Juan Gallegos(Edison College) Bulimia

Bulimia is a widely know eating disorder which affects many young women and increasing numbers of men. Bulimia is characterized by binge eating followed by self induced vomiting, the use of laxatives or diuretics, excessive exercise, or strict dieting or fasting.     

Statistics show that:

*1 in 5 women suffer from an eating disorder.

*70 million individuals are affected by eating disorders worldwide, with 24 million being American.

*90 percent of women with eating disorders are between the ages of 12 and 25.

*4 percent of college-aged women have bulimia.

*It is estimated that 1 percent of women in the US have binge eating disorder.

*Without treatment up to 20 percent of those with serious eating disorders will die.      

Most of the causes of bulimia are emotional ones. Purging can be provoked by stress, peer pressure, or troublesome emotions. When a person is overflowed by stress from work, family or school they might over eat to make themselves feel better. This could produce a guilty feeling leading to puking. When women are surrounded by other females who apparently posses the ideal body shape it causes them to feel bad about their appearances. The pressure builds up and it results in the person to imitate what they believe is perfection even if it means taking drastic measures.    

There are plenty of ways to prevent excessive eating. You can avoid too much stress by finding other ways to relax, such as working out or meditating. You should feel comfortable with your body and realize not everyone could be the same. Family could also help out in controlling a child weight and self esteem. Bulimia most affects girls, since they appear to be more worried with their appearances than boys. Statistics state that an estimated of one in every 100 American women binges and purges to lose weight rapidly. There are not many men who suffer from this disorder but the number of male cases seems to be increasing. Studies suggest that five to ten percent of people with bulimia or anorexia are males.    

If you were to suspect one of you r family members or friends to be in danger of bulimia there are various warnings sings to recognize this eating disorder. If there is a disappearance of large amounts of food in shorts periods of time it might be a sign of binge eating. Perhaps if after a meal that person takes various trips to the bathroom. Likewise if that person is concerned with exercising constantly despite bad weather. Another thing you could look out for is an unhealthy discoloration of the teeth due to the contract of stomach acid when purging.    

If you want to help out a person who you know or suspect is bulimic you can always try to take part in that person’s life. Most people think that by telling a person they look skinny that might help them stop purging. That is wrong because the bulimic person processes that as “Hey, I look great let me continue”. Most bulimics are in denial so the first step in helping them get out of their problem is admitting they have a problem. A trip to the psychologist could be very helpful method for them to open up and accept help.    

The worst thing about bulimia is its consequences. The consequences could range from extreme weight to loss to death. It basically depends on the amount of time the binge eating and purging has been going on. Bulimia can affect a lot of your body parts. It affects your hair, throat, teeth, stomach, and cheeks or jaw area.    

Therefore bulimia can happen to anyone. The factors that cause bulimia have various ways of being avoiding. There are many organizations which provide emotional and physical treatment which could help anyone to get back on track and lead a healthy life. If you ask me I do not think the consequences and risk factors that eating disorders produce are worth for looking pretty. The large number of females who suffer from bulimia is caused by the lack of knowledge of this disorder’s symptoms and consequences. If people would stop worrying about being so skinny, then many lives could be saved. Bulimia could lead into death if taken seriously. Due to the fact that many eating disorders go unreported it is almost impossible to tell the morbidity rates for bulimia. However it is estimated that as many ten to fifteen percent of eating disorders like bulimia result in fatal consequences.     

This entry was posted on 11. April 2009 at 02:52 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.