It's easy to spot someone with an eating disorder, right? Thanks to the tabloid coverage of celebrities with protruding hipbones and sunken cheeks, we know exactly what an eating disorder looks like. Better yet, we know exactly what to look for, don't we? It's as simple as shockingly low weight, tiny amounts of food, throwing up after eating. Piece of cake, so to speak.

Well, if you ran into me on the street when I hit rock bottom with my eating disorders, you might have noticed the dark circles under my eyes or the sadness in my face, but you could have written that off as stress. You would not have the seen skin and bones that the media has taught us to look for. I just didn't look the part.

And my good friend Magali? At the worst of her bulimia, she was a top fashion model, on the cover of every fashion magazine in the world, from Elle to Vogue. She was compared to Sophia Loren as one of the world's great beauties. She was also depressed, sick, and passing out at photo shoots. Great lighting, makeup, and retouching made for flawless photos, but those gorgeous images had nothing to do with what was going on in Magali's real life.

Media coverage of eating disorders has done little to increase understanding of the complex maze of causes and symptoms that destroys the lives of millions of people. Indeed, right next to the photos of super-skinny actresses on the red carpet with "Have These Stars Gone Too Far?" headline, you're likely to find stories about which stars have cellulite or who has managed to get her "pre-baby body" back five minutes after giving birth. It seems like we're all either too fat or too skinny, none of us, it seems are good enough as we are. And I don't think I've ever seen a headline that reads, "Wow, She's Healthy!"

Eating disorders are presented in extremes and served up on a platter of mixed messages that conceal what we know is the truth: millions have "gone too far," even if they don't have a doctor's diagnosis or a skeletal frame to prove it. Self-destructive attitudes about food and weight come in all shapes, sizes, and behaviors. People of all ages, classes, genders, races, and ethnicities are affected. And we all have a stake in healing the world of these unhealthy obsessions.

The National Eating Disorders Association estimates that ten million American women and one million men suffer from eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia, and that millions more suffer from binge or over-eating disorders. Both of which have their own sets of symptoms and risks.

What Do You Need To Know

Anorexia & Bulimia
While tabloid coverage of it make eating disorders seem like a trendy trauma and little more than a cry for attention, the roots are both deep and devastating. Researchers have found that eating disorders are caused by a complex set of factors ranging from the biological to the psychological to cultura. Poor self esteem and the desire to be "perfect" in society's collective eye adds fuel to the problem, but are not sole causes. This is not something that someone can just "snap out of." Adding to the confusion, anorexia and bulimia are often lumped together. While they have many similarities, Anorexia and Bulimia have distinctions that are also important to understand.

Signs & Symptoms:
• Unusual focus on food, aversion to eating in public, refusal to attend events focused on food.
• Irritability & anxiety, including frequent comments about being fat or not being hungry.
• Anorexia results in unusually low body weight, or excessive weight loss from previous body weight. Bulimia does not always mean low body-weight.
• Brittle hair & nails. Dry, sallow looking skin.
• Refusal to be seen naked, like in school locker rooms etc.
• Constant focus on weight loss.
• Obsessive focus on exercise.

Risks
* Irregular or absent menstrual cycles in women. Impotence in men.
* Brittle bones that break easily and do not repair themselves.
* Enhanced symptoms of depression, mood swings, anxiety and irritability.
* Sleep disorders - paradoxically, both insomnia and excessive fatigue are common problems with many eating disorders
* Kidney damage.
• Organ failure that can eventually lead to death.

Binge Eating Disorder (BED)
Millions of Americans suffer from overeating disorders that are no less harmful, and are actually more prevalent than Anorexia and Bulimia. BED is an official disorder with diagnostic criteria in the DSM. While there is a wide spectrum of healthy body sizes that need to be accepted and celebrated, there is no doubt that obesity is a huge problem that also robs Americans of time, money, health and often of life itself. While most people with BED are overweight and some obese, not all BED sufferers are morbidly obese. According to the Academy for Eating Disorders, approximately one fifth of people who seek professional treatment for obesity meet the criteria for binge eating disorder.

Signs & Symptoms
• Overeating and eating when not hungry.
• Eating alone and/or eating before or after meals with friends in order to eat more without getting caught.
• Frequently trying new diets, always to no avail.
• Inability to keep up with physical activity, easily winded, joint pain.
• Social isolation.
• Feelings of depression or guilt after over eating.

Risks
• High blood pressure and heart disease.
• Diabetes
• Breathing problems that limit activity
• Joint pain that limits activity
• 40% higher risk of premature death than someone of a healthy weight.

For every person who meets the diagnostic criteria for these illnesses, there are countless others whose behavior falls into the gray area of disordered eating. Mixed with other symptoms of depression and destructive behavior, it a thick stew that is making millions of people sick, without the "benefit" of a diagnosis.

I've met chronic dieters who don't know how to eat according to their own appetites and feel lost without a diet. I've met people who consistently numb their feelings with food - whether by eating too much or denying themselves the food they need to live. There are people who eat shamefully in secret and those who regularly put their lives on hold because they need to squeeze in more time at the gym. In fact, a recent study conducted by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found sixty-five percent of American women are disordered eaters. Of course it is difficult to recognize when behavior is "disordered" because food and weight preoccupation have become so normalized in our culture of body bashing, calorie counting and carb cutting. You cannot turn on the TV, open a magazine or log on to your favorite web site without seeing an ad for a magical weight loss product that will make you look like a supermodel.

And I think of Magali, a super model, who could have died from bulimia.

Enough is enough.

Magali and I have been working together for ten years now on various projects to educate people about healthy relationships with food and their bodies. The good news is, there is a lot we can do.

How Can You Take Action?
1. Shift your thinking. When food and weight obsessions keep us from achieving our full potential in life, that's what we mean by "disordered." These issues do not always appear in the way we've come to expect from after-school specials and Lifetime movies.

2. Get educated. The more we understand about eating disorders and disordered eating, the better prepared we will be to seek help for ourselves and others. Contact the National Eating Disorders Association  at 800-931-2237 for information, support, and treatment referrals.

3. Strive for body confidence. Body confidence is not about reaching a certain number on the scale or fitting into your "ideal" size; it's what results from the belief that you are your most beautiful self when you are your most healthy self. Yo-yo dieting, over exercise, and poor body image all stand in the way of body confidence.

4. Look at the larger picture. If every young woman who waited in line to try out for America's Next Top Model chose instead to volunteer those hours to a cause she believed in, we would have a revolution, led by America's Next Top Role Models. It's okay to care about your appearance, but put in perspective. You don't need to lose five pounds before you can start changing the world.

5. Pay your body confidence forward. When you define your beauty in terms of health (both physical and emotional), you are setting a positive example for others. We are living in a time when half of 12-15-year-old girls name their physical appearance as their biggest worry in life. It has never been more clear that future generations desperately need those positive examples.

Claire Mysko and Magali Amadei are the founders of Inside Beauty  and 5 Resolutions to Transform the Fashion and Beauty Industries, two groundbreaking initiatives that have garnered international acclaim for responsibly addressing the intersections of health, body image, fashion, and beauty. Their book, Does This Pregnancy Make Me Look Fat? The Essential Guide to Loving Your Body Before and After Baby, will be released by HCI Books this fall.