The drive to be thin is powerful, especially for women. Images in the media portray women as thin, which puts enormous pressure on women to be thin. This pressure has resulted in eating disorders that have serious —and potentially deadly—health consequences.
One eating disorder is a disease called anorexia nervosa. Women and men are considered anorexic if they
- have unrealistic perceptions about their body size,
- have a strong desire to be thin,
- starve themselves to lose weight, and
- are obsessed with the food they eat.
Bulimia nervosa is another eating disorder that is similar to anorexia. The main difference between bulimia and anorexia is that people with bulimia eat large amounts of food and get rid of it quickly by vomiting so that the body can’t digest it. People with bulimia often refer to this process as "flipping" or "bingeing and purging."
Anorexia and bulimia are mental illnesses and physical diseases that have potentially deadly health consequences. If you think a friend might have one of these diseases and you don’t know what to do, please consider this sound advice from TeensHealth.
