Eating Disorders: Anorexia Nervosa
Kristina was 10 years old when she was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, and despite some mild childish resistance she had recovered and thought she would never go back to her eating disorder. Little did she know that her eating disorder was biding its time in the dark corners of her own mind. Before the end of middle school she had relapsed. During her freshman year in high school, she was hospitalized for 7 months. Over time she began insulating herself from her family and even her closest friends. Kristina no longer had energy to be a socially engaged teenager. Restricting calories became her answer to everything. For example, if her parents had an argument she might skip lunch to numb herself to any uncomfortable feelings she had.
Kristina …show more content…
They both cause lasting damage and affect millions of Americans every year. What may start as innocent as someone wanting to lose some wait for their new year’s resolution could turn into an unhealthy obsession that if left untreated, can cause irregular heartbeats, depression, osteoporosis, permanent infertility, and even cardiac arrest. While these symptoms may be the worst case scenario, there are also less serious health risks for people suffering from an eating disorder, for example: fatigue, low blood pressure, dizziness, headaches, hair loss, bloating, dehydration and more. It’s time to change the way we think of the ideal body type. We need to focus more on losing weight in a healthy way over time instead of demanding immediate results that will get us to look more like our favorite celebrity. To those 8 million people that are affected by eating disorders, this is a matter of life or …show more content…
You can be overweight, male or female, old or young, and still have an eating disorder. You may have someone in your immediate family that has an eating disorder and not even know it. The National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders estimates that 8 million people in America suffer from anorexia or one of its related illnesses. Let’s put that into terms that are easier to grasp. That is roughly equivalent to the entire population of Israel having an eating
Kristina …show more content…
They both cause lasting damage and affect millions of Americans every year. What may start as innocent as someone wanting to lose some wait for their new year’s resolution could turn into an unhealthy obsession that if left untreated, can cause irregular heartbeats, depression, osteoporosis, permanent infertility, and even cardiac arrest. While these symptoms may be the worst case scenario, there are also less serious health risks for people suffering from an eating disorder, for example: fatigue, low blood pressure, dizziness, headaches, hair loss, bloating, dehydration and more. It’s time to change the way we think of the ideal body type. We need to focus more on losing weight in a healthy way over time instead of demanding immediate results that will get us to look more like our favorite celebrity. To those 8 million people that are affected by eating disorders, this is a matter of life or …show more content…
You can be overweight, male or female, old or young, and still have an eating disorder. You may have someone in your immediate family that has an eating disorder and not even know it. The National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders estimates that 8 million people in America suffer from anorexia or one of its related illnesses. Let’s put that into terms that are easier to grasp. That is roughly equivalent to the entire population of Israel having an eating