Anorexia Nervosa

Anorexia effects both genders. However, 90% of women are targeted with the illness. So this means for every 200 women, 1 in 6 are anorexic and unfortunately up to 20% of these women will die of this disorder. 2 -3% get treatment, nevertheless, they still die from anorexia. In the United States 3% of all young women and girls are anorexic and 3-4% of women in the US suffer from bulimia. Overall, in the Us 24 million either binge eat, are bulimic or are anorexic. 86% of people who suffer from anorexia were effected by the disease before the age of 20.

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I hope you are not asking if you lose weight if you start throwing up your food. Answer for that... you are throwing up your food. Answer to the question I hope you are asking -- Bulimia many times goes unnoticed by friends and family specifically becasue bulimics usually look perfectly normal. Most are of normal weight some are even overweight. Bulimia is characterized by episodes of binge eating which is the consumption of enormous quantities of food. The food tends to be high in calories. They are comfort foods. They help relax and calm a person, which is why the binge/purge cycle often happens in response to stress/anxiety. The cycle in fact becomes a habit or a ritual that all together brings calm to the victim. **If you are asking about becoming bulimic, it is impossible, just like becoming anorexic**

A healthy minded individual would never in their right minds eat the humongous amount of food a bulimic or binge-eater eats during bingeing. The second characterization of bulimia is that the individual gets rid of the food through unhealthy means of "purging" such as vomiting and taking laxatives (which don't actually contribute to weight loss). The reason bulimics don't lose weight or become overweight is because they perform the binge and purge ritual away from others in secrecy and then go out and eat like a "normal" human being throughout the rest of the day so they are still getting their calories.

It varies in each individual that is Anorexic. There are few calories and Anorexics prefer to stick with very small portions of lettuce, a few vegetable or fruits, but even that becomes distasteful for them given time. They are literally starving themselves to death. If they don't receive counseling and help with their eating habits they will eventually die because their organs start to shut-down. Heart attacks are also high with chronic Anorexics.

• Low self esteem and poor body images. Media plays a part, but you must have self esteem to not compare yourself to anyone on TV. You are unique in your own way. Eating healthy and exercising should be for your health and not because of how you want to be perceived.

• Eating disorders are caused by either low self esteem and in many cases the person with the eating disorder feels they have no control over their life, but the one fact they know they have control over is no one can make them eat. Some young women are swayed by the media as to what they feel they should look like. Teen magazines, movies, etc., all play a role in brain washing young people to simply make money off them such as being super thin so they can buy the clothing that an actress may be trying to sell, etc. Medical scientists are still trying to find out what it is in the brain where the person with an eating disorder is stimulated to do so and why they see themselves in the mirror as being too fat. You hardly hear of someone saying they are too skinny.

actually, quite a lot of "naturally" thin women would die for curves. People just don't want to look bad in other people's eyes

Do NOT starve yourself; this could be deadly!

Despite the lure of starving (or almost starving) yourself in order to lose a lot of weight in a short amount of time, this is absolutely not a healthy move in the long run. Such behavior can lead to serious disorders such as Bulimia Nervosa and Anorexia Nervosa, which, although they are referred to as "eating disorders," are, in fact, emotional disorders. For more details on this topic, consult with your doctor or see the Related Link.

Other answers from WikiAnswers participants

• If you starve yourself, you will be very unhealthy and weak and probably grumpy. And as soon as you start eating again, you will gain back all of the weight -- and probably more. It's better to eat 5-6 healthy light meals a day. And try to stay away from carbonated beverages and other junk foods. It may take a while for you to lose weight; each person is different. But if you are eating healthily, you will lose weight. You will lose even more weight if you exercise along with eating a healthy diet.

• Do not starve yourself. When you skip a meal, your body stores more of the next one, and your metabolism also slows down -- even if just a little. If you make a habit out of starving yourself, you will become anorexic. This is a very unhealthy and unsafe way of trying to lose weight. You become hungry because your body needs food to keep it going. If you starve yourself, you will be killing your body (I'm not talking about skipping a meal here or there). It isn't healthy to not eat. There are many diets and exercise plans out there that you should try looking at. Anorexia is a very serious problem. Don't get yourself mixed up with it.

• I starved myself, lost 30 pounds and gained 35 pounds back. You cannot starve yourself without gaining it all back. I'm sorry to be harsh about it, but it's only because I have gone through so much pain and anger from starving myself.

  I could give you 100 good reasons not to starve yourself. Don't think that it won't happen to you, because it will. I thought that I could go on starving myself forever and never gain a pound. I rolled my eyes when anyone tried to warn me or anyone else. In the end, I got help and I'm much happier.

  Please don't starve yourselves. I came so close to almost killing myself because of everything that I went through -- the dieting and then the binging. You will deprive yourself too much and your body will go crazy and eat everything in your house. Please try to hang in there. I know it's hard, but please just try to get help.

• I think that starving yourself does help. But: you want to lose weight and look good, right? Well, how good will you feel when you are so hungry that the pain in your stomach is almost unbearable. In addition, your family feels helpless because they love you and do not want to see you throw your life away.

  Try the healthy method and eat lots of fruit, drink heaps of water, and stay away from the chocolate. Also, partying on the weekends does not help if you require the usual hangover cure of Macca's the next day. Try eating a Caesar salad; i did that, and it felt great. Just please don't starve. You are beautiful and anyone who doesn't see this has the problem -- not you!

• I agree with the previous answer. Starving seems like a quick and easy way to get the body of your dreams. It might work physically; inside, however, you are slowing -- and sometimes quickly -- just killing yourself. It's so scary! Why do it?
• What we all need is self-driven determination. I know it can be difficult to exercise. I hate saying No to pizza and a cold Pepsi, then choosing grapefruit and water instead. But instead of starvation, why not just eat healthy food, lose weight and exercise like every few days. Even healthy food alone does the trick; this way, your are still giving your body the nutrition and vitamins it needs and you still get to eat tasty food. A few things you can splurge on while eating healthily are slim fast shakes; grapefruit; a few Saltine crackers with cheese. And black coffee and tea are a great metabolism-booster.

  Lastly, water. It's so plain. But on those days where there's nothing to do, go jog or do sit-ups. After that, you will crave craving a tall glass of water and then get full on that. Trust me, it's so much healthier!

  I don't care if you weigh 200 pounds or if you have a big nose or the worst acne. You are all beautiful. Don't change for anybody; if they can't accept you for you, then they are just not accepting of themselves! You are truly beautiful. That's why God made you who you are. :)

• An alternative to actually starving yourself is only eating foods in their natural form. Some examples are: Breakfast -- oatmeal - as much as you want; Lunch -- Caesar salad from McDonald's; Dinner -- vegetables, raw or cooked with no oil.

  You can eat oatmeal anytime you want and as much as you want; it will fill you up and take away the hunger.

• What are you doing to yourselves? I've suffered from Anorexia for 11 years now (I was born into a family where such behavior and habits were normal). I subsisted on milk and sandwiches as a child. And now, at 17, I can hardly bring myself to have food touch my lips without hesitation.
• Starving yourself is not the answer: you're hurting your brain, your muscle mass, the strength of your bones, your vital organs. If you want to lose weight, and keep it off, wouldn't you want to do the best and healthiest thing for your body to ensure that you look slim and slender -- and stay that way too? My fear of gaining weight, and body fat in general, increases every day of my life. Not a second goes by without thinking about it... Is that what you really want?
• Starving yourself -- Anorexia, Bulimia -- these aren't ways of life, no matter how many pro-anorexics claim it to be; no matter how many nearly emaciated celebrities you see on TV. These women are sick. They are unhealthy, and in their future, they are looking for a slew of medical problems with the way they are dieting. Take advice from someone who has been to the very bottom, weighing 85 pounds at age 15, 5' 3", and still on a rocky recovery to a normal body weight. I know there is no hope for me of returning to a "regular diet," but please -- especially the women out there -- do not put yourselves in such a situation! Eat healthily, and exercise. Think positively of yourselves, and take time out every day to relieve stress. I promise you, the healthier way is a much, much better alternative than a slow and painful path to death....

• Do you people notice how you have to KEEP starving yourselves for those few days? It's because, despite the rapid weight loss, it comes back. The only way to get rid of that weight is to either become anorexic/bulimic, or eat healthily and do exercise. Take it from a person who's contemplated starving herself many times, who HAS tried it before. Sure, guess what, I did lose some weight. But my stomach also started to eat itself and then I got a stomach ulcer. When someone even HUGGED me, I got a horrible, stabbing pain in my upper and lower abdomen. And then I had to force myself to eat when I thought I wasn't hungry , because your body doesn't send you the impulses like it usually does. Now, I still eat when I'm not hungry and I ended up GAINING weight!

  I know it's hard. I hate exercising and getting sweaty, and I still wonder if I should just try skipping meals again. But I know what the consequences will be. I don't want to look like some skinny model; I just don't want a fat stomach. But by starving yourself, and then eating normally, over and over again; or by purging, or constantly starving yourself, you're going to ruin your body even though it'll get thin. I'd rather be a little overweight than lose my entire life to an eating disorder.

• I found out how to make your metabolism faster: cardio exercise. Anything that gets your heart a-pumping, such as biking, walking at a good pace, jogging, etc. Your metabolism skyrockets and you can eat more and not put on weight. Or you can EAT THE SAME AMOUNT AND LOSE WEIGHT!

  In addition, Pilates is excellent for losing weight. You can learn some of the exercises from their infomercials.

  And I don't have to tell you how good it feels to eat! I went on a crash diet. It sucked at first, and my stupid stomach wouldn't shut up! I was tired and hungry and I just wanted my favorite foods! But then I got used to it. I held my head higher every day. I was proud of myself for controlling my eating. I got better and better at it. And I got skinnier. You could see it in my face and everywhere else, although it wasn't THAT fast. But, one morning I woke up sick. I panicked. I vomited water. IT WAS AWFUL. But I KEPT GOING. I "stayed strong," and didn't "let myself go." Or so I told myself.

  I found ways of not letting people know that I wasn't eating, such as making the dinner while my mum was on her walk and telling her I had already eaten; or dirtying plates to make it look like I had eaten. You get the idea. I kept on and on, until I started to lose less weight than before, but I kept going.

  Then, I started to die. Seriously, die. My brain didn't work as well as it used to. I began to get weaker and weaker. I damaged my liver, my kidneys and my heart (emotionally as well as physically). I had been known for my quick wit and imagination. Then I was dying. I put my weight above EVERYTHING. Now I was dying. I couldn't be ME. I COULDN'T BE ME ANYMORE. I was sick and I needed help.

  I began to eat. At first, I couldn't. I vomited it. I wanted to eat good food (junk food) but I managed to be strong and only eat fruit, vegetables and grains. I drank soy milk (no lactose). I began to come back to life. I still hated myself for eating at that stage. I thought to myself: "How weak. All that time, wasted. You stupid fat pig." But I began to pray. Although this might sound stupid to some of you, please hear me out.

  I prayed: "What the hell am I doing. There ain't anyone listening. Are you going crazy, you...?" But I kept praying, what the hell? And my prayers got answered. I didn't know that would happen. I just didn't know what to do, so I simply prayed. And I got better. I figured how to be how I wanted. And I shared some of that with you before. And I found out that God actually exists. I thought he didn't, but he is there, so there! I am happy now! And I have someone who loves me! He always has, he said, and he always will -- even if I do something really bad. And he told me that it doesn't matter if I am the fattest girl in the UNIVERSE, he still loves me! This blew me away!

  So anyway, I'm free, I'm me, I'm happy, I'm not depressed anymore. I am worth something and beautiful to someone, and I think that's all I needed.

• Starving is not the right way to go. It's a very unhealthy thing to do; what you need to do is just eat healthily and do exercise! Another VERY important reason not to starve yourself is because it shuts down a lot of organs in your body because they don't get enough nutrients to keep it working and you can EASILY become infertile! Is it really worth it? Is it worth not having children some day and not being able to share this joy? So, please think about this before you go on starving yourself. Just exercise and you'll lose the same amount of weight.

• Starving yourself to lose weight is the worst possible thing you can do to your body.

• Sure it will work, but it doesn't mean its GOOD for you... By the time you are 20 or 30, you'll end up having heart failure and liver failure and kidney failure and every other organ in your body failing.

• I just want to tell you know that, from starving, I lost a baby after I became pregnant.

The answer to this would be around 10% die of those who were Diagnosed. The suicide rate is higher then this, meaning it is more likely they will commit or attempt to commit suicide from it, then die from it. As for those getting treatment, less then half fully recover, and about 20% stay anorexic. This was all found at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anorexia_nervosa#Prognosis] Hope this helps.

~Austin

Anorexia is caused on a person thinks they are 'fat'. Most of the time, they aren't. I once knew a girl who put maybe a few kilograms on over the Christmas holidays and her gymnastics teacher told her to lay off the junkfood. I thought that was completely unreasonable, everyone looses weight after Christmas! Anyway. She developed anorexia. And lately, I think I'm getting it too. Anorexia is basically a state-of-mind. It can be cause by many different things. Depression-One being told "he" is fat or needs to lose some weight can trigger something in the mind, and "he" may not eat or sleep for a long period of time. anorexia is the loss of appetite. However, it is evident that the question refers to anorexia nervosa. Anorexia Nervosa is commonly known as simply anorexia. It is a mental disorder which is triggered my different causes. It is a disorder where the victim abstains from food because he/she is scared of weight gain or is trying to loose weight. Most of the victims have a body mass below the normal. Im sorry I think I was drifting from the original question....what causes anorexia? well, even the smallest situations can cause it...i have suffered the disease.....I remember my dad making a comment about me being a little chuncky.....even though it wasnt said with bad intentions, it hurt and it triggered my anorexia.....that is only one example.....there are many more causes. Wanting to loose weight to be liked by that special someone, or wanting to look like someone else, etc., etc. Most of the victims are perfectionist. It is a disorder that never truly goes away. I have spent everyday with it since I was 12 and now im 19. Everyday I have to make a choice whether to starve or to live. I hope i answered your question. If you have anymore questions for me feel free to ask me.

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i personally went through anorexia, and these are the causes behind why i developed it----

my anorexia had nothing to do with wanting to look good or like a model. my eating disorder mainly existed because it was a way for me to cope with things I had been through. i went through a few traumatic events and i actually subconsciously wanted to make myself as small and ugly as possible that no guy would ever want to hurt me again. not eating was also a way to symbolically cleanse myself because i felt dirty and ashamed as a result of what i had been through. when i wouldn't eat, i would feel pure and clean.

controlling my intake also was my way of having control over my life. so many things had been out of my control and i felt that what I ate was the only thing i could control.

it was also a way for me to punish myself, a way of communicating that i was hurting, and a way to feel accomplishment and a sense of identity.

i also had low self esteem, saw a lot of my family members go on diets, was a people pleaser, and was sort of a perfectionist which can contribute to the development of eating disorders. know that eating disorders can be caused my many factors and that eating disorders have little to even do with food or weight. it's more about how the person feels and their ways of coping with it.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- causes: no definite cause has been determined..but some experts say that demands from society and family could be one of the possibilities of undelying the cause
There are many causes or factors that lead to anorexia. Some common ones are...

Depression

Low self-esteem

Victim of bullying or teasing

Social pressures

Pressures from friends or family

Perfectionism

OCD

BDD (Body Dismorphic Disorder)

Diets gone too far

Families members who also suffer from the disease