Eating Disorders

An eating disorder is an illness that involves an unhealthy feeling about the food we eat. “Eating disorders affect 5-10 millions Americans and 70 million individuals worldwide” (www.eatingdisorderinfo.org 1). They also affect many people from women, men, children, from all ages and different races. People who have eating disorders usually see themselves as being fat when they really aren’t. This usually deals with women or teenage girls mostly. They watch television, movies, read articles in magazines, and see pictures of the celebrities whom they want to be like because they have the “ideal body” that everyone wants and craves for. The media makes us all think we need those types of bodies to be happy with ourselves, be more successful in life, and be perfect.

Starving yourself or eating less amounts of food doesn’t help you get the “ideal body” that you desire to have. This shows that you lack self-esteem and only want to see what other people see in life. This may impinge on people who are alone and want to get attention and by doing this they want to be thin.

There are many different kinds of eating disorders that people are affected with. For example, there is Anorexia Nervosa, which deals with not eating regularly or eats little amounts of food or not eating at all. There is also Bulimia Nervosa, which is when a person eats a large amount of food and then binges or purges after to get rid of the food they just put into the body. Lastly there is the Binge eating disorder. This disorder is when a person keeps a secret from everyone of their excessive eating.

“Women make up more than 90 percent of people with these eating disorders” (www.4woman.gov 1).“However, young women are most vulnerable, particularly between the ages 15-25 years” (www.edauk.com 1). Women are more likely to be anorexic, because they always see other women with thin bodies and feel pressured to want to be like them. They may be alone or divorced and may need attention so they look for ways to get that attention from people. “The women suffer with feelings of self-hate, worthlessness, low self-esteem, and they usually feel that in order to be happy, they must be thin” (www.mirror-mirror.org 1).

Women in the business industry feel they don’t get enough attention from people so in order to heighten their career, they put themselves out there to have the perfect body to get people’s att...

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... illness. If you do not seek help you can damage your body, cause major health problems, and even death. But if you do seek help, you can increasingly build up your self-esteem that helps cope with the illness.

Bibliography

#1 - Thompson, Colleen. Eating Disorders. Internet Explorer December 9, 2002

#2 - Thompson, Colleen. Children. Internet Explorer December 9, 2002

#3 - Thompson, Colleen. Women. Internet Explorer December 9, 2002

#4 - Thompson, Colleen. Binge Eating Disorder. Internet Explorer December 9, 2002

#5 - Thompson, Colleen. Anorexia Nervosa. Internet Explorer December 9, 2002

#6 - Thompson, Colleen. Bulimia Nervosa. Internet Explorer December 9, 2002

#7 - Hendrick, Victoria Eating Disorders. Internet Explorer July 2002

#8 - Spearing, Melissa. Eating Disorders. Internet Explorer. August 6, 2002

#9 – Anonymous. EDA. What is an Eating Disorder? Internet Explorer. March 31, 2004

#10 – Anonymous. Eating Disorders Statistics. Internet Explorer. http://www.eatingdisorderinfo.org

#11 - Harmon, Dan. Anorexia Nervosa Starving for Attention. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers 1999

#12 - Nardo, Dan. Eating Disorders. San Diego, California: Lucent Books, Inc. 1991