Eating Disorders

Many people are overly concerned with how they look. They want to be attractive and fit in the eyes other others. Meeting society’s standards for looking good is not always easy. People believe that looking good means being thin. This preoccupation with weight results in eating disorders, especially in girls and women. However, eating disorders in men and boys are more common than you think.
In a national survey of 60,861 adults, 24% of the men were trying to lose weight. In a survey of 11,467 high school students, 15% of the males were attempting to lose weight.
People with eating disorders are obsessed with food and, in one way or another. The most common eating disorders are compulsive overeating, bulimia, and anorexia. People who are compulsive overeaters and bulimics eat very large amounts of food in one single sitting, and bulimics get rid of the food immediately by vomiting or by other means, such as using laxatives. Anorexics, on the other hand, eat so little that they become dangerously thin. Many people suffer from these problems. Almost all compulsive overeaters, anorexics, and bulimics start out trying to deal with being fat. They become very conscious of eating too many fattening foods or eating to much in general. As a result of that, they are afraid of becoming overweight or are already overweight. They are unhappy and disappointed with their appearance and believe they have a poor body image. They become desperate to change their image, which leads them to diets and other methods of losing weight. When these attempts repeatedly fail they resort to more extreme methods of losing weight. Eventually, they develop an eating disorder.
Compulsive overeating, also known as the binge eating disorder, is recognized as a separate disorder. A compulsion is an irresistible urge to do something. In this case there is an overwhelming urge to eat. Compulsive overeaters usually binge at least twice a week for several months or more. During binges, they...