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Anorexia – The Appearance Obsession

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At opposite poles, anorexia (appetite decreased almost complete) and bulimia (eating too much solid food) have the same center of power: an obsession with the body aspect. Many who suffer from serious eating disorders are not aware of the problem and they don’t give up easily on these dangerous practices.

The main cause of anorexia is an obsession with a thin body, fully fueled by fashion trends, silhouettes of models on the catwalk, diets promoted by celebrities and even in stores where is very hard to find nice clothes size XL or XXL. Correct, a harmonious body is healthy, but this extreme desire to be weak can be deadly.

Anorexics starve and prefer liquids over solid foods, coffee and tobacco in order to appease the natural sensation of hunger. In many cases, anorexia is associated with the consumption of drugs and alcohol.

Victims are “recruited” from among adolescents (girls, mainly), of those who live from the image (it was found that, paradoxically, anorexia is a disease especially among the wealthy people) and the elderly who have lost the desire of living (especially men with a age of 70 years).

Distrust self and personality, lack of friends and hobbies, parental neglect, lack of affection can cause an acute need of change in the young. And deep deception, lack of goals, family, friends, loss of house or other important goods are to blame for triggering anorexia in mature people.

Also, research has shown, that anorexic people have a dysfunction of the hypothalamus, part of the brain responsible for regulating the metabolism. The alarm signal is fired when the patient weighs 15% less than what is normal for his height and age.

Symptoms and Risks

Depending on the particularities of each person, symptoms vary, but generally those are: refusal to eat in public, anxiety, dizziness, sensitive skin, bad breath, obsession with calories, lack of at least three consecutive menstrual periods.

The most obvious symptom is, however, unbalanced weight according to the age, height and constitution. Among the negative consequences include loss of minerals and vitamins, low body temperature, irregular heartbeats, osteoporosis, bulimia, vomiting after eating foods, fatigue, constipation, sore mouth, candida, urinary tract infections, depression, uremia, the risk of giving birth to children born prematurely or unhealthy, the spontaneous abortion.

Women who have suffered from anorexia and will give birth to a child should go to the doctor regularly, to comply with strict rules and sports nutrition. 25% of anorexics are trying to kill themselves, and, unfortunately, about 50% of them succeed.

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