Argumentative Essay On Eating Disorders

In today’s society, approximately eight million have an eating disorder, whether it be from eating too much food or not eating enough. The reason these eating disorders have occurred has been questioned for decades. These disorders have been studied over and over, but sometimes never taken seriously. Binge eating is one of the top eating disorders, but it as seen as someone being lazy and abusing food. Anorexia is another dangerous form of an eating disorder, this is where an individual does not eat food, starving themselves. Both the addiction to food, or lack thereof, can be caused by many reasons, psychological or physical. What does not help these issues is society and its views on people, specifically women, and how they should look. In

When an individual eats too much, the body begins to gain weight. According to the online article “Compulsive Overeating as an Addictive Behavior: Overlap Between Food Addiction and Binge Eating Disorder,” by Caroline Davis, she states someone who has the body mass index of forty percent or higher is considered obese, which is a serious life threatening condition. Someone having this much body fat is at high risk of having high blood pressure which can lead to heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, etc. All of these diseases are life threatening, shortening a person’s life drastically. The reasons a person is obese can range from heredity to depression. Even though it is heredity, it can be avoided with the right diet and exercise. The reason why someone would put themselves through gaining so much weight were it is restricting them from living their life to the fullest is undetermined. In the article by Davis, she would argue that the reason binge eating is a thing is because of how addicting it is. Food is an addiction and a way to escape certain scenarios. Sometimes the goal of being thin like society has portrayed is not obtainable to females who have things getting in the way of weight loss. This causes a woman to go into depression, eating more and more, using food as a comfort rather as a way to

Many psychological disorders, like depression and anxiety, are the reason why someone abuses food or does not eat enough of it. According to Arnold, most patients with anorexia do not understand that they are sick, and they think it is normal for them to not eat. Anorexia patients have developed a tolerance to their addiction of not eating, so they think it is okay to keep starving themselves and that it causes no harm, not realizing that they are in desperate need for medical attention and therapy. Arnold also states that parents are not encouraged to challenge their kids eating disorders, she says that it can cause extreme anxiety, making the eating problem worse. Also in the article, Arnold tells a story of how a woman had to turn to anorexia to cope with family issues, stating that her mom was too controlling and she was too afraid to grow up. It is common that someone would turn to something harmful to help cope with things and take their mind off it. In the article “Obesity and Its Relationship to Addictions: Is Overeating a Form of Addictive Behavior?” the authors would agree with Arnold that addictions to food can come from mental disorders. According the the article, overeating can be related to addiction to drugs and alcohol in the way that