SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS      Experts say these are some of the signs of an eating disorder:      - Repeated comments about being fat or feeling fat      - Excessive weight loss that continues offseason      - Meals frequently eaten alone      - Repeated disappearances immediately after eating      - Teeth marks or callouses on knuckles from self-induced vomiting      - Eroded tooth enamel from frequent vomiting      - Compulsive, excessive and/or purposeless exercising      - Laxative use      - Sensitivity to cold      - Light-headedness, loss of balance, mood swings, difficulty concentrating      - Lanugo (soft downy hair covering the body)

 "The coach might be well-intentioned," Penn State team physician Margot Putukian said. "But kids think, 'If five pounds less would do me good, then 10 pounds will do me better. I'll show them.'"

'If you were skinnier you could run faster. You're too fat to run as fast as you need to. You're filling your uniform out a little bit more.' These are quotes from some of our coaches," said Meyer, trainer of the PSAL.

"Athletes are very prone to falling into this area because part of their job is to stay in good shape and no one knows what good shape is," said Lido Beach psychologist Judy Rabinor, director of the American Eating Disorder Center of Long Island. "The pressure to have the perfect body makes sense. So when someone says to her mother, 'We have a game next week and I have to lose six pounds,' it doesn't even sound neurotic."

 Anorexia and bulimia account for only a small percentage of the spectrum of disordered eating. Many women exhibit some but not all of the criteria of anorexia or bulimia. Some simply do not take in enough calories to meet the energy demands of their sport. Others exercise compulsively, a behavior often used by bulimics as a method of purging.

The difference in the two terms--"disordered eating" and "eating disorders"--is more than semantics. An eating disorder is a clinical, psychiatric diagnosis--for example, anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa. Disordered eating can be as simple as chronic poor nutrition.

 In the past five years, doctors have become aware of the role disordered eating plays in the progression of the Female Athlete Triad. The Triad, first recognized by the American College of Sports Medicine in 1992, consists of three interrelated ailments--disordered eating, amenorrhea (the loss of one's menstrual cycle or an irregular cycle) and osteoporosis ("brittle bone" disease). Once they were considered separately, but doctors now know these disorders co-exist along a continuum-- if untreated, one leads to another.

Though research has focused primarily on college women, experts estimate at least 230,000 girls participating in high school sports nationally may suffer from an eating disorder.

"Twenty years ago, many of the patients I saw with anorexia were vegetarians," she said. "Now, they also talk about eating exclusively organic food or say that they are lactose intolerant and allergic to gluten, when their blood tests show that they are not. These explanations are convenient ways to hide their fear of eating high-calorie foods or foods prepared by others which provokes anxiety."

Orthorexia, as Bratman defines it, is a disorder distinct from anorexia or bulimia. It's not the diet that's the problem - it's the obsession that accompanies it.

It's a perfect explanation for the fixation on "clean eating" that exists off-line but can be exacerbated by the food blogs, the anxiety around health that exists just outside the frames of carefully crafted Instagram shots of well-composed plates.

People with bulimia worry excessively about their weight, body shape, and self-image. They eat uncontrollably (binge) on high-calorie foods, such as ice cream or chocolate, and report a loss of control over eating. After binge-eating, they use methods to avoid weight gain, such as self-induced vomiting, using laxatives, and excessive exercising. A person affected by bulimia is usually of average weight, and binge-eating and purging by vomiting and using laxatives are carried out secretly. He or she may have had anorexia nervosa in the past or may alternate between anorexia nervosa and bulimia. The disorder is more common in women and usually develops between the ages of 18 and 30. The person may have poor self-control and low self-esteem and may also indulge in substance abuse. Bouts of bulimia may be triggered by stress.

Eating disorders involve serious disturbances in eating behavior, usually in the form of extreme and unhealthy reduction of food intake or severe overeating. They are not due to a failure of will; rather, they are real and treatable medical illnesses in which certain patterns of behavior get out of control. The main types are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder. These disorders usually develop in adolescence or early adulthood and often occur with other illnesses such as depression, substance abuse, and anxiety disorders. They are much more common among females; only about 5% to 15% of anorexia or bulimia patients and 35% of binge eaters are male. If not treated, eating disorders can lead serious complications, including heart conditions and kidney failure, which may lead to death.

So, how much does Michael Phelps eat? A mere 8,000 to 10,000 calories a day, when he`s training. PHELPS: Like, how much I work out, you know, I have to always just constantly shovel food in because I can lose anywhere from, you know, five to ten pounds in a week. COOPER: In one week? PHELPS: In a week. COOPER: What are you at right now? PHELPS: Probably 205. COOPER: Is that the heaviest you`ve been? PHELPS: Yep. Like, I`ve never been over 200 pounds. COOPER: Yes, you really look like you`ve let yourself go.

Lockhart, the medical director, said there's even a new term describing an eating disorder born not from a desire for thinness, but from a desire for health and proper nutrition. It's called orthorexia and, translated from Greek, means "correct appetite."

"I think that eating disorders are overlooked in athletes," she said. "It is an issue and it isn't addressed a lot."

Other dangers are from stomach acids burning the esophagus or eroding tooth enamel, of electrolytic imbalances leading to heart palpitations and, in extreme cases, of cardiac arrest.

Table 1 How Female

most sports require a "fit" body type for success. Suchrequirements could encourage preoccupation with body and weightconcerns in young female athletes. Excessive concern about appearancecould result in a weight concern-dieting cycle (Davis, 1990)that might be a precursor to aberrant eating behavior in "atrisk" female athletes.

The largest percentage (23.9%) reported limiting their caloricintake to 800 calories or less almost daily, or the use of liquiddiets (18.5%). The next most frequently used methods were fasting(Fast) for 24 hours or more (11.1%) and using over-the-counterappetite suppresants (6.4%). Very few used prescription dietpills, diuretics, self-induced vomiting or enemas. Querriedas to how frequently they used the above methods for weight loss,3.4% (n=14) said daily, 2.9% (n=12) 4-6 times/week, 2.9% (n=12)2-3 times/week, 3.6% (n=15) at least once a week, 1.9% (n=8)about once a month, and 28.7% (n=119) used them a few times/year. Thus, about 13% of these athletes were relatively frequent usersof some form of weight loss method. Furthermore, 17.5% (n=67)of the adolescent athletes admitted to bringing between 1-7 times/week,and approximately 9% (n=33) had been practicing this behaviorfor more than 3 months prior to survey administration.

Finally, in response to whether anyone representing the athletic department had ever talked to them about methods of weight controland dieting, and their relationship to performance, the majoritysaid no (57.2%, n=239). Of those responding affirmatively, in29.9% (n=126) of those cases, this information was imparted bythe coach speaking to the team, while a few (10.5%, n=44) reportedthat the athletic trainer had provided this information. A smallerpercentage, in responding that the information was gleaned in"other" ways, identified the health teacher as the vehicle forthis information.

Need we wonder if even for a moment it ever occurred to them that rich people have feelings, too?

When you are poor, you wait.

"When you are poor, you substitute time for money," says Randy Albelda, an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. "You have to work a lot of hours and still not make a lot of money. You get squeezed, and your money is squeezed."

According to the Census Bureau, more than 37 million people in the country live below the poverty line. The poor know these facts of life. These facts become their lives.

Like food: You don't have a car to get to a supermarket, much less to Costco or Trader Joe's, where the middle class goes to save money. You don't have three hours to take the bus. So you buy groceries at the corner store, where a gallon of milk costs an extra dollar.

race, the folk wisdom turns out to be true. An African American family with the same income, family size, and other demographics as a white family will spend about 25 percent more of its income on jewelry, cars, personal care, and apparel. For the average black family, making about $40,000 a year, that amounts to $1,900 more a year than for a comparable white family. To make up the difference, African Americans spend much less on education, health care, entertainment, and home furnishings. (The same is true of Latinos.)

Whenever the captain informed us we were descending for landing, Corky always cupped his hands about his mouth megaphone-style and announced in a loud voice, as if over the intercom: “Please return all seats, tray tables, and stewardesses to their original upright and locked positions.”That always cracked us up.

We never had to deal with airports like O’Hare or J.F.K. and their intestines of roadways looping over and under one another on the way to terminals teeming with the aforementioned ordinary people. No, we always left from small general-aviation airports.

Fifteenpercentofthefemalefairgoersherehavetheirhairincurlers.Fortypercentareclinicallyfat.

awomanwho'dbeenhungupsidedownandogledwouldgetawholelotofotherwomentogetherandthere'dbethisfrenzyofero-to-politicalindignation.They'dconfronttheguy.Fileaninjunction.Themanagementwouldfindthemselves'litigating-violationofawoman'srighttonon-harassedfun.I'mtellingyou

Zipper'soperatorisagelessandburnt-brownandhasamustachewaxedtowickedpointslikeasteer'shorns,rollingaDrumcigarettewithonehandashenudgesleversupward

thestrawbasketslooksoft,buttheirbottomsmakeasuspicioussteelysoundwhenhit.

Itsmellslikemachinegreaseandhairtonicdownhere,andthere'sal-readyaspoiled,garbagysmell.

handsoveradistressedswineandthenI'mgo-ingtogopounddownacomdog.

(sosaysmydetailedmediaguide)"

Thelandisbasicallyafactory.Youliveinthesamefactoryyouworkin.Youspendanenormousamountoftimewiththeland,butyou'restillalienatedfromitinsomeway.

lookundertheedgeofthefake-grassmatrevealstherealgrassunderneath,flattenedandalreadyyellowing.

RonaldMcDonald,voiceslurryaridmakeupcottage-cheesishintheheat,