#HipHop4Her: Drunkorexia (WATCH)

Drunkorexia: The Diet  for College Kids

Since 2008, women all across the country have been joining in on a new fad diet. It is said the secret to a great body is water and exercise. However, drinking only water throughout the day and consuming alcohol in the night is hardly a fitness plan. The goal of this diet is to save as many calories throughout the day in order to have space to ingest alcohol – eat less, drink more. This type of diet leads to serious health consequences such as damages to the heart, liver and stomach.

“Drunkorexia” or “Alcorexia” is a new slang term to combine the following disorders: bulimia, anorexia and alcoholism. With regard to the 30 million people suffering from an eating disorder; 20 million are women. According to the Multi-Service Eating Disorders Association (MEDA), 40% of those women are in college. Although it has become popular among college females, males are also picking up on this trend. A study by the Wellness Resource Center of University of Missouri shows that males take part in the diet in order to use the money that would be spent for food towards more alcohol.

To most college students of both genders this isn’t a diet. They are unaware of this term and fail to acknowledge that their daily party routines are actually harmful. Many college students all over America binge drink and over the years this drinking style has become popular and accepted in social groups. All college students put themselves more at risk because they are constantly trying to keep up with their peers and/or are trying to compete with the pressures society puts on them to diet. For the students who are suffering from an eating disorder or for the students who are party animals this is a trend that doesn’t seem to be dying down anytime soon.

Miguela German, Ph.D., Clinical Psychiatrist from the Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, NY was asked what she thinks universities should do to prevent this issue:

Dr. German: I think colleges need to build awareness that these behaviors are not normal and potentially can cause harm to the students’ bodies. Universities need to campaign a public announcement about this to teach college students to be aware of this.