Body Image and Eating Disorders

Vocabulary

  • anorexia nervosa: A disorder characterized by excessive dieting and/or exercise for fear of becoming overweight or obese.

  • binge eating disorder: A disorder characterized by frequent episodes of extreme overeating.

  • body image: How a person feels about his or her physical appearance.

  • bulimia nervosa: A disorder characterized by frequent episodes of intense overeating, followed by compensatory behavior: purging, excessive dieting, excessive exercise.

  • disordered eating: A wide variety of irregularities in eating patterns that do not warrant the diagnosis of a specific eating disorder.

  • eating disorder: An extreme, harmful eating behavior that can cause serious illness or even death.

Body Image

  • Consists of how a person feels about his or her physical appearance

  • Can greatly affect one’s health and eating habits

  • Can be healthy/positive or unhealthy/negative

Healthy Body Image

  • People with a healthy body image will

  • Accept their bodies

  • Remember their inner qualities

  • Be realistic

  • Be willing to work hard to achieve healthy and positive change

  • Set reasonable goals Compliment themselves

  • Focus on accomplishments

Unhealthy Body Image Components

Self-Criticism

  • Disliking the way, you look

  • Obsessing about features

Comparing Yourself to Others

Unable to have internal judgment

Constant checking of weight

Negativity

Feeling hopeless and depressed

Can lead to eating disorders

Representations of Beauty

Standards of beauty constantly change

Culture to culture

Time period to time period

The ideal body image today is manufactured mainly by the media

Media Influences on Body Image

The media portrayal of the “ideal body” generates an inaccurate idea of health

Digital alteration of images

Promotion of extreme body types in models

Judgment of individuals that deviate from the “norm”

Media Portrayals of Women

  • Mostly young

  • Few women over 40

  • Older women have plastic surgery

  • Mostly Caucasian

  • Extremely thin

Unfair stereotypes

  • Mean old woman

  • Loud overweight girl

Media Portrayals of Men

  • Very muscular

  • Even unattractive men able to attain desirable women

  • Extremely aggressive

Strerotypes

  • Dumb husband

  • Smart Nerd

Media Influences on Body Image

  • Unrealistic expectations influence people

Create perception that

  • Skinny is beautiful

  • No one can be too skinny

  • Promote unhealthy body image

  • Unhealthy body image can lead some to suffer from eating disorders

What Is an Eating Disorder?

  • Condition marked by extreme eating behaviors

  • Eating too little

  • Eating too much

  • Extreme distress about body weight

  • Extreme concern about appearance

  • May stary as a slightly irregular pattern of eating

  • Spirals out of control

More frequently found in

  • Adolescents

  • Young Adults

  • Women

Common Eating Disorders

The following eating disorders are often caused by negative body image

  • Binge eating disorder

  • Anorexia nervosa

  • Bulimia nervosa

Eating Disorder

Causes of eating disorders

  • Psychological

  • Genetic

  • Social

Common eating disorders

  • Anorexia nervosa

  • Bulimia nervosa

  • Binge eating

  • Disordered eating

What is an Eating Disorder?

  • Condition marked by extreme eating behaviors

  • Eating too little

  • Eating too much

  • Extreme distress about body weight

  • Extreme concern about appearance

  • May stary as a slightly irregular pattern of eating

  • Spirals out of control

Psychological Causes

  • Depression

  • Anxiety

  • Low self-esteem

  • Negative body image

  • Overly negative

  • Trauma

  • Sexual Abuse

  • Emotional distress

  • Puberty

  • Life changes

  • Difficulty coping

  • Learned behaviors

  • Family member

  • Peers

  • Perfectionism

Genetic Causes

  • Predisposition to

  • Addiction

  • Obesity

  • Mental disorders

  • Family histories

  • Hormonal abnormalities

  • Can feed into negative self-image

  • Lead to formation of psychological causes

Social Causes

  • Cultural pressures to be thin

  • Media

  • Entertainment media

  • Advertising

  • Peer pressure

  • Friends

  • Family

Anorexia Nervosa

  • Disorder characterized by intense fear of gaining weight due to distorted body image

  • Become unwilling to maintain a healthy weight

  • Excessive dieting, exercise, and purging to maintain extremely low weight

Health issues include

  • Damage to internal organs and bodily functions

  • Thin/weak bones

  • Muscles weakness

  • Low blood pressure

  • Cardi arrest

  • Death

Bulimia Nervosa

  • Disorder characterized by frequent episodes of intense overeating and a feeling of lack of control of the eating, usually followed by behavior to compensate

  • Purging

  • Fasting

  • Excessive exercise

Health issues include

  • Inflammation of throat

  • Worn tooth enamel

  • Sensitive teeth

  • Stomach ulcers

  • Kidney issues

  • Severe dehydration


Binge Eating Disorder

  • Disorder characterized by frequent episodes of extreme overeating.

  • Similar to bulimia, but not followed by purging or other compensatory behavior

  • Creates a feeling of extreme guilt

Health issues include

  • Overweight

  • Obesity

  • Cardiovascular diseases

  • High blood pressure

  • Depression

Disordered Eating

  • Habit of irregular eating patterns

  • Wide variety of disordered patterns

  • Commonly used to cope with emotional stress

  • Quest to lose weight or demonstrate self-restraint

Health issues include

  • Lack of proper nutrients

  • May lead to anorexia or bulimia

Getting Help for Eating Disorders

  • Get professional help

  • Don’t minimize eating disorders

  • Psychotherapy

  • Nutritional counseling

  • Support groups

  • Residential treatment

Healthy Body Image

  • Creating a healthy body image

  • Accept the uniqueness of your body

  • Don’t compare yourself to others

  • Focus on a healthy lifestyle, not your weight

  • Enjoy the wonderful things your body can do

Children

  • Children require positive examples and reinforcement

  • Parents should model by positive comments about their bodies

  • Openly discuss any negative feelings about the body

  • Compliment your child’s body and appearance

  • Keep the family active and eat a healthy diet

  • Positive body image is harder to maintain during adolescent years

  • Focus on what you do, not what you look like

  • Limit comparisons of your body to others

  • Parents should monitor media and peer influences

  • Make cooking a family activity

Adults

  • As metabolism slows, it’s more difficult to maintain body composition

  • Regular exercise is critical

  • Indulge yourself with clothes, haircuts, and massages, not food

  • Focus on a healthy lifestyle

Older Adults

  • Even as the body ages, keeping active is very important

  • Love who you are, not what you look like

  • Monitor negative thoughts about your changing looks

  • Modify activities, but continue your favorites