Americans obsess about their weight. They pass this attitude on to their children and eating disorders are the result. Eating disorder sufferers are often lonely and driven to keep their eating disorders a secret. They are highly irritable and can be rigid and determined to keep to their own set of rituals and rules.
There are over ten million people in the United State who suffer from eating disorders. These include 10 percent of high school and college age students and most of these are female.
Recovery from eating disorders is long and very difficult. Less than half of patients with severe disorders recover to full health. Death rates are high with an estimated mortality rate of 10 percent of anorexia and bulimia sufferers.
When a malnourished body starts to shuts down in anorexia nervosa, there are distinct changes in behavior. Perceptions, moods, social interaction and thinking processes are diminished and damaged. The bulimic or anexoric is preoccupied with foods. Although little is eaten and the body is in a semi-starved condition odd eating rituals and positioning foods is a side effect. You may find that cutting food into tiny pieces and chewing it until it is liquid is a very common ritual. There are many weird behaviors common to anorexia and these are brought on by severe food control and semi-starvations.
The eating disorder crisis is rampant but here are few medical clinics and states that have adequate programs to combat anorexia nervosa or bulimia and compulsive eating. A small number of schools and colleges are prepared to education students about the danger of eating disorders.
There are extensive programs aimed at preventing alcoholism and drug abuse and eating disorders should also rank high in those programs. There is enormous suffering surrounding eating disorders and the high cost of medical treatment and intervention is almost more than drug and alcohol rehabilitation. Almost 85 percent of victims claim that their illnesses began before the age of 20. This indicates that education programs concerning eating disorders should focus on younger ages. Bringing back a lifestyle that is healthy and fulfilling is the goal of eating disorder programs.
Sometimes there are those who overeat and binge to relieve anxiety, loneliness and anger. If you are feeling bored or need to numb pain or for comfort, food is a great comforter. If you have an eating disorder you may feel guilty and ashamed uncomfortably full and regretful after eating even a minuscule bite of food.
Dysfunctional eating is at a crisis. It is detached from the normal function of eating to satisfy hunger and gain nourishment. With an eating disorder the purpose of eating is to reshape the body and to relieve stress. Eating is now controlled by external environments. Eating disorders are chaotic. You will have very little chance of a happy and healthy life if you cannot find a way out of your eating disorder patterns.
