Survival of the Skinniest
Right now, our society is obsessed with appearances, and many our having a hard time dealing with it. Many young people (especially women) are facing issues with self-esteem because they feel like they don’t measure up to the new standards of beauty. One of the biggest standards in our society as far as beauty is weight. This fixation on being the right size has led quite a bit of adolescents to developing eating disorders.
Eating disorders are on the rise for teens and young adults. This is scary because eating disorders can lead to death. In fact, more people die from eating disorders than any other mental illness. The most common types of eating disorders are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.
Anorexia nervosa is when people deny themselves food because they have a fear of gaining weight. This fear can carry on with them even if they are severely underweight. People with this disorder can end up becoming malnourished, their bones can become weak and even starve to death.
Bulimia nervosa occurs when people go through a binge and purge process of eating. The gorge on large amounts of food in a short amount of time, and then expel the food right after either by vomiting or taking laxatives. This constant expelling of food can lead to terrible decay of their teeth, damage to the throat, esophagus and other organs.
It’s important that people with these disorders receive holistic treatment because they may have a terrible affect on the body, but they have a mental cause. Those who suffer from these disorders are often anxious and depressed as well, so just making them eat and keep down food won’t cure the problem.
