A case of Anorexia dating back to c.1900
Victoria Secrets Super Model from South Africa, Candice Swanepoel, was pictured in May 2011 with a waist and legs so slender that many press people reported fears of an eating disorder. However, the succeeding month she came back on stage and surprised everyone with her weight gain. This is the impact of sudden weight loss. People tend to think you have succumbed to one of several eating disorders or ED.
In South Africa, from February 26 to March 3 2012, the country will be focusing on National Eating Disorders Awareness Week. This is a program that aims to inform teenagers and young adults, who are usual victims of ED, about the need to not fall into any traps that will lead to an ED. South Africa is one of many countries plagued by youngsters and adults who end up with ED like anorexia and bulimia. Parents can prevent it from happening by also knowing more about eating disorders.
What Are Eating Disorders?
Eating disorders are not about food. It is a problem that is fuelled by an emotional or psychological problem wherein food and weight loss is thought to be the solution. There are different kinds of eating disorders, the most common of which are:
- Anorexia
- Bulimia
- Binge eating
- Compulsive overeating
This isn’t something that cannot be solved but it will need the cooperation of the patient or victim. In severe cases though, intervention is done wherein the victim is placed in a fully supervised facility and monitored 24/7. There are even times when the victim-turned-patient is not allowed to get out of bed and must be fed intravenously just to survive the critical stage, if it gets to that point.
South Africa and ED
South Africa is just as vulnerable to ED as developed countries because of the history of racial discrimination. Even if the Apartheid period is long over and done with, there still lies the low self-esteem from skin colour and social status.
On the other hand, teenagers and young adults from good families of means are also victims of ED because of low self-esteem brought about by lack of popularity, bullying, trauma, abuse, and peer pressure. For example, young girls who may have seen the picture of Candice Swanepoel’s stick-thin figure may erroneously assume that this is the ideal weight for super model or to be popular. The misleading reports capitalizing on her weight could prompt a young, impressionable girl that the only way to be in the newspapers is to look like her. It’s very possible that this young girl never sees or reads the explanation of Candice on her weight loss, and this young girl’s life changes dramatically for the worse.
The problem is not just with regards to the health of the person with the ED but affects the people around that person like family and friends.
Difference between Dieting and ED
Dieting is not taking pills or skipping meals. One can and should go on a healthy diet approved by a doctor or nutritionist to attain his or her ideal weight. Eating disorders have been portrayed by TV shows and movies as a quick way of losing weight, and the latter notion relies on the idea of feeling better about yourself no matter what the health risks may be.
Eating disorders can hinge on body dysmorphic disorder, which is when the sufferer, for example, sees herself as fat even when they are down to half their original weight. In short, it distorts reality and the weight loss is never good enough.
- Those who say they are on a diet and eat nothing may be a victim of anorexia
- Those who eat a lot and never seem to gain weight could be either bulimic or overeating
As for Candice, she proved to the world that she did not suffer from any eating disorder by going back to her original weight within a month. Her explanation for her drastic weight loss was work and lack of time to eat, sleep, and rest. This may be an excuse for eating disorder if the weight stays off and gets worse. In Candice’s situation, that didn’t happen and she obviously has learned to be more careful.