“ANOREXIA IS A SILENT KILLER”
Kate Chilver dies after 16-year-old anorexia battle
By: Sinenjabulo Sithole
Lady Gaga and Victoria Beckham are some of the people who have suffered from Anorexia.
Anorexia is an eating disorder characterized by a refusal to maintain a healthy body weight and an obsession or fear of gaining weight. Eating disorders are known to be more common in people whose occupations involve significant focus on appearance like models, celebrities and athletes.
Models mostly suffer from this disease because of the pressure and mentality that their careers require them not gain weight. This they try to achieve by not eating and as a result they end up starving themselves to remain skinny and in a way, keep their jobs. In most cases you find that they eat maybe one apple a day which is way out of line and very unhealthy. Statistics can verify that one out of ten models die from this food disorder diseases.
The main symptom of anorexia is severe loss of weight deliberately, eating as little as possible and making yourself vomit, and over-exercising in order to burn more calories than you consume in a day. A person with anorexia will want their weight to be as low as possible; much less than the average for their age and height. They are so afraid of gaining weight that they cannot eat normally.
Anorexia sufferers starve themselves to maintain slim bodies and in so doing endager their lives . Pictures by: www.guardian.co.tt
As if this is not a devastating ordeal already, anorexia sufferers usually after eating, may try to get rid of food from their body by making themselves sick or force themselves to vomit. This leads to the prevalence of dental problems such as tooth decay or bad breath caused by the acid in vomit, damaging their teeth.
Belly Mooney, a mother who lost her daughter from anorexia said, “Anorexia has stolen my 18-year-old daughter, my lovely, family beautiful friend. It’s worse than your worst nightmare incredible she rarely smile very smile or lough. This disease can kill your family and its heart-breakingly sad.”
Anorexia is indeed something to look into especially if this is suffered by a family member. My sister once suffered this eating disorder when she was 16 and everyone in our family had a hard time coping what happened. Thank God she let loose and accept she needs medical assistance already. I realized that the family is one of the most important factors of the healing process.