Since we were born, we were all fed images of perfect looking people in perfect little worlds and how we wish we were like them, or at least looked like them. To most of us, beauty comes in the form of being thin. Why thin? Because that is our perception of what beautiful is. If you are thin, you are beautiful and if you’re fat, you’re just plain ugly.
Thousands of women and men face this kind of weight discrimination, whereby first impressions on them are based on how they look. Women face more of this kind of discrimination compared to men, and they are more prone in facing eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia. Eating disorders afflict millions of people and every year, thousands of them die from this silent disease.
Eating disorders are not a problem with food; however it is a problem with mental health. When a person looks into the mirror, he or she does not like the way they look and think they are fat even though they are stick boney.
There are different types of eating disorders and they are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating and compulsive eating. Anorexia is excessive weight loss due to extreme dieting. Anorexics are motivated by the strong desire to be thin and a fear of gaining weight. They eat very little or do not eat at all.
Bulimia is when a person eats their meals but this is followed by purging out the food to get rid of unwanted calories. Purging can take many forms but the most common is by vomiting. Other methods include excessive exercise, using diuretics and diet pills. Bulimics often feel a sense of accomplishment when they purge out their food because it gives them a sense of being ‘cleansed’.
Binge eating is the complete opposite of anorexia. Binge eating is when a person consumes large quantities of food in a short period of time and unlike bulimics who purge them out, binge eaters don’t. Binge eaters feel that eating gives them comfort and are a way of blocking out their problems and dealing with stress. Like all eating disorders, binge eating is a serious problem because it can lead to several health complications and even death.
Compulsive overeating is when a person consumes food in uncontrollable amounts and this leading up to drastic weight gain. Like binge eaters, compulsive overeater’s use food to cope with stress and daily problems. Overeater’s know that they have an eating problem and that their eating habits are abnormal.
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