HELLO!
Today we shall educate you on the harmful diet of eating too little.

BULIMIA NERVOSA, often called bulimia, is a type of eating disorder. A person with bulimia eats a lot of food in a short amount of time (binges) and then tries to prevent weight gain by getting rid of the food, called purging.

Purging might be done by:
- Making yourself throw up
- Taking laxatives — pills or liquids that speed up the movement of food through your body and lead to a bowel movement

A person with bulimia may also exercise a lot, eat very little or not at all, or take pills to pass urine to prevent weight gain.

There is no single known cause of bulimia or anorexia. But some things may play a part:
- Culture stimulates people to want the perfect body, to fit that certain standard of beauty and society pressures them to have the perfect body
- If there is a history of bulimia or anorexia, the child is likely to get it too. Parents who think looks are important, diet themselves, or criticize their children's bodies, their children are more likely to develop anorexia.
-Stress and stressful environment or situations can lead to the onset of bulimia or anorexia
-Personality traits. They don't love themselves enough to accept themselves or they may feel hopeless or tries to be perfect in everyway
-Genes, hormones, and chemicals in the brain may be factors in developing bulimia or anorexia

Someone with bulimia may use extreme measures to lose weight by:
using diet pills, or taking pills to urinate or have a bowel movement
going to the bathroom all the time after eating (to throw up)
exercising a lot, even in bad weather or when hurt or tired.

Someone with bulimia may show signs of throwing up, such as:
- swollen cheeks or jaw area
- calluses or scrapes on knuckles (if using fingers to induce vomiting)
- teeth that look clear
- broken blood vessels in the eyes

Someone with bulimia may also have a distorted body image, shown by thinking she or he is fat, hating her or his body, and fearing weight gain.
Bulimia can also cause someone to not act like her or himself. She or he may be moody or sad, or may not want to go out with friends.

Image from
http://www.womenshealth.gov/faq/easyread/bulnervosa-etr.htm

ANOREXIA NERVOSA
A person with anorexia nervosa, often called anorexia, has an intense fear of gaining weight. Someone with anorexia thinks about food a lot and limits the food she or he eats, even though she or he is too thin. Anorexia is more than just a problem with food. It's a way of using food or starving oneself to feel more in control of life and to ease tension, anger, and anxiety. Most people with anorexia are female.

An anorexic:
-has a low body weight for her or his height and resists on keeping a normal body weight
-excessively exercises
-has an intense fear of gaining weight
-thinks she or he is fat even when very thin
-misses three (menstrual) periods in a row―for girls/women who have started having their periods

Someone with anorexia may look very thin. She or he may use extreme measures to lose weight by:
making her or himself throw up
taking pills to urinate or have a bowel movement
taking diet pills
not eating or eating very little
exercising a lot, even in bad weather or when hurt or tired
weighing food and counting calories
moving food around the plate instead of eating it

Someone with anorexia may also have a distorted body image, shown by thinking she or he is fat, wearing baggy clothes, weighing her or himself many times a day, and fearing weight gain.
Anorexia can also cause someone to not act like her or himself. She or he may talk about weight and food all the time, not eat in front of others, be moody or sad, or not want to go out with friends.

Image from

http://www.womenshealth.gov/faq/easyread/anorexia-etr.htm#d

So basically what you have learnt today is that:

- Anorexia and bulimia are examples of harmful eating disorders whereby people take drastic attempts to lose weight.
Anorexia and bulimia have similiar goals, causes and sypmtoms which is to lose weight but the sufferers use different means.

This may seem unreal or extreme but it does happen, in fact it happened to someone I know and we will tell you about her encounter with anorexia in the next post. Be excited!

amelia(: