Eating is an essentiality for humans to provide body with the fuel needed to keep it running and to live daily lives. Normal levels of eating can be identified as consuming just enough calories to let human’s body to function as required and not have overmuch left to be subsequently stored as fat cells. When energy is either consumed too much or too little than needed, eating disorders can occur. Eating disorders are rapidly sweeping this country and it can affect regardless of age, sex, culture or racial background.
There are yet nine types of eating disorders, but two of them are most known: anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa (Eating Disorders online). This essay will overlook both illnesses and examine the promotion strategies for eating disorders in the UK. Firstly, Anorexia Nervosa is perhaps most known eating disorder of all of them. People suffering from anorexia nervosa might have an appetite but have lost ability to satisfy it and start starving them self (Hall, Ostroff, 1999) People who suffer from anorexia nervosa have distorted body image when their see themselves being fat despite being dangerously underweight.
This disorder usually develops over time and it affect women and girls as well as men and boys. Usually, Anorexia Nervosa starts in adolescence and affects about 1 in 250 females and 1 in 2000 males (NHS, 2009). People with this disorder often has law self – esteem, caused by traumatic events, like bullying, peer pressure, perfectionism or even some kind of loss in their lives. Researches also has found that anorexic people frequently suffers from depression, that affects up to 63% of those with this illness (ibid). There are a lot of symptoms of Anorexia Nervosa, but it is not easy to recognise them, because of the discreetness of suffers.
Permanent tiredness, sudden weight loss, feeling cold and light headed are some of the symptoms. Anorexia Nervosa is very serious disease and it can lead to osteoporosis and reproduction problems. Also it can damage kidney, liver and heart as well as bones (Hall, Ostroff, 1999). If anorexia becomes severe and is untreated it can be fatal. Usually, people with disease will be hospitalised until they reach a certain weight. Secondly, Bulimia is another eating disorder; maybe not as well know as Anorexia Nervosa, but more commonly suffered.
People suffering from this disease frequently experience binge-eating, followed by vomiting or taking laxatives to purge the food away. Bulimia as well as anorexia can affect both females and males, but women are ten times more likely to develop it than men (NHS). As well as anorexic persons, bulimics are living in perennial fear to gain extra weight, but can not control their food intake which can cause guilt and unhappiness until alleviated by purging (ibid). The causes of bulimia nervosa are very similar to anorexia nervosa and law self esteem plays the most important part.
Bulimia is harder to recognise as people with disease will tend not to lose weight dramatically and purging themselves in secret (Tobin, 2000). The long term illness can lead to intestinal and kidney problems, muscle cramps and heart problems. Stomach acid brought up together with food will also cause problems with oesophagus and will lead to tooth decay (NHS). As a long term illness, bulimia nervosa can lead to heart failure and death. Bulimic people however will not be hospitalised, but it will be a long and difficult process until full recovery.