Yazmin Lopez
Mrs. Farrar
English III
12 November 2012
Lopez 1
Yazmin Lopez
Mrs. Farrar
English III
12 November 2012
Eating Disorders:
The Effects and Treatments Adolescents, mostly teenagers, are a population of individuals who struggle with eating disorders, such as Anorexia and Bulimia every day. During the teenage years, their development changes, both physical and hormonal are often quick, drastic, and unexpected. A common physical change is weight gaining. Most or some teens are already struggling with weight issues previous to entering High Schools. Teens often find themselves caring to much about their appearance based on peers and media. More needs to be done to make society more accepting of the fact that people come in all sizes and shapes so kids do not feel the pressure to look like a model (nationaleatingdisorder.org).
Eating Disorders Description Anorexia Nervosia is an eating disorder where the main characteristic is rejecting food and refusing to maintain a minimum normal body weight. Any previous gain or also constantly gain of weight is met can scare or fear someone who is anorexic. There is not only a true feeling Lopez 2 of fear, but also in the reach of the disorder, anorexics experience body image distortions (nationaleatingdisorder.org). Some anorexic girls are afraid to gain weight simply because they think their friends will make fun of them. Some boys that are anorexia may be affected by starvation and induced hormonal changes (Gaughen 14). Many teens that have anorexia restrict their food by dieting, fasting, or excessive exercise. They hardly eat anything, and the little amount of food they do eat, becomes an obsession to them. Others that have anorexia can start binge eating and purging; they eat so much food and then try to get rid of it by making themselves throw up, use laxatives, exercise excessively, or a combination of all (kidshealth.org). Bulimia is similar to anorexia. Someone with bulimia might binge eat, meaning eating non-stop and then try to do it in extreme ways, such as forcing themselves to throw up, or exercise, and to prevent weight gain. People with bulimia eat mostly junk food, and usually secretly. Bulimics feel good about themselves when they eat an abundance amount of food, and they can only stop when they are full. Even though anorexia and bulimia are very similar, people with anorexia are very thin and underweight but the ones with bulimia may have normal weight or are overweight (kidshealth.org). Generally, adolescence is considered the critical developmental stage for bulimic symptoms, and the symptoms increase during this period (Abebe, Lien, and Soest). Parents have to be very careful around their kids because it increases as a child’s risk of becoming bulimic (Gaughen 18). Binge eating is another common disorder and it is similar to anorexia and bulimia because a person binges regularly on food. Unlike other eating disorders, a person with binge
Lopez 3 eating disorder does not try to throw up their food. Anorexia ,bulimia ,and binge eating disorders are all unhealthy eating patterns that begin constantly and build to the point where the person feels weak and cannot control them (kidshealth.org). Bingeing is often rooted in poor body image, use of food to deal with stress, low self-esteem and being stuck to dysfunctional thoughts (anad.org) Compulsive overeating is another common eating disorder. Compulsive overeaters are in the category as the vicious cycle of binge eating and depression. They use food as a main reason to deal with feelings. It is common for compulsive overeater to ear normally or restrictively in front of others and then make up for eating less by bingeing in secret. Just like anorexics and bulimics, compulsive
