Though bulimia is classified as an eating disorder, not everyone with bulimia feels like they have a disorder. Some view bulimia and anorexia as lifestyles—chosen lifestyles.
People with bulimia and anorexia are terrified or shamed by the thought of getting fat or even eating. They have an unhealthy body image and feel that, no matter how they actually look, they are overweight. People with bulimia may binge on food, but then they either vomit after meals, abuse laxatives, or exercise excessively. People with anorexia starve themselves. Ninety percent of eating disorders are in women, many in their teens.
Pro-bulimia and pro-anorexia groups reside on the Internet. Web sites and message boards run by mostly teenage girls are devoted to “Ana,” short for “anorexia,” and “Mia,” short for “bulimia.” Many of these Web sites use nutritional information to plan diets like, for example, how to eat the needed requirements of vitamins and minerals in the fewest of calories. Other sections teach the reader how to eat the fewest calories in a day, how to hide anorexia or bulimia from other people, and other information to, essentially, make having an eating disorder more efficient.
To the people who are pro-bulimia and pro-anorexia, eating disorders are a choice. Many Web sites include pages dedicated to “thinsperation,” quotes, art, and pictures of skinny or obese people to encourage readers to lose weight. The Web sites are support groups to the people who use them.
Many people, however, find the pro-bulimia and pro-anorexia pages disturbing. Eating disorder treatment professionals have debated how to best handle the people who view their eating disorder as a lifestyle. Some have argued that these Web sites should be shut down, but others say this will not fix the problem, and that women have been talking about weight with each other for ages.
The best solution to these Web sites, many professionals say, is to try to change the culture that creates women who feel too fat. Young women—and men—should be praised for their accomplishments, not their appearance. Healthy appetites and body images should be encouraged, and teenagers should receive love and support from the adults close to them.
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The Link Between Anorexia and Bulimia
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What are the Symptoms of Bulimia?
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Bulimia is an eating disorder. People with bulimia usually have a normal weight, but perceive themselves to be fat. Or they may feel intense guilt or self-disgust when they eat. These feelings are so strong that people with bulimia throw up much of the food...
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Main Causes of Bulimia
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Some people may feel that they are fat, no matter how thin they actually are. Or they may feel guilty when they eat too much food. The guilt and shame from eating makes the person vomit up all their food. These people have bulimia nervosa,...
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When a girl enters puberty, her body changes. It begins to look like a woman’s body, rather than a girl’s. Fat begins to appear. Breasts develop and hips widen as the girl grows. For some young woman, these changes are greeted with excitement. For other...
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Anorexia and Bulimia
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Anorexia and bulimia are two different sides of the same coin. While anorexia is often apparent, bulimia is secretive. While anorexics starve themselves for fear of putting on weight, bulimia patients indulge first in overeating, often in isolation, and then induce vomiting; they overuse diuretics...
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Bulimia Treatment: Advice and Options
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Bulimia is an eating disorder compels people to binge on food and then purge through self-induced vomiting, diuretics or laxative abuse, or excessive exercise. People with bulimia tend to feel guilty and disgusted about food and fat. Even though most people with bulimia begin at...
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People with an eating disorder eat in such a manner that compromises their physical health. The manner of eating may vary in ways: it may be excessive or very limited, or eating all the wrong foods. Among the known eating disorders, anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa...
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Different types of anorexia affect as many as 5% of all young women in the United States, and three times the percentage are women who have unhealthy attitudes and behaviors about food. Reports have indicated that in women who suffer from anorexia, the onset of...
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Information On Eating Disorders
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Psychologists qualify an eating disorder as something of a mental illness that affects a person’s eating habits in such a way that drastically disturbs the physical health of that person. An in-depth analysis by psychologists and psychiatrists list the types of eating disorders as Anorexia...