Preview

Eating Disorders

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2012 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Eating Disorders
The Unhealthy Effects of Eating Disorders
Angela Thibodeau
Life Span Development for the Health Professions
February 05, 2015
Professor Rebecca Ramirez
Abstract
Society is sending a message to young women and men that in order to be beautiful and succesful then you have to be skinny. This notion of losing weight at all costs is causing eating disorders. The effects of eating unhealthy can be deadly. This paper explores the unhealthy effects of eating disorders.

The Unhealthy Effects of Eating Disorders Have you ever looked in the mirror and wish you could do something about your weight? After all, what hamburger loving American can 't afford to shed 5–10 extra pounds? In 1970 when slim became the new curvy, woman—and men alike, became more concerned about their appearance. Gone are the days when a woman could be proud of her perfect hour glass figure. With the invention of a slim waist line, there also came the birth of eating disorders. From anorexia to bulimia, men and women seem willing to do what ever it takes to follow the newest fad. Eating disorders have an unhealthy effect on the human body, and the consequences are deadly. Merriam Webster defines anorexia as “a serious physical and emotional illness in which an abnormal fear of being fat leads to very poor eating habits and dangerous weight loss.” (Merriam Webster). Anorexia can additionally be defined as being 15% under the average weight for your gender, age and height. (Help Guide). “2,000 calories is a rough average of what people eat in a day. But your body might need more or less than 2,000. Height, weight, gender, age and activity level all affect your caloric needs.” (HowStuffWorks). People who suffer from anorexia consume a restricted diet, less than 2,000 calories per day, which causes the body to go into starvation mode and leads to fatal consequences. For the purposes of this essay “starvation mode is defined as a concept where your metabolic rate declines during the process of caloric



References: (n.d.). Retrieved February 5, 2015, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anorexia (n.d.). Retrieved February 5, 2015, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bulimia Anorexia Nervosa. (n.d.). Retrieved February 5, 2015, from http://www.helpguide.org/articles/eating-disorders/anorexia-nervosa.htm Anorexia Nervosa. (n.d.). Retrieved February 5, 2015, from http://www.healthline.com/health/anorexia-nervosa#Treatment5 Anorexia: What Causes People to Become Anorexic? (n.d.). Retrieved February 5, 2015, from http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/eating-disorders/anorexia-nervosa/understanding-anorexia-basics Health Consequences of Eating Disorders | National Eating Disorders Association. (n.d.). Retrieved February 5, 2015, from https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/health-consequences-eating-disorders

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    National or local organizations have been helping in effort to minimize eating disorder cases in the U.S. Recently talking with Steve Schaefer, founder and clinical director of the Eating Disorder Center of Fresno. As a social worker for over 40 years, his mission was to “patch the hole” of the soul, wanting people to “love themselves and not to compare themselves to others”. His story begins in college as an alcohol addict. Luckily, he was given a second chance and retook college, majoring in history. From there, he felt obliged to help others the way they helped him. He became a licensed certified social worker (LCSW) and later on founded the Eating Disorder Center of Fresno. During the interview, he explained that these types of disorders…

    • 312 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    EMA 23 5 14

    • 1317 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Open University (2013). Block 4, Unit 3, Childhood: society, food and children. 3.6 different eating disorders [Online]. Available at…

    • 1317 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Hello everyone. My name is Ruth and I want to talk to you guys about eating disorders. An eating disorder is essentially an illness that disrupts a person’s every day diet which can cause a person to pretty much stop eating or over eat, depending on the illness. These illnesses are more apparent in the teenage years and in to young adulthood (Pinel, 2011), which makes sense because this is when we start becoming more aware of our bodies as well as other people’s bodies. We might want to look like the model we just saw on TV and will do anything to get that body, right? But an eating disorder is not the way to go; we will get in to the effects of eating disorders here in a few minutes, but let us start with the types of disorders.…

    • 1306 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Eating disorders are common in many societies and have been prominent throughout our world’s history. According to professor Merry N. Miller, MD, the professor and interim chair of the department of psychiatry at the James H. Quillen College of medicine at East Tennessee State University, “The history of eating disorders can be traced back to the ancient Greeks and Egyptians” (Pumariega 96). People with eating disorders generally lead miserable, unhealthy lives, but are commonly unable to get themselves out of them without professional help and therapy. Eating disorders are very varied in types; some don’t even have specific names and are put into one obtuse category. These eating disorders are most often caused by multiple factors, ranging from socioeconomic status, genetics, and a psychological obsession with food. However, regardless of types, all eating disorders have negative impacts on the individual, in various aspects such as health implications, social skills, and even intelligence.…

    • 1805 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Psychology: Eating Disorders

    • 2437 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Eating disorders have drastically been on the climb in the recent years. It has become increasing popular to be extremely thin and focus on the superficial aspects of the body. Currently 8 million people are living with some kind of eating disorder. There are three different types of eating disorders that include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating. These are all psychological disorders that can be very detrimental if not treated and improved upon. While all three of these disorders have extreme risk and consequences the most well know are anorexia nervousa and bulimia nervousa. Although these psychological disorders are greatly related with the desire to be thin there is a much deeper backgrounds to be explored.…

    • 2437 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In today's society, many women and men are affected by an eating disorder each year. These individuals are prone to developing an eating disorder because of the fact that they want to be accepted by society. When certain people tell someone " you're fat", they're not realizing how two simple words can affect how a person views themselves. This world should stop eating disorders by accepting people for who they are. Eating disorders are a big problem nationwide and us as a society could change that by doing some…

    • 575 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Eating disorders can be viewed as multi-determined disorders because there are many different factors that come into play when identifying them. Differing dimensions, like societal, cultural and psychological pressures all weigh in considerably when exploring the multiple scopes in influencing an eating disorder. Societal and cultural pressures are likely to influence the general population on how they see themselves in terms of attractiveness and appeal. Today, standards of beauty are more unrealistic and unachievable than ever. Young men and women, especially those in the modelling and dance industry, are only considered successful if they comply with such standards.…

    • 1198 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    eating disorders

    • 1141 Words
    • 5 Pages

    What has the world come to when women are given the message at a very young age, that in order to be happy or successful they must be thin. Our society repeatedly sends the message that thin is beautiful. Today every time we walk into a store we are surrounded by images of skinny, beautiful models that appear on the front cover of all fashion magazines. In the media, we daily see weight-loss programs advertisements featuring young underweight women. Diet commercials are constantly appearing on our television screens telling us that once we lose weight will be happier. This shows that the American culture tends to value people on their physical appearance rather than other important qualities. As a result, eating disorders have been on the increase because of the value society places on being thin. Media is brainwashing society into believing that being thin is important and necessary. Eating disorders are a common problem in our society but have not been acknowledged as much as they should. There are three subtypes of eating disorders: Anorexia nervosa, Bulimia nervosa and Binge eating. However, society is not the only contributing factor to eating disorders. Women with eating disorders have a difficultly controlling their actions. They suffer from low self-esteem which drives them toward perfectionism. Women set themselves standards that are unhealthy, physically and emotionally. These eating disorders can be life threatening if not treated on time. An examination of our society reveals that they are one of the major contributing factors to the three eating disorders among women.…

    • 1141 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Eating Disorders

    • 688 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In today’s society, humans feel the need to be perfect and appealing. Fit, size zero models are seen on every corner. Many women and men cannot handle the pressure and develop one or more eating disorders. “Eating disorders are a group of serious conditions in which one is so preoccupied with food and weight they can often focus on nothing else” (Mayoclinic.com, 2012). The most common eating disorders include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder.…

    • 688 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Eating Disorders

    • 1855 Words
    • 8 Pages

    There seems to be confusion regarding the differences between the three main types of eating disorders. The DSM-V( Diagnostic and Statistics Manual for Mental Disorders) that will becoming out next year helps break down the differences so we can understand the three main types of eating disorders. Anorexia Nervosa, a person with this eating disorders has a large fear of gaining weight and or becoming fat. A person with this mind set will do drastic things to make sure that they do not put on weight, for example limiting caloric intake and exercise more then need they to do because they have not eaten enough to burn the calories that they are using while exercising. A person who has Bulimia Nervosa may feel like a person with Anorexia but someone who is bulimic eats large amounts of food at one time and then goes and makes themselves sick and vomits the food up, the person may also choose to use supplements like laxatives or diet pills to help them lose the weight that they have put on by eating these large amounts of food. The last of the three main eating disorders is Binge Eating Disorder- or BED, a person with BED will eat large amounts of food, in a short of amount of time, after they eat all this food the person will feel fill and can also feel ill because of the amount of food they have just consumed. A person just does not do this once, but does this frequently and they feel that they have no control over what they are doing (American Psychological Association, 2011).With this eating disorder the people do not lose the weight they they put weight on, they tend to be overweight and or obese. After one eats the way a binge eater eats they suffer from guilt, shame and the become upset which can trigger another binging episode (National Institute of Mental Health, 2011). Another eating disorder that is nationwide is Obesity. Obesity is when a person has an excessive amount of body fat on them. When thinking about…

    • 1855 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    As bad of a problem as America has with obesity, we also have a rather large problem with people being obsessed with how they look and getting eating disorders which also causes health problems. One eating disorder is anorexia nervosa; it is a disorder that is complex and has three main features. Those features are that you refuse to maintain a healthy body weight, the fear to an extreme point of gaining weight, and a not normal body image (Smith and Segal, 2012). Some of the health problems associated with it is low blood pressure, slow heart rate, bone loss, heart failure, or kidney failure. Bulimia nervosa is another eating disorder that can cause a lot of problems. Bulimia is actually a combination of anorexia and binging. You over eat tremendously and then you panic and anorexia sets in for a while, while you try to avoid actually gaining…

    • 763 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Eating Disorders

    • 1123 Words
    • 5 Pages

    It is customarily known that girls are more affected with Eating Disorders (ED) than boys. Does it mean that boys do not deal with the same issues as girls? In this study the researchers try to discover the variance between both the sexes that minimizes boys from ED. Eating disorder is classified as having 0% genetic influence before puberty, but 50%genetic influence during and after puberty (Klump et al, 2000, 2003, 2007, Culbert et al.2009). Accumulating research states that increases in ovarian hormone is the key factor that separates the sexes apart. Therefore, if during puberty girls already are faced with 50% heredity plus the increase in ovarian hormones suggest the difference. Based on this do women show different incidence of eating disorder than men?…

    • 1123 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    When you hear the term eating disorder, most Americans’ minds automatically presume you are talking about anorexia and bulimia. Both of these mental illnesses are devastating to the victims’ bodies, mental health, self-image, as well as the victims’ loved ones. These people experience drastic changes in weight and appearance. Although they are similar in physical and emotional outcome however, these illnesses differ in the victim's motivation, their symptoms, and the bifurcations of their behavior on their health.…

    • 587 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When it comes to body image and disorders related to it, the first thing that comes to mind is anorexia nervosa. It’s been there since the rise of the Greek empire and lots of us can admit there was always a time that we got tempted to starve ourselves to achieve a desired figure. While anorexia can come out as the champion of eating disorders among females to reach their physical goals new studies shows that there may be a new treat surfacing that may be even more dangerous than nervosa.…

    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    anorexia nervosa

    • 2019 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Your self-esteem is based entirely on how much you weigh and how thin you are.…

    • 2019 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays