Eating disorders

            We often only see the physical characteristics of a person who has an eating disorder, from the way they eat or don’t eat, to the way they look.  We don’t take into consideration the psychological impacts of the disorder that made them anorexic or bulimic.  The person’s surrounding environment and how that affects the way they eat or feel about themselves. 

            Many times females or males are not satisfied with their weight.  They find ways to be skinnier, not in a healthy way.  The media has become one of the biggest reasons in people’s dissatisfaction of their weight.  You’re switching the channels, admiring the model’s slim waist, their skinny arms and legs, or flipping through magazine pages in awe of the model’s slim body.  The media has created this ideal image for females and males, and if you don’t look like that then you’re automatically labeled as fat.  The media has targeted teens specifically and they are the victims.  With teens being more into the media, they are perfect targets for eating disorders.  They begin feeling dissatisfaction or low self-esteem about themselves.  That’s usually the first signs in having anorexia or bulimia.   When you are anorexic or bulimic, it’s usually more difficult to lose that mentality of being fat.  It’s better to prevent it then have it happen.  Remember that not everything in the media is true.  Professionals are hired to make models look pretty, and Photoshop is used to make the models look skinnier.  Not every picture you see on the magazine is true.  You don’t know if how much the picture is photo shopped, sometimes the photo shopped pictures look nothing like the original photo. 

            Breaking that mentality of being obese is hard.  That’s why many anorexics refuse to seek help and refuse to believe that they are under weight.  Prevention in the early stages of anorexia is important so it doesn’t get harder for them to get help.  Be supportive and helpful to them so they will seek help.