Eating Disorders Do Not Discriminate - 594 Words

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder driven mainly by the fear of gaining weight. People with Anorexia severely limit the amount of food they eat and can become extremely skinny. Anorexia has dangerous effects on the body and the mind. It has the highest rate of death of any mental illness. Between 5% and 20% of people who develop the disease eventually die from it (Lee, 2008). It may start as simple dieting, but can quickly roller coaster out of control such as not eating at all. The person’s main focus is food, dieting, and the fear of weight gain. Others see them as being very thin but they themselves see a distorted fat image when they look in the mirror. The first victim of Anorexia is often the bones. The disease most commonly develops in adolescence, right at the time when the body puts down critical bone mass. In only six months after anorexic behavior begins, there is already bone loss. But the most life-threatening damage is usually the havoc inflicted on the heart . As the body loses muscle mass, it loses heart muscle at a preferential rate making the heart smaller and weaker. Although the heart and the bones often take the brunt of the damage, anorexia is a multisystem disease. Virtually no part of the body escapes its effects. About half of all anorexics have low white-blood-cell counts, and about a third are anemic. Both conditions can lower the immune systems resistance to disease, leaving a person vulnerable to infections (Lee, 2008). Bulimia Nervosa isShow MoreRelatedThe Perfect Body Image. The Horrific Things That Females1277 Words   |  6 Pagesas if getting over an eating disorder is quick and easy, but the reality is very different† (167). Binge eating is like bulimia but without the vomiting. Binge eating is a disorder that comes into effect when females are suffering depression. To mask the pain from depression, some females feel the need to over eat. Binge eating is different from bulimia and anorexia because it causes in dividuals to be overweight not underweight. Ideally though binge eating is still a disorder that causes and stemsRead MoreGender Vs. Eating Disorders894 Words   |  4 PagesGender vs. Eating Disorders More women worry about their weight than men. It is a fact that among the adults, 38% of the women and 24% of the men were trying to lose weight. When you hear about Anorexia and Bulimia most people think of females. What people do not know is tons of males suffer from the same problem. I believe males should be more looked upon when it comes to this subject. Gymnasts, runners, body builders, rowers, wrestlers, racers, dancers, and swimmers are especially helpless againstRead More Anorexia and Bulimia - A Threat to Society Essay994 Words   |  4 Pages In a society that discriminates against people, particularly women, who do not look slender, many people find they cannot - or think they cannot - meet societys standards through normal, healthy eating habits and often fall victim to eating disorders. Bulimia Nervosa, an example of an eating disorder that is characterized by a cycle of binge eating and purging, has become very common in our society. Although it generally affects wom en, men too are now coming to clinics with this kind of diseaseRead MoreTypes and Treatments of Eating Disorders Essay907 Words   |  4 PagesWhen people hear the word eating disorder they tend to think of a young middle class white girl. It’s quite rare to hear about older men and women struggling with eating disorders even though it’s fairly common. Unfortunately, eating disorders do not discriminate against race, age, gender, class, or sexual orientation. The only thing that differs is their overall experience and how health professionals chose to treat them. There are three major eating disorders that some people suffer with on a dailyRead MoreEating Disorders Essays1284 Words   |  6 Pages Eating disorders are a group of conditions characterized by severe disturbances in eating behavior with either an extreme reduction or an extreme increase of food intake, which negatively affects the individuals mental and physical health. There are two main types of eating disorders – anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. There is a third category of eating disorders called â€Å"eating disorders not otherwise specified†. Binge eating disorder is categorized under this. Eating disorders mainly appearRead MoreEating Disorders And Eating Disorder1496 Words   |  6 PagesAn eating disorder is an illness that causes serious disturbances to your everyday diet, such as eating extremely small amounts of food or severely overeating. A person with an eating disorder may have started out just eating smaller or larger amount of food, but as some point, the urge to eat less or more has gotten out of control. Severe distress or concern about body weight or shape may also signal an eating disorder. Common eating disorders include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and a binge-eatingRead MoreMale Athletes With Bulimia Nervosa1347 Words   |  6 PagesMale Athletes with Bulimia Nervosa: â€Å"Dying† to Gain a Competitive Edge Over the last decade, we have become very familiar with eating disorders and its detrimental impact on young women’s physical and mental health. In particular, Schaal et al. reported eating disorders, notably bulimia nervosa, had â€Å"the highest prevalence†¦among male athletes †¦ in weight-class sports (i.e. wrestling, boxing)† (qtd. in Bratland-Sanda, Sundgot-Borgen 500). In this essay, I will draw upon current research on bulimiaRead MoreSymptoms And Treatment Of Ptsd1434 Words   |  6 PagesTraumatic Stress Disorder, and develop self destructive behaviors such as an eating disorder. When in harm’s way, you have two responses, commonly known as â€Å"flight-or-flight.† You are either going to avoid danger or face it head on. With PTSD, this recoil of a decision is altered or impaired. PTSD is established when a terrifying incident places you in jeopardy of being harmed, which later interferes with a person’s life or health. With many PTSD patients, they have developed eating disorders because theyRead MoreThe Causes of Eating Disorders 1295 Words   |  5 PagesEating disorders have been around for well over a century, and affect tons of people around your neighborhood, town, county, state, or even country that walk, talk, and act just like you. The two big dogs of eating disorders are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, which affect young boys and girls alike that cannot control their feelings when it comes to food. Some decide that food is not their thing, which is known as anorexia; and, some people have a love/hate relationship with food, better knownRead MoreBody Imaging Has A Negative Effect On Society1716 Words   |  7 Pagesand imagine how you look (Positive and Negative Body Images). Society makes girls and women think that if they aren’t skinny, they aren’t pretty and no one will like them. Girls feel pressured by society to have ‘perfect’ bodies, this encourages bad e ating habits (Schulten). This affects how thousands of girls see themselves and how they feel about their body. Body imaging has a huge negative effect on society. Although, some may argue that body imaging has a positive effect on girls because it prevents