Eating Disorders have become widely popular over the past century. In today’s society there tends to be this infatuation with wanting to be thin. You constantly see every model, actor, actress or singer throughout magazines with the headlines of “Do they have an eating disorder?” Our society looks up to these people as mentors and they follow whatever it is that they are doing so that they can “fit in”.
Eating disorders result from a complicated interaction of biological, psychological, and social factors. People with eating disorders are intensely preoccupied with food, weight, and appearance, jeopardizing their health and adversely affecting relationships. (1) Eating disorders often begin with diet. A person with low self-esteem attempts to feel better by dieting to look slimmer, perhaps in an attempt to conform to the current societal ideal (slender for women; lean and muscular for men). Sometimes dieting gets out of control and the dieter feels that "thin" is never thin enough and continues restricting food intake, firmly convinced that he/she is fat, even at low body weight. (2)
Eating disorders can range from Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, Compulsive overeating and Binge eating. All of these disorders highly affect one’s body over time and can cause serious damage to their organs and stomach.
Works Cited
(1) Eating Disorders: An Overview. Linda Ciotola.
Contemporary Issues Companion: Eating Disorders. Ed. Myra H. Immell.
San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999.
(2) Physical Attributes and Dangers Some material referenced from:
Eating Disorders, The Facts - New Edition
by Suzanne Abraham & Derek Llewellyn-Jones 1984, 1987 and 1992.Oxford University Press, New York.
(3)