Overcoming Eating DisordersToday I’d like to discuss anorexia and bulimia, eating disorders affecting mostly adolescent and younger women. The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that about one percent of girls and young women have anorexia while up to three percent have bulimia. The numbers get higher when you add those who engage in restrictive dietary behavior, but don't meet the rest of the criteria.Anorexia is a condition where people see themselves as overweight, no matter how they actually look to others. Attempting to control their weight or appearance, they restrict their dietary intake to make themselves thin. They often refuse to eat, or they may exercise excessively in order to work off any calories that they do eat. Anorexics simply refuse to allow themselves to maintain what even medically people insist is a normal weight level. By contrast, the bulimic person may actually remain at a fairly stable weight level, but they do it through episodes of excessive eating, called bingeing, and then compensate to lose the weight-inducing calories by using such drastic tactics as purging, overusing laxatives or diuretics or by fasting. What do we know about the causes of these eating disorders? There seem to be several factors at play in the cause of these conditions. First, there are so many pressures on growing persons to fit into their peer group mold. In a culture where "thin is in" we are creating and continuing an obsession that even pre-teens are tuned into and feel compelled to conform to. There also seems to be some family-based connection for eating disorders, with three-times the risk being present when a family member has an eating disorder. There are some severe long-term consequences from these disorders. Anorexia can lead to serious weight loss to the point of malnutrition and starvation. Associated problems include constipation, lethargy, loss of menstrual period, and at its most severe, death by starvation or suicide. Bulimia, with the purging (which also causes tooth decay), can cause an imbalance in serum electrolytes, leading to fatigue and dysphoria. Bulimics typically also suffer from slowed heartbeat, constipation and loss of bowel activity from chronic laxative use, and at the most severe, cardiac arrhythmias and sudden death. It’s important to know that early detection and treatment can help. Often there are early warning signs of dietary habits and attitudes that can lead to clinical eating disorders. These can include: „X Frequently refusing meals „X Never eating in public „X Denying hunger „X Fears about gaining weight „X Intentional weight loss „X Amenorrhea (loss of menstrual period) „X Obsessive exercise „X Tooth decay from purging and „X Abrasions on the fingers from purging How can we help? The main focus of treatment is restoring body weight to normal levels. It is important to work on maintaining healthy dietary practices, overcoming entrenched negativity about self, appearance, and weight that does much to cause the problem to begin with. Parents and loved ones should focusing less on appearances and more on the quality of one’s self and actions. We need to encourage active and healthy pleasures. Finally, never tease anyone about his or her appearance or weight. |
