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Anorexia means “loss of appetite,” which is deceiving because people with anorexia nervosa are almost always hungry (Kolodny 40). Victims of anorexia do not simply lose their appetite, but train their willpower to overcome and suppress their hunger. To a majority of victims, their willpower demonstrates their strength and self control. Anorexics refuse to eat or limit their meals to very small quantities. One in 200 American women suffers from anorexia (South Carolina Department of Mental Health). Joan Jacobs Brumberg of Cornell University reports that anorexics may limit themselves to between 200 and 400 calories a day (Cotter 12). The 200-400 calorie diet is extremely alarming bearing in mind that the average diet consists of 2,000 calories. Chronic anorexics tend to be underweight; they tend to take exercising and dieting to the extreme. They constantly fear gaining weight despite already being dangerously thin. Some anorexics are literally reduced to skin and bones. A female who is five feet tall should weigh around 120 pounds, but an anorexic of the same height can weigh as little as 60 pounds (Cotter 14). However, not all anorexics are exceedingly underweight, but just thin enough to imitate the ideal appearance in the latest fashions. Anorexics initially begin dieting to lose a few pounds, but eventually, their diet becomes an obsession. They fixate on counting calories and even more so on cutting calories. Despite a refusal to eat, anorexics constantly think about food and feel particularly guilty about eating. In some cases, anorexics cannot control their desire for food and resort to bulimia to control their weight. The word bulimia comes from the Greek words //bous,// which means “ox” and //limos,// which means “hunger” (Lori 94). Together, the two words represent such an intense hunger that a person can eat an entire ox. Like anorexics, people with bulimia nervosa obsess over body image and food. Bulimia nervosa is more common than anorexia nervosa, with two to three in 100 American women suffering from bulimia (South Carolina Department of Mental Health). Bulimics tend to be within normal weight range, which can be dangerous because the disorder can go undetected for years. Unlike anorexia, bulimia follows a binge-purge pattern. It is characterized by a powerful urge to eat large amounts of food in a short period of time, defined as the binging, followed by purging behaviors, such as vomiting, fasting, excessive exercise, and/or the use of laxative or emetics, which induce vomiting. Bulimics usually eat in secret. They will store unhealthy, satisfying foods, like cookies and chips, and turn to them when they are hunger struck. This sounds like a simple case of cravings, but bulimics cannot limit themselves to one serving; they might eat an entire box of cookies or a whole bag of chips in just one sitting. After eating in secret, they will purge themselves of the guilt ridden calories. Bulimics appear to live a normal life because few people will recognize their binging and purging. Like anorexics, bulimics associate their disorder with self-control. “They feel disgusted and ashamed as they binge, yet relieved of tension and negative emotions once their stomachs are empty again” (Eating Disorders). In the midst of a binge, a bulimic feel as if they have little or no control and can only regain their control by purging and restricting their calorie intake between binges. Surprisingly, binge eating is the most common eating disorder, affecting up to four million Americans (Lori 107). Unlike anorexia and bulimia, binge eaters tend to binge without ridding themselves of the excess calories and are therefore typically overweight. Binge eating disorder is more common among men than anorexia or bulimia. It also tends to occur in people between thirty and fifty years old (Eating Disorders). Binge eaters tend to eat faster than most people, eat until they feel uncomfortably full, eat large amounts of food when they are not physically hungry, eat alone due to embarrassment about how much they eat, and feel disgusted and guilty about how much they eat.
 * //TYPES OF EATING DISORDERS//**

Even though they are so prevalent, eating disorders do not simply happen over night. There are multiple factors that may lead to the development of an eating disorder. Typically when abnormal eating patterns develop, an eating disorder is the next step. Normal eating patterns are situational, but typically defined as eating foods one enjoys when they are hungry, and stopping when they are full or satisfied. However, “abnormal eating may occur when the emotional aspects of food become more important to a person than food’s physiological role” (Lori 15). One can develop abnormal eating due to biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors. Naturally, eating disorders are not considered a genetic disorder, but research shows that eating disorders have a tendency to run in families. Someone related to a person with an eating disorder has a greater chance of developing an eating disorder; however, each person’s psychological and sociocultural situations vary. Researchers have begun identifying the specific genes that may be associated with the development of eating disorders. Inherited abnormalities in the levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that controls sleep, mood, and appetite, may contribute to the typical behaviors of eating disorders, such as loss of appetite. Along with biological predisposition, society plays a major role in the development of eating disorders. In practically every magazine, there are pictures of tall, fit, gorgeous models. The media bombards people with images of unrealistic beauty. Body image is how comfortable or satisfied a person feels about his or her size, shape, and appearance. In short, body image is how people see themselves in the mirror. Society’s perception of ideal body image is almost impossible to achieve. As people gaze and envy the models in magazines, movies, and the news, they fail to understand that the images in the media are typically digitally enhanced. These images send a message that says to young adults that the potential for success, power, wealth, and happiness depend on size and shape. Matthew Tiemeyer, a licensed mental health counselor specialized in eating disorders says, that “when living in healthy, normal ways doesn’t produce that appearance, many turn to what is abnormal and unhealthy—eating disorders” (Tiemeyer). As people strive to achieve a specific body image, their ideal body image and reality will often clash, thus leading to low self esteem and feelings of inadequacy. Essentially, one’s body image greatly affects their self image, or sense of who they are, which can change as outside pressures change. If one has a poor self image, they are very likely to have low self esteem. They will then be inclined to think of their faults and feel incapable to achieve the unrealistic ideal body image. Although low self esteem and dissatisfaction with self image may predispose people to eating disorder, there are specific traits linked to each of the disorders. People with anorexia tend to be perfectionist, while people with bulimia are often impulsive. Many people will strive for a particular body image by exercising and dieting, but a simple diet may lead to obsessions and compulsions associated with food, which are the initial behaviors of a developing eating disorder.
 * CAUSES OF EATING DISORDERS**