Why do some people have a greater need to look prettier and thinner than others? I set out to find why some people need to starve themselves to feel better about their bodies. I like food, and I find it hard to believe that some people can reject good tasting, wholesome food when they are hungry.
It happens though, and some of these people suffer from eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia. I think it’s crazy how there are so many people that suffer from diseases like these. I’ve never known anyone with an eating disorder, but I’ve heard stories of girls who have had it. It is a problem. It seems to happen most often in high school with adolescent girls, and many have the disease for years before finally getting treatment that works.
I didn’t understand how some people get the disease because I’ve never known anyone with it, and I wanted to find out why some people got it while others didn’t. I found out that there are a lot of factors that cause people to develop an eating disorder. It seems that family situations, along with problems and stresses outside of the home affect people the most.
People with overly controlling parents who aren’t allowed to make any decisions for themselves are at the greatest risk. Many times people develop a disorder because it is the only part of their lives they can control. Everything else has been decided by the parents already.
Developing an eating disorder really isn’t a good way to rebel. I think television and magazines have a lot to do with the way girls see themselves. Almost everyone on TV and in beauty magazines are fit and trim. Models are so unnaturally small sometimes that it looks sick, and it can’t be healthy. I would rather be a little bigger as long as it meant that I stayed healthy. I can’t fit into a size three anymore, but that’s okay because I think I’m healthier.
Television and magazines make some people feel fat and unsatisfied with their bodies. Being bigger isn’t that big of a deal. Some people think it is though, and so they resort to other methods of losing weight other than exercising and diet change.
Some develop anorexia and slowly starve themselves until someone helps them get treatment. Other people get bulimia and have episodes of binging after not eating for a long time, and then make themselves sick after feeling guilty from eating too much.
Spending more than three hours a day thinking about healthy food, planning tomorrow’s menu today, skipping enjoyed foods to eat the “right” foods, feeling guilty or self-loathing when straying from a diet are a few symptoms a person with an eating disorder would have.
Everyone’s body is different. Why not highlight the good things and forget the bad things, and forget what anyone says because it really doesn’t matter anyway. Forget the people who look prettier because we’re all the same. I’ve never met anyone who was so ugly that I couldn’t find at least one cute thing to complement the person on. I really don’t think there are ugly people out there.
Personalities are the greatest things too. I like hanging out with people who aren’t afraid to laugh and who have a good sense of humor. To me at least, someone who makes people laugh is always attractive.
