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Eating disorders influenced by society and culture
Eating disorders influenced by society and culture
Issue of eating disorders and society
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Eating disorders are a big issue in society these days. Young adults and adults are starting to have body images that are likely not reachable. More than 8 million people suffer from an eating disorder in America itself. Eating disorders are mental disorders about abnormal eating or not eating enough a day. There many eating disorders including Anorexia nervosa, Bulimia, Binge eating disorders and lots more. All these and more eating disorders is a way people thinking that they can escape their problems. Eating disorders can be altered by many things including bullying. One way that an eating disorder can come about into someone's life if is low self-esteem. Negative body images can make someone want to become skinnier. When someone has a low self-esteem it means a person who has a very low image of themselves. They think that they are nothing and aren’t worthy of life. When someone thinks this they could exercise excessively thinking that it will make them skinnier. Another reason that an eating disorder can develop is that of other opinions. People can give an opinion thinking that it won’t affect that person. Some people might even say it to make someone feel bad about themselves. People with a low self-esteem feel obliged to listen to people with this mean opinions. For example, your coach …show more content…
Work or school can become hard to go to or even to participate in it. The fear of being fat can overtake someone’s head and can make their social life hard. This can also lead to depression with the eating disorder still at hand. Muscle weakness is another complication in eating disorders because of lack of vitamins. This will follow with pain all around the body because of the muscle weakness. With all this complication the worst one is dead because of all the loss of vitamins and minerals that are the need in your body. The body will eventually give out go into cardiac
Eating disorders are not caused by a single source, such as control, but are due to an accumulation of factors including genetics, upbringing, culture, and personality.
(Thesis Statement)Eating disorders are something that are very common among all people. However, they are not often talked about or understood and this is something we need to fix as a society.
Many citizens in the United States and other parts of the world fight with weight and body image issues. Most exercise and eat healthy to help their problems. Some take a more unhealthy and sometimes deadly route. An estimated five million people are affected by eating disorders each year (Alters & Schiff, 2003, p.36). Eating disorders are more common among females. At least three percent of women have some type of an eating disorder (Alters & Schiff, 2003, p.36). Eating disorders are classified as persistent, abnormal eating patterns that can threaten a person?s health and well being. There are three major types of eating disorders: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and compulsive overeating.
Look in the mirror. Do you like what you see? Most of us have come to appreciate ourselves for who we are. While other’s struggle to achieve the perfect body. They strive to be what is depicted in fashion magazines and movies. The never ending obsession to be the perfect size zero. This inevitably can lead to eating disorders. Eating disorders can cause someone to have an unhealthy image of themselves and food is the enemy. In a national survey at the Mclean Hospital in Massachusetts it was estimated that over 9 million people suffer with eating disorders. They can struggle with anorexia, bulimia or binge eating. A study conducted by the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders states that most of these diseases start before the age of twenty. Another growing problem in the United States is obesity. Over 60 million Americans suffer from this disease, this according to the American Obesity Association (gale opposing viewpoints: eating disorders 2010).
Eating Disorders (EDs) are a series of often life-threatening mental health disorders which are commonly used as coping mechanisms or as ways to mask one’s problems. The causes of these illnesses are still being researched, and the effects they have on a person’s physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing can often be as long as the sufferer’s life.
An eating disorder is a life-threatening mental illness where someone has an abnormal or dangerous eating habit, which is brought on by past and present body views, family, or mental off-balances. There are many different options for someone with an eating disorder: (Engel) nutritional rehabilitation, individual psychotherapy, group inpatient or outpatient therapy, and family therapy (Miller). Eating disorders are not abnormal in todays society….(add more here) (Engel).
Researchers and doctors find eating disorders to be very complicated to figure out due to the many different factors leading to eating disorders. The majority of these issues derive from media images portraying the “perfect” bodies bringing people to believe that they need to change their eating habits to become that “perfect” image. On average, people waste around 31 hours a week on the internet and spend anywhere from two to four hours a day looking up cosmetic surgery procedures and investigating dietary and weight loss plans in an attempt to get that model worthy body (The Telegraph). Men and women should be proud of whom they are and not be envious of others so much as to want to change their entire appearance; God made us all perfect through his eyes; why would anyone want to change that uniqueness about them?
Anorexia has many negative effects as well. According to the University of Maryland Medical Centers article Eating Disorders, “Anorexia nervosa can increase the risk for serious health problems such as: hormonal changes including reproductive, thyroid, stress, and growth hormones, heart problems such as abnormal heart rhythm, electrolyte imbalance, fertility problems, bone density loss, anemia, and neurological problems.” Anorexia can severely affect a person internally. The continuous lack of nutrients can leave an anorexic person extremely frail. The heart in particular can grow so weak, that heart failure occurs. Eating disorders can lead too permanent health damages can stay with a person for the rest of their life.
Binge-eating disorder is defined as an eating disorder in which a person frequently consumes large amounts of food while feeling out of control and unable to stop. Almost everyone overeats every once in a while but for some people overeating crosses the line to binge-eating disorder and it becomes a regular occurrence. Many people who have this disorder may feel embarrassed about eating large amounts of food in front of others however the urge and compulsiveness of this disorder continues to affect their eating habits. Binge-eating disorder is estimated to affect approximately 1-5% of the general population and also tends to affect women slightly more often than men. Binge-eating disorder is often associated with symptoms of depression and people diagnosed with this may often express distress, shame, and guilt over their eating behaviors.
In civilized societies, there are continuous prizing of thinness than ever before. Occasionally, almost everyone is watchful of their weight. Individuals with an eating disorder take extreme measures to concern where they ultimately shift their mode of eating, this abnormal eating pattern threatens their lives and their well-being. According to Reel (2013), eating disorders are continually misapprehended as all about food and eating. However, there is more to that as the dysfunction bears from emotion concealing a flawed relationship with food, physical exercise and oneself. Persons with eating disorders convey fault-finding, poor self- esteem and intense body discontent. This can lead to extreme distress of gaining weight,
Despite the fact that many people think of an eating disorder as being an unhealthy quest for a perfect body, eating disorders are not about vanity and not really about weight. The causes of eating disorders are not known with precision but are thought to be a combination of genetic, neuro-chemical, psycho-developmental, and socio-cultural factors. Eating disorders are complex, psychological illnesses where people try to control conflict and stress in their lives by controlling food. The food, weight, and body image issues are identifiable symptoms of deep-rooted, often difficult-to-identify problems.
Eating disorders are complex conditions that come about from a combination of biological, emotional, behavioral, psychological and social factors. While they may start with a preoccupation with food and weight and body image issues, they are much deeper than that. People who suffer from eating disorders use the control of food as a means to cope with feelings and emotions that are over-whelming and to have a sense of control of their lives.
There may be murmurs about that girl who only fixes herself a salad with only vinegar at dining services or suspicious glances at someone who spends 45 minutes on the treadmill and then switches to the stair stepper at the rec. On-campus eating disorders are talked about everywhere and yet are not really talked about at all. There is observation, concern, and gossip, but hushed conversation and larger scale efforts to help and change never seem to earn public attention.
Eating disorders are quite serious and can often lead to extreme disruption of normal eating behaviors. It wasn’t considered an illness till 1980, when a singer named Karen Carpenter died from complications due to anorexia. If left untreated a person can put significant stress on their body; causing the body to begin to shut down. Often the organs will begin to fail, the persons hair will start to fall out and the person whom you once knew will become completely unrecognizable. Researchers have found many reasons that can be the cause of eating disorders. If we consider Demi Lovato a once happy go lucky Disney star who started acting different from her usual self. We can see that she was struggling from some kind of internal complex. When
There are many reasons that can contribute to the cause of eating disorders. One of the main reasons seems to be the obsession over every little pound a person is wearing. Sometimes low self-esteem or depression from any number of causes can usher in the eating disorder. Other times compulsive exercising can help shed the pounds but leave the enthused unhealthy looking.