Dying to be thin

Many people especially women make great sacrifice in the quest to be beautiful and desirable. In the world today many young girls and women have chosen to be thin at any cost. Anorexia is a disease which will make a person thin but only after sacrificing good health. What makes people, especially girls, become anorexic? There are many answers to that question but the main answer would be that, the girls want to have a perfect body with no fat. In their opinion it is the easiest way to lose weight and look “better”. Most of us would disagree with their opinion. But girls who are desperately trying to lose weight think differently. Every one of us had a situation in which we would make a bad decision, although it looked the best for us at that time. This is what is happening with anorexia and girls with anorexia. First of all, what is anorexia? Anorexia is an illness that usually occurs in teenage girls, but it can also occur in teenage boys, and adult women and men. People with anorexia are obsessed with being thin. They lose a lot of weight and are scared of gaining weight. They believe that they are fat even though they are not; they are very thin. People with anorexia starve themselves and exercise constantly. People with anorexia lose weight by reducing their total food intake to almost nothing and exercising excessively and compulsively. The cause of anorexia is very complicated and still being studied. People who develop anorexia become compulsive about trying to reach an “ideal” body. The cause for most people is a lack of self esteem and the need to have control in their lives. People with anorexia always complain about how fat they are and how much weight they have to lose. Every time they look at the mirror they see themselves as being very fat. They start pretending that they are not hungry, even though all that they are doing is thinking of food. But this disease goes beyond looking thin. Most anorexics have little control over events in their life. They can‘t control their parents, teachers, coaches, friends and problems but they can control how much food they put in their mouth. No matter how bad their day is, as long as they starve themselves they are in control. Some anorexics become so after an illness like a stroke or heart attack because they feel guilt. Had they been thinner this might not have happened. Then something strange happens inside their heads. They begin to believe that they are not losing fast enough and are not showing enough self control. Then they begin to have a false perspective of their appearance. While other people might be horrified at their sudden loss of weight, the anorexic sees only fat on them.

The effect of anorexia would be a severe and life threatening illness. If anorexia is in its early period, less than 6 months or with just a small amount of weight loss, people might not need a doctor‘s help to cure the compulsion. Patients must want to change and must have families to help them. There are many problems caused by anorexia. The common minor symptoms anorexics experience are: girls stop having menstrual periods, dry skin and thinning hair on the head, they feel cold all the time and are very nervous or in bad mood. But anorexia is deadly. When the anorexic loses all body fat then the body starts to take energy from muscles. Many long time anorexics die of heart attacks. If a person is a long term anorexic then they can develop osteoporosis, a bone breaking disease when they are very young. The effects of anorexia are long term, physically debilitating and can only be treated with long term psychological services. Why is anorexia a common problem today? The reason some people get anorexia is not known. For some people it is a chemical problem in the brain. But for most people it begins as a quest to have an “ideal” body. Teenager girls are affected by the models and all the other good looking women on TV and in magazines. They want to have a thin body like their favorite actress or model has. Fat people are laughed at: while thin people are admired. A round, curvaceous figure used to be considered the ideal but now a thin, almost boyish figure is considered the most desirable. The media addresses the problems of anorexia in the news all the time, but it is a fact that in every newspaper and magazine that features an article on anorexia there will be only pencil-thin models in the advertisements. Television is no different. 20/20 will have an expose on eating disorders but it will run commercials on diet plans and drugs. This mixed message confuses young teenage minds and adults also. The message that is being sent to all people is that being fat is bad and being thin is good. The message never makes it clear that too thin is just as unhealthy as too fat.