People With Anorexia
There are over 8 million people with anorexia or other eating disorders. About 1 million of them are male and the other 7 million are female. There are many more people with eating disorders today than ever before. It is believed that the reason for this is the pressure everyone is under to lose weight or stay thin. Also there are so many magazines with skinny models and actors and actresses that are thin that it is a given that almost everyone would like to look like them. Some people are so desperate to ‘belong’ or ‘fit in’ with the crowd that they will go to extremes to get that way. Some people just start out trying to lose some weight to get within the normal range for their height and bone structure. After they reach that level, they decide to keep going to lose more. Their mind begins playing games with them and they think they are still fat. Eating disorders can cause not only the mind to suffer but there can be damage to every organ in the body. There can be low blood pressure, osteoporosis, dehydration, fatigue, dizziness, abnormal blood count, weight loss, dizziness, fainting, dry skin, liver damage, kidney damage, brittle nails, soft hair all over the body, thinning of hair or hair falling out or breaking, absence of menstruation (in females), decreased testosterone (in males), irregular heart beat, anemia, mitral valve prolapse, heart failure, lung problems resembling emphysema, bone loss which increases chances of fractures or breaks, constipation, bloating, nausea, low sodium and low chloride.
Too much attention is given on the outside of the body and what it looks like and not enough is given on what is inside a person. One has to feel good about themselves and if there is a lot of abuse, teasing, or peer pressure on a person they will do what they feel is right to fit into the group. For some unknown reason many people feel like they have to look and act a certain way in order to belong. They do not realize that it is much better to just be themselves and not try to be like someone else. We can look to and learn from others but we do not have to be like them. This is hard for a teen to understand. Most of the people who have eating disorders are between the age of 10 and 20 years of age. The average age is 17. There is a lot of pressure on teens and it is so hard that some can not cope unless they belong with the ‘in crowd’. Some think if they lose weight, they will be included. They do not realize that the most important thing is to feel good about your self and be yourself. Many who lose weight just keep going and do not stop the diet. The mind tells them that they are still fat so they continue to lose until their body begins to fail them.
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