There are many interesting aspects of hunger and weight. Of course it all seems pretty obvious since we go through this process of hunger multiple times in a day, but its good to know the specifics of what our body actually goes through. When we get hungry, hormones like insulin (when it has no more glucose to break down), orexin, and ghrelin are secreted by the lateral hypothalamus. When we are full, hormones like obestatin, PYY, and leptin are secreted by the ventromedial hypothalamus. All of these hormones work together to make sure we eat when our body needs nourishment and we stop eating when our body just can't take it anymore. Unfortunately, it doesn't work as perfectly as we'd like it to. The psychological aspects can lead to eating disorders. Eating disorders indicate unhealthy eating habits, whether you are eating too much or too little. Anorexia occurs when an individual drops 15% or more below what is considered normal weight. Bulimia occurs when a person binges and then purges. Both are extremely dangerous and can have serious physical consequences. When a person has anorexia, their perception is skewed. They have a distorted view of their own body image and usually have a perfectionist mentality. Bulimia has to do more with being in control and is less noticeable since you are not necessarily gaining or losing weight.
Now that we've gone through the basics of hunger and eating disorders, I want to direct your thoughts to one of the most bizarre stories of 2013. This is the story of the internet sensation, Valeria Lukyanova. If you haven't heard of this Ukrainian nutball, then you're really in for a surprise. Valeria is a human barbie. That does not mean that she dresses up like Barbie and goes to kids birthday parties. She actually has turned herself into a doll. Her waistline measures 50 centimeters. She wears tons of makeup, contact lenses, and got breast implants so she could turn herself into a human doll. And let me tell you, she is as crazy as it gets. Don't even ask me what she says about human Ken...
Just so you can understand the magnitude of her craziness, here is a quote from her upcoming documentary (called Space Barbie):
"The aim of my life is to come to this planet to help people to realize that is it necessary to move form the role of the 'human consumer' to the role of 'human demi-god.' Everything is love. Love is God. I am you and you are me."
Real inspiring, right? Anyway, Valeria is basically trying to defy everything we know about the norms of humanity. Her goal in life is to perfect her appearance by looking as doll-like as possible. So, how does she keep her body so incredibly, inhumanely skinny? Well, she has been on a liquid diet for about a year, but thankfully she hasn't been feeling so hungry lately so she is thinking that she's reached the final stage before she can "subsist on air and light alone." Another time she told a reporter that she eats only fruits and her ultimate goal is to be powered by solar energy and completely reject food.
What do you guys think about Valeria? It all baffles me. Does her ghrelin not secrete like crazy? Is this even considered anorexia? It seems too extreme for that.. Maybe she got her lateral hypothalamus cut out. This story would probably have been better to post during our Kohelet days, but its just as crazy when you think about how hunger works and eating disorders. Anyway, I guess its good to see people like this every so often and just be thankful for a moment that you aren't that crazy.
I read about this girl one time, and oh boy and I surprised she is not dead. The things people do to look like perfection are ridiculous and I think it would be interesting to look beyond her weight and hunger, and really delve into what motivated her to look the way she looks. I mean I know girls who try and look perfect, but I've never seen someone go this far to actually make it happen.
ReplyDeleteLike Sophie, I heard about her a while ago. In fact, I also looked up human Ken and that was just bizarre. I'm in the same boat as you too: I'm completely confused as to why anyone would intentionally do this to themselves. It's not like she was ugly before! She was normal human pretty and then she turned into living plastic. I think we've all seen the pictures of how unrealistic it is to think that Barbie was made proportionally. Now we have a human representation of how unrealistic she actually is. It took a lot of work for human Barbie to look like that and maintain that diet. I don't think it's anorexia, but it's definitely something. Need-to-look-like-plastic disorder?
ReplyDeleteTo respond to what Sophie said -- maybe we can look at our theories of what motivates behavior to explain why. It would have to be optimum levels of arousal or Maslow's hierarchy of needs pyramid. For optimum levels of arousal - it's definitely beyond fulfilling her basic needs, and she's clearly willing to take risks to achieve her body. Or maybe she's at the social needs level of the triangle - she wants to fit in and be loved and maybe she thinks this is the only way. Or maybe it's the esteem needs - maybe she thinks this is what will give her personal worth? Uch, that is just so sad.
ReplyDeleteI have read this woman's story before, and it was just bizarre, to put it mildly. I agree with Jamie. It does seem like she is either doing this for social acceptance or to boost her self-esteem. Does she have a completely different level of optimum arousal than we do, if she feels aroused looking the way she does? Also, in terms of hunger-secreting hormones like gherlin and orexin, has she learned to just ignore them? Or did she really have her lateral hypothalamus removed? However, say she is motivated to continue doing this to her body based on the optimum level of arousal theory or Maslow's hierarchy of needs, what was the initial motivator for her to begin altering her body in such a way? This story is simply disturbing...
ReplyDeleteOkay, wow. I had never heard of this before. Those were the days....
ReplyDeleteWhat is this lady? I don't believe that she's a real person. I refuse to believe it. Pretending for a second that I do, in fact, believe that she's a real person, I agree with what Jamie was saying. Clearly she is really stuck on that acceptance thing. I guess? This can't possibly make her happy. Most normal humans aren't going to accept her for this.
I'm sorry but I simply don't think that there's a brain in there. Also- how does she not fall over from those fake boobs? Just saying.
Really, people probably look at her and think that all women are complete idiots.