Child 1

Susan Child
Briggs 10-11:20
English 2010
April 3, 2014
Position/Proposal
Eating Disorders
Many people are unsatisfied with how they look each and every day. Eloise King
estimated that Ninety-seven percent of women will say something negative about their body
every day (Printed Page 1). Each year many people are diagnosed with eating disorders, and not
all of them survive their personal battle with the disorder. According to the South Carolina
Department of Mental Health: 5 10% of anorexics die within 10 years after contracting the
disease; 18-20% of anorexics will be dead after 20 years and only 30 40% ever fully recover.
There are several different kinds of eating disorders out there in the world. Two of the most
noted are anorexia and bulimia. Anorexia is a disorder where people starve themselves to death,
and bulimia is where you stuff yourself, and then make yourself gag and throw up to get rid of it.
There are many reasons people suffer from eating disorders, including pressures from the media,
sports coaches, parents, and even the individual themselves. If we can try our best to cure eating
disorders many adolescents can live longer.
The media has a far-reaching influence on how people
view themselves. Eloise King states: Research shows the
more women see pictures of perfect women in the media; the
more they believe they should look like that. (PP 1).
Child 2

Because of them we have an image in our head of what we need to look like to be
considered beautiful by society. What some people dont know is that images in magazines are
photo shopped to make the models look the way the media thinks they should. Also, there have
been some actors/actresses who have publicized eating disorders and people look up to them for
that, and want to be just like them, even if it includes unhealthy or extreme dieting.
In addition to societal pressures to be perfect, adolescents are fed these pressures in other
areas of their lives, while growing up many parents sign their kids up to be on a sports team so
they can learn important skills, like how to work with others. They may join school sports teams
or community leagues. As stated by Amy Chung: We see children in sports like gymnastics,
skating and ballet where they get clear messages that how tall they are and how heavy they are
will affect whether they can be competitive, (PP 2). As these children progress through
adolescence, more pressure is put on them, and more is expected of them. There are some
coaches who try to live their dreams vicariously through the students they coach because they
want their students to do better than they did; the coaches tell the kids that their performance and
how competitive they can be depends on them and the choices they make each and every day.
Besides coaches there are parents who feel the same way about their child/childrens
performance.
Another key factor in development of eating disorders is parental influence and example.
In an article called NUTURE: A Program for Mothers With
Histories of Eating Disorders it states: Infants of mothers
with eating disorders also are at increased risk for feeding
problems. Often these mothers are concerned about their infants'
Child 3

health but lack confidence to develop healthy feeding practices and
a healthy environment for their infants. (PP 1).
Sometimes
parents dont realize that
if they have problems
with their diet, then their
kids might have
problems with their diets
as well. For example, if
a parent is trying a new
diet their kids may think
it is okay and they feel
like need to try it as
well.
If young children diet when they dont actually need to, they are depriving themselves of
the nutrition their bodies need to grow and develop. In the article, 97% of Women Will Say
Something Bad About Their Bodies Today, by Eloise King it tells us what we should be focusing
on when it comes to food: Focus on the health properties and nutritional value of foods instead
of what they will do to your backside or thighs (PP 2). You can still be healthy even if you are
somewhat overweight, as long as you eat well and get the recommended amount of exercise for
someone in your age range, because food is a necessity to live.
Child 4

Our bodies need food to survive; food is what gives us our energy. There are increasingly
more kids each year who suffer from eating disorders; this is worrisome because their bodies are
still developing. In Amy Chungs work entitled, Children As Young As Five Seek Eating
Disorder Treatment, she uses a quote from a doctor by the name of Leora Pinhas: Dr. Leora
Pinhas, who heads the eating disorders program at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in
Toronto, said she is seeing more younger children in her program now compared to five years
ago when the majority of her in-patients were teens (PP 1). If kids dont get enough calcium,
their bones wont be strong and so they will break easier. They will also be prone to more bone
and other health problems later in life, like osteoporosis and fractures. If you are pregnant, you
are supposed to be eating for yourself and the baby or babies you are carrying, because they take
what they need from the mother and the mother gets whatever the baby/babies dont take. These
needs carry over into pregnancy when the mother is supposed to be consuming enough calories
for her and her growing baby. This is only one misconception when it comes to eating disorders
Another common misconception about eating disorders is that they only affect women.
However, men can suffer from eating disorders as well.
In Karen Weintraubs work, Its a Guy Thing Too, she talks
of a study that was conducted in 2007: a 2007 Harvard
study based on national survey data found that men are one-
third as likely as women to have anorexia or bulimia and
more than half as likely to have a binge eating disorder,
(PP 1).
Child 5

Men are less likely to get help with eating disorders because they are afraid it will
make them seem less manly, or weak, and they like 99.9% of people are afraid of what
other people will think of them for suffering from what many people refer to as a
womans problem.
Usually when fighting
addictions, people try to avoid
the substance, but that just isnt
an option when it comes to the
topic of food, because we all
need to eat each and every day,
we as college students need to
make good and healthy choices
when it comes to food because
what we are eating now, or not
eating plays a role in our future.
If we arent consuming enough food it can cause serious problems that can get worse and
develop into an eating disorder.
The support available for those battling with eating disorders is extensive. There are
groups, message boards, and places that will help people realize the problem they are having and
then get help with it.
Kunal Dutta says, its important that there are always people to talk to about this.
There are message boards and family and friends. And keep focus on your future. The
Child 6

thing about anorexia is it strips everything away from you. You need to find value in who
you are. (PP 2).
Message boards are usually found online, and they are sites where people can talk about
their problems or solutions they have found useful for them with their personal situation, they
can also be used to build friendships with others in similar situations. If you personally havent
had any experience with eating disorders or dont know much about them you may find yourself
asking questions like: What will I say to them? What if I offend them by saying the wrong
thing? Stop focusing on those questions and just be there to listen to them, be their friend during
this time in their life. In an article Wired To Starve there is a great quote from a physician about
what we shouldnt say:
"People will say [to anorexics] just be mindful of your eating. They can't be
mindful. There is no response in the brain to say, 'Let me get a sense of how I
should eat and when I should eat.' It's just not firing," (PP 1).
There are hospitals that specialize in getting people with eating disorders help to
overcome these problems. Its always good to have the support of family and friends to help
overcome this problem/hardship in your life. By talking about your problems you can focus on
what you can do to change your future, and become a better, healthier version of you. Its a good
idea to use message boards because for all we know, someone may have an idea or something
that helped them with their eating disorder that we may never think of.
By curing eating disorders many people will be able to live longer and have happier,
healthier lives. We need to be more aware of peoples problems, as well as our own. Each day
instead of looking at all the negatives in our lives and saying something negative about ourselves
Child 7

every day, make a goal to say something positive about yourself. Also try to compliment others,
for all you know that could be the highlight of their day and prevent them from inflicting harm
upon themselves. We need to be happy with who we are, and not compare ourselves/our bodies
to those around us. We are all special in our own way, regardless of whether or not we fit into
societys stringent cookie-cutter image.













Child 8

Works Cited
Chung, Amy. Children As Young As Five Seek Eating Disorder Treatment: Doctor. Postmedia
News. 08 Aug 2011: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 30 Oct 2013.

Crow, Scott. "NURTURE: A Program For Mothers With Histories Of Eating Disorders." Eating
Disorders Review 25.1 (2014): 8-10. Academic Search Premier. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.
Dutta, Kunal. Girls Under 11 Go Without Food to Gain Ideal Shape. The Independent on
Sunday. 30 Oct 2011: 10. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 30 Oct 2013.

Firth, Shannon. "Wired To Starve." Scientific American Mind 25.2 (2014): 9-10. Academic
Search Premier. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.
King, Eloise. 97% of Women Will Say Something Bad About Their Body Today. Sunday Mail
(Adelaide). 26 Jun 2011: 6. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 30 Oct 2013.

"South Carolina Department of Mental Health." Eating Disorder Statistics. South Carolina
Department of Mental Health, n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2014.

"The Free Automatic Bibliography and Citation Generator." EasyBib. Imagine Easy Solutions,
LLC, n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.
Weintraub, Karen. Its a Guy Thing, Too. Boston Globe. 14 Nov 2011: G.13. SIRS Issues
Researcher. Web. Oct 2013.

Images:
The images I have used in my paper can be found on google images by searching eating
disorders, Anorexia, Bulimia, and Children with Eating Disorders.