According to the National Eating Disorders Association, approximately 90%-95% of anorexia nervosa sufferers are girls and women. And it's often assumed the majority of sufferers are white. But the disorder isn't limited to any demographic. A new book, Going Hungry (releasing on September 9) highlights the stories of 19 different anorexia nervosa survivors -- including stories from women, men, and minorities.

One of the shared stories is from Rudy Ruiz, who -- after being taunted and teased as a chubby child -- began trying to lose weight unhealthily during his high school years. He drank gallons of diet iced tea and ran five miles a day, ultimately dropping to 104 pounds -- far too thin for his 5' 7" frame. His initial desire to shed some extra pounds had turned into an obsession. He'd later learn that he had anorexia nervosa. Today, Ruiz is 40 and a two-time graduate of Harvard. He admits that while is healthy now, he still struggles with the obsession.

If you or someone you know might be suffering from anorexia nervosa or another disorder, visit the National Eating Disorders Association for information and support.

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Statistics can sometimes seem like a doomsday language, spoken in callous tones and unfeeling generalizations by faceless analysts. Even a simple Google search on topics ranging from cancer risk to the possibility of an asteroid striking the earth produces a numerical likelihood that, despite it being of questionable accuracy, can leave a person rather unnerved.

This is certainly the case with a statistic I just came across, which highlighted the fact that 1.1 million people will suffer a heart attack in the U.S. this year. What's worse, almost half of those people will not survive. Now, how is a person supposed to read that and then just go on with their day?

Thankfully, just like the lingering fear of a horror film can be subdued by constantly reminding yourself that it's just a movie, the statistics scare can similarly be quelled with knowledge. With regard to heart attack risk, a person can feel much safer knowing that eating blueberries can reduce a person's risk of heart attack by as much as 60 percent. Good - so I'll be sure to buy blueberries the next time I'm at the supermarket. But what about my mother? And my grandmother? And my father? And every person I've ever met in my entire life? How can I make sure they're all eating blueberries and protecting their hearts?!!!!

And so goes the panic and hysteria, caused almost entirely by what Mark Twain himself stated were not much more than damned lies: statistics.

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Drinking one or more soft drinks per day, be them diet or regular, may increase your obesity risk. Okay, fine. This is old news by this point. But, for some strange reason, I can't seem to get past this report, which appeared in the very well-respected journal Circulation. This is not because I'm overly concerned that it may be true, but because I feel it's an obvious sign of poor statistical analysis.

What the researchers found is that downing one or more 12-ounce servings of soda per day can increase a person's risk of obesity by 31 percent. Clearly this makes sense when referring to the drinkers of regular sodas, as it is almost common knowledge that soda contains an inordinate amount of fast-digesting, simple sugars and a great deal of calories. My issue, however, is with the claim that diet soda can have the same effect.

Even though childhood obesity rates have climbed to disturbing levels, some kids are still managing to stay healthy. Apparently where they live has something to do with it.

According to the October issue of Men's Health magazine, youngsters who call Seattle home are among the healthiest in the country, while those who live in Cheyenne, Wyoming aren't faring so well.

The cities are included in a ranking of the 100 Fittest and Fattest cities for kids in America, compiled from statistics from nutrition and physical-activity programs, state physical education requirements, and federal fit standards, as well as on unfit adults and the number of sports camps and fast-food restaurants within a city. There's even an interactive map of the country with these statistics and more. The project is part of the magazine's FitSchools Initiative.

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People in Britain would rather die than make healthy changes to their life, a new study shows. The majority of overweight and obese people are unwilling to become healthy, even face with certain death. In a poll, only 38% said they would exercise more if their life depended on it. And believe me -- their lives do depend on it. Exercise and a healthy diet are essential for longevity.

I think these statistics are shocking -- don't you? I'm appalled that people would choose laziness over life.

Only 4% said that they found exercise fun -- perhaps that's the reason why they're so unwilling to do it? But I'm the opposite -- I don't think laziness is fun; I'd much rather go for a run or a yoga session than lounge on the couch all day. Would you?

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This isn't so much a news story or new research as it's just a link to something cool. A friend sent me this map from CNN that shows how obesity has spread in this country across the years, and it's a little scary! And considering experts predict that 75% of us will be overweight or obese by 2015 that scariness is just going to get worse unless we all start doing something about it now.

What state do you live in? How has it been doing in comparison with the rest of the country? It looks like they need more colors for the map -- all but 8 states are in the top 2 highest levels as of 2004!

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Although many studies have been done on the negative effects that sleep deprivation has on the performance of athletes, not much has been done on how extra sleep affects athletic performance. But recently a small study was done by taking 6 basketball players from the Stanford University team and measuring how stats like sprint times and free-throw percentages were affected by extra sleep. For the first two weeks the players kept with their normal sleeping habits, and for the second two weeks they were asked to get as much sleep as possible. When their individual athletic statistics were compared they all did better in the second two week period compared to the first.

My only question is this: How do the researchers know the athletes were getting enough sleep in the first place? I don't know many college kids that regularly get enough sleep every night, so maybe this was just another test of sleep deprivation (the first two weeks) versus getting enough sleep (the second two weeks) -- not necessarily getting extra sleep.

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