Consequences Of Eating Disorders

Eating disorders are the newly recognized as a health problem with people of all ages, but having a bigger presence among the younger age bracket. Eating disorders are not just bad or dangerous eating habits relating to food and weight, they stem from deep psychological, emotional and social issues.

Mostly individual will try to eat their emotions, using food as a way to bring some kind of control into their life as they know they can at last control what they eat or don't eat. This works both ways, an individual may drastically reduce their food intake as a form of bringing their body under control and altering their physical image to match a perceived self-image. On the other hand, dealing with stress or anger or any other strong emotion by eating is what then becomes compulsive eating. And this is what most people identify as the cause of their obesity later on.

Personal relationships and an individual's history play an important role in their developing an eating disorder, this could well be the result of being unable to express your feelings and emotions, from being and emotionally or physically abusive relationship or even sexual abuse at some point in life. Even children who are bullied or teased about their appearance automatically have a higher risk of developing eating disorders. Girls in their adolescent and teen years are bigger victims of eating disorders for this very reason.

The media has a pretty big role to play with the eating disorders that we are now coping with. When show after show, advertisement after advertisement features an amazingly thin model, that figure becomes the accepted female form. All other become labeled as deviations. On top of that, teen movies to a larger extent always feature the 'dum fat kid' which is stereotyping to the extreme. The result of which is teenagers try to conform and identify with the new established norm, and all those who don't fit the profile become outsiders. But the eating disorder is not limited to the outsiders, it encompasses everyone. Those in the 'in crowd' punish their bodies to stay 'in' while those in the 'out crowd' eat their depressions or try to live without food. Hence we see an alarming rate of teenagers, a high percentage of which are girls, suffer from bulimia, anorexia, or binging. But don't just think that it's teenagers doing this, many celebrities have come forth and admitted how the pressure to conform to the industry standards of 'beauty' had given them all eating disorders, the latest of which being Paula Abdul.

Eating disorders are dangerous; there are really no two opinions about it. Not only do individuals with an eating disorder ruin their self esteem and bring pain to their loved ones, they bring very dangerous and tangible consequences such as severe loss of muscle mass, extreme obesity, stroke and death due to heart failure. If you're a parent, make sure you monitor your child's eating habits. Take them to a dietician who explains how food is meant to serve our body and what a normal healthy human being should weight and look like. If you suspect that you have an eating disorder, consult your physician immediately and get help as soon as you can. Involve your family or a close friend, but know that ignoring the problem won't make it go away and it's absolutely curable.

• John Palsson
• 09/12/2008, 12:59 AM
• 0 Comments