Study Shows 65% Of American Women Have Eating Disorder Behaviours Masked As Diets

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Eating disorders are not simply problems with eating, as the dissection of the two part word might imply. They are horrific issues, manifesting themselves in ones brain causing them to distort their own self image.

An anorexic at an unhealthy 86 lbs and 5 ft 6 in height may view themselves as overweight and obsess about every item they ingest, measuring out unhealthy portions of food in order to starve themselves.

A bulimic often maintains a fairly normal weight for their height but will consume enormous portions of food, called binge eating, outside of the daily diet regime and then induce vomiting as a means of eliminating the extra calories. Therefore, they can eat a package of cookies at about 4,000 calories and expel those calories immediately afterwards without gaining any weight.

Both anorexia and bulimia have health consequences resulting in the body's shutting down and resulting in eventual death, sometimes despite intervention.

A collaborative study by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Self Magazine showed that approximately two-thirds, or sixty-five percent, of American women show to have eating disorder behaviours.

According to the University of North Carolina's Director of the Eating Disorders Program and Professor of eating disorders:

"Our survey found that these behaviors cut across racial and ethnic lines and are not limited to any one group. Women who identified their ethnic backgrounds as Hispanic or Latina, white, black or African American and Asian were all represented among the women who reported unhealthy eating behaviors,"

"What we found most surprising was the unexpectedly high number of women who engage in unhealthy purging activities. More than 31 percent of women in the survey reported that in an attempt to lose weight, they had induced vomiting or had taken laxatives, diuretics or diet pills at some point in their lives. Among these women, more than 50 percent engaged in purging activities at least a few times a week, and many did so every day,"

This alarming rate of eating disorder behaviour in the adult age group sets subliminal tone for teens and young adults across he nation. As more focus is on Healthy Lifestyles, the real practice is anything but healthy.

The NEWS article covered additional study findings :

67 percent of the women (excluding those with actual eating disorders) are trying to lose weight.
53 percent of dieters are already at a healthy weight and are still trying to lose weight.
39 percent of the women said concerns about what they eat or weigh interfere with their happiness.
37 percent of respondents said they regularly skip meals to try to lose weight.
27 percent said they'd be "extremely upset" if they gained just five pounds.
26 percent have eliminated entire food groups from their diet.
16 percent have dieted on 1,000 or fewer calories a day.
13 percent smoke to lose weight.
12 percent often eat when they're not hungry, and 49 percent sometimes do.

The most alarming finding from the study was that one-third used extremely unhealthy purging means of weight loss: vomiting, diuretics, laxatives. Of that group, over HALF do it two times a week, and many engaged in the dangerous purging behavior DAILY.

The results of this negative trend will be Academy for Eating Disorders' International Conference on Eating Disorders, in Seattle.

If you aren't interested in attending the conference, you can pick up the May issue of SELF magazine.

More information: National Institute of Mental Health Eating Disorders