Anorexia

            
             Television and magazine advertising show the images of glamorous and thin .
             Thousands of teenagers are starving themselves every day in an .
             effort to attain what the fashion industry considers to be the "ideal" figure. However, an .
             average female model weighs approximately 23% less than the recommended weight for a .
             woman (Pirke and Ploog, 1984). Maintaining a weight 20% below ones expected body .
             weight fits the criteria for the emotional eating disorder known as anorexia. Although .
             many frequently hear this term, do we actually know what anorexia is, why one becomes .
             anorexic, and the effects of becoming anorexic. .
             By definition an anorexia is a nervous lose of appetite. According to Pirke and .
             Ploog, most researchers and physicians now believe that anorexia has existed for at least .
             300 years. The development of anorexia usually peaks between the age of fourteen and .
             eighteen. However, this disease can occur later in life, and it is not unusual to see .
             anorexia in women in to their early 40's. The disease forms slowly over a period of.
             months to years during which the sufferer changes her/his eating patterns to a very .
             restricted diet. .
             .
             In this world women are given the message starting from a very early age that in .
             order to be happy and successful in life, they must be thin and beautiful. Therefore, eating .
             disorders like anorexia are on the rise. The victims of anorexia may often become.
             frightened of gaining weight and food itself. The victim may feel fat, even though their.
             body weight is well below the normal weight of their height and age. In addition, some .
             may even feel they do not deserve pleasure out of life and they will deprive themselves of .
             situations offering enjoyment. Anorexia survivor Nanett Pearson, a former Miss Utah in .
             1996, explains .
             I became obsessed with body image. I kept journals and in one pathetic passage I .
             described how I went for sixteen days on water, and only about two glasses a day.