It's sad that we live in a world where more and more people are obese and at the same time models are dying from anorexia and bulimia. On the one hand the foods that we as a society are quickly consuming are full of junk and at the same time our girls (and some boys) are not eating anything, leaning over their toilets and letting go of what they ate, because of pressures to look a certain way. And now we have a whole market of dieting products, trends of low-carb diets, weight-loss secrets, etc. I feel that it would be easier to solve one problem if the other did not exist but in the presence of each it should be quite a challenge.
I think a big problem with eating disorders is personal responsibility. People gain weight often times because they cannot control themselves...they have a certain lack of will power. When they use a diet method that holds their hand the whole way, once they stop they may fall back into the same habits. All I can really hope is that we as a society address the problem of obesity in the hopes teaching future generations methods of proper nutrition. Another problem is that people don't think about the consequences of their actions. Eating disorders cause such horrific complications at times that often lead to premature death. We as a nation need to unite to fix this problem. Hopefully shows such as, "The Biggest Loser," will be able to affect people enough to really help, if not causing someone to lose weight, at the very least causing them to not send their kids down the same path.
Eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia are caused by a society standard that is just not realistic. People get too much justification from others when they lose too much weight that they either look great or that what they are doing is good for them. Modeling agencies put so much pressure on their models to look "perfect." This not only puts models in danger, but the young people who read magazines and watch tv start to believe that this is how they are supposed to look. It needs to stop at the source.
I also find it disheartening that sports such as wrestling and boxing actually may advocate starving yourself for a couple of days in order to be light enough for a weigh-in. Girls are not the only ones developing eating disorders; boys too are put under pressure to be a certain way that just isn't right.
I truly hope that people with more influence than myself address this problem and help young people to realize that are in effect, killing themselves.
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
