Christianity And Eating Disorders

Most of the people think that Christian teenagers are immune from any sort of body image issues or concern, so they can never possibly suffer from eating disorders. The media also these days promotes skinny models that are ten, twenty or sometimes thirty pounds underweight. Teenagers are highly aware as to how they compare to one another, and appearance and also proper fitting in is a part of a teenager's life even they are Christian or not.

There are some factors people should know about eating disorders, like eating disorders have specific diagnostic criteria. Anorexic and bulimic patients refuse or cannot achieve a body weight of 85% of the normal body weight and height for their age. Teenagers that have a serious eating disorder are often severely afraid of gaining body weight and have a distorted body image even if they are severely underweight. Teenage girls often at the onset of puberty experience amenorrhea, which is the absence of the menstrual period for at least three months.

The technical name for anorexia eating disorder is anorexia nervosa. Anorexia disorder is mainly associated with the extreme restriction of food, meaning they lose body weight by not eating or severely restricting calories. Some anorexic Christian people can purge, but they do not binge. The technical name for bulimia eating disorder is bulimia nervosa. Bulimic patients will binge eat and then purge their food. The purging actually comes via self-induced vomiting, diuretics, laxatives, enemas, or even excessive exercise.

The earlier people notice that a teen is having issues with food, the earlier they recognize the symptoms, and the earlier that person can get treatment. There are some common symptoms of eating disorder among Christian people of which every parent, leader, or friend should be aware. People with eating disorders often have an obsession with weight; have a distorted body image; weigh themselves several times a day; eat very little; will not eat around others; are very picky about what they eat; and even deny that there are food issues.

Taking can help people to identify potential anorexia or bulimia early. Eating disorders may come from a variety of places. There is usually no single cause of an eating disorder. Influences of this type of disorder can include the media, which often promotes extremely thin models and entertainers as being powerful and popular. Peers play a vital role in eating disorders, as some teenagers want to look as skinny or pretty as their friends. Fashion plays a great role as the new trend toward fitting into a double zero has hit the journals and magazines. Even adults can inadvertently contribute to an eating disorder by commenting on how the teen needs to lose a few pounds whether for health, looks, sports, etc, but still eating disorders do not occur in everyone who wants to lose body weight. Most of the teenagers with eating disorders have other emotional issues that push them over the edge. Often teenagers with eating disorders even feel out of control, and they feel the only thing they have control over is their body weight. Eating disorders actually wreak havoc on the body and anorexia and bulimia can cause serious heart and kidney failure as well as liver damage.

• Felicia Byrnes
• 06/02/2009, 4:59 AM
• 0 Comments