Informative Essay On Eating Disorders

Eating disorders are mental disorders that can have a serious physical complications. There are two main types of eating disorders anorexia and bulimia. These are complex disorders focusing on issues of eating, body weight, body shape. People who intentially starve themselves suffer from an eating disorder called anorexia this disorder usually begins in young people around the time of puberty, involves extreme weight loss due to starving themselves . People with bulimia consume large amounts of food and then rid there bodies of the excess calories by vomiting abusing laxatives, taking enemas or over exercising.

There are two main categorizes when it comes to eating disorders. The first is anorexia nervosa and the second is bulimia nervosa. Anorexia nervosa is described as a “body image disturbance together with a relentless pursuit of thinness, often to the point of starvation” (Silva, 2007, pg. 285). Anorexia in simple terms can be described as not eating. Whereas bulimia nervosa is different, it is the act of eating large amounts of food and later on purging it to get rid of it.

Nowadays, when people emphasis more and more on healthy lifestyles, both exercise and food intake have become a big part of the consideration. With the goals of being fit and losing weight, some people eat irregularly or do not eat at all. As a result, eating disorders seem more often on news and reports. However, some people still view it as a joke. With the increasing number of people diagnosed with eating disorders, people should raise awareness on the effects of eating disorders and treat them seriously.

Eating disorders can be defined as someone who eats, or refrains from eating, in order to satisfy

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV-TR (DSM-IV-TR) (2000) eating disorders are characterized by a disturbance in eating behavior, which can be eating too much, eating too little, or simply just eating in an unhealthy way. The two major categories of eating disorders are Anorexia

According to The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) website, eating disorders are actually serious and often fatal illnesses causing serve disturbances to a person’s eating behaviors. People with eating disorders often have obsessions with food, their body weight, and their shape. There is, however, a difference between an eating disorder and a diet. It is important to know the difference. Eating disorders are a daily struggle for 10 million females and 1 million males in the United States (Eating Disorder Hope). An eating disorder is a compulsion to avoid eating in order to lose weight while a diet is cutting down eating or healthier eating in order to lose weight. The three types of an eating disorders are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder. All three disorders are important and they all deserve immediate treatment. No matter what eating disorder someone has, it can resort in organ damage and sometimes even death.

Anorexia is an eating disorder that struggles with the fear of gaining weight and refuses to be healthy. Another eating disorder is Bulimia, which is when you overeat followed by forced vomiting and excessive exercise. Binge Eating is one of the most common eating disorders along with Anorexia and Bulimia, Binge eating is when you lose control over one’s eating. All of these common eating disorders all suffer from guilt or depression. “Individuals with bulimia and binge eating eat large amounts of food to reduce stress” (CEDC). They also could have risky behaviors, such as dealing with drugs or alcohol or even death. People with Anorexia or Bulimia are very concerned with being overweight or in other words fat.

There are many different biological approaches that explain the reasons for eating disorders they all have some validity behind them to a certain extent. An eating disorder is a psychological dysfunction that causes a person to change their eating habits to eating less, or more etc.

There are different types of eating disorders such as Bulimia and Anorexia. Anorexia is a lack or loss in appetite while Bulimia is more of an emotional disorder.

Eating disorders are severe disturbances in eating behaviors, such as eating too little or eating too much. “Anorexia nervosa affects nearly one in 200 Americans in their lives (three-quarters of them female)” (Treating anorexia nervosa). Anorexia, when translated into Greek means “without appetite” which is not true for all suffering from anorexia most people with this disorder have not lost their appetite they simply have to ignore it. People with anorexia have an intense fear of gaining weight and have convinced themselves that they are overweight even if they are the opposite of overweight. Since the way that they view themselves is in a negative light they starve themselves and put their lives at risk. “In the most severe

Anorexia is a very serious eating disorder that causes your mind and your body to be completely obsessive about staying thin; also there have been a few cases where patients have taken self-starvation so far that it becomes life threating. There are many signs and symptoms to anorexia, a few include but are not limited to, “the refusal to eat, the denial of hunger, social withdrawal, unhealthy thin appearance, and lack of emotions” (Eating Disorders). Bulimia eating disorder is

Anorexia is more known as a fear to gain weight and the people who have it perceive their bodies as negative. Its more dangerous than bulimia because it’s more of a purge eating than binging. Purge eating is when you provoke yourself to vomit when you haven’t eaten which creates it a re-curing

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

So, the girl starves herself, which leads to serious damage to the body and could lead to death (Teens with Eating Disorders: aacap.org). The symptoms of bulimia are usually different than anorexia. The girl binges on high-calorie foods, and then purges herself of those calories by self-induced vomiting or by using laxatives. This results in dramatic weight fluctuations. Bulimia can cause dehydration, hormonal imbalance, depletion of important minerals, and damage to vital organs (Teens with Eating Disorders: aacap.org). Health problems from eating disorders would be too much weight loss, loss of menstrual periods, loss of energy, dental problems, skin problems, constipation, stomach pain, low blood pressure, dry skin, irregular heart beat, hair growth all over body, osteoporosis, depression, and many more (Baird: Women's Health Fact Sheet).

Eating disorders stem from a combination of psychological, biological, and social factors. Feelings of depression and anxiety along with daily stressors can contribute to