“Drunkorexia” is a term that has been coined to describe a dangerous fad diet that involves restricting calorie intake from food in order to be able to take in more calories through alcohol consumption and binge drinking. As the incidence of binge drinking has increased among young people in the past 10 years, the popularity of drunkorexia for weight control has also increased among both women and men.
ABC News recently quoted a 22-year-old University of Texas student named Savannah as saying, “I do know a lot of people who skip meals to drink, drink heavily, and don’t gain any weight. Obviously their success in this way encourages others to try it. I’ve done [drunkorexia] for years and I’m still healthy. And I’m skinny.” Savannah shared information about the methods she and her friends used to help them cut down on eating, including working out during meal time, eating only one meal per day, and throwing up before going out to drink. 
Another aspect to this behavior is that some students begin to drink on an empty stomach and then indulge in binge eating during an episode of binge drinking. They consume “drunk food” such as pizza, hamburgers and hot dogs, then experience guilt and feel the need to purge by vomiting. The combination of anorexia, bulimia and binge drinking can have a devastating effect on the body.
Substance abuse counselors categorize drunkorexia as an eating disorder on the same level as anorexia and bulimia. Drunkorexia has an additional element of risk, since it’s tied to behavior that can lead to alcohol addiction. In fact, many of the people who use drunkorexia to maintain a low body weight already have a serious alcohol dependency problem. The peer pressure that many young adults feel to stay thin contributes to high anxiety levels, and alcohol is then used as an antidote to stress.
The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism has stated that alcoholism and eating disorders frequently linked. They are usually indicators of serious psychiatric and personality disorders. Nearly 10 million women are suffering from an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia. There are also more than one million men in the U.S. with eating disorders. Young men of college age are using drunkorexia in an attempt to control their weight while indulging in heavy drinking.
In addition to trying to control their weight, young men often drink without eating in order to increase the effects of alcohol. According to a 20-year-old student named Rodney, “When you consume on an empty stomach, you feel the effect quicker.” Rodney also mentioned the need to save money as a reason to skip eating on days when he would be drinking.
The urge to starve, binge and purge is tied to deeply-buried psychological problems which sometimes include early childhood trauma. People with poor body images and low self-esteem are especially susceptible to drunkorexia. Health care professionals have found that the eating and drinking problems associated with drunkorexia usually must be treated separately. A counselor will work through the patient’s eating disorder and then address the patient’s problems with alcohol.
