Eating Disorders Essay

The Deadly Diet appears to be a mostly female problem. Eating disorders are most common in the middle to upper middle class families. Currently, the incidence is much lower in females from the "blue collar" families. The Deadly Diet can begin anywhere from the ages of ten to thirty. The peak age for the beginning of the Deadly Diet in females is eleven to fifteen; the peak for males is between fifteen and eighteen (Bauer, 89).

The two most common eating disorders are bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa. Both disorders, primarily affect young women, therefore the majority of the research on eating disorders has been done with women subjects. The onset of bulimia is between adolescence and early adulthood while the onset of anorexia is between early and late adolescence. Not only is the onset different but the disorders are unique. Bulimia nervosa is characterized by loss of control over eating which leads to food binges. These episodes are interspersed with episodes of purging, such as vomiting or laxative abuse, to keep weight down. The goal of anorexia is also to keep weight down , but to a

Eating may have been a person's bad habit before something bad happened and death could have caused this bad habit to sky rocket into something very serious. Eating disorders usually surface while dealing with traumatic experiences or when dealing with overwhelming emotions. It could happen in three different ways; Bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa, and Binge-eating. The first two types are very detrimental. When people possess this disease, they think this way because they may see themselves differently from what they really look like. They somehow find a way to blame themselves for whatever may have happened. In their point of view, eating is attached with deep-rooted emotions and meanings, and restricting food has potential to become their form of daily punishment. When dealing with Binge eating, numerous things could take place. In most cases, it’s safe to say that the person is literally eating their lives away. “The person has episodes of consuming very large amounts of food all the time. When this happens , they feel as if they are out of control. Feelings of strong shame or guilt regarding the binge-eating can make the person even more depressed.” Although this doesn’t seem deadly or harmful, it can very much kill a person if it goes on for too long, as well as the other two types of eating

"Anorexia nervosa is estimated to affect 0.3% of females and 0.2% of males, and eating disorders not otherwise specified or partial syndrome rates are reported to be as high as 15% for females and 5% for males" (Haines, par. 5). That is a high number because that is 15% of all the females in the United States and 5% of all the males in the united states. There are, "according to Census 2000, 281.4 million people were counted in the United States — 143.4 million of whom were female and 138.1 million male" (Smith, par.1). So if you take 15% of all the females in the United States then that would be 21,510,000

Eating disorders are a serious medical condition that have the potential to be life-threatening. There are three main types of eating disorders: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder. Although eating disorders affect both genders, rates are two and a half times greater among women and girls than among men and boys and existing research has found that an interaction of factors (genetic, biological, psychological, and social) can cause eating disorders, although the specific causes of eating disorders remains unclear (National Institute of Mental Health).

In order to main a low body weight, they engage in restrictive eating habits. This is known as the restrictive subtype of anorexia nervosa. These individuals follow low calorie diets, eating only “safe” foods that they feel comfortable with, and even fast to compensate for meals. Another way that individuals with the restrictive subtype of anorexia try to maintain a low body weight is through excessive exercise. Individuals affected by the binge-purge subtype of anorexia engage in binge eating and purging behaviors, which involves self-induced vomiting in order to compensate for overeating. These abnormal patterns of eating can lead to devastating physical effects because they are not receiving the adequate nutrition needed to sustain their body. They are severely underweight and their body weight is less than 85% of that expected for their age and height. This leads to numerous physical symptoms such as amenorrhea, growing fine hair all over the body in order to maintain body temperature, loss of bone density, slow heart rate, and premature death (Hobbs & Johnson, 1996; Fairburn, 2008; Barbarich-Marsteller, 2012).

Fear. That’s what this disorder does to a person. The fear of eating certain foods, gaining the weight, going places with food, being near the food. So many fears all put into one. It claims lives, in more ways than just death. It becomes the lifestyle of the afflicted person. They no longer have time for other people or activities.

There are many different types of eating disorders, like anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating. Bulimia is a life threatening cycle of binge eating and then self-induced purging, vomiting or taking laxatives, to compensate for the effects of the overeating. Too many times, a combination of internal and external factors play a role in the development of these disorders.

There is a commonly held view in the general population that eating disorders are a lifestyle choice. However, eating disorders are a group of serious conditions in which a person is preoccupied with food and weight that they often cannot focus on anything else. Amongst all the eating disorder the main types are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder, which are all psychological illnesses. The disorders vary between eating extremely small amounts of food, to not eating at all, or to severely overeating. Each of these eating disorders can cause serious physical and psychological problems, and at their most severe, can even be life-threatening (American Psychiatric Association, 2013).

Eating disorders can be defined as a definite disturbance of eating habits or weight-control behavior. Eating disorders are one of the significant cause of physical and psychosocial morbidity in both men and women, especially in teen age girls or young women, while much less for men. Eating disorders can be put into three diagnostic classes: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and atypical eating disorders. These three types of eating disorders are closely related to each other, and patients can often move between them. There is also binge eating disorder, which is of a different nature to the other three types and will be discussed separately. The causes of eating disorder is rather complicated and very poorly understood. They involve social, psychological, and biological aspects and are difficult to treat. Researches on treatments for eating disorders is mainly focused on bulimia and a form of cognitive behaviour therapy is found to be the most effective treatment.

Within the grouping of feeding and eating disorders - which disorder is the most lethal? Why?

Bulimia is diagnosed when a person eats large quantities of food and then immediately vomits or purges the food. For example, a person may consume a whole pizza or cake all at once and then the feeling of guilt or depression settles in, so then they begin to purge and vomit the food. According to Feldman (1989), “constant binging-and-purging cycles and the use of drugs to induce vomiting or diarrhea can lead to heart failure.”

Restrictive Anorexia Nervosa – This is the worst type of Anorexia. The person who is in this stage will excessively limit the amount of food intake. Basically, they consume food less than the calorie amount they need to survive the life. It’s a starving obsession, which is a real life threatening.

Each year millions of people in the United States are affected by serious and sometimes life-threatening eating disorders. The vast majorities are adolescents and young adult women. Approximately one percent of adolescent girls develops anorexia nervosa, a dangerous condition in which they can literally starve themselves to death. Another two to three percent develop bulimia nervosa, a destructive pattern of excessive overeating followed by vomiting or other " purging " behaviors to control their weight. These eating disorders also occur in men and older women, but much less frequently. The consequences of eating disorders can be severe. For example, one in ten anorexia nervosa leads to death from starvation, cardiac arrest, or

This is the dieter with only fifteen pounds to lose, and, as each year flies by, decides dieting is harder than eating whatever is desired, and much less fun! He or she promises to lose the extra weight for a class reunion, but the weight-loss pledge is not kept. Some women become procrastinators during their pregnancies, and they broadcast to all within hearing distance that they will lose the extra pounds as soon as the baby is born. The procrastinator is a dieter with whom most people are familiar and whose excuses they know. The procrastinators are always starting their diets tomorrow, after one last, scrumptious dinner, their favorite meal of course! The A procrastinator can last through lunch, but by dinner, cannot take her hunger pains any longer. They decide there is always another Monday; furthermore, and eats all week, like a bear preparing for winter hibernation, in preparation for a Monday fast.