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Eating Disorders
Disordered eating can be defined as mild and short-term changes in eating patterns that occur in response to a stressful event, an illness, or even a desire to modify the diet for a variety of health and personal appearance reasons (Wardlaw & Smith, 2007). I, as a young adult see the majority of eating disorders stemming from the “want” to change the appearance of one’s body. Since high school I have seen young girls, and young boys for that matter, trying to achieve the “ideal” body image by resorting to an eating disorder. Personally, I have never suffered from any type of an eating disorder myself but I have seen the effects of eating disorders throughout my schools. Why young adults choose to put themselves and their bodies through that type of illness is beyond me. No one can be perfect and no matter how hard you try you will never reach perfection. I believe you need to love yourself for what you have and who you are. If you do, others will love you for you as well. Eating disorders are not fun and can have serious consequences.
Many things can cause an eating disorder. Some of the causes include Biological factors, psychological factors, family factors, social factors, cultural pressures, and media factors. Biological factors are genetic factors. Genetic factors account for more than half of the risk of developing anorexia nervosa (“ANRED”, 2007). Research is also suggesting that there is a biological link between stress and the drive to eat (“ANRED”, 2007). Comfort foods—high in sugar, fat, and calories—seem to calm the body’s response to chronic stress (“ANRED”, 2007). Psychological factors are people who generally are perfectionist. I believe this has a lot to do with perfection of your body image. I see this a lot with young girls. They see stick thin models and think that’s how you have to be in order to be beautiful and perfect so they resort to eating disorders in order to achieve the look. I don’t agree with that...