Women and Eating Disorders

It is commonly said that when a person is under some form of stress, the release is usually through eating. In this, there are two possibilities: eating too much and eating too little. In both cases, the result is likely to be detrimental to one’s health. Compounding the problem is the fact that most people are not aware that they have eating disorder until their health suffers too much.

In women, eating disorders is a very real problem. This is not only due to hormonal changes in her body during menstruation but also to factors that are commonly considered as social. In fact, even peer pressure can cause a woman to alter her eating habits.

The Causes of Eating Disorders in Women

1)The most common cause for eating disorders in women is hormonal changes. Hormonal changes are brought about by the menstrual cycle in women. Because of her menstruation, a woman commonly experiences mood swings and various other changes, which pose a great possibly of transforming into eating disorders.

2) After giving birth, a woman may feel differently from the time before she gave birth. Because of this, a woman may think that her body has changed, and this requires certain amount of acceptance—something that is sometimes difficult to have.

3) Due to social and peer pressure. In some places, there is an extremely strong pull on women for physical beauty. For example, beauty is commonly decided by a sexy appearance, a slim figure, and an overall attractive physical nature. In this case, a woman may think that in order to maintain being attractive, she must either bulk up or cut down on food consumption.

The Effects of Eating Disorders in Women

Eating disorders in women cause various effects, all of them harmful to one’s health. In order to better understand the effects of eating disorders, it is better to distinguish the effects of eating disorders based on the symptoms of disorder.

1.Anorexia. This eating disorder occurs when a woman becomes too conscious with one’s appearance especially in maintaining a slim figure. As a result, a woman tends to eat less and less until it reaches a point when a woman may refuse to eat at all. Because of the reduction in the amount of food that a woman eats, this results in the body being deprived of essential nutrients, thus causing health problems.

2.Bulimia Nervosa. Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder that is characterized by a woman trying to hoard food. This results in a woman eating too much, which causes her body to become bigger. Moreover, in some cases of bulimia nervosa, a woman may not eat the food she hoards, thus resulting to waste.

When a woman becomes bigger due to eating too much, there is the risk that she may experience heart problems due to cholesterol accumulation in the body.

Eating disorders in women is not just a personal issue. It is more of a social concern because social factors can also cause eating disorders. As such, societies must also learn to cope with the problem to supplement individual efforts.