating such a person more than twice in your lifetime, is very little. On the other hand, the chance of you going on a date with a person with an eating disorder is one to two.

The numbers are frightening high when it comes to eating disorders (ED) and includes everything from anorexia (the small-salad-and-a-pickle-girl), bulimia (king-size-in-reverse-girl), binge eating disorder (king-size-major-guilt-girl). The latest will often be overweight, while the first two will look ‘normal’ or under-weight. Did you know that the ED has the highest mortality rate of all mental illnesses? Including diseases as schizophrenia and depression?

This is why I reacted rather strong to Jim’s indifference. As he said, I ‘killed’ the fun for him, but it is really important to acknowledge that this exists. Now Jim can be a jerk, but I think he hadn’t realized the seriousness of his date leaving for the bathroom after dinner. Well, maybe it really was nothing. Maybe she always eats a big dinner on the first date, knowing she will get a guys attention this way, or maybe she actually has a high metabolism. But the next time you notice your date, a friend, a sibling, a colleague or anyone you are close to constantly going to the bathroom right after dinner, having cut their nails very short without reason, yellowing teeth or vomit in the sink after their visit to the bathroom… please be alarmed.

I cringe inside every time I hear a guy say “I love a girl who can eat” and sees how skinny his girlfriend is. A light bulb should go on in his head when he two minutes later makes fun of the fat woman in the street, commenting “she should eat less”. I am mystified of how this is still going on, because it really isn’t that hard to figure out.