Eating disorders
Eating disordersEATING DISORDERS
In the 7th grade me and my friend Ashley, discovered the magazines called Seventeen, and YM. These are the Cosmopolitan and Vogue of teenage girls. On the cover of each monthly issue are featured beautiful skinny girls with headlines like: "Great new exercise plan", or " look great for summer, with this fast paced diet". I don't have to say that we were very quickly sucked into the whole thing and we started dieting, counting calories, and the whole deal. These depictions of perfection in the media are the main cause of Eating disorders, which have affected a large percentage of Americans.
Anorexia Nervosa and bulimia are the two most common eating disorders. Eating disorders have become a serious and important issue in the last 5-10 years or so. When I was in high school my girlfriends and I constantly obsessed about our weight, and about dieting. It became so serious that two friends of mine had to be hospitalized for damage that the disorder was doing to them, both physically and mentally.
Anorexia Nervosa is primarily a psychological disorder, but is so serious that it damages the physical state and well being of the person, as well. Usually affecting young girls, Anorexia (in its short name) starts out as an innocent desire to lose a few pounds, and becomes serious when the individual's psychological state is not healed, and feelings of incompetence and depression re-appear. The individual will then start obsessing about food and dieting and will ban themselves from any food at all. The person usually eats what he/she thinks is enough to survive, leaving their bodies undernourished and sick. Anorexia often leads to Bulimia, which is also psychological in origin and can have dire physical consequences. Unlike anorexia, in which the victims starve themselves, bulimia victims binge on food and then purge by self-induced vomiting. Due to the fact that the vomiting takes place secretly, not all cases are reported, but it is estimated that approximately one fifth of all American women are afflicted, mostly teenage girls.
As I mentioned earlier, I too was afflicted by these eating disorders, but luckily I was given a reality check before it got extremely serious. I tried vomiting, I tried starving myself, but these didn't work too well, my...
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