Anorexia and bulimia

Eating Disorders
Anorexia and Bulimia

In the past few years, there has been an increase in the number of people suffering from anorexia and bulimia. These eating disorders affect mostly teenageand young women. It is estimated that one percent of adolescent girls suffer from anorexia and three percent suffer from bulimia. Approximately ninety percent of the victims of this disease are in thiscategory. The remaining ten percent includes older women and young men. Overall, it is estimated that about five million people are afflicted with this disorder now.
Eating disorders are more thanjust going on a diet to lose weight or trying to make sure you exercise every day. They're extremes in eating behavior — the diet that never ends and gradually gets more restrictive, for example.
Themost common types of eating disorders are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.
Anorexia
People with anorexia have an extreme fear of weight gain and a distorted view of their body size and shape.As a result, they can't maintain a normal body weight. Some people with anorexia restrict their food intake by dieting, fasting, or excessive exercise. They hardly eat at all — and the small amount offood they do eat becomes an obsession.
Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder in which the victim undergoes self-starvation. Some behavioral signs exhibited by people suffering from anorexia includerestricted eating, fear of becoming fat and heavy exercise. Some of the effects on the health of the individual include weight loss in a very short period of time, irregular menstrual cycles, bonemineral loss, shrunken organs, and irregular heartbeat, which can lead to heart attacks.
Bulimia
Bulimia is similar to anorexia. With bulimia, a person eats a lot of food and then tries to compensatein extreme ways, such as forced vomiting or excessive exercise, to prevent weight gain. Over time, these steps can be dangerous.
To be diagnosed with bulimia, a person must be binging and purging...