What do Jameela Jamil, Ireland Baldwin, and Troian Bellisario have in common? They are not just equally gorgeous women in Hollywood, they unfortunately also suffered from anorexia at one point in their life.
What Is Anorexia?
You may have heard about this condition and that’s because it’s more common than we thought. Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that makes people obsess about their image, body, weight, and the food they eat.
It does sound like an everyday struggle for most body-conscious people but anorexic patients tend to have a distorted look at their self, oftentimes having intense fear of weight gain even though they have normal BMI. In fact, they would drastically reduce their calorie intake just because they feel they need to shed pounds.
They will try to lose weight to the point that it will become hard for them to regain pounds back. Anorexic people also see their self-worth by their body and weight and they are more likely to have an altered perception of themselves.
Apart from these, those who suffer from anorexia nervosa also struggle with symptoms from other eating disorders such as binge-eating, vomiting, excessive exercising, or using laxatives.
Both Men and Women Can Suffer from Anorexia
Contrary to popular misconception, both men and women suffer from anorexia. It’s entirely untrue that girls are the only people who excessively get a distorted perception of themselves because of unrealistic beauty standards.
In fact, 25 percent of anorexic patients are men. Because of this false belief, boys have a higher chance of dying from this eating disorder due to a lack of diagnosis. As such, early diagnosis may be the key to preventing this condition from progressing.
Oftentimes, people are in denial that they are suffering from an eating disorder, but self-diagnosis is not just difficult but it may also be inaccurate. Health professionals are more likely to give you sound advice and diagnosis.
Signs of Anorexia
Not all anorexia cases are the same and some will exhibit only a few symptoms. However, signs can be categorized into three: behavioral, physical, and emotional.
You are likely to notice signs of anorexia through the person’s behaviors first. Then, you will observe how your way of thinking, values, as well as your overall mental health is affected by your body image.
Physical symptoms include fatigue, hair loss, feeling cold, muscle wasting, constipation, and sudden weight loss. Behavioral signs are refusing to eat, sporting baggy clothes, purging and binging food, excessive exercising, and excessive calorie counting.
Emotional symptoms include an intense fear over gaining weight, social isolation, obsessing over appearance, being anxious around food and on exercise, and lack of concentration.
