Body fat and Eating disorders
SCI/241
April 14, 2013
Body fat and Eating disorders
Body composition has to do with the amount of fat compared to the amount of lean mass in the body. People who have a better body composition are generally healthier and feel better than those who have a less than ideal body composition. Having an optimal body composition will improve a person’s quality of life and increase their wellness.
The fat free mass includes muscles, bones, organs, tendons, and ligaments. There are two types of body fats, essential fat that the body needs in order to function and nonessential body fat or fat that is stored on the body. Having too much stored body fat can lead to several health complications such as, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, hardening of the arteries, high cholesterol, decreased circulation, and the increased risk of some types of cancer.
There are many reasons a person may become obese. The world in which we now live has been designed to promote a more sedentary lifestyle. Things we used to have to do ourselves are now done by computers or taken care of through mass production. We no longer have to provide our own food, the only effort we have to put forward is to go to the store, or even worse hit the drive thru. As a whole we no longer have to walk to get where we want to go, we simply hop in the car and sit there. Another reason is the food that is available today.
Along with obesity there are people who have eating disorders like anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder. Eating disorders such as these are considered to be an illness that is usually brought on by the need to be thin. They will usually present in the teenage years or in early adulthood, but can develop at any time. Eating disorders often occur in people who have other illnesses like depression, anxiety disorder, and substance abuse. Many times these problems will stem from the person feeling dissatisfied with the...