Question

Helping Prevent Eating Disorders

You have been asked to speak to a junior high school class about eating disorders. What are four major points that you
would make to help prevent disordered eating in this population?

1.
2.
3.
4.

Here are points you may consider:

1. Extreme thinness is oversold in the media. Extremely low weight (i.e., BMI of less than 17.5) is generally not healthy.
2. Self-induced vomiting is dangerous. Damage to the teeth, stomach, and esophagus often results.
3. Loss of menstrual periods is sign of illness. It is important to see a physician about this. Bone deterioration is a common result.
4. The treatment of eating disorders in early phases aids success. These diseases are difficult to treat once firmly established.

Answer 1

1. Our brain needs fuel in the form of carbohydrates, proteins and fats to function properly. We must give our brains the fuel it needs. Smartness never goes out of fashion.

2. The effect of not eating proper food will not be evident immediately. This is the reason why many of our grandparents have diseases and suffer from body pains and aches. This is because of their eating disorders during their young ages. If we want our bodies to function properly till we are alive, we need to eat healthy and proper meals.

3. When we do not get enough iron, we experience cramps during our periods or heavy or very light periods. Females also lose more calcium than males. This may result in many diseases of the bones once they reach late 20s and 30s when they have a lot of work to do and a lot of life to live. In order to become successful at that age and not let down by your periods, you need to start eating healthy and whatever the body needs.

4. We see underweight models on instagram these days who look super lean and toned in their pictures. A lot of those pictures are edited in such a way so as to hide reality. In actual, it is unhealthy to be losing so much weight. Those people have full time paid nutritionists who take care that they eat right, so as to not fall unconscious in the middle of their shoot. We should first aim to be healthy and flexible so that it doesn't come in our way of daily routine, and a toned and lean body is a secondary choice.