Overview

An eating disorder is a compulsion to eat, or avoid eating, that negatively affects both one's physical and mental health. Eating disorders are all encompassing. They affect every part of the person's life. According to the authors of Surviving an Eating Disorder, "feelings about work, school, relationships, day-to-day activities and one's experience of emotional well being are determined by what has or has not been eaten or by a number on a scale." Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are the most common eating disorders generally recognized by medical classification schemes, with a significant diagnostic overlap between the two. Together, they affect an estimated 5-7% of females in the United States during their lifetimes. There is a third type of eating disorder currently being investigated and defined - Binge Eating Disorder. This is a chronic condition that occurs when an individual consumes huge amounts of food during a brief period of time and feels totally out of control and unable to stop their eating. It can lead to serious health conditions such as morbid obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Eating Disorders - A Disease Of Perceptions

Body image is something that young women in America often with on a daily basis. Their brains are flooded with images of rail thin models and celebrities, the "it" crowd. Unfortunately, for many women obsessed with weight and looks, in the hope that perfectly. Although there is no clear cause for an eating disorder, people with a family history of depression or anxiety, obesity and even social factors are considered very possible for such offenders Syndrome. There are two known types of eating disorders, anorexia nervosa and bulimia Nervosa.

Anorexia is, in most cases, the eating disorder known in America today. Women with anorexia will have what is called body-image distortion. This is because their views of what is attractive have become distorted and wrong, what they see in the mirror is not necessarily what they really look like like.

So while you may see an attractive and healthy or underweight, and sometimes undernourished individuals, they will see nothing but faults, which typically need to be resolved their weight. Some trends; with laxatives or enemas inappropriate, vomiting or ebermaige movement routines. These can be in various ways from the other common eating disorder called bulimia Nervosa.

Bulimics have similar symptoms but different trends point in their quest for the "perfect" body. While it is still considered to be a psychological condition dealing with body image this condition causes the person overeat or binge heavily on high-fat or high calorie foods, and then purge most often with vomiting or laxatives. Although these diseases are generally categorized as a psychological or sociological aspects, recent studies have shown that some patients in the bulimia had hormonal imbalances especially testosterone.

Body image issues have evolved over time and have to new heights and in writing America in the last decade. Many will attribute this to a large extent on the fashion industry and endless reporting in the media about celebrities. Although there is no "cure" for the diseases, who has anorexia or bulimia treatment needs. It has been proven that people who are in earlier stages of treatment have a much higher chance of a healthy body to hold and mind.

It is important that you have educated the signs and symptoms of these diseases. If you or someone in your area is more than moderately underweight, show obsessive or irrational fears of food or weight gain immediately seek help. It is life-threatening diseases, and should not lightly.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gabriel_J._Adams

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