The first and most common eating disorder, affecting nearly seven million women and one million men each year, is Anorexia nervosa .(Kolodny, 40) Anorexia means the loss of apatite, however, this is often misleading because anorexics do not loose their apatite, they merely learn to suppress it. A more appropriate definition of anorexia is; a mental illness in which a person has an intense fear of gaining weight and a distorted perception of their weight and body shape (Encarta 1). Anorexia generally affects the same type of person, regardless of sex. The typical anorexic tends to be controlling, a great overachiever, and a perfectionist, who strives to please other people.

Anorexia normally begins with a diet. A person will begin not only to lose weight but to receive complements on how good they look. An anorexic

Unlike anorexics, bulimics are unable to suppress their hunger. Therefore their dieting consists of a cycle of fasting, binging, and purging. Fasting is to restrain from eating for a period of time. A binge is to eat an unusually large quantity of food–most often food that is high in calorie and very fattening–at one time. Binges can last up to several hours or even on and off for several days. In some cases though, a bulimic will binge on shopping, shoplifting, alcohol, drugs, or sex with multiple partners. Purging most commonly is the voluntary act of vomiting, however laxatives, extreme vigorous exercise, and diuretics are also used. Many bulimics are desperate to quit binging and they will try almost anything, with the exception of seeking help, to stop. Many bulimics will hide food from themselves or even pour detergent on their food. None of this seems to work though, when a bulimic feels the urge to binge they will.

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