Interesting Facts about Eating Disorder
Eating disorders are characterized by abnormal eating habits, which are more satisfying not physiological, but psychological needs. The most common disorders are anorexia nervosa (persistent lack of appetite), bulimia nervosa (wolf hunger), and compulsive overeating (eating large amounts of food in a short time).
Anorexia nervosa is characterized by self-torture by hunger, weight loss, obsessive fear of getting fat and distorted ideas about the beauty of the human body.
Nervous bulimia is characterized by recurrent obsessive eating abuse, after which it is cleaned by various means: through vomiting, with laxatives or extreme exercises.
Compulsive overeating is the most common eating disorder, which is characterized by frequent instances of food abuse, but is not accompanied by forced disposal of the contents of the stomach.
In the United States, about 10 million women and one million men suffer from a form of anorexia or bulimia. Even more people suffer from compulsive overeating. Another 70 million people around the rest of the world are struggling to deal with the effects of eating disorders.
Forty percent of new cases of anorexia occur in girls aged 15 to 19 years. This ratio has increased every decade since 1930.
The number of reported cases of bulimia among women aged 10 to 39 years tripled between 1988 and 1993.
A normal healthy amount of food for a teenager or adult should be about 1800-2600 calories per day. During one episode of painful overeating, people often eat 20-25 times more than this amount, which can exceed 50,000 calories, which can be thought of as a whole big pepperoni pizza, a large portion of ice cream, a package of cookies, a bag of chips and a whole cake combined. Patients with bulimia can eat this amount of food several times a day.
People with bulimia usually abuse “forbidden food”, such as low-quality food with a high calorie content, but with low nutritional value or the so-called “fast food” offered in restaurants with high carrying capacity.
People with bulimia use a laxative, believing that they can protect their bodies from excess food by getting rid of them in this way. However, nutrients are absorbed in the small intestine, and the laxative generally works only in the large intestine, and all that a person loses additionally is water. People with bulimia often overdose a laxative, which leads to inflammation of the intestinal walls, damage to the colon, severe dehydration of the body, and lower levels of sodium and potassium in the body. Moreover, ironically, the abuse of laxatives often leads to constipation.
Anorexia nervosa has become an increasing problem in the time of the British Queen Victoria. Some researchers have suggested that food was one of the few areas of life that were controlled to some extent by women. In addition, women with excessive appetite were reproached for indulging their desire and promiscuity. Conversely, fragile, thin and pale women were considered a model of femininity and attractiveness.
People suffering from eating disorders, there are cases of depression, loneliness, drug or alcohol abuse, feelings of inadequacy, excessive arousal and unexplained anger.
Researchers suggest that genetic factors play a significant role in the development of speech behavior disorders. Blood relatives of women suffering from anorexia are 11 times more likely to develop this disorder, and relatives of women who suffer from bulimia are more than 4 times more likely to suffer from attacks of wolf hunger.
Often eating disorders are associated with unstable or disturbed family relationships. However, often these problems are caused by loving parents paying too much attention to the constitution of their children.
Scientists believe that some girls develop anorexia due to the fact that they are afraid to part with their parents, especially mothers. They try to eat as little as possible in order to delay their sexual development and prolong their imaginary stay in childhood.
British doctor Sir Richard Morton (1637-1698) is considered the first person to give the first description of the symptoms of anorexia. Descriptions of two cases reached us: in one of them the girl was “sad and restless” and “wept over books”, in the second case it was a boy “predisposed to too diligent teaching”.
