Pleasure and Pain

1293 Words3 Pages

Pleasure and Pain Food brings extreme happiness to some and significant torture to others. Healthy people live without life changing effects from their food choices. Unfortunately a large amount of United States citizens suffer from the harmful side of eating related disorders. While readers should understand the causes, health concerns,and preventatives of eating disorders, one way to better comprehend involves descriptions and case studies. Three major types of eating disorders affect peoples' lives. Victims of eating disorders suffer from an illness. The sickness results from peer influences and emotional problems (Eating). Anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating take a toll on lives through eating or lack of eating. Anorexia nervosa, one of the eating disorders, has proven to potentially threaten lives. Extreme weight loss and self-starvation transpire from anorexia (National). Signs and symptoms of the specific disorder vary. Some of the common symptoms include declining food, ignoring hunger, excessive fear of weight gain, obscured self-image, and loss of emotion (“Eating Disorders-Bing”). Anorexia nervosa results in premature mortality. Research proves that the disorder has the highest early death rate out of all psychiatric disorders. Most of the deaths occur as a result of physiological complications (National). Bulimia nervosa may lead to death like anorexia, but the characteristics remain different. Bulimics go through a binging cycle. Actions such as forced vomiting compensate for the weight gain during binge eating (National). Common signs and symptoms involve eating until the victim feels discomfort, binging of unhealthy foods, forced vomiting, use of laxatives, and unusual bowel functioning (... ... middle of paper ... ...bulimiahelp.org/book/bulimia-overview/bulimia-statistics>. Drohan, Michele Ingber. Weight-loss Programs: Weighing the Risks and Realities. New York: Rosen Pub. Group, 1998. Print. Eating Disorders | Anorexia | Bulimia | Binge Eating Disorder | Compulsive Overeating | The Something Fishy Website on Eating Disorders. Web. 24 Feb. 2011. . "Eating Disorders - Bing Health." Bing. Web. 24 Feb. 2011. . National Eating Disorders Association. Web. 24 Feb. 2011. . "NIMH · Eating Disorders." NIMH · Home. Web. 24 Feb. 2011. . O'Brien, Eileen. Starving to Win: Athletes and Eating Disorders. New York: Rosen Pub. Group, 1998. Print.

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