It's All the Rage!

I once saw an ad in a Cosmo girl magazine, “At what age does ‘I’m too fat’ actually start?”, and it got me thinking, when did we learn to judge ourselves like this? That’s when I decided to do some research.

It seems like its “all the rage” to be in and out of rehab for having an eating disorder of some kind. The three main types of eating disorders are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder. Other eating disorders are orthorexia nervosa (an obsession with eating only healthy foods) and compulsive exercising (doing vigorous physical activity to the point where it is no longer safe).

I’ve always been curious about how someone gets themselves into the kind of thinking that says “I’m too fat so I shouldn’t eat or I should binge.” Here’s what I found out about the eating disorders above.

Anorexia Nervosa

Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder primarily affecting adolescent girls and young women, characterized by a pathological fear of becoming fat, distorted body image, excessive dieting, and emaciation.
- As defined by Dictionary.com

According to Wikipedia, Anorexics are usually perfectionists, driven to succeed; yet they set unachievable standards of performance for themselves. When they fail to meet these standards, they look for a part of their lives they can control; food and weight become that “control” for them. This need to control something in there lives doesn’t just happen to girls or women, it happens to men and boys as well. It was once thought that people of color/different race were immune to having an eating disorder because their cultures were more accepting of different weights and body sizes, but that is not true. An eating disorder can affect anyone, no matter your gender, age, or race.

Bulimia Nervosa

Bulimia Nervosa is also known as hyperphagia (an abnormal increase in appetite, thought to be linked with a lesion or wound in the hypothalamus). Bulimia defined by Dictionary.com is "a habitual disturbance in eating behavior mostly affecting young women of normal weight, characterized by frequent episodes of grossly excessive food intake followed by self-induced vomiting to avert weight gain." Again, not just females are affected by this disorder. Males are known to have had bulimia as well. Once again, your culture can be a big part of an eating disorder. Girls and boys now a days are under more pressure than ever to be skinny and have “the ideal weight and shape”. A person’s way of thinking has a lot to with it as well. Low self-esteem and depression are common traits in sufferers of bulimia.

Binge Eating Disorder

Binge Eating Disorder is a recurrent eating disorder characterized by the uncontrolled, excessive intake of any available food and often occurring following stressful events.
- As defined by Dictionary.com

Binge eating is a lot like Bulimia because a person overeats uncontrollably and may feel ashamed or guilty afterwards. The only difference is, is that people with bulimia purge or use laxatives afterward while people with binge eating disorder do not. People who binge eat gain weight which then leads to obesity. Along with obesity you may get other health issues such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, gallbladder disease, and heart disease. No one knows for sure what causes binge eating disorder, but sufferers have been known to have had depression either before or during their disorder. Some researchers suggest that genes have something to do with binge eating.

Orthoresia Nervosa

Orthorexia Nervosa is an obsession with eating only healthy foods. In rare cases, this fixation can become so extreme that it can lead to severe malnutrition or death. Orthorexic subjects characteristically have precise feelings towards different types of foods. According to Wikipedia, foods with preservatives in them are considered “dangerous”, industrially produced products are considered "artificial", and biological products are considered "healthy". Most people would benefit from eating healthy and watching what they eat. Basically, orthorexia sufferers take that to a new extreme. The phrase, orthorexia, gets its name from the Greek root words orthos, meaning "right," and orexis, or "appetite." (from wiseGEEK.com)

Compulsive Exercise

Compulsive exercising is when a person does vigorous physical activity to the point where it is no longer safe or healthy for them. Just like other eating disorders, this can affect anyone. This disorder is also known as obligatory exercise and anorexia athletica. Someone that is struggling with this disease no longer chooses to exercise, but feels compelled to. If he or she doesn’t work out, they may feel ashamed or guilty for not doing so. No matter what, bad weather, an injury, or an appointment, they must work out. Just like other eating disorders, compulsive exercisers feel like they are in more control of their lives when they are working out.

Eating Disorder Symptoms

Some symptoms of an eating disorder are:

Anorexia/Bulimia:

1. Dramatic weight loss
2. Hiding food is strange places
3. Obsession with calories and fat content in foods
4. Flushing uneaten foods down the toilet
5. Wearing big or baggy clothes to hide body shape
6. Insomnia or poor sleeping habits
7. For Women: loss of menstrual cycle
8. dizziness or headaches

Binge Eating/Compulsive Overeating:

1. Mood swings. Depression. Fatigue.
2. Vague or secretive eating patterns
3. Holding the belief that life will be better if they loose weight
4. Isolation. The fear of eating while others are around
5. Chronic dieting of many different dieting plans.
6. Self-defeating statements after eating
7. Weight gain
8. Loss of sexual desire or promiscuous relations.

Symptoms from Something-Fishy.org

This article is meant to educate and inform others of eating disorders. Not just the ones almost everyone knows about such as anorexia, but less known ones such as orthorexia.

For treatment options you can talk to your doctor or call a help hotline such as:
(866) 690-7239