Eating disorders

Briana Lorduy
ENC 1101
Dr. Xiao Wang
Essay # 3
October 2009
Final draft
Eating Disorders

Eating disorders are more than just going on a diet. These ones are a kind of mental disorders characterizedby severe disturbances in eating behavior, extreme emotions, and attitudes (huckleberry 342).they are also influenced by emotional and cultural factors. The most familiar types of eating disordersare: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating.
The most known eating disorder is Anorexia nervosa. This sickness is distinguished by self-starvation and excessive weight loss. People withanorexia are often perfectionists and very strict with themselves. Consequently, what leads to this behavior is a lack of control in some part of their lives. This eating disorder is also a way toregulate difficult emotions. An anorexic person won’t eat, so they will focus all their attention in not eating than in tough emotions. Identifying an anorexic person is not hard at all; family and friendscan look forward specific behaviors such as dieting despite being thin, obsession with any food related topic, feeling fat and denying being too thin.
Having an eating disorder not only affects aperson mentally but biologically. The severe malnutrition caused by anorexia would make the basal metabolic rate to decrease, as glucose, insulin, and leptin (huckleberry 343). As well, hormonal levelswill drop, including reproductive hormones. Treatments for anorexia vary depending of the grade of starvation. A priority of the treatment is to stabilize any health issue. It’s very important afterstabilization a nutritional and counseling therapy.
Another well- known eating disorder is bulimia nervosa. This sickness is characterized by binge eating and then compensates it with forced vomiting,laxatives, and excessive exercising. People who suffer for bulimia have very low self-esteem and constantly live in shame, and the purging creates a psychological relief from all the negative...