Eating Disorders and Weight Loss/Gain

Do you think it's bad for young kids to go on diets?:

Depends, for health and medical reasons, yes. Because of peer or parental pressure. no.

Why do people get eating disorders:

Now while i can't speak from experience, nor expertise, i don't think it's fair to say that the media is a main factor in the devlopment of all eating disorders. mostly because a) all eating disorders are caused by different things for different people and b) if this was the case wouldn't every girl who wants to lose weight after reading a magazine or watching a fashion show develop an eating disorder?
Eating disorders are a mental disease, scientific research shows there may be a genetic link as well. So, to develop a genuine eating disorder the predisoposition has to be there in the first place. I know for a lot of them it's about control, or about getting attention, in a lot of cases the main cause has nothing to do with wanting to be thin. Now while the media probably isn't a very positive outlet for young girls, i don't think its fair to blame for eating disorders among women and men. After all the first case of anorexia was reported in the 1800's, long before the mass media we have today. That and eating disorders affect children as young as 7 and people as old as 70. They don't develop the disease because of the media because their either too young to notice, or too old to not know the truth about the modelling industry.

Unfortunatey I think a lot of people are ill informed and this leads to misinformation about eating disorders reaching those who need help the most.

anyway thats my 2 cents

with eating disorders, its a mental issue. its caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain, which causes the person to see themselves looking fat, and they feel the need to be skinny.
ive seen a picture (photoshopped to get the message across) of a grotesquely skinny girl looking into the mirror. in the mirror, the audience sees what she thinks she sees. a slightly overwights version of her. the real her is extremely skinny. just skin and bones. but thats not what she sees.
to get over an eating disorder, the person has to admit they have a problem, which can be the hardest part...

its totally a mental issue, sum people actually have it some do it for attention. they need to talk to someone and let there feelings out, they need to learn to love themselves and not give up.

^^^ Agreed.

**When I'm at school I don't eat.
I go from 7:30am till 4:30pm without eating anything

Is that bad????

i dunno. as long as your healthy, its ok i guess. i think your meant to have 3 meals a day... but as long as your happy and healthy
and breakfast is the most important meal of the day!

gah I hate breakfast (but my mum make me eat it)
I'm not hungry, so I think it's just how my body is...

superhumangorilla:

gah I hate breakfast (but my mum make me eat it)
I'm not hungry, so I think it's just how my body is...

Yara; wtf...:

I'm not interested in your weight, or how you starve yourself.
If your friend has bulimia/anorexia or whatever, I'm sorry. Go talk to her about it.

This is a discussion board. I don't want to see anything but discussions here.

Maybe questions about skipping meals belong in the personal questions forum? I know you aren't starving yourself, but that's not really a discussion point to add.

Anywho, just so you know, it's unhealthy to skip any meal, but especially breakfast. Breakfast is supposed to be the biggest meal you eat all day.

The worst thing you can every say to a girl is "your FAT!"
It makes them paranoid, even if they aren't.
Usually it's something that a family member says or a boy that makes girls have eating disorder.
Or if your boyfriend broke up with you, you may come to the conclusion that your fat.

I don't know anything to do with why boys would have an eating disorder.
anyone know why they would?

Sonnet 130:

The worst thing you can every say to a girl is "your FAT!"
It makes them paranoid, even if they aren't.
Usually it's something that a family member says or a boy that makes girls have eating disorder.
Or if your boyfriend broke up with you, you may come to the conclusion that your fat.

I don't know anything to do with why boys would have an eating disorder.
anyone know why they would?

Well, the thing is, a lot people who get eating disorders may never have previously had any issues with thinking they are fat, or even being told they are fat.
Boys get them for the same reasons as girls...it's control issue. Though that said, I cannot explain why the percentage of girls with EDs is much higher than that of boys.

I think it is often a control issue, yes, but I think girls get them more than boys because girls are under more pressure to be skinny. Guys can have some extra weight and still be considered attractive, but the amount of people -- including girls themselves -- who think girls are attractive with a little extra weight on them seems to be either very small or very quiet.

Do I think kids should go on diets? Yes -- a healthy one. I also think it's a lot easier to eat healthily if you have a decent working knowledge of where food comes from and how it's grown/raised. A lot of kids don't quite seem to "get" that you grow fruits and vegetables, that meat comes from dead animals and that chicken nuggets have never seen a chicken. But seriously... I think it's really bad that people are so poorly informed about where their food comes from and exactly what goes into the food they eat. I think educating people about this kind of thing would help a lot of people eat more healthily.

well what if your just not hungery? you just feel sick if you do it and theres nothing you can really do?

illustrated_romance:

well what if your just not hungery? you just feel sick if you do it and theres nothing you can really do?

it's OK to not eat if u're hungry. ideally u should eat when u're hungry & stop when u're full. But if u notice that u HARDLY ever have an appetite & smthing's not normal, pls don't ignore it -- get medical advice.

Generally, i think we alwyas need at least 1 person in our lives who can tell us frm an objectiv point of view whether we really are too skinny or too fat etc.

Also remember that there r different reasons why ppl starve themselves or binge. it seems to me it's a primarily psychological problem, & if u can get over that the battle is half over. people need to *not* be afraid to reach for help.

well i think one reason eating disorders are brought on, is because of society, the affect is has on girlsis astonishing. now every girl and her mother feels the need to be skinny, not healthy. and some start off on regular diets, but when they dont see results immediatly, they go to drastic measure and starve themselves, or throw up after meals. its really sad to see how far girls will go for the image of beauty.

i can understand going on diets to loose weight and become healthier, heck i'm trying to do that, but its important to remember the difference between skinny and healthy.

Collision Kiss:

illustrated_romance:

well what if your just not hungery? you just feel sick if you do it and theres nothing you can really do?

it's OK to not eat if u're hungry. ideally u should eat when u're hungry & stop when u're full. But if u notice that u HARDLY ever have an appetite & smthing's not normal, pls don't ignore it -- get medical advice.

Generally, i think we alwyas need at least 1 person in our lives who can tell us frm an objectiv point of view whether we really are too skinny or too fat etc.

Also remember that there r different reasons why ppl starve themselves or binge. it seems to me it's a primarily psychological problem, & if u can get over that the battle is half over. people need to *not* be afraid to reach for help.

well would it be an eating disorder?

^It could be an eating disorder if you don't eat for long periods of time. I'm talking days. Obviously, if you feel sick on day, then not eating won't make much difference. But if you go without eating for, say, a week, then you might have a problem.

^ thanks, I'm just not hungery anymore and eat like a meal a day only cause I force myself too. the other day I binged though and I got so sick, I've lost like 2 pounds because of this in the past three weeks, it just randomly started

I think dieting is good if you really need to. Eating healthy is even better. Exercising daily or every other day is great. I think the people who have eating disorders think that they need to be just as skinny as the people they see in magazines and on tv. The media is pretty much pressuring everyone to be stick skinny and then you'll be popular or prettier. I have no clue. I dont know anyone with a eating disorder and I hope I never meet someone who does.

A good way to lose weight is to eat healthy and exercise. Eating healthy is NOT the same thing as eating lightly, to eat healthy means cutting out all those pies and cakes you scarf down every day and replacing with it a salad, eat cakes just once a while. And when I say exercise, that doesn't mean overexercising. Overexertion in exercise or exercising too often can actually kill you, it's just as dangerous as starving yourself to death. Just turn you afternoon stroll into an afternoon jog, or if you don't even do that, then make some time for an afternoon jog. It's really not necessary for young children to go on diets, most kids go outside and play on playgrounds while they're at school, and if you notice... they have a lot of energy to burn, which they do by playing. People get eating disorders because they see somewhere the sticks that wear lovely dresses and call themselves models (sorry for any offense). They get into their head that that's what they're supposed to look like, and no one can tell them any different. It's hard to help people with an eating disorder, because not only is anorexia or bulimia a disease that deals with your diet, it affects your state of mind as well. All they can do really is see therapists, go to support groups, and talk to a doctor.