Change - Eating Disorders

"I am your butter and your bread. The voice that's in your head. I'll take you in and fill you up with a lack of being fed" - Ana

Eating disorders may be caused by a myriad of problems whether they are social, emotional, or genetic.

Doctors define bulimia as "an eating disorder characterized by episodes of secretive excessive eating (binge-eating) followed by inappropriate methods of weight control, such as self-induced vomiting (purging), abuse of laxatives and diuretics, or excessive exercise."

And they define anorexia nervosa or anorexia as "a person who initially begins dieting to lose weight. Over time, the weight loss becomes a sign of mastery and control. The individual continues the endless cycle of restrictive eating often to a point close to starvation in order to feel a sense of control over the body.”

You may more commonly refer to Anorexia and Bulimia as how Tracey Gold describes these eating disorders:

“Anorexia, you starve yourself. Bulimia, you binge and purge. You eat huge amounts of food until you're sick and then you throw up. And anorexia, you just deny yourself. It's about control.”

These eating disorders can affect any age and having low self-esteem is the main cause of an eating disorder.

People who have an eating disorder may see bones as pallid strong white structures that demand to be shown, they may believe that nothing can be more beautiful than death, or simply that thinness will bring grace, beauty, and success.

Fact: As many as 10 million women and girls suffer from anorexia and/or bulimia in the United States alone and 80% of American women are dissatisfied with their appearance. Males are more commonly becoming victims of eating disorders as well. Approximately one million men and boys suffer from anorexia and/or bulimia, in the United States alone.

We tend to blame the media and runway models, but as individuals, we need to take responsibility because we are fighting a war against ourselves. A war that we have grown into- whether it has been from young girls seeing how unhappy their mothers may be with their bodies or society’s imagine that thin is in- that being thin is perfection and will lead to success.

No matter how how you define eating disorders, whether you call them diseases or mental illnesses, they are becoming a growing problem that is affecting more and more people. To have any hope of stopping the progression of eating disorders we first have to learn how to love our own bodies.