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This free essay has been submitted by: Guest User

Eating Disorders

Total words: 656

Current rating for this essay is: 10

Having an Eating Disorder is much more than just being on a diet. An Eating Disorder is an illness that pervades all aspects of each sufferer's life, is caused by a variety of emotional factors and influences, and has insightful effects on the people suffering and their loved ones. Dieting is about losing some weight in a healthy way so how you feel on the outside will match how good you already feel on the inside. Eating Disorders are about trying to make your whole life better through food and eating (or lack of).
There are four different types of eating disorder.

Anorexia:
·     Excessive dieting/fear of food
·     Almost all sufferers are adolescent girls, although there are some cases with boys and pre-pubescent girls.

Symptoms of anorexia nervosa:
1.     Hair loss. Pale or "grey" appearance to the skin.
2.     Dizziness and headaches.
3.     Frequent soar throats and/or swollen glands
1.     Complaints of often feeling cold.
2.     Low blood pressure.
3.     Loss of menstrual cycle.
4.     Constipation or incontinence.
5.     Bruised or calluses knuckles; bloodshot or bleeding in the eyes; light bruising under the eyes and on the cheeks.
6.     Perfectionist personality.
7.     Loss of sexual desire or promiscuous relations.
8.     Mood swings. Depression. Fatigue.
9.     Insomnia. Poor sleeping habits
Bulimia:
·     Bulimics can appear to eat normally
·     Control weight by periods of bingeing, which are then followed by vomiting, or the use of laxatives.
·     Maintain more normal body size and weight compared to anorexics.
·     Girls are 10 times more likely to suffer than boys
Symptoms:
Very similar to that of anorexia apart from that there could be corrasion of tooth enamel, due to the vomiting, and cessation in menstruation in girls.
With these two disorders, sufferers tend to be obsessed with their appearance, and normally wear baggy clothes to hide their body size/shape. They will also be very preoccupied.
In the Leeds area, anorexia nervosa affects 0.3% of 14-17 year olds, where as bulimia effects 2.5%. From the information I have, I have been able to work out the average number of people suffering from either of these disorders in this school.
Anorexia= 3.024 Bulimia= 40.32
Other eating disorders:
Not as well known, as people do not associate them with a ‘disorder'. Most people think it is just greed, but Compulsive over eating and Binge eating are the other 2 eating disorders.
Compulsive overeating:
People suffering with Compulsive Overeating have an "addiction" to food, using food and eating as a way to hide from their emotions, to fill a void they feel inside, and to cope with daily stresses and problems in their lives. Sufferers tend to just eat and eat and eat.
Binge Eating:
People who have Binge Eating Disorder suffer a combination of symptoms similar to those of Compulsive Overeaters and Bulimia. The sufferer eats until they are uncomfortably full, making them feel ill.
The symptoms of these two disorders are similar:
1.     Frequently out of breath after relatively light activities.
2.     Excessive sweating and shortness of breath.
3.     High blood pressure and/or cholesterol.
4.     Leg and joint pain.
5.     Weight gain.
6.     Decreased mobility due to weight gain.
7.     Loss of sexual desire or promiscuous relations.
8.     Mood swings. Depression. Fatigue.
9.     Insomnia. Poor Sleeping Habits
They may also hide food in strange places, believe that food is there only friend, make themselves isolated, and believe that this will solve their problems.
These two disorders affect boys and men much more than anorexia and bulimia, although the main sufferers for these are women.
Reasons that people get Eating disorders.
·     Middle/upper class families may have high emphasis on success, putting pressure on sufferer to be perfect.
·     High expectations of appearance or academic success
·     Family may have problems communicating, or self expression is discouraged
·     Over protective parents that discourage independence
·     Families are emotionally over involved
These factors are the reasons for all 4 eating disorders. People don't have eating disorders because they want to be exceptionally thin or whatever, its because of pressure and emotional problems.
Role models- tv etc
Skinny presenters, singers, all size 6 or 8...gives ppl impression that's what they should be like.
An example of the 2 extremes: America
Really fat ppl, and really thin ppl, don't see many ‘normal sized' ppl.
WOMEN- why them n not as many men

skinny Reviewed this free essay on Oct:10:2008

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