Thinking About Eating Disorders

As health and wellness editors with young kids we worry about whether our kids are eating right or not, especially our daughters.  Society seems to place an unwritten rule on women that they must be thin or they are not attractive, sexy, successful etc… the list could go on and on.

Our Eating Disorders Information Portal is designed to contain all of our research we’ve done on eating disorders for your use and reference.  We all know someone who is too thin, or starves themselves to fit into the small clothes sizes. Most don’t think they have a problem and relatives sometimes don’t recognize it as a problem. There are many questions in the situation, the major one being do they have an eating disorder? If they do have an eating disorder, what type is it….anorexia, bulimia?

The interesting thing we found is it’s not just women who have eating disorders; men also have eating disorders and it is much hard for them to get the help they need. If you yourself have an eating disorder, or your helping a friend recognize they have an eating disorder, spend the time going through this information portal and start a plan today to find a solution to your problem, your life literally depends on it.

 

New Anorexia Study Answers Questions

When it comes to eating disorders, few are as tragic as anorexia. It's a disorder that many of us are familiar with, but few realize what terrible consequences that anorexia can have on someone's body. For a long time, we've known that anorexia is a problem that occurs on a psychological level, and it's tough for anorexics to overcome their problem by just wishing it away. Many sufferers feel the same bad way about their bodies when they are trying to stop the eating disorder, and it can cause them to relapse, leading to worse problems. When the body isn't getting enough nutrition, it suffers. Anorexics, if untreated, will experience stunted bone development, heart problems, muscle wasting and generally depressed health. Many suffer psychologically from the disorder as well, with feelings of shame and low self-image being the result of their woes. For that reason, it's important that anyone who has the disorder should seek treatment for their own well-being. While counseling and treatment can be helpful, many anorexics relapse into their condition afterwards. Sadly, many anorexics pay the ultimate price and die as a result of the damage that the disorder does to their body. Recently, a study was conducted which has helped to shed some light on the problem that anorexics face with their bodies.

Doctor Naresh Mondraty of the University of New South Wales presented the results of a research study that his team had conducted at the school. The study consisted of several anorexic women who were shown pictures of their own body and pictures of other women's bodies. Brain scans were taken as the girls were looking at the images, and the researchers found astonishing results. As it turns out, when the girls looked at images of their own body, certain parts of their brain simply 'shut down', showing that the girls pattern of thought regarding their self image was largely negative. The suppression of the brain activity shown in the brain scans proved that the girls were chemically depressed about their own appearance, even when they were well below their recommended body weight.

This study can help to show why it is so hard for anorexics to recover from their problems. Since the girls' brain activity showed that their bodies resulted in serious changes in the way the brain was functioning, it can be a difficult cycle to break. While we've always known that anorexia existed on a largely psychological level, the neurological connections that this study has shown should prove to take some of the shame away from the disease. It shows that anorexia nervosa is a serious problem with one's physical and mental health that can be very difficult to conquer. The girls in the study showed that regardless of what the world said about their bodies, they honestly felt disgusted by their own appearance. Hopefully, the light that this shines upon the eating disorder's basic chemistry will prove to be of merit in helping to solve the problem in the future.

Written by: Scott Parat