Eating disorders are very complex syndromes that occur in many different individuals. Eating disorders not only affect the person's physical well being, but also their emotional well-being. Anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating are all present in today's society. These disorders can be life threatening without any outward warning symptoms.
Many individuals diagnosed with anorexia do not see themselves as starved, since they do eat, but they don't realize that salads cannot give their body the adequate calories that it needs to survive. Anorexia nervosa is an emotional disorder in which the appetite and hunger stops and the obsession of weight loss occur. The absentness of adequate calories results in the body slowing down its metabolism, compromises vital functions, and destroys muscles to provide fuel that is missing due to lack of eating.
Anorexia nervosa usually starts because the individual constantly believes he or she is obese. This feeling may come from being teased for being "on the chubby side," or having parents say "what a shame to have a chubby daughter." Individuals faced with this type of discrimination usually turn to exercising more and eating less, but what they don't realize is that it is not just a temporary ordeal, it is permanent. Many anorexia patients started off wanting to lose five to ten pounds, but they tend to over do things. The five pounds turn into fifteen, the fifteen pounds turn into thirty, and before they know it things are out of control. These individuals are extremely underweight, and being underweight takes a major toll on the human body. But what is underweight? Anorexics often feel that if other people they know are thin, and then they should be able to be that thin as well. What they do not realize is that few people have bodies that can tolerate thinness. Everyone does not have the same body types, all are different and inherited.