Sarah is a twenty-one years old college student. Like other female students, she is concerned with her body weight. She exercises a lot trying to burn calories. She loves biking and swimming. And she looks great. You may say that she lives a very healthy life. But as you take a slower look, the pages begin to turn ("My"). She has her secret eating habit! Why does she have to hide her eating behavior? The answer is that she has a serious problem. She is bulimic! Sarah is not alone as a bulimic woman. According to a college textbook "Contemporary Nutrition", 2-4% of the population suffers from bulimia, including 20% of teenager girls and college-age women (Wardlaw 387). People usually do not realize how serious bulimia is. Frighteningly, 10% of individuals suffering from bulimia will die from malnutrition, other medical complications, or suicide (Wardlaw 388). As you can see, bulimia is a serious disease and has greater effects than realized. So what is bulimia about? Bulimia, which is an eating disorder developed from an addictive binge-purge cycle, can cause severe health problems and should be identified as early as possible by specific warning signs. .
First of all, we need to define bulimia. Bulimia is an eating disorder in which large quantities of food are eaten at one time and then purged from the body by vomiting, use of laxatives, or other means (Wardlaw 387). Bulimia is a closet disease. People with this disorder may be difficult to identify. Like Sarah, patients keep their eating habits secret, and their symptoms are not obvious. Although bulimia is most common in teenage girls and college women, a growing number of male athletes also report these practices, especially those who participate in sports that require achieving weights to fit with classes, such as boxers, wrestlers, and jockeys (Wardlaw 387). Next, what are the causes of bulimia? .
According to American Anorexia and Bulimia Association, bulimia often happens because of emotional changes, stress and a concern of body weight (Murkofsky).