Who doesn’t love eating? Probably many of us would nod their head vigorously and
I agree with the term “I live to eat”. But then too much food is a trouble, but
shockingly too less food is also a trouble. Some people actually have trouble eating;
yes, just putting food into their mouth, or even worse, feeling guilt after having
eaten food. Confused? Well, we at Rockying
share a little more insight into what is commonly known as “Eating Disorder”.
Have a look at the video here:
WHAT IS AN EATING DISORDER?
Eating disorder refers to a group of conditions which might involve either too much eating or excessively low intake of food to the point that it is detrimental to the person’s physical, emotional and mental well being.
There are over eleven types of eating disorders but the most common forms are Anorexia
Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa. And here’s a little bit of each of them
and what they really mean.
Anorexia Nervosa is a refusal on the person's behalf to maintain the right
body weight. The person always imagines themselves to be heavier and much more fatter
than they actually are. There is a constant and extreme fear of gaining weight and
to soothe this fear, extremely unhealthy eating habits are formed; despite being
highly underweight.
There might be a constant refusal to eat, or eating might take in extremely limited
and tiny portions. So much so that it has extreme detrimental effects on the body
such as loss of body hair, extreme hair fall, loss of skin integrity and the body
becomes susceptible to heart related problems. The risk of death is extremely high
in such cases.
A famous example of this is Karen
Carpenter, a musician (singer and drummer), who went on a water diet to
lose weight and “appear attractive” but then the extreme weight loss caused severe
complications and lead to heart failure which resulted in her death at 32 years
of age.
Bulimia Nervosa is a disorder wherein the person indulges in binge eating-
eating too much- and then is overcome by extreme guilt and indulges in activities
to “shed off” the weight put on due to the binging. This might include excessive
exercise, self induced vomiting, excessive use of laxatives to wash away what was
taken in.
Dancer, singer and reality show (American Idol) judge Paula Abdul has opened talk about her battle against bulimia. She is the spokesperson for National Eating Disorders Association and usually describes her struggle with the disorder.
The late Princess Diana
struggled with eating disorder Bulimia and admitted that she used to self-harm herself.
Diana also admitted in a television interview that she intentionally cut her arms
and legs and had thrown herself down a flight of stairs on more than one occasion.
Other celebrities from the Hollywood scene, involved and highly disturbed by this
disorder include Lady Gaga, Elton John, Jessica Alba, Jane Fonda
are some names to mention in regard to this.
At home, Bollywood
leading ladies Kareena Kapoor, Kangana Ranaut and more recently Anushka
Sharma have been targeted to have been suffering from eating disorders;
but then none of them have openly confessed to it.
The underlying factors, causes are very complex but yes, one does need to go out
and seek help when body images and perceptions about one’s body is totally different.
