Eating Disorders:

The Problems They Pose

&

How We Can Overcome Them As a Community

John Downey

Anne Diffenderfer 

Caitlin Mayer

Alex Morley

What Are Eating Disorders?

· Anorexia nervosa: More commonly known as anorexia, anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that is characterized with a pathological fear of weight gain, leading a person to severely under-eat and/or over-exercise. This can lead to a large number of health issues, including low blood pressure, slow heart rate, potential heart failure, and an increase in risk for heart failure

· Bulimia nervosa: Also simply known as bulimia, bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder where the afflicted person eats a lot, but then throws it back up, due to their pathological fear of weight gain. This can lead to depression, heart failure, weak muscles, and low blood pressure.

· Binge eating disorder: This disorder is different from anorexia and bulimia because instead of causing unhealthy weight loss, it causes unhealthy weight gain. This disorder is most frequently caused by a sense of lack of control, as well as a negative self-image. Binge eating can lead to high blood pressure and cholesterol, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.

Why Do People Have

Eating Disorders?

Many people think that eating disorders are simply the result of someone who cares too much about their appearance. However, there is almost always a lot more to it than that. Many people with eating disorders are perfectionists, who feel the need to be in control. When something major (in or out of the family) occurs that they have no control over, they are scared. They feel that if they don’t have control over their lives, disaster will strike. They see their diet as something they can control, and take it to an extreme.

Still, there are some who have an eating disorder because of a low self-image. This negative view is often brought upon by outside influences such as peers, family, or the media. For example, if a mother were to constantly tell her perfectly healthy teenage daughter that she was “fat” or “obese,” soon that girl would start to believe it. With the media of today proclaiming “thin is in,” that girl would soon come believe that she was “ugly,” as well. In attempt to be thin and thus “beautiful,” the girl might become anorexic or bulimic. Even after becoming thin, the girl might still see herself as “fat” and “ugly” and continue her dangerous habits.

Stopping The Cycle

Treating eating disorders is good, but preventing them is even better. To do this, changes need to take place...

· Social Life: In order to stop eating disorders that are influenced by relationships, we need to be more accepting of people. Realize that by judging others based solely on their physical beauty, you are ignoring their inner beauty and diminishing your own. Also realize that your vanity could be pushing someone closer and closer to an eating disorder and, quite possibly, their death.

· Family Life: Though not many teens like to admit it, their family means a lot to them. Thus, when some teens feel pressured by parents or tension within a household, they make take it out on themselves through an eating disorder. To prevent such dangerous means, good and open relationships should be established within a family.

·  The Media: Many of us may laugh at the crazy antics of celebrities, but still they influence us. The repeated exposure to the Hollywood ideal beauty of being thin or buff makes it an ideal beauty in our minds, too. So when we see celebrities praised for how much weight they lost and how good they look for it, a small part of us believes that if we lose weight, we will be praised and look better as well. Since most of us cannot afford the means by which celebrities lose their weight, there is a tendency to resort to eating disorders. To prevent such dangerous measures, we as a society need to recognize that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes and stop idolizing dangerously thin celebrities and models.

How to Help

Eating disorders are dangerous. So how do we help someone that has one? First, you must be able to recognize that the disorder is there. Some key symptoms of eating disorders include a drastic change in weight, depression, and weakness. Those with anorexia will not eat, while those with binge eating disorder and bulimia will eat too much, and in the latter’s case, throw it all back up. Some people who suffer from anorexia or bulimia have a distorted self-image and often insist they are fat, although it is apparent to everyone else that they are thin.

Once you know that someone has an eating disorder, it is important not to keep it quiet. If someone has an eating disorder, you should:

· Talk to them

· Inform their family

· Inform a counselor

· Help them seek medical attention

Works Cited

Anorexia Nervosa. SICK! Diseases and Disorders, Injuries and                 Infections.  Online Edition. Detroit: U*X*L, 2008.

Anorexia nervosa. Tish Davidson, A.M. The Gale Encyclopedia of               Childhood and Adolescence. Ed. Jerome Kagan and Susan B. Gall. Online Edition. Detroit: Gale, 2007.

Binge-eating disorder. Paula Anne Ford-Martin. The Gale Encyclo-              pedia of Medicine. Ed. Jacqueline L. Longe. 3rd ed. Detroit: Gale, Online update, 2007. 5 vols.

Bulimia nervosa. Mai Tran. The Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative               Medicine. Ed. Jacqueline L. Longe. 2nd ed. Detroit: Gale, 2005. 4 vols. Updated July 1, 2006

Bulimia Nervosa. SICK! Diseases and Disorders, Injuries and Infec-              tions. Online Edition. Detroit: U*X*L, 2008.

Health A-to-Z.  Nov 7, 2006 pNA. COPYRIGHT 2006               Copyright by President and Fellows of Harvard College. All Rights Reserved

"Eating Disorders; Diagnosis." NWHRC Health Center - Eating Disorders. National Women's Health Resource Center, 2005. NA. Health Reference Center Aca-              demic. Gale. INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY HIGH               SCHOOL. 1 Nov. 2008 

              <http://find.galegroup.com/itx/start.do?prodId=HRCA>.

National Eating Disorders Association. National Eating Disorders Association. 1 Nov. 2008 <http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/index.php>.

Tauber, Michelle, and Ashley Williams. "Extreme Measures." People 28 Sept. 2006: 1-5.

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