Editor:
Dr. Paul Martiquet writes an excellent column on disordered eating ("Sugar and the obesity problem," Coast Reporter, June 7), but I'd like to take exception to some of his terminology.
He describes various symptoms of eating disorders as "abnormal behaviour." I think this is incorrect. I would say it is adaptive behaviour and, in some ways, quite understandable.
We live in a society where our popular culture celebrates body shapes and sizes that are entirely unrealistic for the vast majority of women. Between film, TV and advertising, the message that a woman's body is imperfect - in most cases, too large - is pervasive.
In this light, eating disorders can be viewed as a predictable and rational reaction. Self-starvation and purging are not biologically "normal" patterns of behaviour; but in a larger sense, they are the result of unavoidable environmental variables.
Hugh Macaulay, Sechelt
