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Eating Disorders:Eating disorders are a relatively new biological based disease that can be heavily influenced by emotional and cultural factors. In the history of mankind, food has not always been readily available, so food surpluses we see today (especially in advanced countries) have begun to shape America. Not only do you have people who overeat and become obese, you have others on the opposite side of the spectrum who refuse to gain weight and become anorexic or bulimic. Eating disorders are hard to hide since those with them are either extremely overweight or underweight. Some bulimics can hide their disorder because their weight doesn't always fall off as fast as those with anorexia. The interesting effect of anorexia is that it plays with the victims mind and they don't see themselves properly. Instead of realizing they are extremely frail and thin, they still see themselves as being fat or overweight. On the other side of things, obese people tend to realize they are overweight but are depressed over it and then eat more. Both cycles are debilitating and can cause life threatening illnesses, but help is available and recovery is very possible if treatment is seeked out in time.
What causes eating disorders? They stem from long-standing emotional, behavioral, psychological, and interpersonal factors such as depression, low self esteem, loneliness, troubled family life, sexual abuse, and other social pressures. It is estimated that 10 million females and 1 million males currently suffer from eating disorders like anorexia or bulimia and another 25 million deal with binge eating disorder. Throw in all the obese people and you can understand what kind of toll this takes on families, health care costs, and quality of life. Social factors for women are a leading reason why you see such a huge # of women looking for the "perfect body" that is almost unattainable. The amazing thing about women is that they see in the papers that supermodels or Hollywood stars like Nicole Richie are suffering from eating disorders yet they still want to look like a "model" or be more like the Olsen twins. That in itself shows you how distorted body image is in the minds of many young females who are too fixated on losing weight and looking better. With $40 billion spent a year on dieting and diet related products it appears that the money is just being thrown away since our country hasn't solved their weight issues over the last decade or so. The unfortunate side of overeating and gaining weight is that modern culture calls for 2 working parents with less time to cook quality meals and more people are eating fast food and meals loaded with trans fat. There are several websites available with information on eating disorder causes, treatments, and recovery programs. Start with Nationaleatingdisorders.org or Eating-disorder.com to get details and the help you or a loved needs to beat their illness. Anorexia Nervosa:Anorexia effects women 10 times more often than it does males and the symptoms include self starvation and lots of weight loss. Many of the females who have this disease have a fear of being "fat" even as their bodies dwindle down to skin and bones as the illness progresses. Their idea of average or normal body weight is distorted to the point that they no longer see themselves in a mirror with any sense of reality. With the loss of body fat young womens bodies will shut down and they will lose their menstrual periods. You can recovery from this disease but it is difficult to change the way a young girl/women sees her body through her eyes and get them to eat enough to put on weight without thinking they are "fat" or "overweight". As a parent look for signs like dramatic weight loss, denial of hunger, anxiety about weight, counting calories or dieting, or excessive exercise. Without immediate treatment, many of those with anorexia will die (5-20%). .
Bulimia:Those with bulimia often eat normally and often binge eat, but then purge the food back out through self-induced vomiting. Some individuals abuse laxatives or diuretics and often over exercising is another symptom. So unlike anorexic individuals who starve themselves, bulimics will eat but immediately get the food back out of their bodies. Bulimics are often the toughest to identify with eating disorders because they eat meals and often maintain a regular weight for their height. The binge and purge cycles can do great harm to the digestive systems and potential cause heart or other major organ failures. If you are a parent of someone you think might be bulimic, watch for binge eating, purging behaviors (lots of bathroom trips right after eating), swelling of the cheeks or jaw area, and withdrawal from friends or family. Again bulimia is 80% women and it effects roughly 1-2% of adolescent and young adult women.
Overeating:What countless studies have shown with people who are overweight is that they don't always eat because they are hungry. Underlying emotional and life stresses have caused them to use food as a coping mechanism. Food never says "no" and it fills that emotional need that is not being met with other avenues in their life. Overeating can start earlier than the other eating disorders because many working parents are feeding their children fast foods from McDonalds, Taco Bell, Burger King, and other food that contains excess fats and calories that lead to obesity. As we mentioned above, the fact that food is so readily available in the United States and people's bodies are not prepared to handle those extra calories each day which leads to obese lifestyles. Lack of exercise (people used to walk more and drive less) along with an increase of calories every day has led many people who have no actual eating disorder to become obese at young ages through habit. Combined with eating disorder traits, this can be a lethal combination that renders some people slaves to overeating and staying depressed without proper treatment.
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