BEL 311 FINAL DRAFT TOPIC: TYPES OF EATING DISORDERS

TYPES OF EATING DISORDERS

Have you ever heard about bulimia? Or you might know about some famous artists like Victoria Beckham, Keira Knightley and one of the Olsens twin suffered from anorexia nervosa? Actually, we call these types of syndromes as eating disorder. Eating disorder is a spectrum of abnormal eating patterns that eventually may danger a persons health or increase the risk for other diseases. Generally, psychological factors play a key role where commonly affect adolescents and young women, and occur across all the social groups. They are divided into three types which are anorexia nervosa, bulimia and binge-eating disorder. Anorexia nervosa is an obsession for thinness manifested in self-imposed starvation. People who are suffered from these syndromes are fight with their bodies. Even they can be categorized as underweight, but they will assume themselves as fat. According to Insel (2004), he states that the warning signs of anorexia are loss of a thin, feeling fat (even after losing weight) and fear of weight gain. Besides that, psychological issues are typically at work because most cases of anorexia begin around the age of puberty, some psychologists theorize that anorexia behaviour is an attempt to prevent or delay sexual maturation. There are several things that can cause these types of eating disorder such as obsessed to have beautiful body figures, depression, influence by people around them and mass media. While bulimia nervosa referred from Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (2006) as an illness in which a person cannot stop themselves from eating too much and then vomit in order to control their weight. There are high rates of bulimia in groups involved in activities that emphasize thinness and body types such as gymnastics, dance, cheerleading and figure skating. Bulimia is more prevalent among Caucasians. This bulimia can be detected when a person who may have bulimia start bingeing, or eating uncontrollably, using bathroom frequently after meals, preoccupations with body weight and irregular menstrual

period. As stated by Lily Haslina Nasir (2004) said that this type of eating disorder occurred when they are under depression and frustrated. Meanwhile, people with binge-eating disorder actually consume more food than is typically eaten in a given period of time. Binge-eating often is a learned response to stress or conflict, passed down from one generation to the next. Most of these eaters are people who have not learned to express or even acknowledge their feelings. Apart from that, signs that a person may have a binge-eating disorder such as episodes of binge-eating, eating when not physically hungry, frequent dieting, weight fluctuations and depressed mood as defined by Insel (2004). Actually, these anxiety, loneliness, depression and stress are the cause of bingeeating disorder. As a conclusion, anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge-eating disorder are three major types of eating disorder. As we did not realise, about 1/30 people from our surroundings suffered from eating disorder. Hence, the best treatment for eating disorders is prevention. Once an eating disorder has become entrenched, intensive and prolonged treatment is typically required. Many people require lifelong support to maintain healthful eating and lifestyle habits.

REFERENCES:
Hark, L. (2005). Nutrition For Life: The Definitive Guide To Eating Well For Good Health. United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersly Ltd Insel, P. (2004). Nutrition: Second Edition. Massachusetts, USA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers Inc Lily Haslina Nasir, (2004). Siri Yang Perlu Diketahui: Gemuk Atau Obesiti. Associated Educational Distributors (M) Sdn. Bhd Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (2006). United Kingdom: Longman