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In this country, women are becoming heavier with each generation while the ideal body for health or beauty becomes slimmer. Possible as a result, more than half of American women say they are on a diet. The more intense the social pressure to be skinny, the more likely it seems that a troubled young woman will develop an eating disorder, especially if they believe that control over one's appetite is the way to win respect and attain social success.
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THE ANOREXIC ATHELETE.
is an obsessive exerciser who trains crazily out of fear of gaining weight, never resting. Like the average anorexic the athletic anorexic worries constantly about what they will eat, when and where they will eat, how much weight they will gain if they eat a normal meal, how many hours they will have to exercise to burn off those calories, how many meals they should skip if they overeat and so on. In an effort to lose more body fat, an athlete begins to consume less energy than is necessary for their activity level, they can fall into a pattern of restrictive eating that leads to believing that once normal portions of food are now too much, or they become phobic of many foods that were once enjoyed and avoid them believing that the food will cause weight gain. Vegetarianism is commonly adopted to further control over calorie and fat intake, as the rules of vegetarianism restrict normal eating limits and varieties. It is difficult to see that there is a problem when the patient is excelling at their sport; in these cases the illness just looks like the normal behaviour of an elite athlete. Often eating disorders can go on for years without affecting performance, it is not until many years later that the nutrient and energy imbalance begin to take their toll. .
Now an in depth look at the SIGNS, SYMPTOMS & CAUSES.
According to the American Psychiatric Association, a woman is suffering from anorexia when their weight has fallen to bellow 15% of the normal range and she has not menstruated for at least 3 months.
