Eating Disorders

This speech highlights what are eating disorders, the 2 types, their
causes, and how they can be prevented.

For ongoing years, teens have been influenced by culture, family, friends,
the media, and even internal personal thoughts that a perfect body is a must.
Although it is in fact more common in females than males, its a growing disease
among both sexes. People who suffer from this disorder have an intense desire
to be thin and a fear of gaining weight, and allow these thought to mess with their
mind creating that low self esteem about their appearance. What causes eating
disorders you might ask? Well many things come into play when dealing with
daily interactions one may come across. Beginning from cultural norms, to the
media, to even their own mother without even realizing it. However, whatever the
case is, people should not allow anyone or anything affect their view of what they
think they should look like when viewing themselves in the mirror. Moreover, an
eating disorder is definitely not something any parent should even have to think
has occurred to their daughter/son. Unfortunately things like this do happen all
the time, therefore this speech shall arise that awareness for friends and family
surrounding people who suffer from an eating disorder, and ways to help conquer
that disorder.

Anorexia is basically an eating disorder defined by an inability to maintain

ones body weight within 15% of their Ideal Body Weight. Essential features of

this disorder include an intense fear of gaining weight, a distorted image of ones
body, and denial of the seriousness of the illness. Bulimia is often characterized
by a destructive pattern of binging, meaning eating too much unhealthy food at
once, which then is followed by a purging behaviour to control their weight
following these episodes. Purging behaviors are potentially dangerous and can
consist of a wide variety of actions to get rid of everything they ate. This can
include self-induced vomiting and the abuse of laxatives. Other behaviors such
as fasting or restrictive dieting following binge-eating episodes are also
common, as well as excessive exercising. According to Christine Langloiss
findings, 2% of Canadian women between ages 14- 25 develop anorexia, and
1% develop bulimia. Although the statistics dont seem like much, the number of
people among just 1% of the population is too many to count, and altogether is
3% too many.

An eating disorder is also considered a psychological disorder if you didnt

know. This is because its all a perspective coming from the mind. This disorder
comes from an emotional and mental view of their bodies, which is what impacts
their physical actions. In many societies, being extremely thin is the standard of
beauty for women and represents success, happiness, and self-control. Females
are bombarded with messages from the media that they must diet to meet these
standards. However, this idealized ultra-thin body shape is almost impossible for
most females to achieve since it does not fit with the biological and inherited
factors that determine natural body weight. This conflict leaves most people very

dissatisfied with their body weight and shape. Things like the thought of
perfection for example. Females who are suffering from an eating disorder are
usually perfectionists and have extremely high expectations for themselves, and
of the people around them. These expectations often lead to disappointment due
to failure to meet such high standards. The thought of being worthless and not
good enough compared to the rest begins to develop, resulting in starving
themselves for punishment. Its all like a never ending cycle in the mind and body
that only gets worse as the days go by.

Teenagers are often exposed to the media that sets that perfect idea of
what a beautiful woman or even a handsome / appealing man should look like.
This by the way more recently, pressure has also increased on men to be lean
and muscular. Certain occupations such as modeling, and sports like dancing,
gymnastics, figure skating, running and wrestling, strongly enforce pressure of
maintaining a specific weight or having a certain appearance. Even at early ages,
an eating disorder can come to play through television and little toys such as
barbie, bratz, or myscene dolls, which then is carried on and affects them later on
in life. A Barbie doll for example has been a controversial topic people debate
about to see whether it influences eating disorders or not. With her petite figure,
perfect curves, long legs, long blonde hair, and out of the ordinary facial features,
she has set out to promote what a female should look like, impacting their selfesteem and body image. Teens as young as 14 years old set Barbie to be a so

called role model for their appearance, where they go as far as developing an
eating disorder without intention just to become or to look like a Barbie doll.

Overprotective and smothering parents, siblings, and close friends can

also be an additional root cause of an individuals breakdown, especially when
its about their weight, size, and shape of their body. One can only handle so
many criticisms about their physical appearance, something that plays a huge
role in self- esteem. When coming from friends or direct family, it can in fact
mentally and emotionally destroy that person and may, as a matter of fact will
affect their entire appetite. That individual may also develop anxiety issues that
will shortly turn into fear of eating, just to refrain from hearing any comments.
Something like this usually occurs between a mother and her daughter,
especially if the mother herself suffered through an eating disorder while growing
up. She would be extremely cautious over her daughter only intending to help
her, when all along she could rather be the one causing and creating her childs
eating disorder. Family therapy is usually recommended for issues like this. Its a
common method of treatment used to help the family of someone with an eating
disorder better understand what theyre going through, and to understand the
roles they play in one anothers health. Family therapy is often done with the
patient present, although sometimes done without the patient so the doctor can
suggest ways the family can help their daughter cope with the disorder and to
assist in recognizing there is a problem and something needs to be done.

Just the thought of one reaching a point in life where they completely stop
consuming food, or self induce their vomit out just to maintain a perfect body, to
be socially and family accepted and to fit in with the rest is absolutely
sickening. No one should ever have to suffer though any sort of eating disorder,
whether they can control themselves or not, they need to be aware of the help
that can be provided. An eating disorder cant always be treated, but it can be
prevented.