Thin

My thoughts after viewing Laura Greenfield's documentary Thin from HBO.

I understand that eating disorders are not about the food itself. I used to have one, so I do get this. However, I do think that, while at an in-patient treatment center, it is important to have good foods available and also to include the patents in the preparation of their food. I don't know if it would make a difference or if it would help, it is just a theory that I have.

While watching the documentary Thin in class I couldn't let go of this theory. The food given to the women and girls at Renfrew Center looked horrible and not at all appetizing. At one point, one of the staff is trying to get Polly to eat a piece of pizza. The staff member asks her if she can just think of it as bread and Polly says no. My question, would the staff member be willing to eat the pizza? I wouldn't be! I even borrowed the film from the library and showed my husband and stepdaughters that part and they all agreed. The food doesn't look at all appetizing much less healthy.

There was no mention of the patents helping to create their menus, either. We did see patients meeting with the nutritionist but there was no talk about the type of foods they were eating or how to make good food choices. It is possible that these conversations ended up on the editing room floor but I would hope Greenfield, the director, would have kept at least one or two of those conversations in the film. I'm more inclined to believe that there isn't much emphasis on nutrition as their nutrition program isn't even mentioned on their website. I looked at over two dozen other in-patient centers across the States and every other facility mentions the nutritional aspect of recovery. A few even include my theory of involving the patients in meal preparation as well as meal planning and even grocery shopping. From what I can see the biggest difference between these programs and Renfrew is cost. While no facility website included the cost of their program they all had pictures, except for Renfrew. From the photos, I'm going to guess that these places are not cheap, not that Renfrew was but it is certainly more affordable than the other places. Which brings up the issue of the cost of recovery and insurance.

Three of the four women that the film focused on had to leave treatment before they felt they were ready because insurance would no longer cover it. One of the women, Polly, was fortunate to have a parent who was willing to pay for a few more days of treatment at Renfrew but this is not something many people are able to do. But what if eating disorders weren't seen as an disorder but as a disease like cancer? Insurance wouldn't stop paying for a treatment that is working for someone who has cancer, yet, it is OK for them to do so with someone with an eating disorder even though the person could die without the treatment. And many of the better treatment centers are very expensive. Are they saying only those with money are worthy of healing and getting healthy? If someone doesn't have enough money they have to go somewhere like Renfrew where, in my opinion, they aren't getting the best care or even decent care. I wonder what the difference in the relapse rate is between the higher end facilities verses places like Renfrew? Or if there have been any studies done comparing treatment centers in countries with national health care to countries without it and their rates of relapse? Trying to get better is challenge enough, but then when the cost of treatment is added into the mix the stress felt by the patents must be overwhelming as we saw with Polly when she found out that her insurance was done paying for treatment because she had gained enough weight. I wonder if she would still be alive today had she been able to be at a better center and for a longer period of time.