Video: Drunkorexia: Eating Less to Drink More

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STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – Binge drinking can put on the pounds and that’s just not acceptable for a lot people, in particular, young women who are trying to stay thin. Some go to the extremes of starving themselves all day to compensate for added calories of alcohol they drink at night.

You eat less or don’t eat at all, so you’re able to party, drink heavily and keep the calories at bay.

The habit is known as drunk-orexia, where calorie conscious women skip meals in order to binge drink hoping they won’t gain weight.

“The word diet and thin is so important that a lot of women will sacrifice their health and want to go out and party and have a good time. What happens is it snowballs when a person starts relying on their drinking patterns for fun and have compromised their healthy eating patterns or even eating at all because they don’t want to have those extra calories,” said Dr. Joyce Yates, Director of Health Education and Wellness at MSU.

Experts say that drunk-orexcia affects college aged women a lot of those being freshman, with an alcohol intake of 4 drinks for women and 5 drink for me in one sitting. But how hazardous can this really be?

Alcohol and Drug Education Coordinator at Mississippi State Michelle LaFleur says one drink is defined as a 12 ounce beer , a 4 ounce glass of wine or a 1 ounce shot of liquor.

“Drinking without eating is dangerous because when you consume alcohol and you have an empty stomach, alcohol goes almost directly into your blood stream. It can lead to alcohol poisoning which can put you in a coma, death,” said Michelle LaFleur.

While its dangerous to drink on an empty stomach, its an issue that could later lead to a major disorder.

“A lot of my friends would probably say sometimes you know this is 100 and something calories you know so I’m probably just going to drink this instead of eat, instead of having you know 300 calories in my body,” said college student Kirstie Bailey.

“There’s a reason why the drinking age is 21 and not eating also puts a big strain on your health and drinking more than you eat just isn’t a good thing,” said college student Gracie Simmons.

According to the National Eating Disorder Association, 20 percent of college students both male and female admitted suffering from eating disorders at some point in their life.