Many kids, particularly teens are very concerned about their look. When they undergo puberty, physical changes and face new social pressure, they become self-conscious about their bodies as well as look. For some teens, entering into puberty is easy and they do not face any problem. However, many of them fears that the weight gained this time will be permanent and desperately tries to reduce the weight. They are unaware that after some time the weight will be stable after some time without the need of dieting. Some of them find it very difficult to handle the pressure and develop eating disorders as a way to cope with it.
Eating disorders are very common in teens, every year thousands of them develop this disorder or face problems with weight and body image. This is not just going on a diet to reduce weight or trying to exercise every day. It reaches extremes in eating behavior; they go for a never-ending diet that gradually becomes more restrictive. For example, a teenager suffering from eating disorder will not go out with friends because he/she will think that it will be better to work out then eating snacks with friends. Overall, we can say that eating disorder is an obsession with food and weight that harms the well-being of a person.
Symptoms
Parents often wonder how to track the symptoms of eating disorders, especially of anorexia nervosa and bulimia. These disorders are characterized by preoccupation with food and a distortion of body image. Unfortunately, many teenagers hide the symptoms from parents and family members that results in fatal disorders.
Two psychiatric eating disorder, bulimia and anorexia nervosa are increasing in teenage girls and young women. People struggling with anorexia nervosa are obsesses with being thin. They do not want to eat, as they are afraid of gaining weight. They constantly worry about the amount of calorie and fat present in their food. As a result, they cannot maintain a proper body weight and lacks in nutrition. Many teens restrict their food intake by fasting, dieting and excessive exercising. Sometimes, they do not eat at all and the amount of food they eat becomes an obsession. In certain cases, patients can literally starve them to death.
Bulimia is a habit of eating lot of food and then throwing up or using laxatives to remove it from the body. These eating disorders also occur in boys, but not very often. Apart from these two, there are other food-related disorders that are going common nowadays like body image disorders, binge eating and food phobias. All these disorders interferes with normal daily life, causes dramatic weight fluctuation and damage vital body functions. These disorders can lead to severe consequences including death from starvation, suicide, cardiac arrest and many other medical complications.
Symptoms of bulimia and anorexia nervosa are as follows:
a. Teenagers struggling from anorexia nervosa suffers from low esteem and always thinks that they are is overweight and looks fat, no matter how thin they becomes. They feel satisfied only when they say no to the normal food provided to them. After some time, they starve themselves in a desperate and restless pursuit to be thin.
b. Patient suffering from bulimia consumes high calorie foods and then starts vomiting or use laxatives to remove the calories. They spend long time in the bathroom and runs water on vomiting to hide their symptoms.
Parents and family members can stop development of eating disorders in their kids by nurturing their self-esteem and encouraging healthy attitudes about appearance as well as nutrition. Even then, if you feel any kind of change in their eating habits, reduced intake of food or desperate feeling to reduce their weight, it is recommended to take proper medical treatment.
According to National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, eight million people in United States are suffering from eating disorders- seven million women and one million men. From those eight million, 86 percent says that the disorder begun when they reached the age of 20 and only 50 percent of them are fully cured.
Even after many researches, it is not clear why the eating disorder begins. It may be the response to physical or hormonal changes of adolescence. Psychological pressures that come while maturing can be one of the reasons behind these disorders. Continuous pursuit of thinness and unhappiness about the way you look also results in eating disorders. If there is any family history of eating disorders, that can also be a reason.
