Many people probably don’t know that in the United States, 8,000,000 people have an eating disorder, or that 90% of them are women. Most of us don’t know that kids at our age or younger could have an eating disorder. Yes, we do know that being thin is a good way to look. It means that you look fit and healthy. When people try to lose weight, some of us simply cut back on junk food. Some others go to extremes.
Some of us open our magazines and find out which celebrity has one or the other of these disorders. Some of us see it on the TV. Some of us may know someone who has an eating disorder, or have an eating disorder ourselves. Whichever way though, it’s being exposed everywhere, to kids our age, or even younger. This is not a good outlook for some kid’s future.

There are two types of eating disorders: anorexia and bulimia. A person who has anorexia is scared of gaining weight, because their goal is to stay thin. Bulimia however, is a psychological eating disorder. People who have bulimia throw up their food after they eat, while anorexic people cut back on food and they exercise very often.

Anorexic people tried to lose so much weight that they end up looking unhealthy, or just really thin. Bulimic people however, may look perfectly normal. It’s hard to know if they’re actually bulimic or not, while anorexic people you can just tell. It’s more difficult for us to tell because bulimic people can look regular but are throwing up in secret, so we can’t tell.
Some of the signs of these disorders are a large amount of weight loss in a short period of time, baggy clothes to hide their weight loss or their body parts. And the other signs include a constant counting of calories, and the making up of excuses to not eat, such as saying, “Oh, I already ate.” Mood swings are another sign.

We don’t know why people have this urge to stop eating, to feel the need to exercise too often, or to throw up their food. It could possibly be that they have low self-esteem, and they don’t like the way they look. Maybe they’re frightened of the thought of gaining weight.
Sometimes though, you think: why can’t they just stop? Don’t they know it’s bad for them? Well, they probably do know it’s unhealthy. But when they look in the mirror, they don’t see a thin person. They believe they’re fat. There is a way to stop this though. If you know anybody who has this, try to get help right away and get them treated, contact an adult, or talk to them. Just take baby steps one at a time.

What people need to know is that this is a serious matter, and we need to find a way to stop it. It’s becoming a serious issue since more and more people are starting to have eating disorders, some of them already starting at a young age. Encourage your friends, if they complain they’re too fat, disagree. Don’t discourage them. Just one compliment about how they look thin in their jeans today will hopefully stop one person’s thought on considering to throwing up their food today.