"The media, in its pursuit of building up and tearing down celebrities and stars, is causing a dangerous fallout amongst young women. As a result, we might see continued growth in the number of people diagnosed with eating disorders," alleges Loree Taylor Jordan, CCH, ID, a holistic health expert.

Jordan, who authored Fat and Furious, a new book that rails against society's pressures to be thin and explains how a medical condition or genetics can greatly influence one's ability to diet, claims the case of child star Mary-Kate Olsen is just the latest example of a crazed media gone too far.

"Anorexia is really about someone being out of control," notes Jordan, who saw a good friend lose her daughter to anorexia, "and the victim seeks to seize control through food – or the lack of it."

Jordan blames the news media both for distributing unhealthy images of stars to impressionable teens and young women, and for the way it covers celebrities. "How many times will the media try to shame a celebrity who gained weight or didn't look her best for a moment?" asks Jordan. "It perpetrates a shame game. When we see photos of Anna Nicole Smith, Star Jones, Kirstie Allie or Carnie Wilson we're told: ‘Look at those fat pigs.' As a result, the media is not just sending a message about those particular stars, but it serves as a warning to us: ‘Do whatever you need to do to avoid being overweight and made fun of.'"

Indeed, Jordan says society's shame game has gone too far. "It's a vicious cycle of the media pressuring celebrities to risk an eating disorder to look good, and then widely distributed images of these celebrities subconsciously pressure ordinary people to seek out unnatural methods to attain a star's looks."

Many people may look good on the outside but are dying on the inside. "Too many people are obsessed with dieting," notes Jordan, a reformed career yo-yo dieter herself. "But to jump into a diet without consulting a doctor or exploring your beliefs, goals, feelings, and reasons for eating is foolish – and dangerous."

In addition to taking into account one's biochemistry and mental attitude towards dieting, Jordan emphasizes people looking into whether they have a medical condition that may limit their ability to lose weight safely. "It may be that your body is resistant to losing weight," says Jordan.

Among the major factors Jordan urges one get tested for include:
Thyroid dysfunction
Hormone imbalance
Insulin resistance
Metabolic disorder
Parasites

"You may think you can lose weight if you starve yourself and workout all the time, but you won't lose weight until you address your body's chemistry and treat it for disorders, deficiencies or malfunctions," says Jordan.

She speaks from experience that came the hard way. She's been on every imaginable fad diet – from crash dieting at age 12 when she didn't even have a weight problem at the time, to once going 30 days with a water-only diet. She desperately tried every method to lose weight, even injecting the urine of pregnant women into her butt in belief it would help her. She now knows the science behind successful weight control and wants to teach people to understand how the body really works.

Is Mary-Kate, if successful in overcoming her eating disorder, going to be hailed as a survivor and served up as a role model for other anorexics to use to reform their ways and seek out professional help – or is she going to continue to be the poster child for those who would willingly sacrifice their health and life for a chance to achieve even a fraction of the fame, wealth, and success Mary-Kate has achieved in her young life?

"It's a complex issue here," says Jordan. "On the one hand, the media builds her into a star and on the other hand the pressure of that fame and the constant gotcha mentality of the press can also contribute to a celebrity's downfall. An eating disorder is no different than an addiction to alcohol or drugs. It's a disease that just spirals out of control."

Mary-Kate and her twin sister created a billion-dollar entertainment and fashion empire as teenagers, but the career fallout from this tragic episode remains to be seen. A bigger question in Jordan's mind is; How many kids still want to be like her – risking their lives at the chance for fame, or to just look like someone they look up to – no matter the price to be paid?

"Mary-Kate unintentionally – and the media knowingly – promoted an unnatural, unhealthy body type to young women and girls with every photo-op of the star," asserts Jordan. "It turns out the pressure to be thin is not just something you or I worry about, but it affects celebrities too. Those who idolized her were worshipping someone they had little chance to be like, first because Mary-Kate's body was attained under unnatural and unhealthy means, and secondly because of genetics, medical reasons, and numerous other factors that prohibit the average person from being so thin."

Unfortunately, fans that want to emulate Mary-Kate's fame and success may also develop an eating disorder as well. "Perhaps if the media and Madison Avenue stop celebrating made-in-a-lab images of what beauty should be, young women will stand a chance to develop normal, healthy images of their bodies," says Jordan. "If not, we'll continue to see more Mary-Kates, some of whom may not be found until it's too late."