Dealing With Eating Disorders

Across the country this week, university students are trying to raise awareness about eating disorders. The term eating disorder covers a wide range of different conditions, ranging from bulimia to anorexia, but they are all very dangerous. These disorders are becoming increasingly common among men and women of all ages and can be very dangerous to an individuals health. Furthermore, they can be difficult to overcome without help and are often hidden from loved ones. With this in mind, it is important for everyone to understand the dangers of eating disorders and the signs that you or a loved one may be developing one of them.

Anyone Can Be At Risk

One of the issues that is being brought to people's attention during this national eating disorder week is the fact that these are not disorders that only impact women. Traditionally, eating disorders like anorexia or bulimia have been solely associated with women, ignoring the fact that huge numbers of men struggle with the same problems. Because these men have been largely ignored, there aren't the same resources available to help them understand and overcome the eating disorders they are struggling with. As we move forward, it is important that we recognize this and work to make sure that men get the help they need.

Overcoming Eating Disorders

A big part of developing an eating disorder is having difficulties with body image. It's easy to understand where this comes from, with the media constantly exposing people to idealized versions of the human figure. Unfortunately, even though we understand this influence it is still hard to overcome. People increasingly feel driven to embark on extreme diets with the goal of achieving the perfect figure. This is impossible to ever truly achieve and only causes people to damage their health. With this in mind, the best way to address the problem our country has with eating disorders to to encourage the media to portray people more realistically. Instead of having already ridiculously skinny models photoshopped to look impossibly thin, we need regular people on our magazine covers, in our movies, and on television. This simple step would go a great ways towards normalizing our societies view on what a person's body should look like.