EATING AND LOATHING
IN CALI (Working Title)
______________
A look at eating disorders,
their effects on teens and the body,
treatment and society’s part to play in the disorder,
“With a teen focus”.
________________
Sebastian Martinez
Angela Guerrero
Humanities (Bad Badgers)
November 5th, 2010
Abstract
Eating disorders, a term that’s tossed around often in teenage circles. How much do teens actually know about bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa other then “that skinny girl who doesn’t eat” or yeah “I heard she throws-up her food, ewwwwwww”. It’s the purpose of this paper to really inform the reader about eating disorders form everything to treatment, the mental and emotional effects of the disorders as well as society role in nurturing the disorder. We don’t always realize the part “we” play as peers in fueling the fire in the minds and hearts of patients with eating disorders, this essay will look at all these topics and hopefully persuade the reader to look at how the misinformation can lead to miscommunication, and misconduct that affects those around them.
Introduction
Food can be a feast for the body, the senses and the soul. That is, if you’re not a teenager in the awkward age of the world, where you’re either skinny or fat, ugly or pretty and sometimes ugly and fat just because “I don’t like you”. I am not saying that there are not those select few who rise above these peer-pressures of weight and beauty but it’s hard to find most adults that are completely confidant in their own skin, let alone teenagers thirteen to eighteen. We all have ways of dealing with our bodies and excepting ourselves. Who doesn’t love a good meal?
Imagine sitting at the dinner table across from your family about to eat a delicious home cooked meal. You have good conversation, laugh, and spill about your day between bites food. Now imagine the life of someone with an eating disorder. Rather than loving your meal you’re loathing it. Food becomes an invitation for fear. Fear served on fresh plate. Once this family dinner is over, you excuse yourself to your room, blast your music, and grab your tooth brush…..I am not begin to even go there with this paper. To fathom an experience or exploit one for the purpose of a good paper. The fact is I don’t think it possible to put yourself in that position unless you have at one point in your life experience or come in contact with eating disorders. The one thing I think we can all agree on though understands what it feels like to dislike “the little imperfections”. For patients with eating disorders those imperfections become a blister on the soul, and the perception on one self. The swell until you go the kind of extremes that leads to anorexia and bulimia. They finally come to boil, a permanent invisible scare on your face that screams ugly, unwanted, shame. Shame? Teenage culture has a way of glamorizing these kinds of disorders, in to odd rites of passage passed from Hollywood starlets to their fans down bellow.
These were all things I looked into and questions I had about eating disorders but not at all why I wrote this paper. I wrote this paper because I realized that eating disorders can hinge on the door of self confidence on our often reformed, enforced, or planted but “us”, the peers, the bullies, the haters, the friends. By even myself! At this point I have to make a confession, a confession that ultimately became the fuel, fire, passion and life of my paper. This is confession about when I realized that the people I’m trying to inform, the kids that make the “ewe” comments when eating disorders come up our just like myself, in fact I Sebastian Martinez was once that kid.
A STORY ABOUT A GIRL: I have a way of people telling me what is on their mind. Once an amazing girl told me something very personal about her. Something I promised to keep to myself, she was a recovering bulimic who was once consumed by it and when she told me this I have to admit I was shocked. I thought I had this girl figured out and when I put it into perspective I saw the pain that sometimes flashed across her face, I saw that you can’t just tell someone has a eating disorder by looking at them but most importantly that this did not stop her from being one of the most funny and vibrant people I know.
In the days to come I realized how I watched the jokes I made, the things I said, but more importantly knowing she was trying to move forward from this self-destructive behavior I watched other people. People that did not know that my friend was hurting, that she was getting help and the “bullies and leaches” needed to back off. Can say for the recorded, and I am not just saying this that she was beautiful, slender and healthy. This idea of being “fat” and associating fat with ugly as teens do was all in her head. And on the day that this paper was born I realized that this concept was just as embedded in my DNA.
I stood there with the “girl”, and two of my other really good friends. Like most teens we founded ourselves gossiping and ultimately swarming over the confidence of a fellow student. I preface this with the fact that I did not like this boy. And so when it came up that he was skinny because he made himself throw-up, I did not stop the conversation, as I said before I did not care for him. My friends, two great and loving people, talked about how it was gross and dirty and I figured it was no big deal. Then I saw the “girls” face as she turned away. A tear that told a truth. A truth I knew about her and that I learned about myself. I now knew she was a bulimic and so I watched what I said but chances were that all the a million other times we attacked that boy, I was attacking her, causing her pain and I never even knew. Except I did know that saying those kinds of thing about people, especially about topics you don’t understand is wrong. As a teen I know what it’s like to sometimes not be able to deal with the “imperfections”, I knew what it was like to let the words of other break your spirit and at that moment I knew I had been that bully for someone else, yes to someone I disliked. Who had hurt me but that did not mean I had to hurt them. More importantly I had become an unknowing tormentor of a friend, a “girl”, who needs kindness. This paper is on behalf of the silent victims, and there unknowing tormenters. I wrote this for teens that need to give teens a brake, a taste of compassion.
Thesis:
Eating disorders such as bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa may be a self-inflicted, but as teenagers, peers, and friends we play large part in the development of these disorders and their devastating effects.
I. Bulimia Nervosa, “you mean the one where the make themselves throw-up”
Many teens know this disease as just that, “the one where they make themselves throw-up” and essential you could label Bulimia Nervosa as just that, but it goes deeper. At KidsHealth.org a bulimic(the name for a person with bulimia) is defined as, “a person who binge eats (eats a lot of food) and then tries to compensate in extreme ways, such as forced vomiting or excessive exercise, to prevent weight gain.” Also the experts of KidsHealth.org diagnose a bulimic as “must be binging and purging regularly, at least twice a week for a couple of months.” This is every important because teens have a tendency to flirt with eating disorders, seeing it as some glamorous fad but true bulimic our addicts. They become addicted to binging and purging and make it a regular process. The flush and feel of riding your system of food, and knowing you can actually eat without really gaining weight, is it possible that such a concept is desirable. I would say yes, ill say yes for all of us.
The idea of eating whatever you want, whenever you want, without consequence can be liberating but at what cost? In the case of bulimia severe stomach pain, damage to the teeth because of the stomach acid, and an overall lack of vitamins and minerals to your body. The body needs proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, and nucleic acid which generally come from food. Thought the body might not gain weight it also does gain nutrition which in the long run no doubt will cripple the body. I know what you’re thinking common knowledge, knowledge that should be powerful enough to stop bulimics dead in their tracks but it doesn’t. So I ask you why it doesn’t it. How strong is this disorder of the mind that cripples the body?
One way that we might help those with eating disorders is clearing the air and helping stop the secrecy that often comes with “addiction or disorders” of this kind.
Things to look for are
1. fears weight gain
2. intensely unhappy with body size, shape, and weight
3. makes excuses to go to the bathroom immediately after meals
4. may only eat diet or low-fat foods (except during binges)
5. regularly buys laxatives, diuretics, or enemas
6. spends most of his or her time working out or trying to work off calories
7. withdraws from social activities, especially meals and celebrations involving food
Seeing the signs is important to helping conquer and quite bulimia but it’s also about how you approach the person once you do. Does having the negative mindset towards bulimics do anything put this message across? Superior attitudes won’t help; bulimics don’t want to digest food, the basic component of keeping the body alive. How on earth are they expecting to be open to digesting truth? They might accept truth in gift basket over truth at the end of a loaded gun.
II. Anorexia Nervosa or “the thing where they don’t eat”
Anorexia is in many ways simpler then bulimia and yet can be all the more dangerous and devastating. Though not all anorexics can keep up the level of intensity of KidsHealth.org describes Anorexics as, “restrict their food intake by dieting, fasting, or excessive exercise. They hardly eat at all — and the small amount of food they do eat becomes an obsession.” No food, no energy, no realistic approach to life. The key word here is obsession. Obsessions of any kind can lead to dangerous behavior and when your obsession main focus is looking skinny, we have to remember the old saying that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. If the beholder will never like what they see then what are the chances of the eating disorder being anything but toxic. Kid’s experts say, “People with anorexia have an extreme fear of weight gain and a distorted view of their body size and shape. As a result, they can't maintain a normal body weight.” I feel that idea of never begin normal is something for people looking for a way to sympathize to find a way in.
We all know what it’s like to have the need to feel normal, cool, excepted. This connects to the roots of these types of disorders. The roots that our planted, nurtured, cut and grown by “us”. Ii knowing we play a part to start it as I said earlier knowing the signs is a way to stop it.
The thing to look for our
1. becomes very thin, frail, or emaciated
2. obsessed with eating, food, and weight control
weighs herself or himself repeatedly
3. counts or portions food carefully
only eats certain foods, avoiding foods like dairy, meat, wheat, etc. (of course, lots of people who are allergic to a particular food or are vegetarians avoid certain foods)
4. exercises excessively
5. feels fat
6. withdraws from social activities, especially meals and celebrations involving food
7. may be depressed, lethargic (lacking in energy), and feel cold a lot
I highlighted “withdraws from social activities, especially meals and celebrations involving food”, for a reason. Success in the social world provides a confidence likely craved by the anorexic. Plus food is often a huge part of a culture. It’s at our barbeques; dances, school function, and very own family dinner tables. Dissociation protects the disorder and further damages the keeper of the disorder. Ultimately the biological effects on the body when allowed to take their toll can be devastating.
The effects can be as severe as drops in blood pressure, pulse, breathing rate. Hair loss, anemia and brittle bones. In lames terms your entire biological system without nutrition shuts down. In fact drops in blood pressure and pulse can be life threatening. In fact all eating disorders which can start off harmless obsession become a life threatening array of problems.
Anorexia, bulimia, eating disorders. As you can see be the research their all dangerous, yet not invincible when you know what to look for. They can be crippling but they could also be just as crippling as words hurtled or an insensitive approach.
III. Hear it from the source
When I started the essay I talked about how it puts you at a distance when you have never experienced eating disorders, so here I will give you an actual account selected by the National Eating Disorder Information Centre as accurate and strong representative of a story from the bulimic community.
“As I entered high school, the concern I had about my body grew stronger. Then one day, I was home after school watching a talk show. The topic was eating disorders. I watched several young girls discuss their struggles with anorexia and/or bulimia. I listened intently as one girl described exactly how she made herself sick. A light went off in my head. I wish, with all my heart, that I could tell every young girl or boy who is contemplating that very action for the first time (or the action of skipping a meal) – not to succumb. That it may seem like a great way to control your weight, but instead it wreaks havoc on your body. That you may think you’ll only do it once in a while, but like any addiction it will become your life. I wish I could tell them to say NO to that first, not so powerful, urge. To get out while they still can.”
This case for me was both inspiring a truly representative of the disorders. The fact that anonymous woman who wrote this essay feared to write her name and was urged to reach out says something. It stills hangs on her but she knows that shinning a light eliminates the darkness. Most telling is that first line, “As I entered high school, the concern I had about my body grew stronger.” That concerned was nurture high school but is it possible by herself with help from her peers?
Colleen Thompson, a renowned dietitian, and eating disorder survivor writes it best on her website, http://www.mirror-mirror.org/teens.htm “Once they start losing weight, people might compliment them, which would make them feel good. They may start to believe that losing weight will make them happier, but no matter how much weight is lost, it is never enough, and they are never happy.” That is at the heart what keeps eating disorder alive. Despite brittle bones, throw-up, lost tooth brushes. The cycle continues this why but now does it start. I suggest the answer is found by taking this quote and flipping it on its head. The new quote would read a little something like this “They get so use to begin told their fat, their ugly that they believe. They get hook on the need to be accepted, to be called beautiful. And then Eating Disorders such as Bulimia nervosa and anorexia are born which fallows into self destructive behavior for acceptance that comes from a shallow source that can never be staisfying.
Conclusion:
In this paper I talked about a couple several points. Anorexia nervosa, the dangerous, the signs, the affects. I did the same for Bulimia nervosa this paper was about Bulimics and Anorexics and include a personal account from an Eating Disorder Survivor. This paper though was not for Anorexic and bulimics. This paper is for people who don’t have eating disorders. Who don’t understand who they happen? And who don’t understand that they just might be why they happen. This is not attack; this is a call to arms, a confession, and a plea. I am asking teenagers my age, like me to think how they speak. To realize that were all experts I secrecy in hiding our darkest secrets. Just because you don’t like someone doesn’t make them fat. Just because you’re not skinny doesn’t make them too skinny. Just because their you hate them does not make them gross eating disorder freaks. But most importantly there is more than fat and skinny and we all know what it feel like to be under the high school microscope yet most of the time we are holding the microscope up to one another.
I am a microscope holder and this paper made me hold one up to myself. The fact is I am not saying I always watch what I say but I am tying. In the end if we make a real attempt to accept one another we can affect the whole of us. I understand why people with eating disorder keep it a secret. Their jokes and comments every day. And when we find out a “girl” or a “boy, or a “friend has it we say thing like “it’s not like we meant you” but that not how it works.
I never realized the power of words as weapons. If you could stop someone form making themselves throw-up, or not eat and not risk the high risk of both mental and biological distress would you not do it. I would, I started and hope after reading this you might to because we have a responsibility to our teen community, to each other friend or not.
The old saying goes beauty is in the “eye of the beholder”, for high school its “beauty is in the eye of my beholders.” Be a responsible beholder.
Annotated bibliography
Colleen Thompson. "Teenagers and Eating Disorders." Eating Disorders. Web. 01 Nov. 2010.
Teenagers and Eating Disorders, foucses on the situations that build to teens having eating disoders. It looks to pubert, peer pressure, and athletics. The article is published on Mirro-Mirro written by Collen Thompson, a well known eating disoder advicate and certified dietition,a nd eating disoder survivior,
WebsiteTagsEditDelete
Michelle New, PhD. "Eating Disorders." KidsHealth - the Web's Most Visited Site about Children's Health. Nov. 2007. Web. 01 Nov. 2010.
This article from KidsHealth.org cover the topic of eating diosders from top to bottom. It breaks down what a eating disoders is, and talks about Bulimia and Anorexia. it also goes into how to look for signs of these eating disoders as effects, causes and treatmeant options. This article is not only in depth and informatinal as well as helpful for parents beacuse it spells it all out. The source was reviewd by Michelle New who has a PHD, in Clinical Child Psychology.
WebsiteTagsEditDelete
Sara. "Give & Get Help - Personal Stories." National Eating Disorder Information Centre. Web. 02 Nov. 2010.
This arcle by sara was a inspired resource. but to rite a research paper on a eating disoder i felt that it was essential that i have a prespective from someone who has sufferd form a eating disoder. it crediblity comes from the fact the natinonal eating disorder information center printed it
WebsiteTagsEditDelete
Susan Gutwill, MS, Licensed Clinical Social Worker, USA and Multiple Other Leading Professinals. "The Impact of Media Images on Body Image and Behaviours:." National Eating Disorders Association. National Eating Disorders Association. Web. 02 Nov. 2010.
This article is both a conversation and road map two how the media effects and contributes to eating disoders. this aritcle also has over thiry signatures from leading expertrts in and out of country, and spreds a wide but acurte net over the topic
WebsiteTagsEditDelete
Topic, By CYWH Staff at Children's Hospital Boston. "Eating Disorders." Center for Young Women's Health. Web. 01 Nov. 2010.
This article written by the CYWH Staff at Children's Hospital Boston looks at two specifc eating disoders. bulimia and anoerxia. manily its effects on the body and mind. since its written by boston childrens hospital staff its a extermly relble source. its specfic foucus is woman, prevention, and sociteys part in creating and ending eating disoders.
